Musical New Year's resolutions

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Gillette knows his stuff, but I find him a bit ideological - sort of in the "white people stole it all" camp - I take a much different view on the origins and development, and basically describe rock and roll as a white meditation on black forms - which is not to say that there were not great black rock and rollers like Bo Diddley and Hendrix - but that the ultimate development of the music was a basically "white" evolution of older black and white country forms - a position which has already led to three major university press rejections - one editor told me she loved the book but it wouldn't pass political muster; another almost hung up on me when I discussed a thing I'd written about Hendrix's liberation by white audiences and musicians (which I described as an ironic reversal of the usual paradigm of white musicians being liberated by black music) - so I will likely self-publish if nothing else comes up -

It's a long time since I read "Sounds of the city", but I didn't get too much of the "white people stole it" feeling; except where he was talking about the British bands of the sixties. But I was there and, I assume, Gillette was there (he was certainly doing a column in the Record Mirror not many years later) and it WAS a steal. Which is not to say that stuff didn't come out of it that was not new. Of course, being close to that stuff might have clouded his perspective - as I reckon it probably clouded mine (but, I don't care).

If you want to know something of what being there, then, FELT like - and how it affected one - read Mark Hudson's "The music in my head", which I think you can pick up for a penny in Amazon. It's fiction but well researched - and the protagonist might have been me, had I managed to get into the music business (which, thankfully, I didn't).

MG

[AllenLowe]

will try to find a copy of that - my main point is that, having grown from black music, rock and roll was turned by these white kids into a truly original form -

[Niko]

Pick up the trombone and/or flugel again ! :rsly:

similar thing here, have been wondering for three years whether my saxophone needs a repair or whether i just "forgot how to play"... will try to change that next year

[sidewinder]

Pick up the trombone and/or flugel again ! :rsly:

similar thing here, have been wondering for three years whether my saxophone needs a repair or whether i just "forgot how to play"... will try to change that next year

In fact, the 'bone (Yamaha) is sat in its stand upstairs and just waiting for me to 'parp' through it again. Last time, I managed about an octave ! :rsmile:

The trouble is, every time I work up the enthusiasm I put on the JJ Johnson Mosaic, then give up..

Edited December 8, 2007 by sidewinder

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

will try to find a copy of that - my main point is that, having grown from black music, rock and roll was turned by these white kids into a truly original form -

Surely Gillette was saying something similar? I'm pretty sure his main love was, and probably remains, black music, but I'm also sure he appreciates Rock & Roll and Rock; he used to play plenty on his radio show in the early 70s (before I moved here, out of range) and I'm certain he was given a free hand; no suit could have come up with the wide ranging kinds of things he did - white or black.

MG

[AndrewHill]

Pick up the trombone and/or flugel again ! :rsly:

Maybe I'll break out my trumpet too...it was given to me a year ago, and needs some work but I would like to try to learn how to play it.

[DTMX]

I need to dust off my alto and baritone saxes. But I'll probably just start listening to more Sonic Youth and Captain Beefheart.

[porcy62]

1) find another publisher for my novel, (the latest one dropped it down because of some disagreement on my book among his employers/co-workers, what a PRICK, thanks Chris I didn't knew the word, he was the damn boss, he was enthusiast about my work, meet me, a lot of compliments, a promise of a contract, and after a month I discovered that he changed opinion).

2) Start practicing Haikido.

3) Digging in my existing collection.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Good luck, Porcy.

MG

[Tom Storer]

I plan to start listening to music again.

Of course, I haven't stopped listening altogether. Here's what happened:

I get home from work usually around 7:30, cook dinner (my wife gets home later than I do so I've become the cook), then we eat dinner, then do the dishes. This brings us up to 9 PM at the earliest. Then my wife and I sit and talk about our days, often there are then practical matters to tend to over correspondence or the computer... plus I try to go to bed early, 11 or earlier if I can. So I rarely have any time in the evening to sit and listen.

Therefore I used my iPod--a 35-40 minute commute to and from the office gave me 70 or 80 minutes of uninterrupted listening time per day.

Then I had a hearing test about 11 months ago, and the doctor told me to give up that iPod at once--incipient hearing loss. And I did, from one day to the next.

This left me completely nonplussed. I just sort of gave up, and now I can go for a week at a time without listening to any music whatsoever.

But it has to stop. I'm going to rearrange my life somehow so that I can listen to music daily.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Was that because you were using earplugs with your ipod?

Deafness is the thing that really frightens me.

MG

[porcy62]

Was that because you were using earplugs with your ipod?

Deafness is the thing that really frightens me.

MG

Yep, me too.

I have a bad sight since I was a child, basically very few olfaction because of a childhood disease (and too much cigarettes)...but a great hear, doctors explained me that when some of your senses fail, the others increase. A natural self adaptation.

BTW I always felt some weariness after listening music with earplugs.

[porcy62]

Good luck, Porcy.

MG

Thanks!

Actually when someone wish you good luck for something we use to say 'In bocca al lupo' (In mouth of the wolf) and the answer is 'crepi il lupo' (die the wolf).

Italian superstition against bad luck.

[ejp626]

Was that because you were using earplugs with your ipod?

Deafness is the thing that really frightens me.

MG

Along those lines, would you be able to use an iPod with outside the ear style headphones, rather than earbuds? I can listen to music at work but only with headphones. I make sure to wear outside the ear headphones and keep the volume fairly low.

[AndrewHill]

Deafness is the thing that really frightens me.

MG

I think I'd give up all the other senses before hearing.

[Joe G]

Get deeper into Beethoven

I plan to get deeper into Bach - at the keyboard (which I learn very, very slowly).

[AndrewHill]

Get deeper into Beethoven

I plan to get deeper into Bach - at the keyboard (which I learn very, very slowly).

Yes, Bach's later works are especially excellent, eg, Die kunst Der Fugue, if I recall the title correctly.

Edited December 9, 2007 by Holy Ghost

[Guest Bill Barton]

1. Hear more live music.

2. Start listening to more of the recorded music I already have in my collection instead of continuing to collect, collect, collect... As I'm sure many of you know, the obsession for amassing recordings can sometimes almost overwhelm the actual enjoyment of listening to the damned things!

3. Write at least one CD review that edc likes

[GA Russell]

In 2008 I will listen to and acquire Olivia Newton John recordings only.

I saw Olivia Friday on Fox & Friends. She's pushing 60, but she still looks fantastic, and she sounded better than ever. She was promoting her new Christmas album. The song she sang was pretty stupid, so I won't be picking up the CD. But for someone out of the limelight for so many years, she was a very pleasant surprise.

[GA Russell]

- so I will likely self-publish if nothing else comes up -

Allen, have you considered lulu.com? I saw a presentation by owner Bob Young of Red Hat fame, and it all seemed pretty good.

[NaturalSoul]

Buy more of my favorite jazz artist's later recordings.

[Tom Storer]

Was that because you were using earplugs with your ipod?

Yup. But not just the iPod--I've been using portable audio devices of one sort or another since the days of the Sony Walkman for audio cassettes. Always with earplugs, I find over-the-ear headphones inconvenient. So it was a long and gradual slide, and I hasten to say that I don't have serious impairment of hearing, just somewhat accelerated loss in the upper frequencies in relation to my age. Basically, the doctor said, "Nip this in the bud or you'll be sorry." So I did.

Edited December 12, 2007 by Tom Storer

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Was that because you were using earplugs with your ipod?

Yup. But not just the iPod--I've been using portable audio devices of one sort or another since the days of the Sony Walkman for audio cassettes. Always with earplugs, I find over-the-ear headphones inconvenient. So it was a long and gradual slide, and I hasten to say that I don't have serious impairment of hearing, just somewhat accelerated loss in the upper frequencies in relation to my age. Basically, the doctor said, "Nip this in the bud or you'll be sorry." So I did.

Glad to hear this isn't serious. I always use earplugs, too. Less frequently now that I'm not commuting to work.

MG

[AllenLowe]

yes, if I do self-publish, Lulu will be the likely source -