LOCAL 'PAPER' SHOCKED: MUSIC CAN BE POLITICAL?!

It seems the avant-garde critics at the Santa Barbara Independent have once again unearthed a profound truth: sometimes, musicians sing about things other than moonbeams and daisies. Their recent 'review' of James McMurtry's SOhO performance breathlessly reported that his 'political lyrics took the stage by storm,' as if a songwriter expressing views is a revolutionary act and not, say, the very essence of folk and Americana music for centuries. One almost expects a follow-up exposé on how some poets occasionally use metaphors, or how certain painters might, get this, employ color to convey emotion. Truly groundbreaking stuff.

While the Independent gushes over McMurtry's 'political commentary' – presumably the kind they approve of – they conveniently miss the real story: the storm isn't on the stage, but brewing in the audience, as real folks wonder why every aspect of life, even a night out with a guitar, must be filtered through a partisan lens. It's almost as if the 'Martial Law Review' (McMurtry's opening act, apparently) could write more coherent, less agenda-driven prose than our esteemed local rag. Are we to believe that every strum of a guitar string now requires an ideological litmus test from the city's self-appointed cultural arbiters?

Perhaps next week the Independent will report on how some local bakeries are, astonishingly, selling bread, and some of it even has gluten. One might hope they'd eventually connect the dots between the cost of admission to these 'politically charged' performances and the ever-rising taxes that leave fewer discretionary dollars in the pockets of hardworking Santa Barbarans. But then again, that might require actual critical thought, not just parroting back whatever sentiment makes the 'right' people feel good about themselves.