BLINK 182 KNEW HOW TO HAVE A GOOD TIME

   CAN WE GET ANOTHER BLINK 182 AIGHT?
     And 10 million you tube views for this video alone, so why don't you shut the hell up about it?  Blink 182 changed lives.  I don't understand why they got tired of writing hits.  Why not just keep writing hits.

Flight Interviewed in Terminal Boredom

  The Lead Riders 12" EP by Flight is being released on Zoo Music in September.  Here is an in depth interview out of yesterday's Terminal Boredom 25. (FLIGHT INTERVIEW)

Surfing Music

Surfing Music

6.1  Non-Western Influences:  Traditional Arab and Polynesian Music
6.2 Surf Rock
6.3 Surf Pop
6.4 Surf Instrumental
6.5 Surfing Music Influence on Subsequent Audiences
6.6 The Audience for Classic Surfing Music
6.7 Pet Sounds and the End of Classic Surf Music (May 16, 1966)


   

Book Review: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
by Thomas Kuhn
University of Chicago Press
originally published 1962
this edition 1996

       The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is the book that invented the phrase "paradigm shift."  Every time you hear someone say the phrase "paradigm shift" they are referring to this book, even if they have no idea of this book's existence.  As described in this book, a paradigm shift is the moment when a scientific community abandons one idea and simultaneously adopts another, conflicting idea.  Kuhn's book was inspired by epistemological debates he had observed within the social science world.  In other words, he was inspired by arguments between sociologists and psychologists about what constituted knowledge within those disciplines.  Kuhn theorized that the same debates occurred within the "hard sciences' but that those debates were obscured by the biases of scientists themselves.

     This idea was almost immediately adopted by writers all over the world, both academic and non-academic.  The idea of "paradigm shift" itself inspired it's own paradigm shift by foreshadowing many of the more extreme arguments of french cultural theorists and post-modernists.  The people latching onto the idea of paradigm shift have done much harm to the original work, which is a short (200 pages), concise, and to my mind, non-controversial description of the way that scientific knowledge is generated.

    Chief among the non-controversial, common sense ideas that Kuhn invented is the idea that sea changes among communities are spurred by crises.  That the individuals who create change are young people who are deeply immersed in the specific crisis they are seeking to solve, and that by virtue of their youth they have not yet 'made their reputation' by defending old ideas.

   In every day language:  You can't have intellectual change without failure and it is failure which inspires wide spread intellectual change.  The failure of current ideas to explain anomalous events inspires faith in new ideas.  At that point, the old ideas, and the activities which are spurred by the investigation of that idea, are abandoned- the intellectual equivalent of an abandoned ancient city.  The members of the community who are inspired by the new idea create their own, new patterns of activity, the members who refuse to adapt stop generating new iterations of the old ideas and instead fight a rear guard action against activities of the folks motivated by the new idea.

The Mamas and the Papas *California Dreamin'* Beach Boys *Surfin USA* (video)

You'd catch 'em surfin at Del Mar (Inside, outside, U.S.A.) 
Ventura County line 
Santa Cruz and Tressels, 
Australia's Narabine, 
All over Manhattan, 
And down Doheny way 



  YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE ENDLESS SUMMER WRITE A HIT SONG ABOUT IT AND THEN YOU CAN TALK ALL DAY ABOUT THE BEACH.

Madonna *True Blue* *Crazy For You* (video)

(CRAZY FOR YOU EMBEDDING DISABLED BY REQUEST)

Try Having Some Fun

   Here's a right/wrong issue in music taste:  Artists who don't know how to have a good time are bummers and no one wants to buy that.  Audience taste favors music you can have a good time to.  That is the very essence of popular music...there is plenty of seriousness available in music before popular music existed.  One of the facts that all histories of popular music agree on is that it was fueled by groups of young people hanging out together and having a good time.  If an artist can't achieve that effect in one way or another, he or she is not going to be a popular artist.  If a critic chooses artists as subjects who can't gain this effect, the audience will not respect the critic's taste and the critical exercise becomes meaningless.

      The danger of success here in achieving the desired effect is expressed by the critical term "cheesy" or "inauthentic."  However, the assignment of those labels is itself tainted by the failure of critics to fully understand the structure of the environment from which they issue opinions.  Criticism of acts as either cheesy or inauthentic are often contradicted by the facts themselves.  For example, talking about inauthenticity at a sold out rock concert is misguided.  One might talk about inauthenticity as a reason for failing to secure an audience, but not as a problem for the successful artist, and this is because the sold out audience doesn't give a shit, they are present, and that is all that needs to be noted from a critical perspective.

    The artist's audience should never be taken for granted by a music critic.  Given the current situation of the larger 'music industry' the audience  the most interesting thing going on right now.  Like, where is the audience?  What happened to the audience?  The artists and the industry institutions are functioning in largely the same fashion, absent prior success.

    Music critics who attend successful rock concerts and can't themselves have a good time are themselves the problem.  If people go to a show, and it's sold out, and the REST OF THE AUDIENCE has a good time, then that is a successful artistic/cultural endeavor.  If artists perform at a live concert, and no one shows up to see it, that is a failure.  True, you can define success using methods other then "total attendance" but you can't define failure as ANYTHING BUT "failure to secure an audience for the event."  Thus, the critical role is not to nitpick success, but rather to explain failure.  A critic should be able to talk intelligently about the audience at a rock concert.  Resorting to cliche and common-place witticisms is insufficient.

       If a music critic is not prepared to directly confront artistic failure, then perhaps he or she is better suited in the field of public relations.  This article was spurred by common themes in music criticism that I commonly read in newspapers and on music blogs, it is not directed towards any specific article or review.

netflix all genres list

netflix all genres list

Southern California Chills as North East Sizzles

LOS ANGELES CHILLS AS EAST COAST SIZZLES (KCAL 9 LOS ANGELES)

Show Review: Dum Dum Girls, Crocodiles in San Francisco, Los Angeles

Paul Gaughin, Haare Pape


    Dum Dum Girls and Crocodiles are "leading the charge in a Southern California indie rock revival that both borrows from past traditions of surf rock and hardcore...incorporating newer, weirder, chiller sounds into the mix."  A "renaissance," as LA RECORD argues.  Certainly, these reviews indicate an audience for this proposed renaissance.  Something you can say about Southern California rock revivals generally is:  RIGHT PLACE.  A band from the greater Southern California is always going to be in the "right place."  A band from Cleveland or Columbus is going to have to do a lot more, all other things being equal, to attract the attention of the culture industries.  The important words in the series of "Southern California indie rock revival are "Southern California" not, "indie rock" or "revival."  All art movements in the same place, be they fine artists or popular artists, relate to all other movements in the same physical location.  


DESCRIPTION OF THE ASSOCIATED "SCENE":


     The two bands, along with a couple others, are leading the charge in a Southern California indie rock revival that both borrows from past traditions of surf rock and hardcore, as well as incorporating newer, weirder, chiller sounds into the mix. This renaissance has led to a lot of excitement in L.A., and out back there was plenty of recognition and high fiving among friends and acquaintances. (LA RECORD)

DESCRIPTION OF THE ASSOCIATED "SOUND":

     The loud, reverb-heavy rock translates just fine onstage. Crocodiles’ sound is, for lack of a more refined phrase, shoegaze with balls, a combination of atmospheric sonic swirls, echoey vocals, and blasting garage-rock guitars.  (CRAWDADDY)

      There’s no denying the sex appeal and spectacle of the Dum Dum Girls on stage, but don’t let it fool you; the band has the rock chops and catchy song crafting skills to blow your mind and melt your ears. Their blend of punk edge and lo-fi pop stands a cut above their counterparts, and the live version of things is no different. (CRAWDADDY)


ON "DJ" MARIO ORDUNO:


   The crowd swayed along nonetheless, and even danced a little in the corners as Mario Orduno, the man behind ultra cool San Diego 7-inch label Art Fag Recordings, spun classic soul, surf and rock between sets.  (LA RECORD)


ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN 'TEEN' AND 'ADULT' THEMES IN THE MUSIC:


    It’s music made by grown ups who remember what it was like to be angry, scared, raging teenagers but have come to respect and even love the soft innocent California heritage of beach bunnies and girl groups, and it’s delivered in classic rowdy rock and roll style.  (LA RECORD)


   It’s anachronistic, fashionable and sometimes quite beautiful. It’s teen music for adults.  (NEW YORK TIMES)

Crocodiles Sleep Forever MP3 Download Blogspot

Book Review: The Harmless People by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

The Harmless People
by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
p. 1958
Vintage Books

   This is a book about the "Bushmen" of the Kalahari desert- you can tell how old it is because the author refers to what are now known as the "San" people as "Bushmen" throughout.  It's an old book, but no worse for wear after staying in print for half a century plus.  It's also another one cent amazon wonder- a book you can buy, on amazon, for a penny.  There are so many good books available for one cent it's a wonder that people spend their time reading crap, but c'est la vie.

   When I think about what will be left off humanity after our current civilization craps out and destroys itself, my thoughts turn to what we now call "primitive" civilizations.  Primitive?  Maybe by our standards, but who do you think is going to survive when the average temperature of our planet rises by fifteen degrees and we run out of clean drinking water.  Well, my money is on the people who are living in the desert right now.  I think they will survive, and we will be destroyed.  Unfortunately, our present civilization is so powerful that those peoples are almost entirely wiped out, and there may be none left when there time comes.

   Is it too late to learn some lessons from the peoples at the margins?  Maybe/Maybe not.  Me- I'm trying to learn all I can about people who have survived at the margins for centuries.  They may, in a certain sense, be "primitive" but man- are they tough.  People who can survive for generations in the scorching hot deserts of south west Africa deserve mad props, and there is plenty that we can learn.

   Harmless People is not an academic book.  Written by a 23 year old co-ed in the mid 50s, Harmless People is an early example of the popular anthropology genre that took off in the 60s.  Thus, given it's early publication date it's easy to see why this books has been such a success.  Thomas has nothing but sympathy and respect for a people who were, even as she wrote this book, being hunted and enslaved by both blacks and whites in Southern Africa.

   She shows the San to be a people with culture, religion and their own unique group of survival skills.  For example, Thomas describes how the San gather poison for their arrows from one specific species of caterpillar.  It's an incredibly complex process that the San managed to figure out without any science whatsoever. So to is their ability to survive out in the desert.  They sound incredibly tough- the very essence of what humanity should be.  Meanwhile, here we are: fat, lazy, complacent, incredibly arrogant.  It is sobering to think about- how we have proliferated while the San have been hunted to extinction- literally: hunted to extinction.  How embarrassing for all of us.

Movie Review: Rivers and Tides *Andy Goldsworthy Working With Time*

Rivers and Tides:
Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time
d. Thomas Ridelsheimer
p. 2002

    Streaming Netflix continues to rock my existence, though I've noticed some limits.  For example, the aspect ratio of older black and white films makes them look terrible when streaming onto my home television using the Wii system, whereas the same films look perfectly fine streaming on my computer.  Also, I continue to be perplexed by the display system of Netflix itself, which seems to conspire against a user trying to get a full list of what, exactly is available, be it streaming or otherwise.

   One of the issues I've been thinking about recently is the systems theory/cybernetics/biofeedback complexity.  Basically, that's three different ways of looking at the way that systems interact.  Systems theory uses the vocabulary of technology, cybernetics the vocabulary of western philosophy, and biofeedback the vocabulary of new age hippie bullshit, but my hunch is that they are essentially correct in that in order to understand ourselves we need to understand the way that our biological systems interrelate within ourselves and the way that humans interact with the various systems that compose our environment.

    Rivers and Tides is a documentary about the British landscape artist Andy Goldsworthy.  Goldsworthy designs sculptures in specific landscapes.  Sometimes he replicates those structures in museums, other times he takes photographs of those sculptures in natural environments.  Prior to this film, the only artist I was really familiar with who fit into this category of art was Christo and his wife- and I only know about them because they are so ubiquitous in our popular culture (ATT ads, for example.)  However, it seems to me that there is something profoundly interesting about landscape art/sculpture in that it specifically places art in the path of the environment, and then takes note of the impact on one on the other and both on the viewer.

    I found Rivers and Tides to be deeply interesting- it pushed me to think about the role of sculpture in the 21st century, as well as the thoughts I mentioned in prior paragraphs.  Goldsworthy comes off as a deeply cool guy- doing his thing without regard to what the public thinks.  He works outside of a studio environment, which is also very cool.  Also, his work combines a traditionally fine art medium (sculpture) with a medium that is less traditional (photography) to create an impact in the viewer that is greater then the impact that either approach would have by itself.

  Rivers and Tides is worth seeking out on streaming netlfix- I think my readers would agree that watching it is a rewarding use of time.

Book Review: World Prehistory by Grahame Clark

World Prehistory:
A New Outline
by Grahame Clark
Cambridge University Press
p. 1969


      You wouldn't think that pre-historic archeology is a subject area where it's important to "stay current" but the fact is that almost everything that was written about archeology before the mid 1960s was wrong, more or less.  In other words, pre-historic archeology has a time line that matches up well with less serious topics like "rock music" and "computer technology."  I don't think people realize that when it comes to social sciences, the explosion of practitioners and texts dates entirely from the 1970s forward.  There has been a 30 year long glut in the production of knowledge, and we owe that explosion, and the resultant confusion, almost entirely to the proliferation of shitty United States universities.  

     Archeology is no exception.  During the 1960s, American archeologist trumpeted the arrival of the "new archeology" which basically meant archeology that moved away from the racist, bullshit historical-cultural archeology that saw western europe as the end all be all of human civilization and ignored and diminished all other forms of human civilization.   Well, I hate to say it, the Brits got there first, and it was only the sad ignorance of the so-called 'new archeologists' in the United States about their own discipline  that allowed them to proclaim the invention of an archeological method that was already in existence.

   Specifically, the Cambridge archeological duo of Gordon Childe and Grahame Clark laid the groundwork for a less inaccurate archeology as early as the 1930s.  World Prehistory: A New Outline represents a late synthesis of much of the "new thought" of archeology, and while it is obviously 40 years out of date, it is still super available, affordable (you can buy it for one cent on Amazon) and easy to read (200 pages, with no footnotes.)  As such it represents an appropriate departure point for a layman's exploration of archeology, and you need not worry that Clark is filling your head with racists nonsense.