I used to like the blues fine, and I even paid money for my son's blues guitar lessons, but blues festivals in Portland here are significantly whiter than the town itself, and PDX is one of the three whitest fair-sized cities in the US. (Seattle, Minneapolis).
Blues is also the Muzak of yuppy coffee shops and taverns here.
At a certain point you just snap.
I think it's an ironclad rule of middle aged ex-rock-fan whiteguydom that you have to become obsessed with either the blues or jazz. I guess I'll go with jazz, but I'm not looking forward to it.
Jazz really has an enormous range which blues doesn't.
It's my experience that appreciating jazz depends heavily on starting in the right places. Otherwise, it can seem mighty inscrutable.
I'm not trying to imply that I don't like jazz. I do. But it seems to encompass (or at least excel at) a distinctly different emotional gamut from the music I generally prefer listening to.
The stuff I like is Monk and afterwards, and a lot of it is questionably jazz at all. E.G. Scandinavian stuff by Jan Garbarek and Don Cherry.
The classic stuff has been ruined for me by its use as background and mood music on cartoons, movies, advertising, etc., etc.
That isn't the Troll of Sorrow, is it?
Actually the up-and-coming blues guy, Jonny Lang, came from Fargo where my brother lives. Fargo probably **is** the whitest city in the U.S., if it's a city.
He and his posse once came to the pizza place where my niece was working. Fargo posses are not too scary, even by Fargo standards.
Another big advantage that "Blues" has is the vast poetic opportunity for naming beer festivals. I attend a few in a professional capacity, and almost every one is called "Blues n' Brews, "Brews n' Blues," "Rhythm n' Brews," "Blues, Brews, n' BBQ" ad freaking nauseum. Of course, the target demographic has a lot in common with the stereotypes lampooned here. But still, can't a brother get an occaisional "Jazz n' Fizz," or "Rockin' Lager" or "ale.country?"
Appreciating my cock also depends on starting in the right places
Where would you recommend?
Appreciating my cock also depends on starting in the right places
Where would you recommend?
If I were malicious I would suggest starting the appreciation with the cock in a microwave. But I'm not.
Didn't "jazz" mean "screw" originally anyway? There is also a story that the word got its current spelling because people would black out the 'J' on posters for the Original Dixieland Jass Band. I'm not sure both of these can be true.
Whiteguydom: There are a lot of excellent white people and non-Americans playing jazz. There are some decent white bluesmen, surely, but I doubt I would be tempted by a 7-LP set called "The Dutch Blues Scene Revisited." Vocals make a big difference.
Also, remember the Blues Hammer scene from Ghost World, the movie? That scene also draws attention to an important difference.
We're all off flaming each other about ID.
Abba did a medley of old spirituals and work songs which some here might be interested in.
I like Richard Thompson's cover of Abba's "Money".
Yes, but his cover of "Ooops I did it again" is better.
You know, I've never seen, alas, any of the 1,000 Years of Popular Music live shows, but it must be owned that pretty much all of the album is great.
My opinions are also based solely on recordings. But I agree, they're great performances. Richard Thompson is a phenomenal musician and I appreciate that he sounds loose and like he's having fun with the 1000 years material.
How about that upcoming 1000 years of power anthology? Opens with "Lightning bolt, lightning bolt" I'm told...
Re: #7: There's one of your one-liner, non-sequiturs you didn't know you write, FL.
BTW, I wonder what's the longest an unfogged comment thread has gone before someone brings in a cock reference.