Best of 2008 - #4

Wherever you are, Todd Davis … thank you. Whether you’re traveling down to Culver City to get some props for a shoot or sitting in your home, enjoying a slow day with the sun streaming in, hear this … thank you. Before I took off for the heartland, you gave me a cd of your favorite group: Wilco. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was the album.

It took me a while to dig it out and play it enough to hear what you hear. But, in the year of 2008, I did hear it. Finally, I did. I heard the fusion of ten genres mixed into one story. And, I heard LA again – the limitless diversity, the unending individuality. That’s what it is, that fine city. It’s the incomprehensible mass of culture where everyone is trying and living a sacred individuality.

Jesus, etc. speaks that great paradox: ten genres and one new voice. Where exactly does it fall? Country? Rock? Alternative? None and all. High strings and deep bass open the song. And then where to … to the doped-up jazz lounge, to the smokey-rough-and-tumble country twang, to the Hawaiian sunset sung by a steel guitar. This song is like the alleyway of an apartment building where the tastes of the residents stream forth into the golden air of Los Angeles. And by the end of the song, you’ve got this urban symphony moving in unity into the cool, night air. And this one line falls into my ears: “our love, our love … our love is all we have … our love, our love is all of God’s money. Every one is a burning sun.” The great economy – all of the crossways and byways, all the market places and thirtieth floor corner offices – is nothing compared to the economy of God’s love.

I remember. And I say, again, thank you, Todd.

Wes