Monthly Archives: October 2016

Willie Dixon (YGtCTO Music #24)

Weak Brain, Narrow Mind

Song written and performed by Willie Dixon

The magic of a well-chosen pseudonym cannot be denied. Muddy Waters stuck in the mind at first because it was unusual- the music proved great, too. But Willie Dixon had to sneak up on you with his tremendous talent. Where is all this energy and feeling coming from? Who is this guy? Chess records? Tell me more.

When faced with a songwriter of Dixon’s accomplishments, it is impossible to select a favorite- truth be told, Weak Brain, Narrow Mind just seemed too prescient. I have strong leanings toward Built for Comfort, in the running for my all time favorite tune. So, let’s talk about that one for a moment… The magic that is Willie Dixon songwriting is his incredible ability to encapsulate emotion so perfectly. The great tune-smiths have that, though few have equaled the shear volume of Dixon’s output, or the range of emotions that he placed inside his songs.

Truth be told, that’s just the beginning of a good afternoon of listening to music; though they start being more famous from other performers. My Babe follows close behind the first two. Next, try out Spoonful, but be careful singing along- you’ll end up sore. Finish up with the two songs that crossed over most efficiently to the rock and roll world: I Just Want to Make Love to You and You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover. That is just the beginning…

willie dixon-the original wang dang doodle

Now that we have traversed a little of the variety of Dixon’s output,

I want to ask a question: if we are not listening to Willie Dixon and Cole Porter and David Ackles, then what are we doing with our ears? If you can’t recall the incredible moment you first heard Fela Kuti or E.T Mensah, then what are we doing here? That only scratches the surface of a world populated with the music of Wolfgang Mozart and Mohammed Rafi.

All right- that was an awfully high horse. The nature of a blog on favorite music, literature, and other arts tends to cause one to wallow in a lot of things that normally attract only passing interest (if that).

Years ago, a young man confronted me. He wanted to become a professional writer. I was unprepared for the question because I had not then (or even now) accomplished enough to justify any expectation that I know much. So, I asked what he wanted to write. Greeted with no clear interest, I asked what he liked to read. He didn’t like to read and didn’t see how that had any bearing. I thought he was pulling my leg, but a little probing proved that was not the case. Art looked easy from the outside.

Let’s face facts- it takes some arrogance to create art for sharing (for example, in a blog). Usually, that arrogance comes along with a certainty that you know something that no one else does. But I don’t think we can ignore the world of creativity around us for the easy path, either via mediocrity or intentional ignorance.

What’s it all about?

You’ve Got to Check This Out is a blog series about music, words, and all sorts of artistic matters. It started with an explanation. 230 more to go.

New additions to You’ve Got to Check This Out release regularly. Also, free humor, short works, and poetry post irregularly. Receive notifications on Facebook by friending or following Craig.

Images may be subject to copyright.

The Leftovers (YGtCTO #69)

Television series created by Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta

The apocalypse has always been ripe for artistic interpretation ever since the Book of Revelation (or even the Epic of Gilgamesh). (Doubtless before that- predictions of the end of the world are good copy since they are inspirational and ignore-able.) With the advent of mass media and its demand for fodder, end-of-the-world tales threaten to inundate us. The end of the cold war  moved us past envisioning nuclear Armageddon. Now we expand our horrific horizons to ideas stolen from books of faith and fantasy. This makes it difficult to find anything worthwhile among the regular flinging’s upon the shoals of popular culture. Movies have run the gamut from Fail Safe to Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome, so The Leftovers really could go in any direction. In the end, they chose outright mystical and a look at its impact on truly flawed individuals.

Ultimately from a storytelling perspective, the method for bringing about the end times proves fairly unimportant. The necessities of daily life will interest survivors far more. The obliterating event always takes a backseat to the stories of the characters. Sure, we might go for the special effects, but we stay for the human interest. The Leftovers goes with a reaping type of event in which people randomly disappear (i.e., the Rapture), which reads like so much Christian wish fulfillment (see Left Behind), but Lindelof and Perrotta depart from any expected doctrine almost immediately. Nothing is revealed to those remaining except what they tell themselves. Then, things get weird and we are dealing with spiritual or mystical truths and… ehh, give the show a try.

Now, you may have noticed

by the above paragraphs that I am skeptical of any movie or television series which uses any apocalypse as a jumping off point. Moreover, once you bring in any reference to religious texts related to said story, then I expect over-seriousness and boredom. Past experience indicates and all that. As far as I am concerned, the art is finding something new to say and communicating it in a way that entertains and informs.

The Leftovers

The Leftovers is a textbook in re-inventing old tropes in a new and fascinating way. More than that, it earns multiple seasons by building on its characters’ experiences each step of the way. This brings me to one of my favorite episodes of any television show: episode eight of the second season- International Assassin. Nowhere on paper does it work, so I won’t try to explain it. Leave it as a fantasy sequence that succeeds where angels fear to tread. Having survived innumerable bad dream stories from Dallas to The Matrix, such a tale worth the time and attention is unexpected.

As an artist, how do you recognize when you are calling on one too many tropes and subverting your own ability to communicate? When have you included one too many zombies? The Leftovers, if nothing else, teaches us restraint in the face of the apocalypse.

What’s it all about?

You’ve Got to Check This Out is a blog series about music, words, and all sorts of artistic matters. It started with an explanation. 231 more to go.

New additions to You’ve Got to Check This Out release regularly. Also, free humor, short works, and poetry post irregularly. Receive notifications on Facebook by friending or following Craig.

Images may be subject to copyright.

Lester Bangs (YGtCTO Words #23)

Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung

Book written by Lester Bangs

Depending on your vintage, you might remember the second coming of Jim Morrison. Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarman foretold the rebirth with their biography of the deceased rocker. The Doors had never really left the airwaves, so the writing of the book was a little stroke of brilliant timing. Just enough time had passed that people had forgotten whatever details they knew about the man. A whole new audience had reached the perfect age when they were susceptible to the charms of a hedonistic artist who could be portrayed as a modern mix of Lord Byron and Arthur Rimbaud. My buddy, Ron, had the book and lent it to me after he finished it.

At that point, I viewed all books as created equal. The adults near at hand disabused me of that notion by wondering aloud why I would waste my time reading about someone like Jim Morrison. Naturally, I read through the book very quickly. I wasn’t an idiot and I knew what bothered the old folks, but they had not read the book which I recognized even at that age as a portrait of a young guy who was basically decent for his time, who tried to find his way, and who got lost in alcohol and drugs. Anyone who had been paying attention did not find the story surprising, new, or unusual. (The book also talked about the making of music and the music business in wonderful detail and that was wonderful stuff.)

As a side note that we will revisit shortly, I was also given grief for reading Slaughterhouse-Five at about the same time.

But, back to rock and roll writing-

It was not journalism and the subject was not fit for proper discourse. Rolling Stone and Creem were the two main founts of information at the time- both magazines had national distribution by the mid-70s. The former always had aspirations, but I don’t think you could say the same for Creem. For that matter, you never knew for sure how seriously to take the magazine with all their goofy pictures. If they had aspirations, they worshiped Mad Magazine.

Still, they were onto something. They knew that you could not take rock and roll artists seriously, while that didn’t mean you didn’t appreciate the art (most of the time). Realistically, they claimed a lot of likes and dislikes, which mostly seemed to fluctuate. Beneath all the goofy gloss, Lester Bangs became something of a phenom.
Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung by Lester Bangs

If you read his reviews and portraits, the first thing that leaps out is how much he puts himself into the frame. You can’t miss him. If you try to ignore his presence, then he just keeps reminding you. If you are paying attention, you will notice another little miracle of his writing- that amazing ease of speech. All writers search for a voice and quite a few talk about how that voice needs to be real. One of the efforts of the stream-of-consciousness writers was to capture their true voice. Kurt Vonnegut famously tried out the approach. (Go ahead. Take a moment to think about how adults worry about those first pure-voiced books their children read.) Bangs feels like he has sat down at your table and wants to engage you in a conversation.

What’s it all about?

You’ve Got to Check This Out is a blog series about music, words, and all sorts of artistic matters. It started with an explanation. 232 more to go.

New additions to You’ve Got to Check This Out release regularly. Also, free humor, short works, and poetry post irregularly. Notifications are posted on Facebook which you can receive by friending or following Craig.

Images may be subject to copyright.