the geneva walmart

So, the Wal-Mart in Geneva, AL, turns 30 today, this the last day of August.

Here you see Birmingham, Troy, Samson,
and Geneva. The pink dots are bigger than
the actual towns themselves.

Let me set the geography for the many of you that have no clue where I'm talking about. I'm from a little town called Samson, population 2100, with 2 red lights and a caution light, and 40ish members of the graduation class of 1993.  Our family moved to 201 N. Johnson Street in 1984, then across the side street to 211 North Johnson Street in 1985, and finally, 208 N. Johnson Street in 1986... yes, we moved one house over, across a street, then moved across N. Johnson to another house, and that would be the home I lived in until I moved off to college in the fall of 1993.

Samson has two main roads - the aforementioned N. Johnson, which runs north to south, and Hwy 52, which runs east to west, and essentially is the "downtown" part of Samson, Alabama.  So if you left my house, took a left once you hit town at Hwy 52, and then drove 8 miles... past the Subway/Dollar General (is that still there?) and the old peanut mill, past the log cabin house, past the pipe plant thing, past the McInnis' veterinarian office, past the caution light, past the cutoff road to go to Joey Stephens' old house and where Forrest & Charlotte Wright live (and Sandy and Cristie too), and yes, past the Sunny Meadows Cemetery (rest in peace, Jennifer W-B) you'll come to the Geneva County seat, a small city called Geneva, Alabama.

And if you did all of these things on August 31st, 1987, you'd see the brand spankin' new Walmart. To my 12 year old self, this was amazing.  I had only heard tale of such discount stores, but to have a Walmart here?  Eight miles from my house??  I mean... that was even cooler than the McDonald's in Geneva (which would be about 9 miles from my house), or the movie theaters in Enterprise (around 20 miles from my house), or even the brand new Wiregrass Commons Mall in Dothan (I lived 45 miles from a mall... those were the days).

This Walmart was amazing!  It had records and tapes, and clothes, and cool things and other cool things and it was HUGE.  I mean, not as big as that new Walmart Supercenter that opened in Enterprise in what, 1989?  But still.  A Walmart was 8 miles from me.  So awesome.

And I frequented that Walmart.  Frequently.

As a matter of fact, I can tell you with certainty that in the time it opened until I moved to Troy in 1993, I purchased the following:

The majesty of the Walmart in Geneva. To 12 year old me, it was a castle.
To 42 year old me, its a quaint reminder of childhood. 

• Debbie Gibson's "Out of the Blue" album on vinyl, and considering it just turned 30 itself, this might be the first thing I ever purchased from a Walmart.  
• The soundtrack to the movie "Cocktail", also on vinyl
• A Valentine's gift for my high school girlfriend Cindy H, which I believe was pajamas
• A birthday gift for my friend Stephanie Phillips, who said after her birthday that I didn't even get her a card. She was kidding, but I bought her a shirt.  Nowadays, a "shirt from Walmart" doesn't sound as nice as "a shirt from Target" or "a shirt from Macys", but to me, it was an awesome gift. It was white with pink stripes. It had shoulder pads. Yes, looking back, it was probably not very fashionable, and to Stephanie's credit, she wore it at least once.  But I bought it with my own money, so it's the thought that counts, right? Right.
• Tons of paper and notebooks for the stories I wrote in junior high and high school, and I wrote a ton. By hand. I wore mechanical pencils slap out (of which I also bought at Walmart)
• Starship's "Knee Deep in the Hoopla" and The Jets' self titled album, both on cassette. I loved The Jets
• A pair of silk boxer shorts, just because I wanted to find out what silk boxers felt like. They ride. Bad.
• My first tennis racket. I was inspired by Jennifer Capriati and Wimbledon back in the day, and I played tennis regularly for the next 15 to 20 years. 
• Amy Grant's "That's What Love is For" on cassette single. I still have it.  Love that song.
• Cathy King's baby shower gift, which was a carseat.  She was a classmate of mine, and to be fair, High School Girlfriend Cindy H and I bought it together.
• Angie Jay's homecoming gift, because she was my date in October 1992. Until Bradley Miller screwed that up.  Don't remember the gift, but I never gave it.  There's a high school story for you. 
• A ficus tree for Ms Peterson, my civics teacher, because her kindness saved my Troy scholarship. I left after my last final as a high school student, sped down to the Geneva Walmart, bought it and sped back, putting it in her classroom before her planning period was over.   

This Walmart holds a ton of memories for me, and I'm glad it's still open. And I'm actually glad it's not 24 hours -- its hours are something like 7a to 9p or maybe even 10p on the weekends.  And whereas the Walmart (formerly a "Supercenter", but now just called "Walmart") that is about 4 minutes from my home through traffic is a behemoth of a building, the Geneva Walmart is less than 150 paces from one side to the other.  I know because I've counted it.  150 paces would get you out of the grocery department and maybe past the self service checkout at the Walmart on Hwy 280, close to me.

And when I have a few extra minutes as I'm coming through Samson (with my old house being sold, there isn't a lot of "coming to" Samson now), I'll drive down Hwy 52, stop at Sunny Meadows and see my friend Jennifer for a minute, then stop in the Geneva Walmart. Sometimes just to walk around, though that doesn't take long. Sometimes to remember where I used to purchase records, then cassettes, then the Plexiglas case that had CD long boxes -- CD players were too fancy for my blood in 1992, I tell you.

So, happy 30th birthday, Geneva Walmart. May you be around another 30, and I'll see you soon, I'm sure.

(Many thanks to my friend Amy Warr for retweeting the WTVY-TV link that alerted me to this great holiday -- you can read their story here, though mine is better)

my favorite albums... 90 thru 81

Welcome back to the show... here's the next set of my all time favorite albums...

Read:
The Introduction
My 100th to 91st favorite albums of all time

90

"Off the Deep End" by Weird Al Yankovic (1992)... I love, have always loved, and will always love, Weird Al Yankovic.  He's just hilarious.  And inventive.  And funny.  And his 7th studio album falls in that love category... he parodies the New Kids on the Block's "The Right Stuff" with an ode to the creamy center of an Oreo, "The White Stuff"... he digs on Milli Vanilli in "The Plumbing Song"... he joins with Cheech Marin in doing some "Rico Suave" as "Taco Grande"... and my favorite of the bunch is the lead single--"Smells Like Nirvana", a great parody of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit".  Story goes that Al reached out, somewhat nervously, to Kurt Cobain about doing a Nirvana song.  Cobain asked, "Is your parody about food?"  Al replied, "Well... uh... no.  Its actually about how no one can understand your lyrics..."  Cobain loved the idea, the song and the video that accompanied it.  As he should.  Its brilliant.

89
"Songs from Ally McBeal" by Vonda Shepard (1998)... This will fall into the category of "CDs I listened to continually for a long, long time, but haven't heard in a long, long time..."  I used to love me some Ally McBeal, as well as the music... and most of the music from the first few seasons was done by singer-songwriter Vonda Shepard... the CD is mostly covers like "Walk Away Renee" and "Just Ask the Lonely", but my favorite is the Ally McBeal theme song, "Searching My Soul". 

Wait... I just found out that Vonda Shepard is the same Vonda Shepard that duets with Dan Hill on the 80s cheesefest "Can't We Try"... how did I not know this?  I mean, how many Vonda Shepards making music can there be?  Why didn't I make this connection?  I'm losing my touch...

88
"Purple" by Stone Temple Pilots (1994)... I have to give props to my high school buddy Greg Avant for turning me on to this band... I'll tell that story later, but "Purple" is their second CD, and its just so, so good.  "Interstate Love Song" is the one that got the most play on the radio, but there are other gems here... like "Big Empty", a song that was later featured in "The Crow" soundtrack, and the oddly named, great sounding "Meat Plow".  I'm not a huge heavy metal fan, but I loved me some STP.  Of course, this was truly the last great album they made... their next CD, "Tiny Music from the Vatican Gift Shop" was good, but just not the same magic as their first one, and this one.  Favorite track: Vasoline

Unfortunately, Scott Weiland, the frontman for STP, was buzzed on heroin for much of the early STP years.  And he sounded awesome.  And when he got clean, STP suffered.  I know, its a terrible thing... but I miss Heroin Addicted Scott Weiland.  Maybe he just shoot up for recording sessions, remaining closely supervised by doctors, and then immediately go into rehab.  That's probably why I'm not a music producer.

87.
"Surfacing" by Sarah McLachlan (1997)... I do love me some Sarah Mac.  I procured tickets to see her in concert once, while working at a radio station.  We sat next to the Paepckes' (Jon from NBC13 and his wife Jennifer)... and the four of us might have been the only four straight people in the entire arena.

Anyway, "Surfacing" is the fourth studio album from Sarah, and containing some excellent songs like "Building a Mystery" and the grew-on-me-over-the-years "Adia".  Loses points, however, for the inclusion of "Angel", a really slow song already that has been forever marred because its the music used by the ASPCA, showing you pictures of one eyed puppies, three legged kittens and retarded horses to guilt you into sending them money.  That song is ruined.  Favorite track, though? "Sweet Surrender".  Looooove me some "Sweet Surrender".

86   
"House of Love" by Amy Grant (1994)... The early 90s were really tough on Mrs. Grant.  She made a highly successful crossover to pop music with "Heart in Motion", released in 1991 and was on the short list of albums for this Top 100... things weren't going well, though.  She separated from singer/songwriter Gary Chapman, and while in that separation, she met country superstar Vince Gill, who appears on this album, in a duet for the title track.  Gary and Amy finalized their divorce in 1999, and in 2000, she married Vince, himself previously married to a chick from Sweethearts of the Rodeo. 

Personally, I think she fell in love with Vince in the mid to late 90s, still married to Gary... but I also think they knew years before the divorce that the marriage was doomed.   Listen to 1997's  "Behind the Eyes", the album that came after this--its pretty painful.  Her heart was broken.  How did this turn into an Amy Grant story?

"House of Love" is fun, light, and peppy, especially with "Lucky One", a somewhat winkwink nudgenudge to the art of Christian lovin'... I dig her version of "Oh How the Years Go By"... I like "Children of the World"... but my favorite has to be the title track, "House of Love"

85
"Caedmon's Call" by Caedmon's Call (1997)... Like many of you, I find new bands because someone says "These guys are awesome, you should check them out."  That's how I discovered The Weepies (Thanks Hannah Pruitt!) and The Lemonheads (Thanks Mike Dunn!  You stole my girlfriend, but at least I have the Lemonheads to listen to!)... and one summer in 1997, doing summer missions with the Baptist Association in Montgomery, Alabama, this dude named Jason said, "You need to listen to Caedmon's Call.  They are awesome."  And they were.  They are.  From the opening "Lead of Love" to the great closer, "Coming Home", and everything in between, its guitar worship Jesus praise, and its great.  "This World" is an amazing take on how this is not our home, "I Just Don't Want Coffee" could be a theme song for me, and "Close of Autumn" is one of my Life Songs, or songs that most affected my Christian Walk

84
"Serious Hits... Live" by Phil Collins (1990)... Phil is one of those guys who was pretty awesome in a band--Genesis--and had a pretty awesome solo career, at least early.  Then he kinda became a wuss.  (See "Adams, Bryan").  Anyway, on this live CD you get some pretty serious hits live, like "Do You Remember" and "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven", which are from the studio album before this "But Seriously...", but you also get some earlier stuff, including "Easy Lover" and "In the Air Tonight".  And there is an incredible version of "Separate Lives", and my favorite Phil Collins song "I Wish It Would Rain Down".  Did you also know that Phil is the father of Lily Collins, the big sis in "The Blindside"?  Yup. 

At some point, this exchange actually happens:
Paula:  Have you ever been in love?
Keanu: If I was... I didn't know it...
Glorious.  Brilliant.  Poignant.  Ridiculous.  All in one. I frickin love
the "Rush Rush" video...

83
"Spellbound" by Paula Abdul (1991)... And we get our first repeat artist of the countdown... I gotta be honest.  For a long time, I had "Forever Your Girl" ranked this high, and "Spellbound" was among the discarded nominations... but I took a long look at the track listing, and even pulled up iTunes and took a listen at "Vibeology" (oh so funky) and "The Promise of a New Day" (positive vibes along for the ride) and "Blowing Kisses in the Wind" (soft and melodic) and of course, "Rush Rush", which can only be truly appreciated if you watch the most ridiculous video in the history of mankind.  I mean, Keanu Reeves is portraying James Dean.  Read that sentence again. 

82
"A Maze of Grace" by Avalon (1997)... Yes, in the 90s, trios and quartets in Contemporary Christian Music were almost a dime a dozen.  Sometimes it was hard to tell your Sierra from your The Waiting from Silage from PFR to FFH to Big Tent Revival... they all kind of sounded alike, even with different sounds and styles... and somehow, Avalon kinda sounded like that too.  But, to me, they stood out with this CD... This, their 2nd album, was magical, as it contained great worship music like "Adonai" and "Dreams I Dream For You"... oh, and this monster hit you couldn't get away from, "Testify To Love".  Don't get me wrong, its a great song, but in 1997-98, that song was EVA.REE.WHERE... I mean, all over.  And yes, I know all the words.  My favorite tunes on this album though, are the awesome strong-in-faith song "World Away" and the love song to God, "Reason Enough"

81

"Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live from Central Park" by Sheryl Crow (1999)... I do love Sheryl Crow. Ever since her first album, "Tuesday Night Music Club", which as you might guess, you'll hear about later, I have enjoyed her music, her writing and her style... that's changed a bit in the last six or seven years, as I kinda feel like she's become a little flaky for my tastes, as you can read here in a post from years ago, but that doesn't change her work in the 90s.  This live CD features Eric Clapton, The Dixie Chicks, Chrissy Hynde from The Pretenders, Stevie Nicks and Sarah McLachlan, an incredible line-up, and... well, this CD is just fun.  My favorite track is the duet with Stevie Nicks, on a cover of "Gold Dust Woman"

ALMOST MADE THE CUT

My first three CD purchases... 1) The Monkees box set... 2) The Pulp Fiction Soundtrack... and ...

The Hit Songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber (1995)... I don't know who sings these songs, and the liner notes are somewhere around here, I dunno... but I love "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" from Evita, a musical I don't really ever care to see... and I thought this version of "Memories" from CATS was incredible, even though I've seen CATS twice and it sucked both times... and of course, the title song from "The Phantom of the Opera" will rock your world... and "Jesus Christ Superstar"?  Holy crap that song is a jam.  And I got it all from this CD, on sale for $11.95, at On Cue in Troy, Alabama.

The Death of CCM Magazine

Did you know that CCM Magazine was gone?

Neither did I.

I used to get CCM way back in the day, and looked forward to reading it cover to cover... when I say "back in the day", I am referring to about a six year span between 1995 and 2001 where my subscription ran uninterrupted, and no magazine went unread.

It was the go to source for news of dcTalk's new album, or this new girl named Jennifer Knapp or Nichole Nordeman had new music out, or this amazing article on Gary Chapman--and his side of the Amy Grant/Gary Chapman divorce--that came out sometime in the late 90s. CCM was a gold mine of not just Christian music information, but Christian life as well. There were festivals to read about, new artists, old artists, and somewhere, I still have the tribute issue from when Rich Mullins died in a car wreck.

When I ran Sunday Night Power, a Christian music show, in 1997 and 1998 for WTBT at Troy, I would use CCM as question material when interviewing Jars of Clay or Cindy Morgan or Audio Adrenaline... remember, the internet was not only newly formed at this time, but the dearth of informaion wasn't nearly as dearthy as it is now.

I guess sometime after 2001, maybe 2002, I let my subscription lapse. I think I let a few issues go by before renewing it, but then let it lapse again and never got around to picking it back up. Sometime over the years, CCM Magazine changed. Following Rolling Stone's lead, it dropped the in-depthness of its articles and columns, and began a more "glossy" style, with less opinion and journalism, replaced with puff pieces on the wonders of Chris Tomlin, or the legendary status of Michael W. Smith. Unlike Rolling Stone, however, there weren't legions of fans that, if some left because of the unfortunate changes, there'd be enough to pick up the slack.

It was also about that time that I couldn't tell the difference in Matt Redman and David Crowder and The Barlow Girls sounded like Aurora who sounded like Joy Williams who just lost my interest... hence, d$ and CCM Magazine parted ways, after almost 10 years together.

And then, a few weeks ago, I was doing a Wiki search on someone... I don't remember who... maybe Jars, maybe Kevinmax, but I read something along the lines of "...before CCM Magazine folded in 2008..." What? What is this? So I googled up CCM Magazine, and found out that yes, in April 2008, what I knew as Contemporary Christian Magazine had indeed ceased their monthly publication on their 30th anniversary. Gone.


CCM Magazine's final issue

In my searching, I found an interesting article from the, ironically enough, online magazine Patrol, written by David Sessions...

Sessions writes...

"It is quite a curiosity how frequently some cultural phenomena are pronounced dead. Rock music, in particular, dies at least once a decade. And now it seems the question is echoing in the Christian music industry almost as loudly, as those who remember the great days of dcTalk and the Newsboys wonder: Is Christian rock dead?

Further fueling the speculation is CCM magazine’s announcement that it will discontinue its print edition in April, the press statement announced that CCM readers “want information faster than a print magazine can deliver,” and explains the folding of the print magazine as an intentional move to allow CCM to put its energy into online content. It is difficult to imagine that the Christian music industry would have been the same without the magazine. For most of my life, it set the trends and made the brand among Christian youth. But over the past few years, CCM has fought a losing battle for its audience as it continues covering a product its target demographic, young evangelicals, consumes at a gradually decreasing rate.

On its face, such a transformation from print to web is hardly remarkable; print magazines of all stripes are, after all, struggling to survive in the new media environment. But in addition to triggering the media evolution, technology has contributed to the disappearance of CCM’s prime readership. Thousands of artists now able to self-market their music to the world, including Christian musicians uncomfortable with the industry’s insistence on marketable formula. Believers seem to have realized there’s quite a bit of great music out there, and Christians aren’t the only ones making it. With such a selection available, including many popular choices that lack traditionally offensive content, there remains no justification for Christians to subject themselves to the generally substandard fare offered in Christian bookstores.

CCM belatedly caught on to these trends, announcing last May that the magazine would change its name from “Contemporary Christian Music” to “Christ. Community. Music.” and would broaden its focus to include “Christian worldview music,” music made by Christians but necessarily intended for an exclusively evangelical audience. The magazine had previously covered only music with explicit religious content, a perennial annoyance to Christian artists who believed music should incorporate all aspects of life and creation without forced utterances of Jesus’ name or cliched religious imagery.

The magazine’s new incarnation was a step in the right direction, but was too little too late,even “Christian worldview music” is a scope too narrow to make their content roundly relevant to the young evangelical music consumer.

The broader coverage allowed CCM to benefit from the success of artists like Sufjan Stevens, but it also instantly associated him with the “faith brand,” a characterization that Christian musicians like Stevens and The Fray persistently resist. Individually, they contend, they are followers of Christ. Professionally, they are serious musicians who strive to be appreciated because they make great music for all kinds of people. At CCM, even in its newer, more “relevant” incarnation, artists were still generally more appreciated for being popular, successful Christians than they were for being excellent musicians. Thus even the new CCM didn’t necessarily appeal to the best Christian artists, many of whom are trying to avoid exactly the sort of distinction that labels like “Christian worldview music” make, most of all, association with the disposable, imitative art of the evangelical subculture.

There is no doubt that these changes in theology and technology had a negative impact on Christian music publications. If you visit the places where people should be reading CCM, Christian colleges campuses and church youth groups, you’re more likely to find copies of Paste or overhear references to Pitchfork Media, the same places their secular counterparts go for music information. And with the obvious fact that the middle-aged listeners of the few still-popular Christian bands like Casting Crowns aren’t the biggest readers of hip music rags, CCM faced a double-whammy: Christian artists don’t want any part of a separate “Christian music” industry, and young Christian fans aren’t primarily interested in the music that used to be called Christian rock. With both content and readers disappearing simultaneously, it was only a matter of time until the magazine would be forced to either transform completely or fold.

CCM’s Christian music coverage will still be around, but it remains to be seen if the magazine can compete in the competitive, crowded world of internet music journalism. And while some of us can’t help feeling at least a small wave of nostalgia for the publication that accompanied us through adolescence, we should be encouraged by the fact that a positive change, a growing commitment by Christians to break out of their artistic bubble, has brought its relevance to a conclusion."

(d$ again) I only posted this article because really, he says it better than I could. Here is CCM Online

Did you know that Michael Tait is now the lead singer for Newsboys? CCM Magazine would have told me this. .