Re: Vintage Ads

1

All the images are special in their own way. I can't figure it out either.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 7:46 AM
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I thought the dude on the throne with two white women flanking him was kind of special. Also the dude with the rocking bell bottoms and disco shoes, but I don't think that's what the OP was referring to.


Posted by: togolosh | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 7:53 AM
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I probably boggled hardest at the woman on the floor rubbing her face on the guy's leg. The dude in the Aunt Jemima bonnet eating pancakes was also kind of WTF, but less so, as was the Huey Newton chair shot.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 7:55 AM
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Was that really Huey Newton?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 7:59 AM
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No, just his chair. Or a similar chair. But you put a black man in a wicker throne like that, and you have to assume the reference is intended.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:03 AM
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Well, I missed it completely.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:05 AM
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5: Art.(I did not get the reference either.)


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:09 AM
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Maybe I'm wrong that it's a strong enough resemblance to be clearly intended?


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:12 AM
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Mother Jones, not Nation

Huey in Chair, with Rifle and Spear


Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:15 AM
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One of the comments for that picture mentions it as a racial role-reversal; the man's clothes have a sort of safari/explorer vibe.


Posted by: dalriata | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:15 AM
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10:Yeah, the chair and the image of that chair, was I think pretty common as a symbol of colonialism. Huey used it because it was already iconic.

It's a "Egyptian style Rattan Cobra Chair" or "Peacock Chair"


Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:25 AM
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So I guess the photo could be working at two levels--both as a subversive reference to Newton, and as a standard role-reversal of the colonial conquerer enjoying his spoils?


Posted by: dalriata | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:37 AM
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I'm glad you guys figured it out - I thought Huey + Mandingo was pretty clearly special. And the safari reversal, which I didn't quite catch (although I did notice the safari gear).

I would really like to know what the copy was on the pancake one.

Overall, I was surprised that about half of them were pretty plainly appealing to ideals of integration/equality/etc., without pandering or obvious missteps. I mean, ads like the airline one are almost certain to contain criticizable elements, but I didn't see the sort of ham-handedness that I would have expected from that era.

Also, I wonder to what extent the big afro pics were in ads running exclusively in black media. I mean, I remember ads from the 70s, and I know afros were everywhere, but some of the pictures are so... afro-centric.


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:46 AM
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The dude in the Aunt Jemima bonnet

That dude is Smokin' Joe Frazier.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:46 AM
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8: Given how relatively close in time they were you are probably correct. Not an image that I recalled which moderately surprises me. Your apparent absorption of NYC radical chic at a very young age is duly noted.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:47 AM
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More of these here: http://dismagazine.com/disillusioned/46123/hank-willis-thomas-branding-usa/


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:49 AM
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14: I thought it might be someone famous.

Oh, and now I see that he's making a fist, not just leaning his head on his hand.

"If you don't give me some Aunt Jemima's, I'm gonna beat you mostly to death."


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:50 AM
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13, 14: Here you go. A Blue Bonnet Margarine TV ad.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:52 AM
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16: I now see that OJ was the victim of anti-three-legged prejudice on the part of the LAPD.


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:52 AM
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17: "You think you can get me to eat flapjacks without my blue bonnet ... try."


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:53 AM
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I would really like to know what the copy was on the pancake one.

http://timethemoment.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/image2.jpg?w=470


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:53 AM
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Double pwn!


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:55 AM
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Pwnjacks.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:56 AM
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FWIW, I feel the same way about butter.

Unfortunately, I'm not much of a fighter, so many people have, in fact, forced me to eat flapjacks without butter.


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 8:58 AM
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We've got an OJ shoebox, holding odds and ends in my parents' house.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 9:00 AM
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Yeah, the chair and the image of that chair, was I think pretty common as a symbol of colonialism.

See also: Uncle Jam Wants You


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 9:09 AM
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18: A version with Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 9:09 AM
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I probably boggled hardest at the woman on the floor rubbing her face on the guy's leg.

Particularly since he looked very much like a young Edward James Olmos.


Posted by: Josh | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 9:11 AM
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26: That chair (and that picture in general) shows up everywhere.


Posted by: Josh | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 9:14 AM
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Oh, hey, #8:
http://www.cracked.com/article_19972_the-10-most-ridiculous-album-cover-trends-all-time.html


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 9:14 AM
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with one very special image in the middle

I was hoping it would be the Eldridge Cleaver pants.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 9:29 AM
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I remember the *suspended* peacock chair as the very acme and aspiration of cool in the 1970s. I was in St Louis at the time.


Posted by: clew | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 10:07 AM
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Many of these are gorgeous images...it's an unpopular view but I think of the 70s as a cultural high point.


Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 10:23 AM
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Dinnertimin'.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 10:31 AM
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Thanks for the link JRoth. I do like the sequencing -- the images seem to go from, "wow, that's really gorgeous, the 70s were better than I thought" to "uh . . . that's a little odd" to "okay that's just weird."


Posted by: NickS | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 10:45 AM
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Cinephiles have long acknowledged the 70s as a cultural high point. Now that everyone has realized that the disco backlash was actually about racism and homophobia, people are admitting that the 70s was a musical high point.

Also, big dorky sunglasses are back in style. But no one I know of is saying the 70s were a fashion high point.


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 11:08 AM
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30 -- How is it that Cracked magazine has become so uniformly wonderful? The former RC Cola-level unfunny unsuccessful competitor to Mad Magazine is seriously now better than the New York Times.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 11:18 AM
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What the hell is with the naked family photos (#3 and #8)?


Posted by: L. | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 11:27 AM
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39 -- that was also a 70s thing. Not in my own pleasingly repressed family, thank god, but not an unusual thing to see on the wall, at least in Southern California.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 11:29 AM
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33: BOOOOR-ing. Mitterand had a whole SECOND FAMILY! This is so utterly jejune.

37: The '70s wasn't just a musical highpoint for the 20th century, it was one of the most amazing eras in the history of popular music ever. Punk, hip-hop, salsa, disco, various post-disco/house/whatever genres -- all came about in the '70s. Plus you've got both the rock innovations in country AND the return to roots country. And the global rise of reggae (even though technically it probably could be said to have started in the late '60s). And lots of new directions in other established genres. Sad to have missed it.


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 11:32 AM
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Now that everyone has realized that the disco backlash was actually about racism and homophobia, people are admitting that the 70s was a musical high point.

I've argued that the 70s were a musical high point for a while, but that's because I like that era of singer/songwriters.


Posted by: NickS | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 11:32 AM
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42

The Cotton Bowl photo linked in 16 is something else.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 11:34 AM
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The '70s wasn't just a musical highpoint for the 20th century, it was one of the most amazing eras in the history of popular music ever.

Indeed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__VQX2Xn7tI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSwXPIbOodQ


Posted by: AcademicLurker | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 11:37 AM
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44: Now see, for that kind of pabulum, that is about the best possible pabulum you could hope for. I was going to say too that people have tended to slip too easily into this lazy stereotype of 70s pop as just coked-out prog rock played by flaccid old toffs. And while there was a lot of that, the reaction against it was already unfolding as it happened.


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 11:42 AM
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__VQX2Xn7tI

You can't be too dismissive of any song which gets a cover version like this.


Posted by: NickS | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 11:42 AM
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Music since 1976 has basically just been a continuous homage to "Muskrat Love.".


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 11:44 AM
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47

relevant link.


Posted by: NickS | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 11:48 AM
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38:The former RC Cola-level unfunny unsuccessful competitor to Mad Magazine is seriously now better than the New York Times.

Yes, as previously noted here: My 10-year-old and 18-year-old self continue to be incredulous that Cracked [is] somewhat relevant in humor while Mad and National Lampoon declined/expired horribly.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 11:50 AM
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Now that everyone has realized that the disco backlash was actually about racism and homophobia, people are admitting that the 70s was a musical high point.

Now that people who were children during the 70s are old enough that more of them are in positions of power, people are admitting the 70s were a musical high point for reasons that are not at all similar to those used to argue that the 60s were a musical high point by those making that point some years ago.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 12:05 PM
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Now that everyone has realized that the disco backlash was actually about racism and homophobia, people are admitting that the 70s was a musical high point.

Isn't this claim pretty much aesthetic Stalinism in reverse? "Since racists and homophobes disliked disco, it must have been a great genre."


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 12:15 PM
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re: 50

Except the people who are now 'taste-makers' in the music press/blogs, etc were probably very small children in the 70s, if they were even born at all. So I don't think it's necessarily just another instance of people thinking whatever music was cool when they were 12 was the best music.

re: 51

Gay black people did seem to have all the best (dance) music.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 12:21 PM
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51: More like: once you realize that the reaction against disco--and your own emotional resistance to it--are rooted in fear of an effeminate other, you can open yourself up to the joys found in listening to it.

The real work of the argument is done on the dance floor.


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 12:25 PM
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53

I don't dance.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 12:27 PM
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54

The mid to late 70s were a particularly fertile time in the sense that lots of disparate genres were charting, and there was a lot of interaction between genres.

[Bullshit hat on] There's probably some sort of musical Kondratiev waves. Where it takes about 10 or 15 years for music to go through a phase of innovation, consolidation, stagnancy, and then a new revolution.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 12:29 PM
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I'm listening. Now tie it to capitalist development and/or hegemonic war.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 12:32 PM
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"Now that everyone has realized that the disco backlash was actually about racism and homophobia, people are admitting that the 70s was a musical high point."

Italian American contributions to disco and dance music in general remain uncelebrated. If the shit fits people had about the jersy shore are any indication, that was part of the backlash as well.


Posted by: Lemmy caution | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 12:35 PM
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57

re: 56

[Adjusts bullshit hat angle] Well, it's pretty clearly the cultural aftershock from the Opec crisis and the break down in Bretton Woods. Just in the same way that the first big wave in which black dance music went from being an avant-garde minority music to the popular music of the day [swing] was a similar reaction to the 1929 Wall Street Crash.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 12:37 PM
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58

Not bad. Is there a journal called Political Musicology?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 12:38 PM
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re: 57.last

Don't forget the Italo-German contributions, too.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 12:38 PM
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re: 59

Tierce probably edits it.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 12:39 PM
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61

Voices of East Anglia has loads of great posts along these lines.

http://www.voicesofeastanglia.com/

e.g.

http://www.voicesofeastanglia.com/2012/05/gimme-some-shade-retro-sunglasses.html


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 12:54 PM
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And we got this catalogue, so I wore some of this:

http://www.voicesofeastanglia.com/2013/07/seventies-kays-catalogue.html


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 12:55 PM
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1971 may not be the 70s, but I just found this song by John Kongos, which is unlike anything I've ever heard. What else is akin to it?


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 12:59 PM
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64

Musically, the 70s started in 1968. Which is why they are to blame for MacArthur Park.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 1:01 PM
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65

(sorry, that was in the wrong thread before)


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 1:02 PM
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66

Someone left my cake out in the rain.
And I don't think I can take it,
because I can't even fake it.
And I'll never make a metaphor so stupid again.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 1:09 PM
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66:Consider the war a break

Then go 1945-55, 55-65,

65-75 and you got everything from Rubber Soul, Motown and Stax to Ramones, start of Sex Pistols, and Summer's Lady of the Night
Cook Country Jail and Solar Music Live

But I don't do this shit, since that would leave out the best Astrud Gilberto, Coltrane, Chess Records, and Link Wray

There is always and everywhere great music being made.


Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 1:52 PM
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68

There is always and everywhere great music being made.

I endorse this statement.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 1:54 PM
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69.last

Except in France


Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 1:55 PM
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70

Except in France

Christian Vander begs to differ.

Hamatai!


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 2:18 PM
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71

GOJIRA.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 2:28 PM
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72

The rain will fuck up a cake. No joke.


Posted by: Lenmycaution | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 7:32 PM
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73

I would like to subscribe to 57's newsletter.


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 9:30 PM
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70 pretty much gets it right.

Sometimes the good shit is popular, sometimes it's (semi-) underground, sometimes it builds incrementally on its immediate antecedents, sometimes it's reaching back a generation or three, but the idea that some eras are uniquely full of good music is as dumb as the idea that people ever wear the same fashions two consecutive years.


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 07-23-13 9:38 PM
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Fuck. My (mid-70s) mother who lives alone, a couple of hours away, has been getting gradually more and more paranoid (in an angry, hostile kind of way) about her neighbors for years; they're plotting against her, they're stealing her mail, they're vandalizing her lawn, they're moving her property markers, escalating to they're breaking into her house and stealing minor things, and they're loosening the lug nuts on her car tires. And she's always been a bit like this, so while she's sounding pretty out there these days, I've reacted to the escalation like a boiling frog doesn't.

The local cops just called me -- she's been reporting enough things that they're worried about her. Nothing they can do; she's not sounding like a danger to herself or anyone else, but they think she needs someone to step in.

I have absolutely no idea how to effectively step in --I've been trying to talk her out of the paranoia for quite a while now, and been clear that I don't think it's actually happening, and she's furious at me about it. There is literally no other family member she speaks to -- I don't have any siblings who could step in, she hasn't been married to my father for a long time and they're not in contact, she's estranged from her only living sibling.

I have no idea what to do next, other than exhort her to go to a doctor for a mental evaluation. I don't even know what kind of specialist (a gerontologist?) that should be, much less how to get her to go to one. She's really independent: I'm not involved in her financial/insurance/whatever details at all, and trying to take over is going to be hell. We've always had an emotionally rocky relationship, and just had a big blowup last month.

And I have a major presentation to make this afternoon that I should be spending this morning finishing preparations for.


Posted by: Franklin Roosevelt | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 7:07 AM
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My sympathies. There are geriatric specialists of various kinds, including psychiatrists which is probably what you need. I have no idea how to get her to go find a doctor.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 7:13 AM
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77

No helpful advice, FDR, but sympathy at least.


Posted by: togolosh | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 7:14 AM
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78

The "how do we care for our aging parents" explosion will be hour next explosion after the baby explosion. Sorry, FR, we went through a similar situation a few years back and there wasn't much that could be done (until things got much much worse). Live in care or even an occasional paid companion can be helpful, but those are expensive and need to be accepted by the old person. Gerontologists are helpful but other than preaching tolerance and having knowledge of care options (and, most importantly, being able to diagnose more serious medical conditions) they don't have a magic bullet either.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 7:16 AM
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77: For now, work on the presentation (but you knew that).


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 7:16 AM
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80

"Our" next, and my situation involved my grandmother, which at least built in additional layers of family support.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 7:18 AM
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77 - Is there a general practitioner or other doctor who she sees regularly? You could inform that doctor of your concerns and bring her in to see him/her on some general health related pretext ("You really ought to have your blood pressure looked at."), and that doctor might be able to point you towards the best next step for diagnosing/treating her.


Posted by: MAE | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 7:21 AM
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"I'm prescribing you Aricept for your blood pressure."


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 7:25 AM
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Unfortunately, no. She is very healthy for her age, so she doesn't have a reason to spend much time with doctors, and she's always been prickly and easily dissatisfied with them so no long term medical relationships. And I'm really not involved with her medical care at all; I don't even know the name of the last doctor she's seen.


Posted by: Franklin Roosevelt | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 7:25 AM
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But that's a very sensible suggestion, generally.


Posted by: Franklin Roosevelt | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 7:26 AM
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...they're loosening the lug nuts on her car tires....

...The local cops just called me -- she's been reporting enough things that they're worried about her...

How is she set-up for living alone if she can't drive? Because I'm thinking that if the cops went through all the trouble to find and call you, they'll take her license at the first sign her driving is impaired.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 7:44 AM
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These are the cops near her beach house which would be unlivable without a car, but her winter domicile is walkable, no problem. She'd just have to abandon the beach house.


Posted by: Franklin Roosevelt | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 7:51 AM
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Sympathies on a tough situation. Don't do anything today.

Here's what I've done when one of my folks or other relaitive was going through a bad patch.
Tell her that you want to help her, and tell her what the symptom is (that the police are worried.) Maybe say that solitude is a bad idea, that a life with other people in it is better than an empty one. If there's anything she enjoys, talk about that first. Then terminate the conversation for that day, without telling her to do anything.

The next time you call, tell her again that you want to help, that you want her doctor to know that the police called you, and you want to tell his office that.


Posted by: lw | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 7:54 AM
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"The police are loosening the lug nuts on your car tires."


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 8:00 AM
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89

even an occasional paid companion

Paying for hookers for one's parents seems kind of fraught.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 8:34 AM
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90

But, seriously, sympathies, FR. That sounds really difficult to deal with.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 8:38 AM
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Ugh, FDR. No helpful advice whatsoever, but holy crap is that awful; my sympathies. Good luck working on that presentation.


Posted by: x.trapnel | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 9:35 AM
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Aw, sorry you're in that position, FR. Other than contacting eldercare/dept of aging for ideas, perhaps there are some things you could do at the margins. You mention two homes; is it the neighbors at only one that she thinks are sabotaging her? Perhaps it's time to think about selling one. Or long term, selling both and moving to a continuing care facility where she's have her own condo or house or apartment or whatever for now. All my immediate ideas are basically costly, but they might take some of the pressure off so you can develop a better long-term strategy. Could you install a security system? Or motion sensor lights outside the house? You don't have to pretend that you believe her, but maybe it would let her settle down on calling the police? (There is the further problem if she decides the neighbors can defeat these systems, but you'd be able to guess better than I.) Also, perhaps on the car, you could suggest she have a helper to take her shopping (because you are worried about her safety). It's cheaper to do this if they drive her car vs the helper's car, but a good helper could "inspect" the car to make sure it's OK. It might take a few tries to find someone she tolerates, but the cost might not be truly prohibitive for a few hours, say two days a week. (Other folks seemed to have good ideas about hotlines and community resources in the Fake/Real thread, and I'm clearly out of my league there.) Good luck.


Posted by: ydnew | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 9:38 AM
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Or motion sensor lights outside the house? You don't have to pretend that you believe her, but maybe it would let her settle down on calling the police? (There is the further problem if she decides the neighbors can defeat these systems, but you'd be able to guess better than I.)

This process has kind of already happened -- she got a locking gas cap to stop the neighbors from siphoning gas out of her car, but she believes that they have defeated it, and are siphoning the gas out of her car anyway.

Lw's 89 looks like a useful approach, assuming I can work around the guilt involved in telling her that solitude is unhealthy when I and my kids don't spend nearly as much time with her as she says she'd like.


Posted by: Franklin Roosevelt | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 1:38 PM
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re: 76

I don't believe the claim that all eras are equally filled with the bounties of great music. I think anyone who has taken a solid look at the history of music [in the 20th c.] would spot some fairly dead spots. Periods in which the good-shit is (semi-)underground, to use your own phrase, tend to be eras in which there's just less good-shit to go round. Sure, in any era there's always good music being made, but that's entirely compatible with their being particularly fertile periods, and particularly fallow periods.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 1:48 PM
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96 is obviously completely correct.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 1:50 PM
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96

Said like a man who believes fashion has changed since the '70s. Or hasn't. One or the other.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 1:51 PM
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FR, I don't want to be the bear whore of bad news, and maybe I am just stating what's obvious, but your mother is dementing. It may progress slowly but if you're noticing significant changes, well, then it may progress more quickly. You need to give serious thought to what your/her plans will be if she is soon unable to live alone. It will be much less stressful for everyone if there is some at least tentative plan in place in advance, so major decisions don't have to be made on the fly in reaction to crises. It would probably also be helpful to have a neuropsychologist evaluate her, if possible.


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 2:10 PM
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98

Eh. Just 'cause the cops called you today doesn't make the situation any different than it has been for the past while. It has the same urgency as it did before the phone range. And if she's not going to let you help, she's not going to let you help.

Work on your presentation in the same amount of peace you had this morning. She's unlikely to do anything drastic before the weekend. You can call her then to get in a fight that doesn't help things.


Posted by: Megan | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 2:10 PM
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96: The question isn't how much good art is being made, the question is how much do you freaking need.
When I think of all the good SF bands or British Psych bands and artists that couldn't break through or make a living, the surplus was just wasted.

"Yeah, the 70s were terrific, because we had 10,000 great bands"

"I want a world in which 5000 Pulitzer quality novels are being written every year."

No, I don't, or don't care. Or I do care. Fact is 5-6 bands in an area at a time can grow and succeed, and 50-60 get in each others' way so much that the general level of quality, the median is lower. We generally remember the best of that time/place more fondly than they deserve, because we compare them to the mediocre crowd.

Also:500 terrific Impressionist artists!


Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 2:10 PM
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99 is correct, but doesn't make things any easier.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 2:11 PM
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Goddamn phone. "Bearer".


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 2:12 PM
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bear whore of bad news

Oh my god I don't know whether or not this was intentional, but I'm laughing so hard. I'm going to use this all the time now.


Posted by: jms | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 2:12 PM
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Also, I'm really sorry, FR. That sounds like an incredibly difficult situation.


Posted by: jms | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 2:16 PM
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To be clear, I agree with 100 that there's no emergency and you should finish your presentation. I just didn't want to leave "she's always been a bit like this" hanging out there without comment. I know the feeling--my mother was also always a bit like that--so I didn't see obvious issues until it was pretty late.


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 2:16 PM
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"The bare whore of bad news" would make a nice eggcorn.


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 2:18 PM
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Also:Randall Collins is long, tough, and you won't learn much philosophy, but he will change the way you think about cultural production.

But this isn't why I'm here

David Dayen:Sexist Larry Summers Will Destroy the Economy

Well, fucking doh. Feature, not bug. And the plan. A Naomi Klein Shock in 2015-2016 will put Republicans in charge of all four branches under circumstances that can justify "austerity." Democrats will blame sexism and racism, and Larry Summers, and put Obama on Mount Rushmore. Bankers will own us even more.

They're smarter than you. By miles.


Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 2:20 PM
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99: While this is exactly the reaction I would have to the same story from someone else, and it's probably right, this is less far off my mother's baseline than it would be for most people. She's been competent and highly intelligent, but also what I would colloquially call paranoid as all fuck, as long as I can remember -- there's a reason that I'm the last family member standing that she's in contact with.

So, the inappropriate cop-calling and specific bizarre beliefs about what the neighbors are doing are new, but they're not wildly out of character, she's always sort of thought everyone was out to get her. (Including, off and on, on some level, me, which is going to mean taking control of her life if and when necessary is just going to be awesome.)

I'm not sure what to conclude from this -- probably not much. But if she'd been sweetly rational her whole life, and was suddenly like this, I'd think there was something seriously physical wrong. For my mother specifically, it's close enough to what she's always been like that it seems as if it could be less physical and more spending too much time alone.

But I don't know that that changes anything. Probably not.


Posted by: Franklin Roosevelt | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 2:25 PM
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109 crossed with 106, which certainly does make me think.


Posted by: Franklin Roosevelt | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 2:28 PM
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104 gets it EXACTLY right.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 2:30 PM
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There are a lot of different things that get merged together under the term "dementia," plus old people often have exacerbated versions of older psychological conditions. But, regardless, having some kind of plan in place is helpful, and it's especially helpful -- if even conceivably possible -- to get your Mom to sign a bunch of things now that make actions easier once things start to get really bad. I can say from experience that having someone who is both (a) severely enough demented to be very irrational, but not quite so severely to be a threat to themselves or others sufficient to mandate commitment and (b) extremely stubborn and paranoid is really a recipe for disaster.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 2:42 PM
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FR's story sounds a little bit like my grandmother, who went from always-somewhat-paranoid-and-abrasive to truly out of it and imagining things with vivid visual hallucinations (or false memories of hallucinations? unclear) - including imagining that there were two copies of her youngest son, one good and one evil - in just a couple of weeks, at age 89. She had been in an assisted-living place before, but moved out and back into an apartment by herself essentially because of the paranoia; when her decline got bad, it would have been much better if she had still been there (she fired a couple of in-home aides we tried to set her up with, similarly). I don't think there was much useful medical assistance to be rendered; taking her car keys away and making sure someone (often me) was nearby when her decline got really steep was about all we could do.


Posted by: Nathan Williams | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 3:03 PM
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You mean like these bear whores?


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 4:52 PM
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I think if you sent this bear whore to deliver bad news it might be kind of charming.


Posted by: k-sky | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 5:39 PM
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91 is suddenly prophetic.


Posted by: k-sky | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 5:40 PM
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So sorry to hear this, FDR. In terms of getting your mom to sign forms granting you power of attorney, health care surrogate, or whatever, perhaps you could introduce a discussion about end of life care. Refer to the return of 'death panels' in the news (depending on her politics), or mention hearing about someone's funeral and coming to realize that you don't know what her wishes are.


Posted by: J, Robot | Link to this comment | 07-24-13 6:01 PM
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On the music, when I started getting into 2-Tone (would be about 1997-1998), I realised that the period 1977-1982 was a really amazing wave of creativity. Early hip-hop. 2-tone. Krautrock. Postpunk. New wave. Loads of interesting Jamaican and west African stuff. The P-funk -> disco -> house process. The beginning of Manchester as a music centre. The relaunch of Detroit. There's probably a book in it looking at how the strands interworked.


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 07-25-13 3:06 PM
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There's probably a book


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07-25-13 5:27 PM
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Hmm. That's a couple of the strands. GOT ANY MORE? /withnail


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 07-25-13 5:33 PM
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More of them than you think! Not krautrock outside of Kraftwerk, and I have no idea what 2-tone is, but the rest of the things you mention get a nod, at least.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07-25-13 5:38 PM
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Simon Reynold's Rip It Up, is good on the same period.

Similar to 118, I bought Gang of Four's A Brief History of the 20th Century* when it came out in 1990 [I was 18] and had just left a long teenage 'metal' phase and was getting obsessed by classical, hip-hop and jazz. The connections made sense to me as I was coming at it from Bitches Brew, Rite of Spring, and Public Enemy, all of which had been big things for me as I stopped exclusively listening to metal [but which are all quite 'metal' in their way]. Discovering post-punk which seemed to have lots of music that combined all the strands I was exploring -- noise, improv, loud guitars, funk, dance music, politics, etc -- was a big revelation.

* I bought it unheard because a few of the guitar players I liked cited Andy Gill as an influence.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 07-25-13 5:47 PM
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re: 121

2-Tone! Huge ska/punk crossover type music, big in the late 70s and early 80s, much ripped off by second rate US 'ska' bands a decade later?

The Specials?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WhhSBgd3KI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxHcx7FO8nI

I'm just old enough to remember it first time round. Some of the older boys on our 'scheme' dressed in that style, and Madness were huge even among little kids.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 07-25-13 5:51 PM
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123: oh, ska. Sure, I know ska. It's that crappy music that bands couldn't get enough of for some reason when I was in high school.

(Honestly, though, no, I never knew the Specials were called anything other than ska. Nor that they would be considered the same genre as Madness, who I pretty much know from "Our House".)


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07-25-13 5:59 PM
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Madness and The Specials were both on the 2 Tone label. Hence the name:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_Tone


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 07-25-13 6:04 PM
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The Specials' song that is on heavy rotation in my head this last month plus: Nelson Mandela.


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 07-25-13 6:06 PM
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119: Illustrated, although it's only a couple of those threads.


Posted by: snarkout | Link to this comment | 07-25-13 6:09 PM
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Apparently I should have known the term "Two Tone" as some of the shitty local ska bands I knew describe(d) themselves that way.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07-25-13 6:09 PM
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I feel like Rancid et al retroactively crappified ska. Nonetheless, I still like the English Beat.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 07-25-13 6:18 PM
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Jesus, that "we fixed the name to be nice to some bar band in Buttfuck" thing is annoying.

126: note the preview-of-the-future pulse beat break in the middle-eight.


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 07-26-13 5:26 AM
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Ska is a lot older than 2-tone, though. Originated in Jamaica in the early 60s - Prince Buster, Sir Coxsone, Desmond Dekker, Skatalites - and eventually got prettied up into Reggae.


Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 07-26-13 5:59 AM
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By way of Rocksteady.

My best friend in high school played keyboards for the Skatalites in the early 90s and toured all over with them. It was kind of surreal seeing him up there on stage when they came to NYC playing with a bunch of Jamaican guys in their 60s who I idolized (being very much into Two Tone and roots ska in high school in the early 80s). He enjoyed it (and it paid pretty well) but he would have much rather been playing free jazz.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 07-26-13 6:31 AM
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(Alex really really needs to read Simon Reynolds' Rip it up and Start Again, which is explicitly about the period he talked about and how diverse and influential it was.)

2-Tone really shouldn't be called ska, even though it was pretty much informed by the ska bands Chris talks about. It originated in Britain rather than Jamaica and included both punk and first wave ska (as well as reggae) influences, as done by people who were themselves second or even third generation Caribbean immigrants into Britain and their white friends.

It was also intensely political, created in an era when the National Front was regularly kicking the shit out of any Black people it could find and consciously integrated (hence 2-tone and the black and white checkered logos) with all of the big bands (Specials/Special AKA, Madness, The Beat, The Selecter) having black and white members both.

It's hard to understate as well how influential all strands of Jamaican music (reggea, ska, 2-tone) were on UK punk and rock in general at that time, the Clash being only the most obvious example.

Here in the Netherlands those ska/reggea guitar sounds influenced a whole generation of Dutch language punk/rock/pop bands and a whole new genre of nederpop, most Dutch language music having been more akin to slagers than English style pop before then.


Posted by: Martin Wisse | Link to this comment | 07-26-13 8:13 AM
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Hi Martin, what's up with your website?


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 07-26-13 8:17 AM
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132: Is that the guy on the back of "Hi-Bop Ska" with the droopy outfit? He sure seems like a fish out of water in that picture.

That would be kind of a plausible feature film idea -- young white musician signs up with aging Black greats and learns about herself while coming out of her shell and having the time of her life. Morgan Freeman would of course play the super-duper magical Black person band leader who pushes her towards greater self-awareness.


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 07-26-13 8:35 AM
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Semi-related to vintage ads: Beer labels in motion. My favorite, the Ed Fitz.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07-26-13 8:37 AM
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Barry: provider playing shenanigans while I'm on holiday, should be fixed after the weekend.


Posted by: Martin Wisse | Link to this comment | 07-26-13 8:48 AM
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Rip it up and Start Again, which is explicitly about the period he talked about and how diverse and influential it was.

Which is a very good book (and one I would recommend heartily), but, fair warning, not an overview. It was very good at showing all of the different things that were going on within an individual style and the ways in which different bands influenced each other and also drew upon different influences -- and then doing it again with a different genre.

It's strength is in the accumulation of details and smart commentary but you do have to want that.


Posted by: NickS | Link to this comment | 07-26-13 8:55 AM
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135 that sure looks like my friend, with a haircut, you should have seen him on stage when he had hair out to here - the white dude had by far the biggest afro on stage - but the credits for that album list a Bill Smith on keyboards who is not him.

137 Ah, glad it's just crap like that that's easily sorted.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 07-26-13 12:57 PM
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