“Let this be her legend, let this be her voice,
let this be her vision, let this be her choice.
To remain as we knew her, strong and poised,
as the one we love.”

- Katie Reider, Her Song

http://www.peacechicken.com/wp-content/KatieReider_HerSong.mp3

It’s been a little over a month since this world lost a beautiful soul named Katie Reider.

I invite all of my readers to watch this video made by my good friend Kiersten. It’s a brief look back at her life— filled to the brim with love, friends, and family.

After you finish the video, please visit 500Kin365.org, where you can download 9 of Katie’s songs for only $1 (of course you can always donate more if you wish.) All proceeds benefit Katie’s partner Karen and their two sons, who were left with massive medical bills not covered by insurance.

If you want to do even more for Katie and her family — tell 3 of your friends about Katie’s music, send a quick email with a link to 500Kin365.org. Through your message, her music and spirit will remain with us forever.

We miss you Katie!

Can’t see the video? Click here.

Also, a memorial service for Katie Reider will be held at 11am this Saturday (July 26th) at Crossroads Church, 3500 Madison Road, Cincinnati, Ohio. Hope to see you there.

Katie Reider
1978-2008

A friend and favorite musician of mine (and many of my friends) passed away this morning after a courageous two-year battle with a mysterious illness called a Myofibroblastic Inflammatory Tumor.

It’s about the saddest ending one could conceive of for one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met. Everyone knew Katie. She made us all feel like her close friends. Everyone would swear when she was singing, she was looking right at them and nobody else.

But it’s not her ending we must remember, it’s her life and her spirit. She touched sooooo many people’s lives. So many friends from different parts of my life were connected through her music. It’s amazing what one person can do.

There will be a candlelight vigil for her tonight at 9pm at the Goodale Park Gazebo. I hope some of you read this in time and can join us.

Most importantly— Please help her music live on. Listen to it yourself and pass it on to a friend.

We love you Katie, and will miss you. Your family will be in our thoughts.

Inspired by Arundhati Roy‘s “Come September” speech, this documentary was created.

It’s 64 minutes of music, life, death, war, peace, history, future, everything. It’ll knock you over… but when you get back up, you’ll be stronger than ever.

“Either way, change will come. It could be bloody, or it could be beautiful. It depends on us.”
- Arundhati Roy

Front row, center.

See the red circle? That’s me!!!!!

This makes me so incredibly happy that I won’t even bit@h too much about the $15 worth of Ticketmaster charges. They have a monopoly on the music industry and rob us blind, we all know this already. I paid $50 and I don’t care. It’s Patty!!

This Sunday it will be 4 years since the United States ILLEGALLY and IMMORALLY invaded Iraq, using September 11th as justification.

Since then we have lost over 3,218 US soldiers, over 23,785 have been maimed and injured, anywhere from 100,000-655,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed, over 2 MILLION Iraqis fortunate enough to get out alive are now refugees, and over $408 BILLION has been spent.

AND FOR WHAT?

Join us for a day of protest, music, speakers, and unity. A day to refuel, remember what we’re up against, and what wonderful people we have in the trenches with us. It’s all ages and a meager $2 will get you in.

Sponsored by Columbus 9/11 Truth, the Columbus chapter of World Can’t Wait, and other local peace groups.

Another year, another “anniversary.” Don’t know about you but I’ve had ENOUGH.

Iraq.. Afghanistan.. Iran.. Syria.. the lines are all blurring together. Shall we just hit the big red button and get it over it — put us out of our misery?

What a good excuse for a party, it may just be the last one we ever have. Sponsored by World Can’t Wait Columbus, Columbus 9/11 Truth, and other local peace groups. Music by Cultural Relativity, Ukulele Man, Connie Harris, Victoria Parks, and more. Speakers include Bob Fitrakis and others. (Will update when more details are available.)

That weekend is also the one-year anniversary of the release of V for Vendetta, how perfect.

“…It’s late now
And there’s only four hours ’til I get up again
You know I’d wait somehow
If I thought this was something
That a little time would mend…”

- Sarah Harmer

It’s been a while since this has happened, probably not since Patty Griffin’s 1,000 Kisses, but the latest occurance is the XY album by Coldplay. I hadn’t gotten into them much before, I liked what I heard on the radio but never bought their albums or anything. For whatever reason I started listening to this one and after a few plays, I’m finding myself unable to listen to anything else.

For documentary purposes, I’ve put together all the lines I’m obsessed with…

“You’re in control
is there anywhere you wanna go
You’re in control
is there anything you wanna know
The future’s for discovering
the space in which you travel in

From the top of your first page
to the end of the last page
From the start in your own way
you just want
somebody listening to what you say…

Is there anybody out there who
is lost and hurt and lonely too?
They’re bleeding all the colors into one
and a few come undone
as if you’ve been run through
some catapult who fired you
You wonder if your chance will ever come
or if you’re stuck in square one.”

- Square One

“If you ever feel like something’s missing
Things you’ll never understand
Little white shadows that blink in the distance
Part of a system plan

All this noise, I’m waking up
All the space I’m taking up
I cannot hear, you’re breaking up

Maybe you’ll get what you wanted
Maybe you’ll stumble upon it
Everything you ever wanted
In a permanent state.

Maybe you’ll know when you see it
Maybe if you say it you’ll mean it
And when you find it you keep it
In a permanent state

We’re part of the human race
All of the stars and the outer space
We’re part of the system plan

I swear I’m only seeing faces
tired of the human races
Oh, answer now is what I need…”

- White Shadows

“When you try your best but you don’t succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can’t sleep
Stuck in reverse

When the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can’t replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones…”

- Fix You

“You can take a picture of something you see
In the future where will I be?
You can climb a ladder up to the sun
Or write a song nobody has sung
Or do something that’s never been done

Are you lost or incomplete?
Do you feel like a puzzle, you can’t find your missing piece?
Tell me how do you feel
Well I feel like they’re talking in a language I don’t speak
And they’re talking it to me…”

- Talk

“How long am I gonna stand
With my head stuck under the stand
I start before I can stop or
Before I see things the right way up

All that noise and all that sound
All those places I have found
And earth’s gone flying at the speed of sound
To show you how it all began
Birds came flying from the underground
If you could see it then you’d understand..”

- Speed of Sound

“And the hardest part
Was letting go, not taking part
That was the hardest part

And the strangest thing
Was waiting for that bell to ring
It was the strangest start

I could feel it go down
Bittersweet, I could taste in my mouth
Silver lining the cloud
Oh and I wish that I could work it out…”

- Hardest Part

“The wheels just keep on turning
The drummers begin to drum
I don’t know which way I’m going
I don’t know which way I’ve come.”

- Til Kingdom Come

Because this album took me out of the musical drought I was having, I was writing a personal review to post here. Anything else wouldn’t suffice. “Testimony: Vol. 1 Life & Relationship” covers every emotion: sadness & mourning, reflection, wisdom, fun, pride, inspiration. My review was coming along quite nicely in fact… Then Firefox decided to lock up after I tried looking up a specific line of lyrics. Kind of pissed me off if you want to know the truth. I wish WordPress had an auto-save feature like Gmail so I would’ve had some of it saved at least.

I’m too tired and frustrated to write it all out again, so for now I’m just gonna post a review I found on Out in Columbus. It’s a pretty short review for such a great album, but enough to get you interested I think. And I have to second the rave opinion of song #3, Heart of the Matter, a cover of a Don Henley song. This one has been on repeat all week, amazing.

India.Arie Puts Spirit Back in Soul Music

By Chris Narloch

The lack of soul — both spiritual and musical soul — in most current rap and hip-hop product has been a depressing development for those of us who love African-American music. I grew up listening to Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder when I was a kid, and I’m sorry, but Beyoncé and Usher just can’t compare.

So I was thrilled to hear this CD from India.Arie, Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship, her first new album in four years and one of the most positive, spirit-filled pop discs released on the Motown label since Marvin Gaye gave us What’s Goin’ On.

India must have been inspired by a recent trip to South Africa because this CD feels even more personal than her two previous studio efforts — Acoustic Soul (2001) and Voyage To India (2002).

The singer wrote or co-wrote most of the songs on the disc, and if her melodic skills occasionally fail her, the empowering lyrics more than make up for it. Songs such as “I Choose” and “There’s Hope” look at the problems in the world at large (and in the singer’s own world) and repeatedly come to the conclusion that faith must trump despair.

Two stellar tracks in the middle of the CD form the heart of the singer’s message: “India Song” and “Wings Of Forgiveness” address slavery and racial injustice with a historical and spiritual context that is incredibly positive. And in the irresistibly catchy “Better People” India implores young people to listen to the wisdom of their elders.

My favorite track on the disc, however, is a cover of another songwriter’s lyric — Don Henley’s great “The Heart of the Matter.” With an exquisitely delicate vocal and an interesting arrangement that successfully transforms Henley’s original into a soul song, India.Arie makes the tune her own.