Hey Steve,
you know it really makes it worthwhile to reach out over the ether and to
share thoughts with someone in the way that we have, its a kind of a jam
session! i watched the ninth chapter of jazz tonight and, once again, i was
very moved, not to just hear some great sounds, but for the wide spaces in
my knowledge to be filled a little, for the deeply personal stuff the series
has touched on and, to quote someone ( dunno just who!) for the humanity of
it all. since my first impressions, which contained some negatives, i have
dived deeper and deeper into the whole adventure of it and have even
persuaded my folks to watch it and they, in turn, have loved it! if i say
that i have been moved to tears several times then its probably an
understatement!
now, in response (you knew one was going to be in the works!) after going
into Borders these past few days and seeing the displays of recordings and
books, i have to agree with you that the promotional budget was probably
pretty extensive because, as you point out, there are BIG $$$ at stake here.
The $$ come in because of Ken Burns though, not for other deeper reasons. I
do not fault that totally, he is successful and nothing sucks seeds like a
parrot without teeth, no, just kidding, nothing does it quite like success.
I am sure that Burns previous efforts have made big money on a merchandising
level and it would have been foolish to not have followed through with this
series, especially considering that the recorded output already exists and
so much of it just had to be packaged and re-released. Amazon has run promos
as have other places i have visited, so they did do it good and more power
to them. I can only pray that some converts were created and that they
become as passionate as we are!
for the cats who chew skoal, drink the brewskis and dig the tunes they dig
these issues are no less important. Austin City Limits deserves to be
supported just as Jazz does and it features a lot of music that appeals to a
different crowd of peeps and they need to understand that their shows are as
important as the ones we love! a show like Austin City does not have the
broad distribution that affords it the freedom it wants and it came out of
the public broadcasting ethos and could easily have sunk without a trace.
The 54th Street series is much the same. To me, music is a very broad canvas
and while i am less likely to go to a country music concert than a jazz
show, i do know that there IS a deep heritage there that is drawn by some
fine musicians and creative people, some of whom do not have the commercial
appeal or backing of Anderson and some of the better known folks out there.
That is the thing, the educational process you mention HAS to cover it all,
it has to give credence to many different kinds of music because they ALL go
toward making up the culture. i was pretty amazed to learn that Charlie
Haden played on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry but i KNOW that there are
some truly astonishing musicians playing there as well who are hapy to swim
in their chosen stream. Musical education MUST connect all the dots for
people, now i want to know who Charie Haden played that music with,
considering his prodigious talent, it is a parallel that should be drawn.
The roots of hip hop are vital to the understanding of todays culture even
as it is happening. Reggae is one of the most persuasive and deep rhtyhmic
movements in the music of the last few decades and its historical textures
deserve being drawn out and those dots should also be connected as well,
since dub is the cloud on which so much modern music floats and it is drawn
directly from some pretty deep roots! Anyway, I am preaching to the
converted here, you know and you dig all this stuff as well but it is only
on public broadcasting that these dots can be connected and that is where
the corporate backing needs to be broadened.
if you read about the music business, then you see that it has always been a
very controlled thing since any industry that has the ability to sell
millions of units of a product, any product, is going to be controlled by
small, tightly-knit groups. The Mafia DOES have a big hand in the music
business, that is historical and well-known since there are several books on
the subject. The internet represents a huge challenge to these entrenched
interests since it affords people the chance to be creative and to find what
they like, and to disregard the pap they are force-fed in the mainstream
media. On a certain level the liberals are their own Mafia and they are a
small, tightly-knit group who have their own interests also which they guard
jealously but since public radio depends on volunteers to such a large
degree, it cannot be controlled on that level, only on the level where $$
begin to run out. You are right, the rot probably began before Reagan but it
was given a certain license during his terms.
the appearance of MIDI, and turntable skills has already been made in some
educational arenas, albeit small now but it's there already! do you really
believe that Bush is going to clear the way for entrepeneurs to compete with
established big business? i don't think so, my friend, until the financial
side of the political equation is fixed somehow that will not happen and
anyway Bush will use this situation in his own way to his own ends, perhaps
not quite like Clinton but use it he will, count on that! Crap music has
always been around and it always will because so many people just do not
care enough to find out what they really like and to find out where they can
access it. I have people who love music staring at my collection and
wondering how i find so much that they have never even heard of and they are
looking so Joe Bob will just listen to what comes over the airwaves. It is
truly only on public broadcasting and in clubs that different stuff can get
room to see the light of day and be heard!
Thank you for your passion, its great to know their are other people out
there who care enough to say so. I am 50 and hope to still be tripping out
as a DJ when I am 60, i may be dancing slower but i will be dancing! Get
down!
----- Original Message -----
From: Steve Catanzaro <stevencatanzaro@sprintmail.com>
To: Leslie N. Shill <icehouse@redshift.com>
Cc: acid <acid-jazz@ucsd.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2001 10:46 PM
Subject: Re: Political Rant! Was Latin House Music!
> Hi Leslie! Yeah, I love to tweak it, especially when the people on the
other
> end are thoughtful cats like you.
>
> Well, I watched the penultimate episode of "Jazz" right after writing my
> rant, and checked the funding. General Motors in prime position. And then,
a
> whole slew of foundations, mostly set up by people who made beacoups
dollars
> in the free enterprise system. And, I'd really like to see how the promo
> budget from "Jazz" stacks up against a major label effort, from Outkast,
> Macy Gray, or the like. Pretty favorably, I'd wager. There are BIG dollars
> at stake here
>
> But now we come to the heart of the matter. If my idea of a good time is
to
> drink Miller, chew Skoal, and rock John Anderson and Hank Williams Jr.,
why
> should my dollars go to fund a series about jazz, which I won't watch and
> don't care about? Especially when there is a ton of private funding out
> there, as evidenced by the opening credits of "Jazz."
>
> As for jazz, the music. On the 1 hand, the government could issue a copy
of
> "Free Jazz" to every citizen, and there still wouldn't be a mass market
for
> Ornette's music.
>
> On the other hand, there's people like you, and me, who are passionate
about
> the music. But if you wonder why jazz is "relegated" to public
broadcasting,
> to late night shifts on the far left end of the dial, look no further than
> the entire global entertainment complex, which is controlled almost
entirely
> by liberals, and commands an unholy stranglehold on supply lines and
> distribution channels. Look to the education curriculum, which is heavily
> influenced by the teacher's union, almost all dems.
>
> You can't hear jazz because Geffen and his ilk aren't pushing jazz. Why?
> Because they think Joe Six Pack is too dumb to appreciate jazz, especially
> in light of the marketability of Brittney's boobs.
>
> And, they're right, because even here in Arizona, which is one of the
worst
> funded education systems in the nation, there are gigantic, beautiful
> buildings and ain't shit being taught about music inside, other than a
> little tune on recorder, a little Peter and the Wolf, etc., because that's
> what the music teachers at the state universities are being taught to
teach.
>
> The problem is deeper than just, "Reagan cut our money, jazz is dying." If
> jazz was alive, if kids understood it and dug it, radio stations wouldn't
> have needed Reagan's money. Schools let kids play flag football for an
hour
> a day, so 140 million people watch the superbowl. If kids learned music
for
> an hour a day, "Jazz" would have substantially higher ratings, I'll wager.
>
> As for paradigm shifting. Well, I hope you're right, but do you think
Geffen
> and his ilk are going down without a fight? The fact is, the whole
recorded
> music industry is about as ethical as the Mafia, and I hope that the
> internet stays as free as possible! That's what I want Bush to do, clear a
> way for entrepeneurs to compete with the unethical record company /
> broadcaster allliance, not to start a government channel that will program
> capriciously based on what it defines as "meaningful" or "quality."
>
> As for what we're doing, we're seeing a need and filling it. We started a
> business that does after-school music education programs in schools. First
> keyboards, but soon we'll offer lessons on guitar, turntables, MIDI, etc.
> And let me tell you, there is 2 much government WASTE out there. One of my
> friends told me that the city of Newark NJ offered him $13k to set up an 8
> week music program for 9 students! Talk about overkill! If privately
> funded, it would have cost the parents under 900 bucks.
>
> Anyway, big ups to anyone who's taking it to the people, Leslie! Where we
> may disagree is that I think we lost our way long before Ronald Reagan,
and
> I feel that the proliferation of crap music predates his presidency by
some
> years!
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 30 2001 - 09:35:02 CET