Dear Taylor...(Swift)

Dear Taylor,

Well it looks like John Mayer said, "NO" to being Taylor Swift's fairytale prince. A recent interview article written by Chris Willman from, "Our Country" is filled with behind the scenes thoughts from Swift about her new album "Speak Now" which will be released on October 25th.

The young country star discusses her new material and divulges information about the story behind some of the songs on her up-coming release...

I came across this article randomly through a yahoo page and decided to give it a read, as I was curious about Swift's new project and the songs that are slated to be on the new album. I was hoping to get something different from the young country crooner, but unfortunately all I got was the same ol' same ol from country music's latest and greatest superstar.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to just bash Taylor Swift and write her off as a no-talent. In fact, I think she is a really talented young artist who has done a lot not only for herself, but a complete genre of music. Swift along with label mastermind Scott Borchetta have done an incredible job of creating the, "Taylor Swift" brand and marketing her to the masses across multiple genres of music. Swift has also done a real nice job of selecting and writing songs for her albums and radio singles, which all go hand in hand in creating all of the "Taylor Mania."

However, this article was disappointing to read as a fan of music in general and as a fan of songwriters as well. The article, while focusing on her new album, primarily focuses on a song off the new project entitled, "Dear John"...

Swift who led her talents to John Mayer's last album (Battle Studies) on the song "Half of My Heart" was linked romantically to Mayer months ago on supermarket checkout stands, which Im sure sold like hotcakes. Of course now, Swift is releasing a new album and wouldn't you know the boy bashing queen had to get her two cents in about her relationship woes with notorious womanizer John Mayer.

As I read the article I began to see any hope that I had of Taylor swift moving in a mature direction towards her songwriting was immediately crushed like Taylor's poor heart from all of her apparently "bad" relationship experiences. Here is an example of some of the lyrics from "Dear John"...

"Dear John/I see it all now that you're gone/Don't you think I was too young/To be messed with/The girl in the dress/Cried the whole way home/I should've known." A second version of the chorus includes the lines: "It was wrong/Don't you think nineteen's too young/To be played/By your dark, twisted games/When I loved you so."

REALLY!?!? It's not like these two are 14 years old getting their hearts broken after a bad date at the local movie theater. If Taylor is old enough to make her bed, then she's old enough to sleep in it! Quit crying and writing about it in such am immature fashion, or better yet don't put yourself in a relationship with one of the biggest players in the entertainment industry. You're mom was right, you were an idiot to mess around with Mayer. Obviously, there are millions and millions of people who love and pay to hear Swift's young relationship woes, but I can honestly say I don't have one single Taylor Swift song on my ipod, and I definitely won't be caught waiting in line at the local Best Buy for Swifts new release either. I would have liked to seen Swift take a page out of Miranda Lambert's playbook and cut a song like, "The House That Built Me." But no, that would be wishful thinking. Trust me, I know Swift is laughing all the way to the bank, and good for her, she deserves it, but all I'm saying is none of those dollars will be coming from me.

Sidenote: And as far as John Mayer is concerned, dude might be a d-bag to the ladies, but he has more talent in his pinky finger than Taylor Swift could ever dream of. Maybe Taylor should go listen to Mayer's "Battle Studies" or better yet "Continuum" and see how a real songwriter crafts a breakup song. That is all...

Here is the link to the yahoo article :
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/ourcountry/62996/taylor-swift-confronts-mayer-laments-lautner-in-new-album/

GameDay in Columbia, MO

The other day I was listening to sports talk radio like I always do and flipping back and forth between a few channels, when I came across a sports talk show talking about ESPN's College Gameday coming to Columbia, MO. There is quite the buzz going around town with Gameday coming in, along with the possibility of Missouri knocking off the #1 Oklahoma Sooners.

As someone who has grown up in Columbia and has seen some of the best and worst of Tiger athletics over the years, I truly believe right now is no better time to be a Mizzou fan. Mike Alden has done a tremendous job in bringing in great coaches and improving many of the athletic programs, however Mizzou has still yet to really hit the big stage in football.

Which brings me back to what I heard on the radio yesterday. As I listened in the DJ was ranting about how Missouri fans are already talking doom and gloom, and here we go again, another huge stage set for a big disappointment by the Missouri Tigers. Making his point that Mizzou has already hit the big stage by getting to this point(6-0) and having College Gameday come to Mid-Missouri. His point was basically, if Mizzou loses 55-0 we should still be proud and know that we have "arrived"...

As I said previously, right now is a great time to be a proud Tiger fan and an exciting time for Mizzou athletics, but I couldn't have disagreed with this DJ more than when he was making this point on the air yesterday. Mizzou has proved to be a pretty good team so far this year, but what makes good teams great is winning the BIG games, which is something Gary Pinkel and the tigers have not been able to do since his tenure as the the Tiger's coach. Sure, we have one some pretty big exciting games, but no BIG XXII titles, and definitely no big bowl games have been won so far...My point is, this game has HUGE implications for Mizzou, by winning it could change the face of the program from good to great. You don't play athletics to win the mediocre games or the somewhat challenging games, you play to win the biggest game on the biggest stage, and until Mizzou does that I feel like there will always be the, "Oh here we go again feeling coming from the dejected townies who walk out of Faurot field after a disappointing big game." But, for this hometown kid, I hope they finally get the BIG W' and reach that big stage!! MIZ