Ms. Darby

This weekend at the Savannah Music Festival, David Grisman asked the audience, “so, who out there likes pop music?” I was the only person who emphatically hooted and hollered, surprised (kind of) that not one other person in the place was brave enough to admit it. Granted, some people might just not like pop music, but what IS pop music?

POPular music, as a definition, is limited and does not begin to examine the scope that is pop music. The making of a 2 to 4 minute song which is intended for radio play is a good place to start. “Commercially successful,” a packaged bit of goods that black men made and white boys sang is more accurate, with the roots of “pop music” in the American Blues. And although Elvis was the beginning of the pop song with “That’s All Right, Mama” and Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound got the ball rolling, the Beatles MADE pop music; Thus the beginning of rock and roll, with the line between the two continuously blurred.

From the Beatles came Dylan, popularly speaking, and soon after Hendrix, The Who, The Stones, and on into Bowie, Brian Wilson, The Velvet Underground and Brian Eno. A part of me rejects placing many of these musicians into the pop category, but as icons of pop culture and musical history, they are.

As are the 80’s pop aficionado’s, including the Specials, the Clash, New Order, the Smith’s…(do not get me started, for it is here that my 80’s experience turns my eyes to glaze and puts that nostalgic smile upon my face.)

Today, the inkling to separate oneself from anything popular in order to gain instant access to cool is in itself popular. I leave that bit of my personality back in the 7th grade commons, where it belongs. My musical interests are wide and expansive, but they always include pop music. Badly Drawn Boy, Tahiti 80, and Phoenix are just 3 acts today that are truly pop and outstanding. Sometimes, the mainstream is actually good.

Anyone who says they do not like pop music is lying, dead, or, after all, perhaps they’re only sleeping.

Filed by darby at 9:07 am under Arts
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Take a load off fanny. With my heaviness of late, I thought it high time to elect a heroine.

Naomi Klein is my heroine. From an interview in Alternet:

Best known for her brilliant analysis of corporate marketing in No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies a book once described as “the Das Kapital of the anti-corporate movement”, Naomi Klein has long been a voice for moral accountability in the media. Klein talks about Bush, the Iraq war and the need for progressives to “answer the language of faith with the language of morality.”

Naomi Klein does not live in fear. SHE’s got the biggest balls of them all.

Filed by darby at 12:32 pm under raves
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Magnetic yellow ribbons don the back of a high percentage of cars in my new neighborhood, along with “W” stickers. I am being told to support the troops and that I am a traitor if I don’t. I have been called worse.

The last time I can recall ANY dialogue regarding each soldier’s responsibility in perpetuating war was in the 8th grade while reading Richard Bach. I recall him speaking of personal responsibility and consequence, even in times of war. Of each human being having an obligation to make choices based on their personal belief system. That murder is not suddenly nor easily rationalized by claiming one country’s morality over another’s. That was over 20 years ago, and I am hard pressed for any new honest and critical thought regarding each soldier’s responsibility and hand in war.

Please understand. I feel great sadness and compassion for the group of soldiers who are having to fight our War of Greed. I abhor the exploitation of each soldier. I wish for them to come home to their families and live a life without having to murder on behalf of the state. I wish for our war veterans to try and explain to these soldiers how their lives have been bettered by their agreement to kill for the state. To explain to us all how this war is defending our country and democracy itself. It is not. I support the five-thousand soldiers who are reportedly AWOL, and am not puzzled by their decision.

I myself forget that we are at war. I am sure the families of slain soldiers do not forget. Our access to the realities of everyday killing and death are clouded by our administration’s ability to act as if we have spread democracy across the land like some peach preserves across needy toast. Why are we at war? Who will benefit the most from this war? Not the soldiers or their loved ones.

Some things, I suppose, are worth killing for. Fattening the coffers of a select and despicable minority is not one of them.

Filed by darby at 10:53 am under Politics, rants
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Welcome to March 9th, 2005 or the Official Dan Rather resignation day. Every time I turn the channel, new commentary appears regarding Dan Rather stepping down from his anchor position at CBS. I am about as interested in Dan Rather’s career as I am in who wins the next American Idol. What DOES interest me, however, is the coverage.

The memo which seemed to be an official document condemning Bush’s military service record which Rather used in a 60 Minutes report was a fake. Definitely something to scrutinize. What baffles me, though, is that NOBODY in the mainstream media ever thinks to discuss the actual subject of the report – Bush’s military service record. We all know he evaded his responsibility to show up for an entire year of active guard duty. I don’t think anyone can successfully deny that. (If your daddy was pres’dint and former director of the CIA, wouldn’t you be doing blow and drinking at Camp David instead of reporting for duty, as well?)

The fact that the Bush administration is so damn good at the media control game is what has me looking for land in New Zealand. They have been successful into turning Dubya’s spotty record into maligning Dan Rather’s entire career.

Dan Rather put it best when speaking about his biggest concern:
“That the American press as a whole will succumb to the undertow to be more docile, in some cases obsequious . . . to move in the middle, settle for mediocrity — one, in exchange for access, and two, out of fear that you’d be called a bad name, unpatriotic, or radical right or liberal. What I’m talking about here is the increasing danger of being intimidated.”

Filed by darby at 10:44 am under Politics, rants
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