The day after Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin issued an executive order removing county clerk’s names from marriage licenses, Kim Davis, the clerk who earlier this year refused to issue the documents to same-sex couples for religious reasons, spoke out about her thoughts behind her decision. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled gay marriage legal in…
Cover Photo Credit: Ken Lund/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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New Jersey Girl Lacey Caroline Tries To Break Into Country Music Scene
Lacey Caroline is a Nashville transplant, originally hailing from Sussex County, New Jersey. She says that she lived “a very country lifestyle” growing up, despite being from up North.
Sussex County hosts an annual Farm and Horse Show, and Lacey’s first job at the age of 14 was helping to take care of the horses on a nearby farm.
“I will say the biggest difference from New Jersey to Nashville is that I find Southerners have a greater restraint when it comes to ‘telling what you really feel,’” Caroline said. “I’m not sure if it’s a flaw or a gift, but Jerseyians are known for not holding back their feelings about situations. With that aside, I always try my hardest to be extra polite. Oh, and the food! Man, is the food good. The biscuits and gravy, fried chicken. The only one who isn’t a fan of the food down here is my bathroom scale.”
Caroline loves the country lifestyle, which is what brought her to Nashville.
“I knew the only way to get better at the art of songwriting and crafting those lyrics would be to live in the thick of it all. I wanted to be able to go out any night of the week and hear great songs, and have the opportunity to write and learn from the people in this town.”
She found a great support system in Nashville in a 24-hour space on Music Row called The Workshop.
Read More: Aaron Parker Is The Next Big Thing in Country Music
“I have the most amazing group of friends, and every day, they motivate me to not only work harder at music, but work harder at being a better person,” Caroline said. They’re all amazing songwriters, artists, and singers. They’ve taught me so much about music, writing, crafting songs and digging deeper.”
Despite being a country singer, she attributes much of her understanding of music to growing up listening to emo music.
She said that she grew up as a kind of loner in school, “because I was quiet didn’t mean I didn’t have feelings or emotions, and I felt like even though kids in my school picked on me, the emo songs I listened to made me feel like I was accepted, like I wasn’t alone. It gave me hope, and in that, happiness.”
She wants to evoke that same hope and happiness in other people who may be quiet but still feel strong emotions.
Lacey’s EP,“Songbird” was released in October 2013, and it helped her find some great opportunities, such as playing the famous Bluebird Café in Nashville.
“It was a great introduction to the country music community as an arist,” Caroline said. “And it also gave me a great starting point to grow from in terms of songwriting.”
“It’s better than a dream to me; in fact, sometimes I feel like I’m dreaming.”
Caroline said that she pulls inspiration and influences for her songs from musicians like Will Hoge, Brandi Carlisle, Eric Paslay, David Nail, and The Milk Carton Kids. She says that she always looks for “inspirational triggers in words, melodies, and structures,” and she also pulls inspirations from real life events.
Her song “Mason Jar,” which she thinks is one of her best, was written after a conversation at a bar.
“I was eating dinner at a bar by my house, coming up with song titles, when a very old Alabama man leaned over and asked what I was writing. The conversation turned into him telling me stories about his life, including a particular story about his wife and mason jars.“
WATCH: Caroline perform “Mason Jar”
“You have two minutes to tell a story,” says Lacey. “So every word has to count.If I don’t “feel” what I’m singing or writing, then I need to rewrite and rethink it; if the listeners don’t feel anything, then I need to do a better job at relating what I’m personally feeling.”
Her latest single, “Girl Like You” is based off of her personal experiences, and was a very quick write.
Read More: Could Abi Ann Be The Next Breakout Country Music Star?
“This girl was in love with my then boyfriend and doing everything to get him to dump me for her. I went to my mom asking what to do, and her advice to me was not to do anything,” Caroline said. “I was pretty dumbfounded, but she went on to explain that the issue wasn’t between me and her, it was between my boyfriend and her, and she said ‘If he’s not willing to stand up for you, and show respect for you and your relationship with him, then he’s not someone you should waste time on at all.’”
LISTEN: Lacey Caroline’s “Girl Like You”
Caroline said that she loves every part of the songwriting and recording process, but that her favorite part is performing live.
“I still get butterflies sometimes when I sing, but there is no feeling that compares to losing myself in a song, reliving the moment I’m singing about, and creating that moment for the audience,” Caroline said. “It’s better than a dream to me; in fact, sometimes I feel like I’m dreaming.”
You can check out Lacey Caroline’s music on her Youtube channel or on iTunes, or you can keep up with Lacey herself on Facebook and Twitter.
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Cable News Is Dying And We Should Hope For A Swift Death
As a multimedia journalism student I should hope for the success of cable news.
After a steady decline in average viewership, the 2016 election cycle seems to have brought prime-time and overall viewership back into an upward swing.
Both revenue and newsroom spending for cable news has also steadily increased, a good sign for my personal post-graduation job prospects.
Local affiliate stations offer hyper-local news programs that provide information I’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere besides my local newspaper.
But I’m most likely to get my news online, just like 50% of my fellow millennials.
As someone who has friends and former co-workers in the cable news business, I wouldn’t wish for their stations and programs to be shut down.
But regardless of the statistics, advantages of the format and my friends in the industry, I firmly believe we’d be better off without cable news-at least in its current form.
I haven’t watched cable television since the Super Bowl and before that I only watched cable news for election night.
Most of the political coverage and debates were streamed online and I found no reason to stick around to get “expert analysis” from CNN, MSNBC or Fox News commentators.
While President Trump’s rise to power has been entertaining, his hyperbolic comments on the death of the media has fueled him and the industry he has targeted.
Still, the modern cable news program seems to serve no greater purpose than react to whatever crazy statement the Trump administration said that day.
The visual aspect of storytelling cable news used to have over newspapers and magazines has now been eclipsed by internet based news sites.
Cable news is looking as outdated as black and white in today’s world. Photo Credit: John Atherton/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
Publications like Now This and TheBlaze have risen to prominence across Facebook and Twitter feeds for their easily digestible video content and controversial program hosts like Tomi Lahren.
Even the traditional cable news networks offer convenient links to the same videos and articles they talk about on television through their social media and online websites.
In a world of instant gratification through the internet, there’s simply no reason to watch cable news programs that require you to wade through the muck just to find the content you’re looking for.
One could argue that this new age of news is shortening our attention spans and encouraging the “rush to be first” breaking news mentality that stimulates inaccuracies.
But I would argue that news is headed this direction no matter what format we get our news.
The days of standardized local news “stand-up” stories and CNN pitting a panel of Trump and Clinton supporters against each other has done nothing but push me away.
I’m annoyed and exhausted with news programs that are driven through controversy for the sake of profits and attracting advertisers.
In an ideal world, I see the media being funded on a subscription basis, one that would allow the stories to be told without the outside influence of ads and sponsored products in-between every story.
Platforms like Patreon.com already provide a way for me to directly fund entertainment and programs I enjoy, while also giving me the power to influence the type of stories and content my favorite creators make.
This subscription based funding of media doesn’t facilitate a bright future for cable news, but then again neither does our current path of news digestion.
A 9-year-old with a smartphone and Facebook live can be considered a journalist.
Youtubers and vloggers can accrue larger daily audiences than many cable news programs.
Whether this is good or bad for the industry as a whole is a matter of perspective.
From my perspective, despite recent increases in viewership, cable news is on the way out.
Once the presidency of Donald Trump ends, cable news will become stale and ratings will settle into another plateau before declining again.
The journalism industry as a whole and those who engage in the content produced from it would be better off if the death of cable news was expedited.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: Steven Depolo/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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Century-Old Mystery Shipwreck Found Under New Jersey Ocean Jetty
ISLAND BEACH STATE PARK –In the seven decades since the Barnegat Inlet was shored up to protect mariners from dangerous shoals, scores of ships have passed through its impressive rock wall jetties. But it wasn’t until Hurricane Sandy that one of those jetties revealed its hidden mystery: a shipwreck preserved under tons of sand for nearly… Read More
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