From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Mon Feb 28 2005 - 02:36:08 GMT
Hey MOQers:
dmb says:
Like Marsha and Adam, I also very much enjoyed Ham's hilarous parody of an
old Victorian crank. It was "spot on", as they say across the pond. Casting
the whole piece in Platt's voice was a brilliant choice too. Adds a little
local color and its just good type casting. Who better to play to Rigelistic
prig? Check it out...
Ham said to Arlo:
Unlike you, I apparently have no 'punk' in me, and thus have a problem
accepting "rock concerts" as anything but riotous behavior energized by
electronically distorted noise that rarely, if ever, takes on the aspects of
music (at least as that term may be applied to an art form).
"Counter-cultural" is too nice: I would call 'punk' and its expression
anti-cultural, animalistic, primitive. If these exhibitionists insist on
being millionaire pop idols at the sacrifice of our cultural heritage, how
do they serve as a model for our youth? To what pit of debauchery do they
conspire to lead us? Forget about what "music is supposed to be" -- what
VALUES are they advocating beyond uninhibited sex, social upheaval, and
revolt against authority? Is there any semblance of personal
responsibility, rationality, or harmony in their call to violence?
dmb says:
See how he takes grandstanding to a new level here? The guys on FOX news
would blush at this. It achieves a level of grandiosity rarely achieved by
mere mortals. We need a new word for grandstanding of this magnitude. Let's
call it grandiose-standing or greatgrandingstanding or something. And what
makes it so funny is the way he maintains that geezerlike cluelessness, that
oblivious quality. As if the kids were rebelling against something else. Ha!
I laughed until I wet myself.
Ham said to Arlo:
Social norms, as you call them, are the refinements of human culture that
have enabled man to become a civilized creature, in large measure by
enhancing his sensibility and intellectual appreciation of the values of
life. Is this not the message of Dynamic Quality to which you MoQers
aspire? The rap 'artist' is an offense to civilization; he wants to tear
it all down and start afresh with a new world order based on a
let-it-all-hang-out, free-love, anti-intellectual mentality. You may see
this as harmless "self-expression"; but the philosophy that it espouses is a
threat to society. Civilization does not advance by eschewing cultural
values and individual responsibility. Indeed, it's precisely the loss of
these values that has led our younger generation into lives of crime,
addiction, unwanted pregnancies and intellectual dysfunction. If you would
apply your "critical lens" to this rebellion against norms, I think you
would see that it is both irrational and nihilistic.
dmb says:
Oh, this is great too. See how he maintains the level of grandiosity and
moves us from rock and a concern for the kids to rap and a full-blown
apocalyptic vision, a vision of the end of humanity's evolution. Its sheer
genius, really. A new world order based on free love. That is so funny that
its almost cruel. I laughed until I soiled myself. Ham mocks those foolish
old men so perfectly that I can only conclude that he's personally familiar
with such antiquated characters.
Ham said to Arlo:
How is the musician qualified to challenge social norms; does he know
something about "social justice" in his drug-induced stupor that the average
taxpaying citizen doesn't? ...This is more than just an aside, Arlo. I
totally disagree with your conclusion. Undermining the values on which a
culture is founded, and offering nothing but social revolution to replace
them, is nihilism in its most blatant form.
dmb says:
Punks want to "sacrifice our cultural heritage". The Rap artist hates
civilization and "wants to tear it all down" and finally the musician is
"offering nothing but social revolution". Wait until I catch my breath. Oh,
stop, stop! Its just too funny.
Help! The musicians are after me! They want to take my children! They're
going to burn the temples and dishonor our gods with their baggy pants and
fascist haircuts!
But if I may be serious for just a moment, I heard a story long ago. Do'nt
even rememeber where or when anymore, but its true story told by the one who
experienced it. There no big plot. He just expalined that when he and his
Russian-speaking Soviet friends first heard American jazz it changed their
lives. They made of regular habit of listening and desperately sought new
records. "To us, it sounded like freedom", he said. When I heard that I
wept.
My point? Its fine with me if music is the destroyer of civilizations.
Thanks.
MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archives:
Aug '98 - Oct '02 - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
Nov '02 Onward - http://www.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/summary.html
MD Queries - horse@darkstar.uk.net
To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Mon Feb 28 2005 - 02:41:00 GMT