Oy, Jaron. For such a funny guy, you have some humorless fans!

The other day I was thinking that I had lost my way in this blog. The fact that I am a Jewish country music fan had lost its importance and I had assimilated into the mass of mostly secular country music conversation.

                                       

Then, Sunday night I see that Jaron Lowenstein, the Jewish pop singer gone country, has posted the following on his Facebook page

"Haaa!!! "Thank you to God for making me an atheist." -Ricky Gervais. Wow. that guy's got balls."

Just imagine Jaron having 100 bibles thrown at him (all but one aimed to just miss his pretty head) and then his fans lecturing and preaching to one another from their respective moral highgrounds. That's what the comment thread looks like. Some of comments are long rants, both for and against the Gervais quote and a Christian understanding of God and faith.  "He totally contradicted himself and it's not even right." one frustrated and comedically impaired Jaron fan says of Gervais.

An offended Christian's post reads, "Speechless... Can you shoot your maker in the face any harder?" It doesn't surprise me that religious Christians find Gervais' statement offensive, but this comment is so removed from my frame of reference that I honestly find it bizarre. Even my most religious Jewish friends would find some humor Gervais' statement, at least in the contradiction itself.

Considering that the song "I'll Pray for You", his ticket onto country radio, is 100% sarcastic, the comment "I love when Christians use the statement "I'll pray for you" at the end of their discussions as a way to be a condescending a-hole." is rather apropo on behalf of the not-offended and tired of the preaching.

I wonder if Jaron had any clue that so many of his fans lack a sense of humor when it comes to God. Why should he? It doesn't make any sense that they like his song "I'll Pray for You" but are unable to laugh at Gervais ridiculous statement.

I said that all but one bible was aimed to miss Jaron's head. His offended fans for the most part criticized Gervais for joking about God, not Jaron for repeating it and finding it funny.  Only one guy posted "Jaron....I used 2 like you."

I'm glad Jaron's not wearing some sort of hokey country camoflague in order to fit into the genre more easily. Even though he doesn't have enough twang for my taste, I'll continue following his career because he keeps me entertained. Here's his next funny song "Happy For You". If this makes it onto the radio (doubtful) I can already hear my eight year old saying "Mama, it isn't nice to say hate."

Readers Choice gets No Respect at Country Weekly

So I couldn't resist picking up Country Weekly this week in the supermarket check-out aisle. They have appointed Tim McGraw as country's sexiest man in 2010. Ok. Fine. Tim McGraw is impossibly sexy when he has a hat on. There is a reason he almost always wears that hat.

Here's the thing that amused me and why I'm writing about something so ridiculous.  They say at the beginning of the article that the readers' choices, which they have put in a little box on the last page, surprised them. Obviously that is the case, because only four of the readers' choices overlapped CW's choices, and readers' number one choice, Trace Adkins, isn't even on CW's list.  Now we should at this point remember that I voted for Jaron Lowenstein four times just because he's MOT.  He didn't make the top 10 of either list, and I'm not surprised. I don't actually think that Jaron Lowenstein is country music's sexiest man so I understand that CW's may need to make some editorial decisions that contradict the results of a readers poll. Danny Gokey was #4 on the readers' choice list and I'm glad he wasn't one of CW's top 10.

On the other hand, it's a bit of a shanda that Trace Adkins is the #1 readers' choice and isn't even included in the article. He should be. Many women apparently find the blond giant very attractive and between the radio play he gets, numerous appearances all over television, his ad campaign with Richard Petty, and his tour with Toby Keith, the man is ubiquitous. CW, have a little more respect for your readers' opinions.

But is it Good for the Jews?

Yesterday I purchased and downloaded Jaron and the Long Road to Love's album, "Getting Dressed in the Dark". It's very easy to listen to, shall I say, easy listening. Every song is, at the very least, pretty, which I know isn't what an artist wants to hear, but that's the truth. Pretty songs. The one stand-out song is "Pray for You". It's been on the radio for a while and I understand from something Jaron posted on his facebook page, is now the #1 video on CMT.

The first time I heard the song “Pray for You” I was so surprised. It was one of those moments when I search the faces of other drivers at the stoplight for signs that we are listening to the same thing. Country music has many funny songs, but this one is mean funny. There are also countless country songs that talk about church, preachers and praying, but Pray for You is charmingly irreverent. A few days later I was flipping through a magazine and saw that a guy named Jaron Lowenstein sings “Pray for You”. Of course the MOT bells rang and I nearly plotzed in the checkout line as I heard my Grandmother, of blessed memory, ask “But is this good for the Jews?”

Why would I hear my Grandmother asking that?  If you don't know the song, here's the video. 

Jewish people don’t say “I’ll pray for you.” That’s a Christian expression.  So, as a Jewish person who has lived in the Bible belt most of her life, quite frankly, it made me feel a bit paranoid. What will they think of him, and us, if G-d forbid someone decides he is making fun of Christians. To me it’s obvious that he’s not making fun of anyone but himself, but G-d forbid someone doesn't see it that way. It would be a shame.

I dug around the Internet searching for insight. Very few people seem all that spun up about it. The song has its detractors, but in most of the comment threads I read, the complainers were greatly outnumbered by people who loved the song.  It's a poignant little song. I certainly had a grudge that immediately came to mind when I heard it.  When asked why he used a preacher and church in the song, Jaron has said in an interview that he co-wrote the song with the son of a Baptist minister and jokes that nothing rhymes with synagogue. Well, I am very glad that he was able to find a way to get that song out of his brain and onto the radio. If he had written it in a Jewish context, nobody would have heard it.

Yes! Grandma, it is good for the Jews. Country Weekly gave readers the option to vote for Jaron as Country’s hottest man.  I voted for him four times, using all my husband’s and my email addresses.  There is nothing that would make me happier than seeing his shaina punim on the cover of Country Weekly as Country Music’s hottest man. 

Now regarding the video for “That’s Beautiful to Me”. Why the Santa hat on the lady? Enough with the camouflage Jaron.  Grow some beitzim.