Jeffrey Alexander Martin

I love the name Cloudland. Let me paint you a quick picture about a time I went mountain climbing. I was 19 and I was halfway through a crazy adventure. I had ridden a bus from Michigan to Washington State for four days. I rode my mountain bike across the desert and over the Cascade Mountains, from Yakima to Mount Rainier, in three days. Now, I was on the second day of my two-day climb of Mt. Rainier. It's a fast climb, and today we are supposed to reach the summit. There's a glacier that we need to get up before the sun gets too high. Apparently, the idea is that we are going to climb through this section while it's still really cold in the morning. Then, as the sun rises the ice and snow is going to heat up and there will probably be a small avalanche. Then, we're going to come back down this section again later. For the plan to work, you need to not be there when the avalanche happens. But, one of the guys that I'm roped to is having problems, major prob...

"Jennifer Carole Ledger (born 8 December 1989) is an English drummer and co-vocalist for the American Christian rock and hard rock band Skillet, and a solo alternative rock project: Ledger." That's the breakdown from Wikipedia. Today we're looking at her new song "Iconic". Today will be different. I often break down the lyrics stanza by stanza. Today I'm going to give you some things to look for, and then the lyrics. See what you notice. First things first, we need to look at the word icon, because she didn't name it "Iconic" for no reason. Here are the first two definitions from Google. - - - - - - - a painting of Jesus Christ or another holy figure, typically in a traditional style on wood, venerated and used as an aid to devotion in the Byzantine and other Eastern Churches. a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol or as worthy of veneration. - - - - - - - This song talks about the experience of being touche...

When Bill sent me the song "Through It All" by Gandhi's Gun, the first thing that I thought of was "Through It All" by Spoken. I thought it was a bad sign because I would just be comparing it to a completely different song that I didn't think it would be able to stand up against, since I like Spoken. But, I was wrong. Luckily they are different enough that I won't compare the two, and I would say Gandhi's Gun is just as good. There are two versions of this song that Gandhi's Gun has out: the original and the acoustic versions. I like the acoustic version myself. But, we'll get to that in a minute. Gandhi's Gun has the normal story about a band, and I will put that here, but the song "Through It All" has a more interesting story. Both of these came from their website:  http://gandhisgun.com/ - - - - - - - With positive messaging and an aggressive edge, Gandhi’s Gun combines the best elements of rock from days past with ...

Today we have a band that is quickly gaining popularity. Lucky for us they were helpful enough to give me some insight into their inspiration for a specific song. Collision of Innocence was formed at the beginning of 2018. Bill from 88.9 Hey Radio messaged me and wanted me to take a look at their song "The Void". It's an excellent song, but I wasn't able to find the lyrics anywhere. So, I messaged the band on Facebook. Not only did they send me the lyrics, they also told me that the inspiration for the song had come from a message by Billy Graham. I have all of that for you, then I'll dive into the song myself and see what I pull out of it. You can listen to the song on Youtube here:  https://youtu.be/QlRBXG5ZYwc And, here is their Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/collisionofinnocence/ Ever wonder about the secrets of making connections like these? Here's how I do it, in a straightforward manner. No matter what happens there won't be comp...

I've been writing articles on bands and their songs for 88.9 Hey Radio. After I'd done 6 articles I realized that I should send the articles to the bands and see if I get any responses. Four of the bands responded. Here's what they said. - - - - - - - Rusty Shipp said: Wow, Jeff! This is awesome! Thank you so much! Have you had our songs in rotation? Zahna said: Thanks so much for that write up! Amongst the Giants said: Wow! This is amazing! Thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this. So crazy! Grandpa Loves Rhinos said: Hey there jeff, I really appreciate you sharing the article with us.  I get personal satisfaction in hearing how our songs are viewed from various perspectives, especially with a critical and keen eye like yours.  What was most interesting to me was your take on how the song more matches the communicative properties of a comic book rather than a movie.  It's something I wouldn't have considered if I hadn't read ...

Yes, that's the real name of the band, Grandpa Loves Rhinos. Alright, without further ado, let's dive into the article. - - - - - - - The first thing you probably think when you hear about the band Grandpa Loves Rhinos is, "What's up with that name?" I know that's the first thing I thought. Well, it's a literal statement. The band is two brothers, and their grandpa really did love rhinos. He even had a room full of collectible rhinos. There are some other interesting things about this band. One, they decided that the title of their first album would be a bit of advice, "Better Eat Your Wheaties". Is that advice or is that a threat? Good question, but I'm not going to go there. Next is what I find most interesting. Here is a blurb from their Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/grandpalovesrhinos/ - - - - - - - Grandpa Loves Rhinos hails from the state of Idaho and is comprised of Paul and Seth Hyde, brothers who are geogr...

Are you ready for the next installment of my series for 88.9 Hey Radio? Today I think we will go with dark emotion. - - - - - - - I had never heard of Zahna. You probably haven't either. That's because Zahna didn't exist before 2017. Here's how she introduces herself on her website: - - - - - - - Zahna is a female Christian Hard Rock solo artist based out of San Antonio, TX, and is also known as Suzy Martinez, the former front-woman of national touring band "ILIA". After separation with ILIA in 2016, Martinez debuted as Zahna in Mid 2017. Fusing gritty, industrial guitar riffs with technical drum elements, the San Antonio-based vocalist shines her aggressive vocal style, giving birth to the powerful active rock she now claims as her own. https://www.zahnaofficial.com/ - - - - - - - She was also married in late 2018, which means that she now has another name. Zahna is a woman of many names. Her first album was released in 201...

This will probably be an intellectually intense article. The exploration of depth in lyrics. Before we dive into the actual article I'm writing, check this out. I went through the lyrics of the song I'm going to explore and these are the notes I wrote to myself on the first time through (I left in initial spelling errors and everything). - - - - - - - con fidere, cognitive dissonance, semantic triangle square, squaring the triangle individualized groups and anonymous communities, true dialogue and discussion, intention and consquentialism weight as both truth and importance, experience as singular, autonomy and locus of control the dispossessed, self censoring, procrastination of challenge, platos cave seeing the light, truth as not always comfortable, free speech necessary for free thought explicit and implicit communication transactional analysis eric berne, diversity of opinion perspective logic experience and value, don't understand that, rene girard, mirr...