Spots On My Apples

Lord Hasn't Been Good to Me

Mia Doi Todd - "Johnny Appleseed" (New Version) (mp3)
(purchase here)

"Please let me make it up to strangers."

The ubiquity of the creation myth. Every great story must begin with one, from the history of a nation to hip hop. Upon these broad shoulders can we build the tales to be handed down to succeeding generations, woven into the quilt that unites our lives.

Yet, how easy it is to forget ideals as want takes advantage of the needy in New Orleans (again). Must the story we truly unspool be so frayed with inequity?

It has been roughly nine years and one month since Mia Doi Todd recorded her first album, The Ewe and the Eye. A waifly woman's voice from a gal barely out of teenhood, she vividly painted her world with drive-in theatres, kangaroo pouches and cauliflower cultivation. Revisiting this material, Todd has grown immensely in confidence, yet remains humble in command. Remember the childhood stories of Johnny? Once all youthful exuberance and idealist, Todd's song becomes a mature reminder -- can we live the myth?