I Cannot Make this stuff up: from a Book I am Reading

[AllenLowe]

"Armstrong's celebration of bodily functions was not limited to the appetites but extended to the other end of the digestive process - excretion, in psychoanalytic terms. Armstrong rejected the dominance of genitality,,,,reveling in the oral and anal as well...the origin of Armstrong's fascination with excretion is clear...he reveled in his bowel movements; to him they were a source of great joy."

and people wonder why I have problems with academic critics (this one, btw, is from U of Chicago Press)

[johnlitweiler]

Allen, which academic excreted that one?

[carnivore]

and how would he have known? (Don't really want to know the answer to that one.)

[Van Basten II]

That guy doesn't know shit

[AllenLowe]

Charles Hersch is the writer - he is in Cleveland, I think. If my Chicago friends have any contacts at U of Chicago press, it might be helpful to point out to them how offensive this kind of thing (I was going to say crap) is.

[Royal Oak]

Many years ago, when I was a student, I had to conduct a literature search on psychoanalytical psychotherapy. At the time, I was often shocked by the remarkable leaps the proponents made in explaining "stuff".

I read Jeffrey Masson's books as part of the study - he was quite the chosen one in psychoanalysis in his early days, but fell foul of the inner circle (don't remember how, offhand) and that was pretty much it for him afterwards.

[Fer Urbina]

It can be read on Amazon.com (with the aptly named "Look Inside!" option).

It actually gets better (it goes on about this for three pages).

F

[Van Basten II]

It reminds me of a similar theme, I think it was In Les Cahiers du Cinéma, they had an analys about the Character ET saying that Kids could relate to his character because he had similar shape than a turd and kids loves to play with poo...

[AllenLowe]

he's right, it gets better - or worse - as you read on.

[Joe]

[paul secor]

The academic who wrote the book probably went too far - academics have a tendency to do that - but, to add to Joe's post, Louis was known to be a fan of Swiss Kriss and sometimes signed letters "Swiss Krissly, Satchmo".

[Brownian Motion]

Heh heh.

[AllenLowe]

that's really the point though - Armstrong was a very earthy guy who talked about this stuff constantly - Hersch turns this very down-home concern into a psychoanalytical cliche. A typical and very middle class muddle.

strangely enough however, I think a lot of the rest of the book is very decent.

[Larry Kart]

Well, I see in the acknowledgements that among the people that Hersch thanks for their encouragement and advice are Sherrie Tucker (oy!) and Robin D.G. Kelley (hmm), while one of the two readers for the U. of C. Press whose advice was of particular value to Hersch was John Gennari, author of "Blowin' Hot and Cool: Jazz and Its Critics," a book (also from the U. of C. Press) that often made smoke come out of my ears.

Finally, the acquisitions editor at the press who, natch, acquired the book is one of my oldest friends. I've gone around the maypole with him before about such things, especially about the Gennari book. Believe me, it would do neither me nor him much good to do so with this "probing" tome.

[AllenLowe]

gotcha, and yes, Sherrie Tucker in particular has committed grave crimes against jazz (haven't read the Gennari, based on your prior comments).

[JSngry]

Everything else being equal, though, is there anybody here who does not agree that a really good shit is indeed one of the better and simpler pleasure of life?

[Noj]

What the shit?

A really solid bowel movement is the mystical experience of being healthy, at which point one feels one with the universe.

[Larry Kart]

gotcha, and yes, Sherrie Tucker in particular has committed grave crimes against jazz (haven't read the Gennari, based on your prior comments).

Oh, you've got to read the Gennari; it's a hoot, though no doubt dangerous as hell if it becomes the version of things that gets passed down through time, as might well be the case.

[AllenLowe]

it sounds like a book I was sent years ago to review on the history of rock and roll; it was so badly written and full of errors that I had to decline; I was unable to finish reading it, as almost EVERY page had a mistake or some impenetrably badly written explanation of something - there's just not enough time in the day,

[Noj]

Even if true, one must wonder about the editing facilities of a writer willing to indulge such a detail. I mean, aren't there more tasteful tidbits to include as enticement for an audience enthusiastic about Mr. Ellington?

Edited August 28, 2011 by Noj

[Dan Gould]

What the shit?

A really solid bowel movement is the mystical experience of being healthy, at which point one feels one with the universe.

I always feel two with the universe.

[Noj]

Touche, Gene Harris Fanatic.

[fasstrack]

Damn you! Swiss Crissly was gonna be my smart-ass quip.

Guess you stole it fair and square. And great minds do think alike....

This guy's oddly obsessive little entry reminded me of a funny quote from composer Max Reger recorded in the great book Nicolas by Slominsky, THe Lexicon of Musical Invective.

Having read what he thought a bullshit pan of his work he wrote back to the paper and started his letter to the critic with this bullseye:

'I am sitting in the smallest room in my house. I have your review before me. Soon I will have it behind me...'

[Big Beat Steve]

gotcha, and yes, Sherrie Tucker in particular has committed grave crimes against jazz (haven't read the Gennari, based on your prior comments).

Oh, you've got to read the Gennari; it's a hoot, though no doubt dangerous as hell if it becomes the version of things that gets passed down through time, as might well be the case.

So would you say the Gennari book would be an entertaining read, assuming that I consider myself able to take things (historical or factual) with a dose of salt where needed and have derived a certain amount of pleasure out of reading several of Hugues Panassié's books too (by taking them not at all as the Gospel but as a source of what one MIGHT think about this or that musical development without the reader having to agree with it at all)?

Edited August 29, 2011 by Big Beat Steve

[colinmce]

James Lincoln Collier touches on this in his Louis Armstrong: An American Genius, too.

Larry's takedown of that text is very fine indeed, but Dan Morgenstern's is superb and hilarious as well. What a clown.

link: http://books.google.com/books?id=GVWrw0dtuAMC&pg=PT145&lpg=PT145&dq=dan+morgenstern+james+lincoln+collier&source=bl&ots=ECoGbXko90&sig=zViMrcxslBz0CvyR8r4u2fE2FSQ&hl=en&ei=-45bTpXxGaXJsQLI9bW-DA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Edited August 29, 2011 by colinmce