In this episode, Mentone, CA’s Steve Carroll shares the story behind his song “Fall.”

Lately I’ve been in the habit of ending each show with this song. It has a nice flow to it. Poetic and emotional, and resonant, maybe it echos within people a little after I finish, which is a good way to end, I think.

“Fall” was inspired by a conversation I had with a friend of mine. It was her first winter in windy Chicago, and we were going back an forth about her experience during those first few months. She said it was cold and lonely, and that the wind blew bitterly cold off the lake. I just kinna sat and listened to it all, when one of her statements caught me a little by surprise. It was such a small observation that that’s why I think it hit me like it did. She said the snow in the city was so dirty and ugly.

I think someone who had grown up in a big city would have never made that same observation, but for her this was important. After all, snow should be something white and beautiful, but the city pushed it aside, making it dirty and ugly.

When I sat down to write “Fall” I meant it to be just about her experience, but what came out was really a broader statement than that. It’s about how we all, myself included, can take for granted those things that we should really enjoy. How we can ignorantly or greedily drink down the gifts of each day and not once think of the purposes for those things that have been given us or from whom they were given.

Fall

It falls on the lovers,
and the cheaters and the cry’n,
on the hands of the guilty,
and the tongues of the lie’n,
on the backs of the hopeless,
and the heads of the prayerful when they don’t.

It falls on our fathers, and mothers and daughters,
on the skins of the aged, and breaths of our hatred,
in every mouth open wide, it tastes the same.

And we let it fall,
in the cups of our hands,
and we drink it in,
but we don’t understand.

Though the black in our veins,
it runs through our cities,
in every alley, oh profaning mercy, still it falls.

And it falls for our harvests, and brimming our waters,
though none should be grateful for its presence, still it falls.

And we let it fall,
in the cups of our hands,
and we drink it in,
but we don’t understand.
And I let it fall,
in the cups of my hands,
and I drink it in grinning,
but I don’t understand.

During an athletic performance of her new song “Louboutins,” Lopez walked up the backs of five dancers, who were assembled like steps, then attempted to leap off — and fell right on her rear end.

and

“She walked off the stage absolutely fuming,” an unnamed insider told Fox News. “She was so upset, and ready to kill. Jennifer was a perfectionist about that performance and practiced hard.”

Singer Adam Lambert also made an impression with a performance MTV says divided critics. According to their article:

A kind of mash-up of the top awards-show shock moments from Britney, Madonna and Christina Aguilera over the past 15 years, complete with faux-oral sex (which was edited out of the West Coast feed), S&M play, bondage, crotch-grabbing, same-sex make outs, serial hip-thrusting and even an accidental stumble, Lambert made it clear that he’s not the kind of safe pop star typically churned out by the “Idol” machine.

He also pre-emptively declared that anyone who criticized his display of sexual liberty was endorsing a double standard that says straight women can explore their (bi)sexuality onstage, but gay men can’t. However, not everyone agreed.

The Los Angeles Times’ site features photos of the awards show, including what they call Lambert’s “ultra-lewd” performance.

Taylor Swift was a big winner last night, this time without interruption from Kanye West when accepting any of her five awards, which included the top prize, “Artist of the Year.”

Whitney Houston’s big comeback performance is getting very positive buzz on the Internet. FilmyFair says:

What made Whitney different from the other performers at the AMAs, was the fact that she only let her voice do all the performing – figuratively speaking. She did not get into anything bold, nor headline grabbing worthy nor seductive, but she let her powerful voice win over the audience.

And Gather.com says, “It’s official: the Queen of the Night is back!”

For a complete list of winners and links to their award winning songs, check out the Events section on MetroLyrics.com by clicking HERE!