Protected: Old Friends, New Site

By rascal

He Restoreth My Soul

By rascal

Thanks to  Brookeabcdefg for the photo.

Had someone told me a year ago that I would be offering holiday wishes to many hundreds of warm-hearted, hilarious, glorious people who have become members of an online community run by me, I would have laughed and asked, “for what possible reason?” The clairvoyant might have replied, “all because of one remarkable young man.”

I won’t demur. I have been captivated by one or two remarkable young men in my time. But none have warranted (or deserved) the level of attention and consideration I have allocated here. And as I have said before: It almost doesn’t seem like a choice. It feels more like a calling. It is also undeniable that the perpetuation of this effort would have been impossible without the incredible support and participation of the notingDavid membership. I have such great respect and affection for the people who congregate here that I hardly know what I might do to continue to deserve your company.

Gratitude must also be conveyed even, and perhaps especially, to those members who have on occasion challenged me, sometimes with great fervor, in my beliefs and practices. Having to figure out how to be inclusive without sacrificing my principles has been an education. I have a great deal more respect for the difficulties involved in the politics of inclusion, and take this moment to wish our new president much wisdom and patience in his intentions to put into practice this lofty and demanding ideal.

David may never fully realize the degree to which his existence has and will continue to affect people in profound and remarkable ways. Such is the nature–the curse and the blessing–of the artist. Despite his immense love and passion for music, for his audience and for his fans, we need always to be aware that his ability to sing for us is built on a foundation of diligence, dedication, hard work, and sometimes great difficulty and sacrifice. Things are always pretty onstage because the sweat and blood has been spilled offstage. I have alluded before to the irony that his fans are in many ways much luckier than he is, for David is the only one in the world incapable of knowing what it is to be moved by the artistry of David Archuleta.

As I was watching what has become perhaps my favorite Christmas movie, one particular scene jumped out at me like an Archugaze. It refers to an association that has been made before, but which I think is particularly resonant here. I probably won’t be posting again until January, so please accept this little presentation as my holiday gift and New Year’s wish to all of you, fellow travelers in pursuit of a guiding star.

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Archuleta Family Gift Basket

By rascal

Donations are now closed.

Most of you know that I don’t tend to initiate or participate in fan-driven efforts and projects, but there is a time of year for such gestures, and this is it. For 2008 especially, I think it behooves us to offer a small token of acknowledgement and appreciation to the Family Archuleta for bestowing upon a grateful world their son, whose presence has made a multitude of lives both deeper and brighter.

I have already made arrangements for a gift from “the Community at notingDavid.org” to be delivered personally to the family at their home. My intention is to build a custom basket from Dean & DeLuca based on how much money we raise by a week from today, Tuesday, December 16th. I will personally pay for expedited shipping.

Below you will find a donation form, which is connected to my PayPal account. You do not need a PayPal account in order to contribute. I have slated a default amount of $5.00. You may give any amount.

Use the comments field to compose a brief note to the Archuleta family, to be included as part of the package.

If you wish to remain anonymous in the gifting, simply leave the comments field blank. If you want your real full name to be included in the gift, please send me a note through the contact form.

All monies will go to the cost of the gift, and you can see a running total as soon as donations begin to accrue. I will email a receipt for the gift to any contributor who requests it. Click in for the donation form.

Happy Davidays! Read more »

Cantiello Gets My Vote

By rascal

I always liked Jim Cantiello’s American Idol reviews for MTV during the season. This is an amusing sixty seconds on the election with a perfect payoff at the end.

California’s Proposition 8

By rascal

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

attributed to Edmund Burke

I apologize in advance to those of you who will understandably believe that notingDavid is the wrong place for political messages. It was a very difficult decision for me to go ahead with this. But I concluded, in the end, that if I were to have any regrets, it would be because I did not do it, not because I did. The relationship between this issue and David is indirect, but it does, unfortunately, exist.

In order to give my valued readers a choice in this matter, I have placed the main content of this post on the internal page. It is for information purposes only, comments are disabled. And I would appreciate it if commentary on this issue does not spill over into other posts. Write to me directly using the contact form if you feel the need to express yourself. If you wish to avoid this altogether, just skip to the next post.

Read more »

Blogging David

By rascal

While David is recording and finishing his album, I will be scaling back the articles in an effort to sublimate my ODD and attend to some much neglected business. I expect November to bring a party to end all parties, much celebration and discussion, and lots of new appearances and images to gush over.

One of the things I need to do is complete a book proposal for my new literary agent, a fortunate state of affairs that is due in no small measure to the phenomenon that is David Archuleta. You see, if it hadn’t been for David, I might never have been motivated to learn the whole blogging software thing, and thereby never have gotten one of my other blog sites up, which led to an inquiry by a formidable New York literary agent to turn the material into a book. Thanks, David!

See you all soon.