Floyd founder Syd Barrett, dead at 60

[JHEM]

Also, in the USA, we have the right to inform another person that their opinion is wrong

Opinions are like assholes.

Everyone's got one and everyone is positive that the other guy's stinks!

James

[dsvochak]

JHEM asked:

What is it with you guys and Opera?

Once again, somewhat poorly phrased. I'm not a fan of performances of operas or musicals. Listening to a recording of an opera or musical is a different question. Music videos pose a similar problem. I just don't think music is a visual experience. Visualizing Rod Steiger and Gordon McRae when I hear "Pore Jud Is Daid" limits the possibilities.

[JHEM]

I'm not a fan of performances of operas or musicals. Listening to a recording of an opera or musical is a different question.

Hence my love of Sirius Radio!

I can listen to my operas when the mood hits, but more importantly feed my secret vice of show tunes!

I'll admit that there are a LOT of operas I have difficulty sitting through. But even the bad ones are better than a night at the ballet, my wife's first choice in "uplifiting" entertainment.

At least we can agree that the ability to choose the music we want to hear is the most important part of the diversity available to us.

Regards,

James

[dsvochak]

Information available on the web:

Not surprisingly, Mr. Cage, his music and his theories of composition have always inspired debate. Traditionalists have dismissed him as a prankster, a charlatan or an anarchist, and although performances of his music take place uneventfully today, there were times in the 1960's when his works evoked angry responses. At a New York Philharmonic performance of "Eclipticalis With Winter Music," in 1964, for example, a third of the audience walked out and members of the orchestra hissed the composer.

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general ... /0905.html

In the 1960s Davis put together a second quintet, this time utilizing Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, and Ron Carter. The music of this group was more complex, moving through post-bop modal experimentation and eventually into some of the group improvisation and open forms of free jazz. Some of Davis' fans were mystified by the group's music, but it was uniformly applauded by critics, other musicians, and avid music fans eager for new sounds. The group's output has recently been collected in the 6-disc set The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings, 1965-'68.

As the 1970s beckoned, Miles realized that rock had replaced jazz as the music of choice for the younger generation. In order not to get left behind, he began to perform with an electronic band: electric guitar, electric bass, banks of electronic keyboards, and even an amplified trumpet. The sound was bubbling, dark, and dense, and it further alienated some jazz fans and many critics as well. There was no denying the power of the music Davis was producing, however: upon its release in 1970, [censored] Brew sold 400,000 copies, making it the best-selling jazz album of all time. The group included Chick Corea, Hancock, John McLaughlin, and others who went on to become mainstays of the jazz fusion movement.

http://www.jazzitude.com/milesbio.htm

Developed between the early and mid-1940s, "bebop" expanded upon many of the improvisational elements of the swing era. Young musicians including Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, and Thelonious Monk, influenced by the innovative soloists of the swing era (e.g., Art Tatum, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young) began exploring more advanced harmonies, altered chords, and chord substitutions.
-----------------------------
Initially, bebop received much criticism for its "break-neck" tempos that were too fast for dancers, and its melodies that lacked the simplicity of earlier styles. Complex harmonic sense was required to perform the music, leaving many swing musicians behind, who simply relied on their ears to guide them through the chord changes. As the popularity of bebop grew, critics and jazz fans came to view it as a challenging new art form

http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/history.aspx?hid=20

For Bob Dylan see this http://campus.queens.edu/depts/english/ ... wport_.htm
(Was Pete Seeger really that upset?)

[dsvochak]

While I was posting, JHEM wrote:

At least we can agree that the ability to choose the music we want to hear is the most important part of the diversity available to us.

Without a doubt.

Pay radio is a whole other topic. In my estimation, it's like paying for a Tan when the sun is free. The CD player in my car is sufficient for my needs.

[JHEM]

(Was Pete Seeger really that upset?)

Oh yes! Famously so.

Pete had considered Dylan a protege of sorts, although how he came to that conclusion is open to conjecture as Dylan has consistently denied that he ever sought the position. Pete considered Dylan's performance to be discourteous to him personally, let alone to the audience.

I was in the audience and wasn't aware of any of the histrionics going on backstage, but the mood in the field was such that had we the ammo Dylan would have wound up literally stoned!

Regards,

James

[JHEM]

Pay radio is a whole other topic. In my estimation, it's like paying for a Tan when the sun is free.

But as someone from MI I needn't remind you that the sun doesn't always shine!

It's easier to take my Sirius radio on trips than my CD collection, nor need I concern myself with whether or not my rental car has a CD player.

I pay the small monthly fee to rid myself of commercials as much as for their programming and the ability to choose the music I want to listen to based on my mood at the time.

Regards,

James

[dsvochak]

I was in the audience and wasn't aware of any of the histrionics going on backstage, but the mood in the field was such that had we the ammo Dylan would have wound up literally stoned!

I must be among the few who were there who thought it was the most incredible thing I ever heard, distortion and unintelligible lyrics and all.

It certainly wasn't Robert Johnson, Muddy or John Lee, but the Paul Butterfield Blues Band had something that I knew was going to have an impact. The thing I remember thinking when I saw Dylan with the backing band was "This could be really interesting."

And, as it turned out, I guess it was. Seeing a paradigm shift in popular music is one of the things I look back on rather fondly.

[dsigma6]

if youre up for a meltdown, try having the rap/rock arguement over at bungie.net. the kids will drive you up the wall.

[JHEM]

I must be among the few who were there who thought it was the most incredible thing I ever heard, distortion and unintelligible lyrics and all.

Well, you have to put it in perspective.

It sounds like you went for the music.

As a college undergrad at the time, I went to troll for liberal coeds!

Regards,

James

[christopher_wolf]

Speaking of people pretending to like music which is actually either no good, mediocre, or a combination thereof with the techno-noiseOrama 5000 going in the background to make up 95% of the song....

http://www.dailycal.org/column.php

Waste pretty much pins it down. Most people just say they like random bands that no one has every heard or cared for particularly (as per how natural selection weeds out the less fit) just to seem part of an "intellectual" grouping. More evidence can be found on SomethingAwful's Your Band Sucks section; which, amazingly enough, does a pretty good job of explaining the ups (read: the passable parts) and downs (read: massive sucktitude), mostly downs, of almost all bands that you have heard of; also, of some bands that you wish you *didn't* hear of.

But, James, you should have gone to the protests and the co-ops if you wanted the liberal chyks. Far better chances anyway. Besides, why go for the music? There are far better things to be had there.

[JHEM]

But, James, you should have gone to the protests and the co-ops if you wanted the liberal chyks. Far better chances anyway.

It was going to protests and the Greenwich Village co-op that ultimately got me going to the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals to begin with! I was hoping to upgrade from the usual Moneymount and CCNY crowd.

Besides, why go for the music? There are far better things to be had there.

Yep, I was the guy who brought them!

James

[dsvochak]

On a somewhat related topic, I just read a news report that Arthur Lee is suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia and will likely need a bone transplant. We should probably think good thoughts.

And, in general, getting old can be a [censored].

[JHEM]

On a somewhat related topic, I just read a news report that Arthur Lee is suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia and will likely need a bone transplant. We should probably think good thoughts.

That's a [censored]!

That's one of my wife's areas of specialization and one of the areas she presently is conducting trials among her oncology studies.

The prognosis is not promising.

Getting old may suck, but it's got the alternative beat hands down!

Regards,

James