No Time for Beauty
The Washington Post tried a little experiment last week. It placed one of the world’s great violinists, Joshua Bell, playing six of the greatest violin masterpieces, in a Subway station at L’Enfant Plaza, to see if anyone would stop and pay attention. The results were pretty discouraging.
Three minutes went by before something happened. Sixty-three people had already passed when, finally, there was a breakthrough of sorts. A middle-age man altered his gait for a split second, turning his head to notice that there seemed to be some guy playing music. Yes, the man kept walking, but it was something.
A half-minute later, Bell got his first donation. A woman threw in a buck and scooted off. It was not until six minutes into the performance that someone actually stood against a wall, and listened.
Things never got much better. In the three-quarters of an hour that Joshua Bell played, seven people stopped what they were doing to hang around and take in the performance, at least for a minute. Twenty-seven gave money, most of them on the run — for a total of $32 and change. That leaves the 1,070 people who hurried by, oblivious, many only three feet away, few even turning to look.
I can already hear some of you saying “Who gives a fuck about classical music”. But the point is more to Thoreau’s notion that man spent far too much time getting a living rather than living life itself. Are we so self absorbed in our Blackberry World that we cannot notice artistry, even when it’s right there in front of us?
Hold the presses! Bell did this a number of years ago, too, unless this is a recycled story. He played his Strad, too…and that’s a cool couple of million these days, even with deflation and the New Millenial Depression.
Hold the presses! Bell did this a number of years ago, too, unless this is a recycled story. He played his Strad, too…and that’s a cool couple of million these days, even with deflation and the New Millenial Depression.
Hold the presses! Bell did this a number of years ago, too, unless this is a recycled story. He played his Strad, too…and that’s a cool couple of million these days, even with deflation and the New Millenial Depression.
This touches me. As we used to say, “a chord” in me. It’s implications are too sad for me to consider right now, but its design, as an experiment, is brilliant. As a student I used to wonder how to design such experiments, and this one gives one such answer to the question of how to meet the universities’ drumbeat deamands for positivistic ways of measuring culture. (In this way it’s a curious blend of social science and the humanities.)
As an academic study it’s an instant classic, I’m afraid. I’d only add that before reading this I’d have assumed it impossible to bypass the privilege of hearing Joshua Bell playing live. Truly, impossible.
Astounding, and disturbing. We’ve so much work to do!
This touches me. As we used to say, “a chord” in me. It’s implications are too sad for me to consider right now, but its design, as an experiment, is brilliant. As a student I used to wonder how to design such experiments, and this one gives one such answer to the question of how to meet the universities’ drumbeat deamands for positivistic ways of measuring culture. (In this way it’s a curious blend of social science and the humanities.)
As an academic study it’s an instant classic, I’m afraid. I’d only add that before reading this I’d have assumed it impossible to bypass the privilege of hearing Joshua Bell playing live. Truly, impossible.
Astounding, and disturbing. We’ve so much work to do!
BTW, Joshua Bell plays not only classical music brilliantly, but also, like YoYo Ma, masters traditional American forms.
BTW, Joshua Bell plays not only classical music brilliantly, but also, like YoYo Ma, masters traditional American forms.
BTW, Joshua Bell plays not only classical music brilliantly, but also, like YoYo Ma, masters traditional American forms.
Traditionally there are only three (or, depending on how you count) four formal theories of Aesthetics. One of them is American. The American one holds, in part, that taste is a product, not of fortune but of experience–such experience as artful education, as well as happenstance. So I would say, in keeping with the Pragmatists, that these subway Philistines are in need of an education.
It’s not that we are superior to them (I know that’s not your point, Jon or Rick); it’s that we might consider our subservience to them as teachers, or coaches–or, in your case, Rick, as exemplars.
Traditionally there are only three (or, depending on how you count) four formal theories of Aesthetics. One of them is American. The American one holds, in part, that taste is a product, not of fortune but of experience–such experience as artful education, as well as happenstance. So I would say, in keeping with the Pragmatists, that these subway Philistines are in need of an education.
It’s not that we are superior to them (I know that’s not your point, Jon or Rick); it’s that we might consider our subservience to them as teachers, or coaches–or, in your case, Rick, as exemplars.
Traditionally there are only three (or, depending on how you count) four formal theories of Aesthetics. One of them is American. The American one holds, in part, that taste is a product, not of fortune but of experience–such experience as artful education, as well as happenstance. So I would say, in keeping with the Pragmatists, that these subway Philistines are in need of an education.
It’s not that we are superior to them (I know that’s not your point, Jon or Rick); it’s that we might consider our subservience to them as teachers, or coaches–or, in your case, Rick, as exemplars.
This article in the post won the Pulizter prize for feature writing last year. It’s truly worth your time to read it. You should also read every other feature story by Gene Weingarten (the author). He only writes one or two feature stories a year. I’m eager to read every one of them.
This article in the post won the Pulizter prize for feature writing last year. It’s truly worth your time to read it. You should also read every other feature story by Gene Weingarten (the author). He only writes one or two feature stories a year. I’m eager to read every one of them.
This article in the post won the Pulizter prize for feature writing last year. It’s truly worth your time to read it. You should also read every other feature story by Gene Weingarten (the author). He only writes one or two feature stories a year. I’m eager to read every one of them.
Jon,
It wasn’t “last week” it was two years ago. Please make some sort of edit (e.g. “recently”) and delete my post.
Jon,
It wasn’t “last week” it was two years ago. Please make some sort of edit (e.g. “recently”) and delete my post.
Jon,
It wasn’t “last week” it was two years ago. Please make some sort of edit (e.g. “recently”) and delete my post.
But on the bright side Jon…
The dude made $44 per hour as an unkown entrepreneur playing a violin in a crowd of people brightening the day of 1100 (who obviously had some place to be) if they wanted it.
Whats wrong with that story? Oh yeah, not enough wanted it.
But if he’d been Fat Boy Slim, he’d have satisfied another chunk. A Blues musician another chunk. Enough artists would have captured everyone.
Now imagine what we’d be like as a people, if 1100 workers were all 20 minutes late for the meetings, jobs, business that they had to get done – every time some dude started banging on a bucket.
Your point is very well taken, but there’s more to the other side than “classical music sucks.”
But on the bright side Jon…
The dude made $44 per hour as an unkown entrepreneur playing a violin in a crowd of people brightening the day of 1100 (who obviously had some place to be) if they wanted it.
Whats wrong with that story? Oh yeah, not enough wanted it.
But if he’d been Fat Boy Slim, he’d have satisfied another chunk. A Blues musician another chunk. Enough artists would have captured everyone.
Now imagine what we’d be like as a people, if 1100 workers were all 20 minutes late for the meetings, jobs, business that they had to get done – every time some dude started banging on a bucket.
Your point is very well taken, but there’s more to the other side than “classical music sucks.”
Morgan,
Jesus. American education sucks. And this proves it.
If we won’t pause to listen to a Joshua Bell, how can we be expected to support with our gate receipts the other artists who might next rock our world, or lead us through our vernacular forms to higher ones? I know that you get the picture, and that I rant too often about the dearth of education in the U.S., but this to me nails it on the head. For too long we’ve short-changed Americans who deserve to inherit, and to build upon, their own cultural patrimony.
It’s a bit sickening.
Morgan,
Jesus. American education sucks. And this proves it.
If we won’t pause to listen to a Joshua Bell, how can we be expected to support with our gate receipts the other artists who might next rock our world, or lead us through our vernacular forms to higher ones? I know that you get the picture, and that I rant too often about the dearth of education in the U.S., but this to me nails it on the head. For too long we’ve short-changed Americans who deserve to inherit, and to build upon, their own cultural patrimony.
It’s a bit sickening.
Morgan,
Jesus. American education sucks. And this proves it.
If we won’t pause to listen to a Joshua Bell, how can we be expected to support with our gate receipts the other artists who might next rock our world, or lead us through our vernacular forms to higher ones? I know that you get the picture, and that I rant too often about the dearth of education in the U.S., but this to me nails it on the head. For too long we’ve short-changed Americans who deserve to inherit, and to build upon, their own cultural patrimony.
It’s a bit sickening.
Ah, yes, Friday, January 12th, 2007…a few months before “it” all started unraveling, and the wizard was exposed behind the curtain. Perhaps now that there are more unemployed, more folks would stop; but the tip basket might not do so well…
When I visited Paris in 1989, even ” les clochards”…the tramps and street bums…tipped the buskers. I seriously thought about moving there at the time…
Ah, yes, Friday, January 12th, 2007…a few months before “it” all started unraveling, and the wizard was exposed behind the curtain. Perhaps now that there are more unemployed, more folks would stop; but the tip basket might not do so well…
When I visited Paris in 1989, even ” les clochards”…the tramps and street bums…tipped the buskers. I seriously thought about moving there at the time…
Hugo, the dude made $44 pan handling.
He didn’t have a corporate sponsor. He didn’t have an agent book him in Vegas. He didn’t have it announced he was giving a free concert in Central Park.
At 7:51 AM, a FIDDLER made $44 per hour in a Subway – and that you read catastrophe in those tea leaves – well thats you.
I know kids today are 15% smarter than your generation, so I cant get my panties in a bunch.
Hugo, the dude made $44 pan handling.
He didn’t have a corporate sponsor. He didn’t have an agent book him in Vegas. He didn’t have it announced he was giving a free concert in Central Park.
At 7:51 AM, a FIDDLER made $44 per hour in a Subway – and that you read catastrophe in those tea leaves – well thats you.
I know kids today are 15% smarter than your generation, so I cant get my panties in a bunch.
Hugo, the dude made $44 pan handling.
He didn’t have a corporate sponsor. He didn’t have an agent book him in Vegas. He didn’t have it announced he was giving a free concert in Central Park.
At 7:51 AM, a FIDDLER made $44 per hour in a Subway – and that you read catastrophe in those tea leaves – well thats you.
I know kids today are 15% smarter than your generation, so I cant get my panties in a bunch.
Sorry, but when people are going to where they have to be in the a.m. I can’t see that it’s a huge reflection that something has been lost. We don’t know how these people choose to experience things and to make such a broad judgement is weak and skewed. One could say that since this is in D.C., perhaps they’re part of the new administration and and getting to work ,where they’re implementing the new infrastructure so often mentioned here. Another analysis just as weak and lacking credibility.
Sorry, but when people are going to where they have to be in the a.m. I can’t see that it’s a huge reflection that something has been lost. We don’t know how these people choose to experience things and to make such a broad judgement is weak and skewed. One could say that since this is in D.C., perhaps they’re part of the new administration and and getting to work ,where they’re implementing the new infrastructure so often mentioned here. Another analysis just as weak and lacking credibility.
Sorry, but when people are going to where they have to be in the a.m. I can’t see that it’s a huge reflection that something has been lost. We don’t know how these people choose to experience things and to make such a broad judgement is weak and skewed. One could say that since this is in D.C., perhaps they’re part of the new administration and and getting to work ,where they’re implementing the new infrastructure so often mentioned here. Another analysis just as weak and lacking credibility.
Personally I’m too busy being outraged about baggy pants and rollerblades to spare any rage for the lack of appreciation in our youth for classical music.
Personally I’m too busy being outraged about baggy pants and rollerblades to spare any rage for the lack of appreciation in our youth for classical music.
Personally I’m too busy being outraged about baggy pants and rollerblades to spare any rage for the lack of appreciation in our youth for classical music.
1st: it requires quite some effort to capture the attention of the audience on the street, and I wonder whether a concert violinist has those skills. In Amsterdam, I often see street artists surrounded by huge audiences, but they provide some sort of a show, a spectacle. Just standing in the subway playing brilliantly is just not enough,
2nd: Although I agree with your point that too many people are too caught up to enjoy living, I wonder what the outcome would be if they tried it around 8 in the evening instead of the morning, when people are not in a rush.
1st: it requires quite some effort to capture the attention of the audience on the street, and I wonder whether a concert violinist has those skills. In Amsterdam, I often see street artists surrounded by huge audiences, but they provide some sort of a show, a spectacle. Just standing in the subway playing brilliantly is just not enough,
2nd: Although I agree with your point that too many people are too caught up to enjoy living, I wonder what the outcome would be if they tried it around 8 in the evening instead of the morning, when people are not in a rush.
1st: it requires quite some effort to capture the attention of the audience on the street, and I wonder whether a concert violinist has those skills. In Amsterdam, I often see street artists surrounded by huge audiences, but they provide some sort of a show, a spectacle. Just standing in the subway playing brilliantly is just not enough,
2nd: Although I agree with your point that too many people are too caught up to enjoy living, I wonder what the outcome would be if they tried it around 8 in the evening instead of the morning, when people are not in a rush.
1st: it requires quite some effort to capture the attention of the audience on the street, and I wonder whether a concert violinist has those skills. In Amsterdam, I often see street artists surrounded by huge audiences, but they provide some sort of a show, a spectacle. Just standing in the subway playing brilliantly is just not enough,
2nd: Although I agree with your point that too many people are too caught up to enjoy living, I wonder what the outcome would be if they tried it around 8 in the evening instead of the morning, when people are not in a rush.
dolores — just when, these days, are people “not in a rush?
“Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers–
Little we see in nature that is ours.
We have given our hearts away,
A sordid boon…”
dolores — just when, these days, are people “not in a rush?
“Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers–
Little we see in nature that is ours.
We have given our hearts away,
A sordid boon…”
dolores — just when, these days, are people “not in a rush?
“Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers–
Little we see in nature that is ours.
We have given our hearts away,
A sordid boon…”
Another factor not mentioned is that music has ceased to be an end in itself for 99% of the population. It is, at best, background while we’re busy doing something else.
This is sadly true for me as well, even though I’m a part-time musician! I spend far more time making music then listening to it while doing nothing else.
Another factor not mentioned is that music has ceased to be an end in itself for 99% of the population. It is, at best, background while we’re busy doing something else.
This is sadly true for me as well, even though I’m a part-time musician! I spend far more time making music then listening to it while doing nothing else.
Another factor not mentioned is that music has ceased to be an end in itself for 99% of the population. It is, at best, background while we’re busy doing something else.
This is sadly true for me as well, even though I’m a part-time musician! I spend far more time making music then listening to it while doing nothing else.
Joshua honey baby, I love ya! I love ya, kid! Yer…that thing you do…it’s great! Everybody is so excited, we think we can really raise the roof! Sky is the limit! But Joshua, sweetheart, I gotta ask you. Do you think you can play maybe some Green Day on that thing? You gotta, you know, make some kind of intelligent connection to today’s kids, they ain’t stupid, you know what I’m saying?
Now. Tell me. How do you feel about relocating to Mexico? Because it’s gonna be a monster, a MONSTER. You’re gonna have to hire somebody to push a wheelbarrow around to carry the money! If I’m lyin’ I’m dyin’!
Joshua honey baby, I love ya! I love ya, kid! Yer…that thing you do…it’s great! Everybody is so excited, we think we can really raise the roof! Sky is the limit! But Joshua, sweetheart, I gotta ask you. Do you think you can play maybe some Green Day on that thing? You gotta, you know, make some kind of intelligent connection to today’s kids, they ain’t stupid, you know what I’m saying?
Now. Tell me. How do you feel about relocating to Mexico? Because it’s gonna be a monster, a MONSTER. You’re gonna have to hire somebody to push a wheelbarrow around to carry the money! If I’m lyin’ I’m dyin’!
Joshua honey baby, I love ya! I love ya, kid! Yer…that thing you do…it’s great! Everybody is so excited, we think we can really raise the roof! Sky is the limit! But Joshua, sweetheart, I gotta ask you. Do you think you can play maybe some Green Day on that thing? You gotta, you know, make some kind of intelligent connection to today’s kids, they ain’t stupid, you know what I’m saying?
Now. Tell me. How do you feel about relocating to Mexico? Because it’s gonna be a monster, a MONSTER. You’re gonna have to hire somebody to push a wheelbarrow around to carry the money! If I’m lyin’ I’m dyin’!
Joshua honey baby, I love ya! I love ya, kid! Yer…that thing you do…it’s great! Everybody is so excited, we think we can really raise the roof! Sky is the limit! But Joshua, sweetheart, I gotta ask you. Do you think you can play maybe some Green Day on that thing? You gotta, you know, make some kind of intelligent connection to today’s kids, they ain’t stupid, you know what I’m saying?
Now. Tell me. How do you feel about relocating to Mexico? Because it’s gonna be a monster, a MONSTER. You’re gonna have to hire somebody to push a wheelbarrow around to carry the money! If I’m lyin’ I’m dyin’!
The percentage of positive response probably equals the same response of Americans who really give a fuck about the world. Sad.
Mexico = the new Florida, go get your beach front now. You really will LOVE it there Dan.
Morgan’s tin ear for irony is ironic.
Brilliant bit Dan, worthy of Doonsbury.
Someone above described Joshua Bell as “a fiddle player.” To describe Mr. Bell as a fiddle player is to describe Jonas Salk as a sawbones.
TILT
At 7:30 AM on a Friday, it’s hard to see this as anything more than an indictment of the work week and our commuting habits. Besides, who’s to say some of the passers by aren’t acknowledging the beauty without stopping? One only needs a moment to do that, it’s not necessary for them to be late to work. Like most classical, I’m sure the true aesthetic value is in the piece in its entirety, not just a few masterfully played notes, so one spending 10 seconds vs. 2 minutes is more a matter of relative convenience than a measure of capacity for appreciation.
The subway itself proves Thoreau right.
Any of us who play in public to the seemingly indifferent crowds take some comfort in knowing we’re almost as well received as Joshua Bell.
The director of our band recently forwarded the story to us. It’s good to see it getting another round of attention.
Does this despair for lack of taste tie into the never ending IP discussion? Should live performances before live audiences in public settings be subject to the same IP restrictions as studio work?
There should be an Ultimate Bootleg Freezone Database where the captures made on cellphones, handhelds and other amateur audience recordings can live free of court actions. Incredible once a lifetime performances as well as bad ones are being captured. Some bands and artists do the right thing and let the audience take it home and even trade it. Others want to pursue them and take their last CD slug.
I’m sitting on a 40 minute DVD of Arlo Guthrie’s performance with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. Serendipitously, I was at the right place at the right time with the right camera to capture a classic performance. After editing, some video magic, some compositing etc., it’s a helluva keepsake, but it seems wrong that I have the only copy.
ARRGG!!!
The art world must rethink IP. Look at it this way, we can have the police-enforced events where people push through the crowd looking for cellphone, handhelds, etc., trying to put the sh*t back in the elephant’s tail like blind monkeys, have only official camera people who then sell back through official channels, etc., or we can face up to the reality of the new technologies and let the audiences capture the moments. A zoom turns a $25 seat into a $400 seat and captures performance that would be lost to the air that night.
It’s a heckuva thing to have something this nice, this classic and not be able to share it. It’s pure Americana as far as folk goes and a bigger crime to lose it to the silliness of trying to chase down every last shekel. I mean, we spend a lot of energy here kicking the right and white about their financial ruin of the country, but what about the spiritual ruin we cause ourselves by obsessing over these cellphone and handheld vids and audios? Aren’t we being about this kind of free to the wind art work as our folks were and are about the pot? It’s an underground economy or at least a barter culture that doesn’t harm the artist, it in fact frees the art, gets it going in places, makes up for some of the overpriced seating, over priced t-shirts, and so on.
We need the Ultimate Freezone Bootleg Databases where memories can go hang out and get around.
Actually, Ken, I’ve prodded Morgan a couple of times the last few days, and it appears that he has taken it in good humor.
NYC is NYC. Paris is Paris. There are places where buskers and street performers ARE noticed and places where they aren’t.
Trust me… in San Francisco, Denver, Austin and probably some other places in the U.S. I have no experience with, he’d be noticed.
Len, share it.
Jesus man – run wild with dogs… put that SOB up on the tubes. Put up a torrent man. You can do it.
Consider it civil disobedience.
This reminds me of the taste tests where the unexpected wines won over the judges when competing with the “best” wines in the world. Taste and acknowledgment are subjective. Can we really call this a open and shut case when people rarely stop in subways for music or performance. It’s a location when inherently people are moving from point A to B. It’s not somewhere to sit and think usually, much less a space to take in artfully rendered classical music.
What if a similar test were conducted behind curtains in a hall where people had gathered to hear music not knowing who was playing? Would the practiced novice achieve the same impact as the master? Who is to say? Would I have stopped, probably not, and yet I have profound respect for him and for the music he makes.
If I put it up on the Tubes, I’ve messed with Arlo’s act. I slicked the video up, went Evil PBS, put in animation. It’s decorated like a pirate captain’s cabin now. The question is what is civil disobedience (Blows against the empire) vs shucking an artist that is a hero and friend to his audience?
OTOH, if I give it to the BlunderNation, they’ll blunder around with it. I’ll make copies for friends and be happy to do it.
I doubt Arlo has a problem with it. They trade bootlegs on his site. The ASO would be the biotch. And so it goes.
We have to rethink IP. The technology, the will of the audience and the good of the art are in conflict with the business models. We need something that is both fair for everyone and makes it possible for the folk art of mashing up, googling, pasting and slicing and dicing to thrive. I don’t like seeing audienceCops telling old ladies they can’t get a picture with their cellphones. On the other end of that are folks like me who want to play with the toys and make neat stuff and show off. At the far end of that are the people who try to profit by it such that the artist is being ripped off. We have to find a way to cleave these groups so that the art is enabled and the free riders are walking.
Time for beauty is taken from life. For the people to stop and really listen, they have to know it’s ok. Bell possibly scares them because it is too strange for him to be where he is. But go to any Phish concert, Dead concert and see if anyone who gets it feels out of place.
At those concerts, there is time for beauty.
BTW: An Internet tax that is not international is not fair. One that is is a real bear to administer. So I am curious about the details of Jon’s notion.
Nah fuck that Len, I’m sure you made it better. I’m absolutely sure you fixed it.
Dude post it. Hit the upload button. Stop being a nattering nabob of negativity.
Put it into the ether. Smile. Forget it. Arlo DESPERATELY needs it – without you he is the walking dead. Forgotten. Worthless.
Repeat after me: there is no difference between you hitting upload, and Jon showing the video in a classroom. No difference. Let ‘er rip.
Can’t do it to the Folkslinger, Morgan.
It’s a tribe thing. We need him way more than he needs us, but the facts are, the tribes look out for each other and Arlo stays on that path better than anyone. So, nope, no Tubers, just one-offers to the faithful at least from this buried chests.
Because of long ago half-forgotten and maybe too kumbayah dreams, respect is the word and kumbayah anyway. It isn’t about civil disobedience; it’s about civil improvement.
There is time for beauty. Civility is a beautiful thing. Sometimes, so is piracy if that is what it takes to save the beautiful.
“We, the undersigned, are men without a country. Outlaws in our own land and homeless outcasts in any other. Desperate men, we go to seek a desperate fortune. Therefore, we do, here and now, band ourselves into a brotherhood of bucaneers… to practice the trade of piracy on the high seas. We, the hunted, will now hunt!” – Captain Blood
Is the season open on investment bankers, derivatives traders and speculators in oil and other commidity prices? Any rules on caliber or number of rounds in the magazine? Bag limits?
Repeat after me: there is no difference between you hitting upload, and Jon showing the video in a classroom. No difference. Let ‘er rip.
Jon’s in the Dylan Camp, Morgan. They don’t have an Inner Arlo.
OTW, Robbie Robertson would campaign for Arlo getting in the R&R HOF. (Boy, now there is a closed process…)
Nope, some things are best done inside the tribe. The web is wires and bits. Tribes use it but they cohere in spite of it, not because of it. It’s all about your mates. Who do you love?
I just think it dishonors the music and the spirit to have young black shirted men walking through a crowd on a fine summer night slapping old ladies on the back and telling them to put down their cellphones when all they were capturing was free to the air that night. It’s wrong. THAT is to be disobeyed, resisted, made impotent.
TechnicoHistorico: the Shakies are the best proof of the live power of the artist. In a way they are like the old Chess records when to be good on a recording the performer has to be good in front of the mic no ifs ands buts or digiPro about it. Strip out the production and see the heart of the act. When one of these goes viral, it has culture mojo.
Ahh, Chess Records where the rip-off started before the tape machines even rolled…
True. That’s why no YouTube. Nobody but Arlo and Jackie Guthrie have the right to let Google make money from his work.
But if Chess hadn’t, all of that music would likely be lost to us. A time of beauty is a time of risk. The industry evolved into something I think not healthy for the art and I think MJ is the avatar of that evolution. It is too much Deal.
The disco super hyped super production super investment super cleans super tech has punched big nasty bruises into the music industry and probably isn’t good for the actors. The bottom is pushing back because they have to to have a say. The tech is good enough and where the talent stays at it despite any naysayers, they are making contributions. They don’t need Chess. That’s the beauty of it.
Sad but so, Chess was an evolution. How many of those acts were going to get a shot without Chess? How many of them built on the work at Chess and made a sound that was strong right up to The Last Dance?
Host aside, what I love about that movie is the players are real. The sound is real. Smoke and mirrors aside, it is the time of the real hot smoking players who could wrench every last drop of sad soulful string stretching beauty out of their axes, cry in a song like a man who’s just reached out to his wife’s cold corpse in the morning knowing what was ain’t never gonna be again. It was shadows on a sidewalk in summer where you ride a bicycle in and out of them to cool and glide along the day. It’s comfort. It’s spirit. It’s what ought to be. It’s what lasts.
What I will do is send a copy, my postage, my mailer to the first five regular contributors to this dinner who send me a snail mail to my home email. No natch.
One way to break the cycle is if artists specified in their contracts that they would be playing in free media zones. It works for the acts that do it. The acts that don’t may not need it but it ought to be their choice and they should be the ones explaining it to the ladies with the cellphones. Respect.
Len, and the South wouldn’t have been King Cotton without slavery…and there wouldn’t have been a Cotton Club or a Duke Ellington, right? And without slavery, there would have been no blues, right? So that’s how we justify slavery in the US, right?
I don’t think so…
@rick: the only thing we can change today is tomorrow.
How about some old fashioned activism? I’m against our government interfering in Iran, but the rest of us can show solidarity. At least let the Iranians know we know and we don’t like what was done to them in the streets, in their homes, to their persons.
Arlo just had his arlo.net pages relocated to tehran to help flood their net police with noise.
<blockquote>You guys wearing sacred clothing, holding the Holy Koran in hand, while your thugs beat, maim and kill your fathers, brothers, sisters & mothers – Yeah you guys (if you’re reading this) – You have shown the entire world that you would sacrifice your own children for your temporary authority over them even as you KNOW you will grow old and pass away, and they will live to create a world of their own. The only question is how many will perish before you come to your senses or stand before your creator… How much blood will be spilt before your shame overcomes you and you shed tears for forgiveness? If the power of your authority comes only from clubs and guns, what does that say of your God? It would be better to have no faith than to have as little as yours… adg
P.S. Same goes for any nation anywhere, anytime (including ours) when tyrants cover the rotting stench of their cold dying hearts with the outward appearance of holiness.</blockquote>