Simplicity by Mark Salomon Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Simplicity
Book Review: Good, but not what I'd expected...
Summary: 4 Stars
First, let me say that I love relevant and the books they produce. I was looking forward to reading this book primarily to understand the philosophy of being a christian performing artist. The book touches on how and why the author leaves "christian music", but most of the book is a personal memior on the life of a independent punk rock band. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book, but don't expect much on the philosophy and thoughts behind leaving Christian music. Read it for the first hand accounts of playing in the indy scene and of tales of life from the road. Perhaps knowing of or having heard the author before reading would put much of the book in perspective.
But at the least you should pick up this book for the first chapter and the hilarious story there. I can't think of another book that made me laugh out loud enough to almost wet myself.
In the end, definately read it if you're a fan or want to know about life on the road. Just don't expect anything else.
Book Review: Hard Truth and Valuable Insight
Summary: 5 Stars
Guilty myself of being an elitist in the "Christian Market," I took the first few chapters almost as a personal confrontation, pushing me to analyze some of my ministries and the fruits they ACTUALLY produced. It seemed like the author was attacking me, and I in turn had some negative thoughts about HIS faith, because that's what we do. It took taking a step back and considering what real ministry is, the act of serving, and when I stopped doing what he was pointing out that I was doing, I could actually see the beauty.
There is so much truth, and it comes out of so much tough experience, and it helped to confirm a lot of the theories I have also had about the Christian music scene from my own church concert experiences. It was awesome to see someone else publish statements that so closely mirrored my sentiments, and now I am passing around my copy among members of the band I am in so we can discuss it, as though he were our new mentor and it was a job shadow for Christian Rock and what NOT to do. Very valuable insights.
Book Review: Insightful behind-the-scenes look at music.
Summary: 3 Stars
I am a huge Stavesacre fan, but I have to give my honest opinion. I have never read a more poorly-written (published) book. It's perfectly written for a blog or something, but I couldn't believe I was reading this in a book. (Sorry Mark!) His thoughts were so random and many times difficult to follow. So many rabbit trails and too-long sentences. An editor would have been nice, but that's okay.
On the other hand, I really enjoyed it. A music fan always wants to know about what they like. So it was great hearing all those stories, thoughts, opinions, etc. Mark makes good points that many Christians ought to take a look at.
As a side note, I was struck by the lack of love/respect/appreciation Mark shows for his fans. I can see he genuinely cares for people in general, but to me it seemed like in nearly every context where a fan is mentioned, it is derogatory. He doesn't want to talk to them. Granted, he has some bad experiences with certain fans, but I found that I wanted him to somewhere lose a little of that cynical attitude toward his fans.
So anyways I do recommend reading this book.
Book Review: Lifestyle not Label
Summary: 4 Stars
Simplicity is all about making Christianity a lifestyle not a label and about being authentic. Throughout the book you go through Mark Salomon's life of Christian music. (Mark Salomon is the lead vocalist for a rock band Stavesacre and a former vocalist for The Crucified.) He lives in Huntington Beach California and he spends most of his time touring the country with Stavesacre.
The book begins on the tour bus with Mark Salomon. Well that's even if you can call it a tour bus. It was more like a small U-Haul truck. He goes through this moment in his life to show that not all rock stars live glamorous lives and to show how it is hard to be the greatest person in cramp conditions for many months. The book takes you through many experiences in Mark's life, one of which was that people expected him at every show since he was a "Christian rocker" to preach the message of Jesus between songs and to outreach. They almost expected him to be an evangelist or Pastor type figure. He had to constantly explain to people at every show that he was an entertainer who was paid to entertain and not an evangelist. If they wanted to pay for a preacher then they should have done so, but they paid for an entertainer as he stated to many people during his life.
One of his stories for example, was when he went to the state of Washington for a "gig" at a local church. He was already having a bad day in the cramped bus/U-Haul when he met a very interesting Pastor who after the show was giving him a hard time about paying him the full price for the show because they didn't have a message about Jesus during their show. Mark and the Pastor argued about the meaning of a Christian entertainer throughout his stay at the church. Mark kept trying to convince the Pastor that he was an entertainer and not a preacher. Even many months after the "gig", the Pastor and his youth group on their way to a mission's trip traveled to Mark's hometown in Huntington Beach. Mark was working at a local coffee shop when the Pastor stopped in just to start the argument up again.
Overall, I thought the book was great and if you want to get a new spin on Christian music, you would benefit from reading this book. Or, if you are a Christian, you should read this book so you can learn from Mark how to be an authentic Christian.
Book Review: Never Follows Through
Summary: 2 Stars
Salomon's book begins with a penetrating and attention-grabbing story from behind the scenes of the Christian music industry when his band failed to meet the expectations of an overbearing pastor at a concert at his church who chases Salomon down in his side-job at a coffee house across the state. The story should leave any Christian breathless as well as nauseated. Salomon promises to lead the reader through a journey alongside him as he shares with us his journey in the Christian music industry towards a more complete ("simple") faith in God. Unfortunately, for me (and my wife as we read this book together), he never really follows through on that promise, and the rest of the book was downhill from there, and extremely disappointing.
I found the book to be poorly written with too many random and disconnected thoughts, too many pointless stories and anecdotes, too many awkward sentences, and a tinge too much narcissism on behalf of the author (there were several places where he "takes the high ground" by not mentioning details - when I didn't really care to have the details). He spends a good portion of time insisting that he doesn't want to get bogged down in biography, but I still felt that was exactly what he does. This isn't totally bad, I suppose, because when he leaves his biographical sections, he seems clueless of where to go or what to say. He spends a lot of time discussing the mundane from his life in the band, and, in reality, the writing feels mundane.
I really wanted this book to be good and was excited about reading it. I appreciate Salomon's willingness to work on the project, I just didn't feel that he did as much as he thinks he did. I appreciated the opening story and an anecdote here and there, but all in all, I found this book to be a rambling, random, self-indulgent work that I will probably not recommend to anyone else. I am sorry for the negative review because I believe that what the author sets out to do in it is noble . . . I just don't think he accomplishes what he set out to do. In many accounts, the great irony is that he critiques "Christian" labeled commercialism for its poor quality as cultural contributions . . . and that, in my opinion, is exactly what this book ends up being. And I have read other books from the Relevant Books publisher that haven't been nearly as disappointing.
More Simplicity reviews:
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