Image via WikipediaOR: WHY ALL HISTORY IS POLITICAL Though Europe thrives, its writers and politicians are preoccupied with death. The mass killings of European civilians during the 1930s and 1940s are the reference of today's confused discussions of memory, and the touchstone of whatever common … [Read more...]
Archives for July 2009
STEELY DAN: AJA, ROYAL SCAM
Image via WikipediaSo after I arm wrestled with the sound collecting for the radio story and got to my seat, the band had found a respectful groove, and they were truly nerdy like you'd expect. Totally engrossed in their instruments, very little eye contact, and tossing off classic licks with … [Read more...]
MORE MJ: LEGACY ISSUES
Image via Wikipedia It's impossible to say anything original about Michael Jackson, so I won't even try. As a celebrity and a media presence, for so much of his life, he cannot be extricated from all the words and images and sounds that he generated, or that were (and still are being) generated … [Read more...]
MJ: DEEP CULTURAL DISCOUNT
THE TWO EASIEST media responses to the death of a public figure are reverence or ridicule, and Michael Jackson made both easy. A singer of breathtaking suppleness and soulfulness, one whose early work with the Jackson 5 the rock critic Dave Marsh called "the last great moment of soul as we knew it," … [Read more...]
Chuck Berry, Meet Django
Rock'n'roll was once a working-class occupation. Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Billy Fury and Johnny Hallyday saw music as a way out and up, like sport, hell-fire preaching or trade union politics. That Fury and Hallyday didn't grow up picking cotton or shining shoes mattered very little. They … [Read more...]
BEFORE THE DELUGE
From Noise Addicts, an impressive list, especially since many of these do not involve chemicals or gunplay. In fact, the subtext is really: business as usual. To participate, submit your favorite 1) missing celebs 2) producers 3) dead celebs, or 4) other non-musician industry beggars. "And please, … [Read more...]