2011 The Year Dirty Beaches Broke
Badlands came out in March of this year, and the single, Lord Knows Best, was released in January. This was very much a high point for my side hustle as a record label owner/partner. In January, I was actually in Peru and actually ended up wracking up a thousand dollar data bill- 2011 being prior to when the phone companies had really figured out how to handle international data packages. Once Lord Knows Best got Best New Track, it was off to the races, and the PR run up for Badlands was truly magical. Clearly a case of "beginners luck"- which is something I've experienced several times over at this point in my life- it's easy to win the first time, the second time is tough.
After the vinyl only record came out in March, Revolver/Midheaven offered us a production and distribution deal, which meant they would pay to make the records. It was a big step forward but it never really paid off beyond the additional Dirty Beaches records and me not having to pay production costs for the flops we put out after Dirty Beaches. When Revolver put out the CD version of Badlands there was real money coming in but because I actually paid the artist that didn't leave a lot for the label. One of the things I learned from the books I was reading about the music industry was that if an indie label has a hit there are two things that happen:
1. The label steals from the hit artist to subsidize the rest of the label.
2. Label pays the artist and the rest of the label doesn't grow.
Much of the later part of 2011 was filled with concerns that Alex Dirty Beaches would leave for greener pastures, and I still talk about the fact that he turned down Rough Trade, Matador etc. to stay with me.
Published 1/6/11
Dirty Beaches Lord Knows Best MP3
Dirty Beaches Lord Knows Best MP3 is available for free download at the below locations. The Badlands LP comes out on San Diego's own Zoo Music, run by Brandon Welchez of the Crocodiles and Dee Dee from the Dum Dum Girls. Dirty Beaches will be opening for Dum Dum Girls and Crocodiles this spring in the United States. Europe this summer?
Gorillavsbear
Pitchfork Fork Cast
Altered Zones
Weekly Tape Deck (Most Anticipated 2011; Daytrotter Version)
Urban Outfitters Music Monday (Week of January 11th)
Impose Magazine
The Hype Machine
RECENT
Earmilk
See The Leaves
The Off Line People
Silver Rocket
HATERS
Buyiburao at the request of the audience, Dirty Beaches cover of the Stooges's "No Fun". Not really new, it may not make everyone feel great, there are awkward and dangerous. He put down the guitar pop, the crowd moved away.Liwen Tai in the crowd as he held slide, fall. People continue to Tuikai. Then he came to power and apathy to sing: "NO FUN, My Baby, NO FUN". That explosion of the moment, I think this guy will die of suicide, or drug overdose, or drink too much jump the bridge to swim drowned. (POORQUALITYPRIVATEHOUSESBLOG)
Gorillavsbear
Pitchfork Fork Cast
Altered Zones
Weekly Tape Deck (Most Anticipated 2011; Daytrotter Version)
Urban Outfitters Music Monday (Week of January 11th)
Impose Magazine
The Hype Machine
RECENT
Earmilk
See The Leaves
The Off Line People
Silver Rocket
HATERS
This is a space for the haters.
Published 1/17/11
Pitchfork BNM's Dirty Beaches Sweet 17 track
Dirty Beaches Badlands LP is out 3/29 on Zoo Music
It was fantastic to see Pitchfork name Dirty Beaches' Sweet 17 Best New Music on Friday. Sweet 17 is featured on his forthcoming LP, Badlands, which is being released on the San Diego based record label run by Brandon Welchez of Crocodiles and Dee Dee of the Dum Dum Girls.
When an Artist gets Best New Music for a track, rather then an album, two possible scenarios suggest themselves. An album review that also gets Best New Music, confirming the earlier selection. An album review, that does not get Best New Music. Obviously, it's in the Artists best interest to obtain the Best New Music designation for the album, but that is entirely outside the control of the Artist.
There are also secondary effects, the successful harnessing of which require ancillary personnel. For example, the services of a public relations professional are especially crucial AFTER such a designation occurs. Additionally, the so-designated artist can expect an increase of attention from entities like: booking agents, record labels and management. It should be noted, that every opportunity has two potential results, an artist can choose wisely or poorly, and those decisions will shape the future ability of an artist to compete in the market place.
A significant time interval in this regard is the period between a track becoming Best New Music and the review of the resulting album. An artist who receives a Best New Music for the album is in a superior bargaining position with any interested entity, whereas a failure to achieve that puts the Artist in an inferior position. The Artist can also use that time interval to perform live in different markets and reap the rewards (or penalties) of those live performances. The main thing with a wind fall is to recognize it as something which may not repeat itself due to your hard work: that's the definition of a wind fall, economically speaking.
Ultimately, the Best New Music designation is what economists would term a windfall gain. I can't actually find a good definition od this term in the way I want to use it, but I would define it as, "An external stimulus to the level of interest in a specific artist." Such stimulus' are unrelated to rational economic or artistic activity. Thus, their occurrence should be accepted but not glorified. Glorifying a windfall gain is like erecting a temple to yourself because you won 100 million in the lottery: kind of gross.
Above all, an Artist facing an increased level of attention needs to realize that audiences crave novelty either from the same Artist or a new/different Artist and that every time you do something, it impacts the way the prospective audience perceives you.
It was fantastic to see Pitchfork name Dirty Beaches' Sweet 17 Best New Music on Friday. Sweet 17 is featured on his forthcoming LP, Badlands, which is being released on the San Diego based record label run by Brandon Welchez of Crocodiles and Dee Dee of the Dum Dum Girls.
When an Artist gets Best New Music for a track, rather then an album, two possible scenarios suggest themselves. An album review that also gets Best New Music, confirming the earlier selection. An album review, that does not get Best New Music. Obviously, it's in the Artists best interest to obtain the Best New Music designation for the album, but that is entirely outside the control of the Artist.
There are also secondary effects, the successful harnessing of which require ancillary personnel. For example, the services of a public relations professional are especially crucial AFTER such a designation occurs. Additionally, the so-designated artist can expect an increase of attention from entities like: booking agents, record labels and management. It should be noted, that every opportunity has two potential results, an artist can choose wisely or poorly, and those decisions will shape the future ability of an artist to compete in the market place.
A significant time interval in this regard is the period between a track becoming Best New Music and the review of the resulting album. An artist who receives a Best New Music for the album is in a superior bargaining position with any interested entity, whereas a failure to achieve that puts the Artist in an inferior position. The Artist can also use that time interval to perform live in different markets and reap the rewards (or penalties) of those live performances. The main thing with a wind fall is to recognize it as something which may not repeat itself due to your hard work: that's the definition of a wind fall, economically speaking.
Ultimately, the Best New Music designation is what economists would term a windfall gain. I can't actually find a good definition od this term in the way I want to use it, but I would define it as, "An external stimulus to the level of interest in a specific artist." Such stimulus' are unrelated to rational economic or artistic activity. Thus, their occurrence should be accepted but not glorified. Glorifying a windfall gain is like erecting a temple to yourself because you won 100 million in the lottery: kind of gross.
Above all, an Artist facing an increased level of attention needs to realize that audiences crave novelty either from the same Artist or a new/different Artist and that every time you do something, it impacts the way the prospective audience perceives you.
Published 1/9/11
Traveling Conversion Suitcase: Peru
This traveling conversion suitcase was used by Catholic Missionaries during the 16th and 17th century in Peru. It actually folds in on itself to the size of a large trunk. The figures tell many of the stories of the Bible, and the idea is that the Priest would point out the stories to the natives and use them to illustrate different Christian ideas. The condition of this piece was excellent, I can only surmise that it was kept well maintained by craftsman or was barely used for it's original purpose.
Published 2/1/11
Dirty Beaches Beijing Show Review
January 22 of the D-22, Rose House analog recording the theme show, Dirty Beaches final appearance.
The band suffering from a severe cold, eating on the stage singing drug blow the nose, but the general cyclone swept through the entire site. Even the most moderate guy who, in the silence after the reading is not a cry sucker half a step from the back and started looking up.
Buyiburao at the request of the audience, Dirty Beaches cover of the Stooges's "No Fun". Not really new, it may not make everyone feel great, there are awkward and dangerous. He put down the guitar pop, the crowd moved away.Liwen Tai in the crowd as he held slide, fall. People continue to Tuikai. Then he came to power and apathy to sing: "NO FUN, My Baby, NO FUN". That explosion of the moment, I think this guy will die of suicide, or drug overdose, or drink too much jump the bridge to swim drowned. (POORQUALITYPRIVATEHOUSESBLOG)
Published 2/7/11
WE JAM ECONO: THE STORY OF THE MINUTEMEN
d. Tim Irwin
p. 2005
I must confess that while I have found direct inspiration in the DIY culture of early us punk/post-punk/alternative culture that inspiration has been more in terms of business model than music. 924 Gilman streeet directly inspired me in high school, but I was never a huge Lookout Records Fan. In college, Dischord provided the economic template for all my future music related activity, but the only Dischord record I have in my Itunes is one Fugazi disc and a compilation. Minutemen are in that same category: I find their largely autochthonous contribution to DIY culture to be directly inspiring, but I don't really listen to the music. Other then the now ubiquitous Corona, which I hear whenever I see anything related to Jackass.
I held out on We Jam Econo until last night, when I allowed myself to be drawn into the world of Minutemen. The story of Minutemen begins in San Pedro, where else? And for the purposes of this movie, San Pedro is literally all you see in that half of the film consists of Mike Watt driving his van around San Pedro and pointing out different places that are important to the history of the Minutemen. The other half of the film is interviews with people like Ian MacKaye, Thurston Moore and Henry Rollins and some very interesting live performance footage. The Minutemen were one of those bands who benefited indirectly through personal tragedy. D. Boon tragically died in a car accident, and the output of the Minutemen directly entered the Canon thereafter. That's in spite of the fact that even a cursory review of their discography reveals a definite peak and artistic decline BEFORE Boon died (See for example, their Project: Mersh EP released in 1985.
One aspect that clearly stands out from the Minutemen story is how that band and it's members stood for TRUTH, INTEGRITY & AUTHENTICITY. In fact, it's fair to say that Ian MacKaye's Dischord label must have been directly inspired by the Minutemen's unusual contribution to the early 80s punk scene in the United States. The Minutemen are perhaps the originator of DIY musical culture in the sense that it was defined until the advent of the mp3: Locally based, anti-big business, fiercely independent. It is possible to separate this cultural contribution from the musical contribution. D Boon's and Mike Watt's San Pedro is a kind of cultural archetype for artists looking to inspire their own change through music.
Musically, Minutemen were interesting: First, they had wide ranging musical influence. To take one of their better known songs, Corona the listener can hear the influence of Western Country music- something pointed out by Sonic Youth's Lee Renaldo. Second, they could play their instruments. That in itself was eye opening to artists like Ian MacKaye at the time. Third, they had an engaging live show. Dean Boon, as is totally clear from this documentary, was an engaging front man who projected exciting energy on stage. Mike Watt and George Hurley also added technical virtuosity and their own charisma to the mix.
It's important to understand that even while they were still a band, Minutemen did not exist in some idealized punk rock fairy tale. Their post-Double Nickels on the Dime output shows a hyper awareness of the pressures of music industry business conventions, bringing them out of the universe they had created and back down to earth.
Perhaps that is the ultimate lesson to be extracted from We Jam Econo: If you are so fortunate as to succeed in creating your own place in the universe by recording music: Stay in that universe- never come back down.
Published 2/11/11
Recorded Music in American Life:
The Phonograph and Popular Memory 1890-1945
by William Howland Kenney
p. 1999
Oxford University Press
I've observed that a common mistake that contemporary observers of popular music make is to equate the industry which has developed to sell recorded music with the subject of music itself. For someone whose time horizon is bounded by the period after WWII, this equation makes some amount of sense. After all, the story of music between 1945 and say.... 2005 is the story of the recorded music industry itself.
But it wasn't always the case, especially when you consider that the phonograph and recorded music itself did not exist prior to 1890. People had to learn the relationship between recorded sound, music and their own lives. It's an interesting subject, and quite a pity that it has been so thoroughly neglected- to the point where this was the single book I could find on the subject. In the first chapter, Kenney defines the significance of recorded music in American life during this period as follows:
The phonograph and recorded sound served as instruments in an ongoing process of individual and group recognition in which images of the past and the present could be mixed in an apparently timeless suspension that often seemed to defy the relentless corrosion of historical change. (Introduction XIX)Unfortunately, the ten page introduction is the high point of this book. What follows the introduction is occasionally interesting, such as the chapter focusing on the marketing and sale of recorded music prior to the depression. Kenney points out the development of an industry focused on "hits" was something that arose only AFTER the depression brought the recorded music business to its knees. Prior to the depression, companies sought to sell and stock the widest possible range of types of recordings in an effort to achieve something like corporate omnipotence.
Kenney includes chapters on the African American and Hillbilly experience with the recorded music industry that sounded like they had been lifted from other books- nothing new there. If I have to read one more description of how African American recording artists were stripped of their copyrights and cheated out of money owed them, I will scream. To his credit, Kenney notes that to a man, all of the artists who are now seen as "victims" were beyond eager to offer up their services- often willing to be recorded for free just to get their music "out there." Huh- does that sound familiar to anyone in the audience?
I've been doing my best to read about the history of the recorded music industry in an attempt to find some reassurance that the recent cratering of the sale of recorded music is an anomaly. Honestly, I do believe that to be the case. Recorded music sales in the US have cratered on multiple occasions: the introduction of radio in the 1920s, the great depression in the 30s, the ban on recordings during World War II in the 40s and the rise of the mp3 in the 90s. Recorded music has survived all of these traumas, because, at a very basic level recorded music and the purveyors of recorded music help audiences deal with the confusion, displacement and anomie that seem to characterize modern life. Record companies may go bankrupt, specific artists may live and die in poverty, but recorded music serves an important function in society as a preserver of collective memory, and that function is stronger then the destruction allegedly wrought by Mediafire and Napster(or the Great Depression, World War II or the invention of Radio.)
Published 2/27/11
The Voices That Are Gone:
Themes in 19th-Century American Popular Song
by Jon W. Finson
p. 1994
Oxford University Press
The history of American Popular Song is pretty clear over the past one hundred years: Tin Pan Alley, succeeded by the Brill Building, succeeded by the Beatles and the Summer of Love, drawing on and recombining with separate but related traditions emanating out of rural White (Country/Hillbilly) and Black (Blues) culture. But what of the period before? A twenty first century student of popular song might be forgiven for his or her utter ignorance of the popular song tradition in America in the first half of the 19th century. Between the politically incorrect tradition of minstelry and the largely irrelevant English inspired fascination with the otherness and exoticism of Scotland and Ireland, it's a tradition which can be profitably ignored.
However, as I learned in The Voices That Are Gone, there is much to recommend this period to the student of popular music. When Voices That Are Gone picks up, we are the very early stages of the 19th century, and American Popular Song is largely, if not entirely, derivative of British culture. At that time British culture was in love with the Scottish exoticism and poetry of Walter Scott and his ilk, and this is reflected in song themes that reflect the ever present specter of death and the realities of lovers separated by long distances. This older style was supplanted in the middle of the century by a stylistically similar song writing that instead focused on the "close proximity and physical contact." of young lovers.
These newer songs about courtship begin to take on the shape of what would later be associated with Tin Pany Alley songwriting. Specifically: short phrases, narrow melodic range and repeated note choruses. By the 1860s and 1870s, courtship songs begin to share characteristics that fully presage popular song in the Tin Pan Alley era: terse melodic periods, an intermixture of lyrical and declamatory vocal writing, a relatively narrow range, and frequent syncopation imitating the natural rhythms of speech.
These changes in audience taste were accompanied (or perhaps precipitated) by advances in technology: transit by rail and communication with telegraph. These two technological advances not only affected audience concerns, they also allowed the formation of the modern publishing industry, which would burst into full flower during the Tin Pan Alley period (and forever after.) Using modern forms of communication, businessmen in New York City could sell sheet music promoted by traveling musicians.
With the development of the modern music publishing industry in the post Civil War Period, popular song writing received a new level of attention from artists, businessmen and audiences. Once formed, the music publishing business continued to be impacted by outside trends. A significant early influencer was the fast paced German developed waltz. The waltz sped up the tempo, and it's speed mirrored the increase in speed allowed by technological innovations. The above description takes you through Part I of this book. Unfortunately Part II devolves into a tired analysis of the influence of minstelry before and after the Civil War and two bad chapters on the treatment of Native Americans and Western European Ethnicity. It is almost like Finson wrote half of an amazing book and then ran out of steam.
The one interesting observation about minstelry that Finson makes is how pre-Civil War minstelry was often a combination of African American themes with older themes and song structures derived from the Anglo/Irish/Scottish continuum. Finson notes a change in tone between the pre-Civil War minstrels, where claims to "authenticity" were a sly mask for poking fun at the established order, vs. after, when increased proximity between African American's and northern whites let to a situation where claims to "authenticity" were there own justification. There are some interesting ways to relate this distinction to modern musical genres with their own guidelines about artist authenticity claims: Nashville country or American Indie, for example. But I will leave that for another time.
Published 3/9/11
Dirty Beaches: Royal Flush Mix Tape
JAMZ. (PITCHFORK)
Published 3/10/11
Badlands LP: Reviews
Bao Le Hu, Orlando Weekly
Read Bao Le-Huu, This Little Underground column in the Orlando Weekly. Oh and, local journalists- this is how you do it, in case you were wondering.
Indeed, Hungtai deftly invokes all the requisite touchstones like echoes, hiss and distortion. Despite this blurred palette, there's a sharp distillation to the vision behind Dirty Beaches' new album, Badlands.
A vibrant, colorful language, ranging from enigmatic film scores ("Black Nylon," "Hotel") to rock & roll kitsch (rockabilly, surf and oldies) percolates through the vintage lo-fi haze. Key to the album's vitality is the raw conviction of Hungtai's voice. Whether it's his tenderly arabesque crooning on the crestfallen "True Blue" or the rockabilly histrionics of primal surf drones like "Horses" and "Sweet 17," he brings a human heat to the restless vagueness.
Most importantly, Hungtai's vocals and critical instrumental hooks aren't nearly as buried in the mix as is the output of many of his peers. In fact, repeated listens reveal a considerable degree of care in sonic proportioning, separating the punctuation from the patina. This judiciousness is epitomized by "A Hundred Highways," a song made exceptional by the ribs of damaged guitar noise, Hungtai's romantic purring and the signature bass line from Little Peggy March's "I Will Follow Him."
But when you boil things all the way down to the bone like Dirty Beaches does, the risk is that there may not be much skeleton to show. The razor-thin margin of error of this starkly minimalist approach is what makes Badlands all the more miraculous. And instead of simply being stylishly dissociative, the album's austerity quivers with pulse, spirit and scuffed mystique.
Read Bao Le-Huu, This Little Underground column in the Orlando Weekly. Oh and, local journalists- this is how you do it, in case you were wondering.
Published 3/29/11
Washington Post on Dirty Beaches "More Lynchian Than David Lynch Himself"
This year, David Lynch added recording artist to his resume, which probably says something like “director, film noir icon, inspiration for your nightmares” at the top. The results were surprising — straightforward electro-pop that was more bright and bouncy than dark and sinister. So Lynch won’t be providing the soundtrack to his own movies. No problem. Alex Zhang Hungtai is more than up to the task.
As one-man-band Dirty Beaches, Hungtai writes songs with the same vision as the director of “Blue Velvet” and creator of “Twin Peaks.” (WASHINGTON POST)
Published 4/1/11
Crawdaddy: "Dirty Beaches... creates new Genre on Badlands."
Published 4/12/11
ONION AV CLUB ON DIRTY BEACHES AND ROBERT JOHNSON
Published 4/1/11
Crawdaddy: "Dirty Beaches... creates new Genre on Badlands."
Across the board, reconstituting an already established image is nothing new for musicians—Dylan did it with Guthrie, Gaga with Madonna, and so on—but for something truly successful, it has to remain just that, an image… one that serves as homage or inspiration rather than a template for reproduction. For someone who wears his influences so unabashedly on his sleeve, Dirty Beaches’ Alex Zhang Hungtai makes music that feels surprisingly fresh amongst the ‘90s rock revivalists, garage-pop outfits , R&B renaissance acts, and chillwave sets that are flooding the indie music market. Take one look at a press photo, live clip, or Dirty Beaches music video, and you’ll recognize the look—Hungtai would have fit right in with Ponyboy and the gang had The Outsiders been a little more ethnically diverse. But don’t let Hungtai’s romanticized ‘50s/’60s affectations let you believe he’s some kind of caricature; his work as Dirty Beaches distills and mixes his influences and touchstones into something wholly his own.
It may sound weird to call music based in samples, loops, and obvious reference points original, but in Hungtai’s hands, Badlands sounds like nothing else on my radar. That’s to say that in a few months, I expect you’ll be much more likely to hear bands described as sounding like Dirty Beaches, rather than Dirty Beaches described as sounding like other bands. Establishing a genre is a big step for someone just releasing his debut, but that’s where Hungtai’s headed. (CRAWDADDY MAGAZINE)
Published 4/12/11
ONION AV CLUB ON DIRTY BEACHES AND ROBERT JOHNSON
Lo-Fi, high lonesome: The Scratchy Sounds of Dirty Beaches and Robert Johnson (ONION AV FOR OUR CONSIDERATION)
GOOD ARTICLE.
This blog turned five years old, unnoticed in the middle May. It seems like an appropriate time to reflect.
When it comes to past events, all the participant can do is say "this happened." I've already done a BUNCH of culling of old posts, so that the material I was pulling from was already "highlights." There is a clear progression between the beginning of this blog in 2006, and the San Diego Fires of October 2007. Although I continued to blog between October 2007 and mid 2008, the posts were unfocused. As far as this blog goes, 2008 was a low point, easing into 2009. The Wavves show review published on 4/20/09 was when I came "back" rediscovering a passion for local music through a new group of Southern California based artists.
The period of summer and early fall in 2009 was certainly the artistic high point of the five year period covered here. Within the period of three months, the Crocodiles started playing with a full band, Dum Dum Girls began playing live shows, Best Coast and Pearl Harbor were still accessible- it was a "golden age." I think, with the sole exception of the Dirty Beaches Show Review in April of 2010, that this blog was spent as a source of information on the local music scene from January 2010 to the present. Although I edited them out, there were a couple of in public temper tantrums that seem to go with regular writing about a subject you are passionate about- perils of the net. I have noticed that it is not true that something on the internet is "forever," to give a blog related example, the only "Cat Dirt Records" logo used to be on the mast head of this blog and since I deleted it, you can't find another version on the web.
There is a clear shift of focus and movement away attending live music events and talking about live music and a general diminishing of "relevance" to any possible readership and I expect that to continue. You could say that five years represents a natural stopping point, but I think as long as you edit the old posts down to a manageable size and number you can keep it going forever.
Published 5/26/11
When it comes to past events, all the participant can do is say "this happened." I've already done a BUNCH of culling of old posts, so that the material I was pulling from was already "highlights." There is a clear progression between the beginning of this blog in 2006, and the San Diego Fires of October 2007. Although I continued to blog between October 2007 and mid 2008, the posts were unfocused. As far as this blog goes, 2008 was a low point, easing into 2009. The Wavves show review published on 4/20/09 was when I came "back" rediscovering a passion for local music through a new group of Southern California based artists.
The period of summer and early fall in 2009 was certainly the artistic high point of the five year period covered here. Within the period of three months, the Crocodiles started playing with a full band, Dum Dum Girls began playing live shows, Best Coast and Pearl Harbor were still accessible- it was a "golden age." I think, with the sole exception of the Dirty Beaches Show Review in April of 2010, that this blog was spent as a source of information on the local music scene from January 2010 to the present. Although I edited them out, there were a couple of in public temper tantrums that seem to go with regular writing about a subject you are passionate about- perils of the net. I have noticed that it is not true that something on the internet is "forever," to give a blog related example, the only "Cat Dirt Records" logo used to be on the mast head of this blog and since I deleted it, you can't find another version on the web.
There is a clear shift of focus and movement away attending live music events and talking about live music and a general diminishing of "relevance" to any possible readership and I expect that to continue. You could say that five years represents a natural stopping point, but I think as long as you edit the old posts down to a manageable size and number you can keep it going forever.
Published 5/26/11
THIS BLOGS HISTORY IN 25 HEADLINES: 2006-Present
The Extra Long Cat Dirt Weekender: Or There's A Holiday on Monday? (published 5/26/06)
Show Review: Cat Dirt Records Presents Chicken! w/ Fifty on Their Heels, The Power Chords, Atoms (6/18/06)
Los Angeles: 1955-1985 n'aissance de un capitale artistique 6/29/06 @ The Centre Pompidou PARIS, FRANCE (7/12/06)
Show Review: Golden Hill Block Party (10/29/06)
A Frank Assessment of Cat Dirt's All Ages Show Efforts (10/29/06)
The Extra Long Cat Dirt Weekender: Or There's A Holiday on Monday? (published 5/26/06)
Show Review: Cat Dirt Records Presents Chicken! w/ Fifty on Their Heels, The Power Chords, Atoms (6/18/06)
Los Angeles: 1955-1985 n'aissance de un capitale artistique 6/29/06 @ The Centre Pompidou PARIS, FRANCE (7/12/06)
Show Review: Golden Hill Block Party (10/29/06)
A Frank Assessment of Cat Dirt's All Ages Show Efforts (10/29/06)
Cat Dirt Sez Welcomes: San Diego: Dialed In (11/07/06)
The Artist and His Role in the Production of Mass Culture (1/17/07) (LINK)
Show Review: Fifty On Their Heels, The Muslims, New Motherfuckers & The Corvinas @ the Che Cafe (5/6/07) (LINK)
Tonight: Skull Cat Kontrol at Beauty Bar (7/7/07) (LINK)
Sessions Fest Photo Gallery (9/16/07) (LINK)
San Diego Fire Photos (10/24/07) (LINK)
The Over Saturation of Local Music Coverage EX. A. San Diego City Beats "OB24" (7/9/08)(LINK)
Show Review: Crocodiles at the Casbah (8/17/08) (LINK)
Just Call Them "Hipster McDouche" (8/21/08)(LINK)
Show Review: Wavves at the Echo (4/20/09)(LINK)
"New" Band Alert: Best Coast (4/30/09)(LINK)
New York Times Loves Crocodiles (5/4/09)(LINK)
The Limits of Amateur Music Enthusiasts (6/11/09)(LINK)
Show Review: Pearl Harbor, Best Coast, Beaters (7/19/09)(LINK)
Local Music Scenes and Interaction Rituals (6/11/09)(LINK)
Show Review: Dum Dum Girls, Crocodiles *full band*, Best Coast, Pearl Harbor @ The Che Cafe (10/3/09)
The Art of the Renaissance and the Market for Popular Culture (1/10/10)(LINK)
Show Review: Dirty Beaches & Jeans Wilder @ The Whistle Stop (4/1/10)(LINK)
Culture of Hits (5/10/10)(LINK)
Published 5/31/11
12 HRS IN BAKERSFIELD CA.
My wife and I have a fondness for the second and third tier cities of America. Many so-called cultured, sophisticated Americans will gladly spend days in rapture traipsing around in like cities in Western European countries (like Bruges, for example.) but disdain the American equivalents. I would argues that a city whose past glory lies in the 1950s is JUST AS INTERESTING as a city whose past glory lies in the 15th century. Unfortunately I live in the far south-western corner of the United States, so such cities are few and far between .
This weekend, I did happen to make it as far north as Bakersfield, CA. My wife and I repeatedly marveled on the four hour (five hour with traffic) drive from San Diego that Bakersfield is actually equidistant between San Diego and San Francisco/Sacramento, making it a natural way station for a grueling one day drive. We chose to stay at the Shertaon Four Points for reasons that my wife would be better equipped to explain (Here's a hint though.) Arrival was about 3 PM, so we headed "downtown" to hit a thrift/vintage store my wife was particuarly excited about. Across the street was the hotel pictured above, "The Padre Hotel." According to newspaper stories, the Padre was re-vamped in 2010 by a San Diego based partnership including Graham Downes and Bret Miller.
The vintage store that got my wife so excited was In Your Wildest Dreams, a three level, 21 thousand square foot consignment shop containing everything from clothes, to furniture, to records. In Your Wildest Dreams was not particularly cheap, but it was not what thrifters call "picked over" in the sense that SD/LA/SF area thrifters understand the term. There was PUH-lenty to buy. From my perspective, the books were poor, but the records, which looked to be the collection of a single guy, were well selected, with some nice represses that I would be stoked to see at a "new" record store. In Your Wildest Dreams isn't the only thrift/vintage/consignment store in Bakersfield, but you don't have to go to another one unless you are looking for stuff to resell on Ebay.
After "thrifting" we walked across the street and had a drink at the Brimstone Bar inside the lobby of the Padre Hotel. My wife and I were both impressed by the quality of the remodeling, the architect clearly had an eye for maintaining some of the better aspects of the original design while updating by removing interior walls- creating a large lobby space that was subdivided into the bar, a cafe and the check in area. Guests have the opportunity to walk up a central stair case to the rooms, giving the space a constant multi-dimensional flow of people. The Brimstone Bar was about what you would expect from a would-be boutique hotel in Bakersfield: rough around the edges but satisfactory considering the location. Were I to return, I would want to give this place a shot.
Dinner was an easy choice: Buck Owens Crystal Palace, a combination Steak house/Hard Rock style museum and music venue started by the legendary country hit-maker in 1995. Buck also owns a country radio station in town, which is located next door to the Crystal Palace. Our dinner at the Crystal Palace was what we expected: A great delight for every sense EXCEPT taste. I'm not complaining, but my advice if you go there is to have a snack at the Brimstone prior, order the smallest thing off the menu at Crystal Palace and "pre-drink": My Budweiser was something like 5.50, and while I'm happy to pay up, I wouldn't want to do extended drinking here. The Museum aspect is incredible, with an actual emphasis on his individual hits with the various costumery he used to promote each hit filling the rest of the display cases. Still, if you have one night in Bakersfield and miss this place, you a sucka. Call ahead for a reservation and get there after 7:30 PM for the band.
For a night cap/evening activity I would have preferred to check out a show at Jerry's Pizza, but that was not in the cards. Instead we went to Guthrie's Alley Cat, which has a decent online reputation, a quirky location in an actual alley and a killer old-school neon sign that still lights up. Inside it's a little too nice to be a "dive bar" in the sense that I understand the term, but it was a decent "bar" bar. The bartender was amiable as were the locals- no attitudes here.
On the ride back to the hotel we stopped at but did not eat at Dewar's Family Ice Cream and Candy Parlor a hundred year old, still FAMILY OWNED and adorable as all get-out. Inside it was a Saturday night mob-scene, but the ice cream jocks looked like stone-cold assassins of serving ice-cream. The old timey candy selection didn't get me wet, so to speak, but on the whole it's an amazing place- right across the street from Bakersfield High School. Standing in the parking lot, the sun setting out on the plains of the Central Valley, I could close my eyes and imagine that I was still in the 50s. It was a pleasant sensation.
Give Bakersfield a shot.
Published 7/12/11
Lo Fi Number One Hits: Witch Doctor by David Seville (4/28/58; 2 weeks.)
Love that super racist clip: Am I only the one who thinks mass-media era specific racist characters "unmask" the mass media Foucault style?
This past week as I was driving back and forth to Monterey, I heard David Seville's "Witch Doctor" on my Ipod a couple of times. It's well known to me via the "cover version" done by Seville's own creation, Alvin and the Chipmunks, but it was a number one hit BEFORE the Chipmunks existed- in 1958.
Here is what the Billboard Book of Number One Hits, Revised and Updated 4th Edition by Fred Bronson has to say about "The Witch Doctor" and how it came to be.
He got the idea from a book title in his library, "Duel With the Witch Doctor," and with his trusty tape recorder, came up with the idea of playing back music and vocals at different speeds. The voice of the witch doctor was recored at halfspeed and played back at normal speed, a device that would eventually lead Bagdrasarian to create a multi-million dollar empire centered around three friendly rodents.
Ross Bagdasarian was born in Fresno, and moved in his teens to New York, hanging out with his cousin William Saroyan. (Billboard Book of Number One Hits, p. 36) 1958 was a year that had number one's by Elvis (x2), Everly Brothers, Ricky Nelson AND another novelty hit- The Purple People Eater, so you know Witch Doctor must have taken the nation by storm. In 1958, juke box play would still be a relevant measure of success, so you could well imagine the reaction that the record must have elicited in Los Angeles, the home market of Liberty Records (Hollywood Ca.) Liberty Records also put out Eddie Cochran (Summertime Blues, specifically.)
Love that super racist clip: Am I only the one who thinks mass-media era specific racist characters "unmask" the mass media Foucault style?
This past week as I was driving back and forth to Monterey, I heard David Seville's "Witch Doctor" on my Ipod a couple of times. It's well known to me via the "cover version" done by Seville's own creation, Alvin and the Chipmunks, but it was a number one hit BEFORE the Chipmunks existed- in 1958.
Here is what the Billboard Book of Number One Hits, Revised and Updated 4th Edition by Fred Bronson has to say about "The Witch Doctor" and how it came to be.
He got the idea from a book title in his library, "Duel With the Witch Doctor," and with his trusty tape recorder, came up with the idea of playing back music and vocals at different speeds. The voice of the witch doctor was recored at halfspeed and played back at normal speed, a device that would eventually lead Bagdrasarian to create a multi-million dollar empire centered around three friendly rodents.
Ross Bagdasarian was born in Fresno, and moved in his teens to New York, hanging out with his cousin William Saroyan. (Billboard Book of Number One Hits, p. 36) 1958 was a year that had number one's by Elvis (x2), Everly Brothers, Ricky Nelson AND another novelty hit- The Purple People Eater, so you know Witch Doctor must have taken the nation by storm. In 1958, juke box play would still be a relevant measure of success, so you could well imagine the reaction that the record must have elicited in Los Angeles, the home market of Liberty Records (Hollywood Ca.) Liberty Records also put out Eddie Cochran (Summertime Blues, specifically.)
But the reason I'm writing this post is to point out how indie and lo fi the production of this record must have been in 1958. One, you've got a guy from Fresno who has a connection to the NYC theater, and presumably music industry world. Two, he comes up with a technical innovation involving the recording medium (tape.) Recording Tape itself was not widely available in the United States until AFTER World War II, so it was like the Garage Band of it's day.
So this guy is trying to "make it" and he combines this recording technique with a song that is high on the novelty meter and BOOM number one hit. And then, in 1961: THE CHIPMUNKS. Develop, retire. The Chipmunks ARE STILL PUMPING OUT MOVIES. That is a lo fi success story, REAL TALK.
Published 10/26/11
david lynch dirty beaches
DAVID LYNCH DIRTY BEACHES GOOGLE SEARCH
FIRE WALK WITH ME
FIRE WALK WITH ME
Published 10/26/11
Ominous Clouds (PHOTOS)
ominous clouds photo, 1.
ominous clouds, 2.
ominous clouds, 3.
I am a HUGE fan of using the metaphor, "ominous clouds on the horizon." First, it's something everyone can relate to, in terms of actually having seen it. Second, it's very accurate in terms of stressing the need to be able to literally look ahead of you and think about issues like, "How fast are those clouds moving towards me?" and "When will the Clouds arrive here?"
I particularly prefer "ominous clouds on the horizon" or "dark clouds on the horizon" to "sunny skies." The obvious values of sunny skies are relaxation and general laziness, whereas dark/ominous clouds on the horizon connote a watchfulness and attentiveness- IMPORTANT TRAITS TO HAVE.
I am a HUGE fan of using the metaphor, "ominous clouds on the horizon." First, it's something everyone can relate to, in terms of actually having seen it. Second, it's very accurate in terms of stressing the need to be able to literally look ahead of you and think about issues like, "How fast are those clouds moving towards me?" and "When will the Clouds arrive here?"
I particularly prefer "ominous clouds on the horizon" or "dark clouds on the horizon" to "sunny skies." The obvious values of sunny skies are relaxation and general laziness, whereas dark/ominous clouds on the horizon connote a watchfulness and attentiveness- IMPORTANT TRAITS TO HAVE.
Published 11/9/11
Popular Recreations in English Society 1700-1850
by Robert Malcolmson
p. 1973
Cambridge University Press
The way I see it, the recipe for writing a book of non-fiction is to take a bunch of books normal people will never read and combine them in new and interesting ways. This is very much one of those types of books- not particularly interesting as a stand alone book, but incredibly valuable if you are trying to assemble facts about popular culture in the 18th and 19th century. If you stop and think about how important and fussed over popular culture is TODAY, the comparative lack of regard for it in the 18th and 19th century is somewhat puzzling. Wouldn't someone writing about American Idol want to know about the cock throwing past time of rural England in the 18th century? After all, the try out shows of American Idol SHARE ALOT of likeness to the "sport" of throwing rocks at a rooster that is tied to a stake in the ground. SPORTING.
It's also interesting to read about the "running of the bulls." This is something that exists only in Spain today, but was widespread in England in the 18th century.
As for the take away, here's what I wrote, "As economic change accelerated, and as the market economy established a firm grip on social thinking and behavior, many customary practices came to be ignored and the recreations they supported were forced into disuse."
I also thought this observation was interesting, "In the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries many men were still intensely suspicious of 'enthusiasm', of pleas for reform, of moral earnestness, and they reserved their favor for moderation, stability, and a cautious worldliness."
Popular Recreations in English Society 1700-1850
by Robert Malcolmson
p. 1973
Cambridge University Press
The way I see it, the recipe for writing a book of non-fiction is to take a bunch of books normal people will never read and combine them in new and interesting ways. This is very much one of those types of books- not particularly interesting as a stand alone book, but incredibly valuable if you are trying to assemble facts about popular culture in the 18th and 19th century. If you stop and think about how important and fussed over popular culture is TODAY, the comparative lack of regard for it in the 18th and 19th century is somewhat puzzling. Wouldn't someone writing about American Idol want to know about the cock throwing past time of rural England in the 18th century? After all, the try out shows of American Idol SHARE ALOT of likeness to the "sport" of throwing rocks at a rooster that is tied to a stake in the ground. SPORTING.
It's also interesting to read about the "running of the bulls." This is something that exists only in Spain today, but was widespread in England in the 18th century.
As for the take away, here's what I wrote, "As economic change accelerated, and as the market economy established a firm grip on social thinking and behavior, many customary practices came to be ignored and the recreations they supported were forced into disuse."
I also thought this observation was interesting, "In the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries many men were still intensely suspicious of 'enthusiasm', of pleas for reform, of moral earnestness, and they reserved their favor for moderation, stability, and a cautious worldliness."
Published 11/18/11
Taking Pictures of Taking Pictures, Dirty Beaches, David Lynch & Lana Del Rey, and the Tumblrization of Indie(RESONANT FREQUENCY PITCHFORK EDITORIAL)
I recently saw Dirty Beaches perform in Paris. It was a fine show, and leader Alex Zhang Hungtai is a magnetic performer, but there was something strange about it. I like Dirty Beaches' record Badlands from earlier this year, but at one point I was joking with some people that his approach to music could be summed up as: "I like Link Wray, Elvis' Sun Sessions, Suicide, and David Lynch." (Of course, Lynch's presence in this particular list is in some ways redundant, because his aesthetic already overlaps with the references in the other three, but the twist he provides is essential.) And sure enough, when he took the stage in Paris, the first sound was him strumming the chords to Wray's "Rumble" (maybe you know it from Pulp Fiction, another cultural artifact littered with pop re-blogs). Hungtai has greased hair and strong features and manages to evoke the vibe of the 50s bad boy, and here he was up there with a saxophone player who had sunglasses and a beret. They were lit by spotlights coming from the rear of the stage, so they appeared in silhouette. The vibe was palpable. I thought for a moment of Bill Pullman in Lost Highway, grinding away on his horn as an outlet for his wife's marital infidelities. The reference was probably not intentional, but that's the way this kind of subconscious imprinting works. When I later heard a rumor that Dirty Beaches had talked to the bookers of the Lynch-designed Paris club Silencio about playing a gig, it brought everything full circle. "I like David Lynch" had become "David Lynch likes me" (Lynch doesn't own the club, so I'm speaking metaphorically here) and suddenly the world of music retro seemed caught in an endless feedback loop.
Also, this article Not Every Girl Is a Riot Grrl, was pretty good:
We are at the Black Cat in Washington, D.C., watching two male guitar techs set up the stage for Dum Dum Girls. The girl continues in the same wide-eyed tone, "Look at these guys setting up the stage for a girl band-- that's how it should be." Quiet for a few moments, her boyfriend seems unsure of how to respond. Then he affects that sarcastic, jokey tone that you're supposed to coat most of your words in when you're 16-- lest you give too much of yourself away-- and says, "See? Sexism is dead!" No one invested in the discussion, myself included, seems sure what he means by this. The comment hovers for a minute, gesturing toward something bigger and stickier than anybody feels like getting into. Talk soon returns to the Harvest Dance.
I have a friend who likes to say that most people still talk about music as though "female" were a genre, but as today's wide stylistic variety of women making independent music attests, there is no "female" sound. There is only the sound of being perceived female: the same old assumptions, conversations, reference points, and language-- all-female, girl band, riot grrrl-- reverberating through an echo chamber, hollow and fatigued.
That Dum Dum Girls bit is from yesterday.
Dirty Beaches, David Lynch, Lana Del Rey. (GOOGLE SEARCH)
I recently saw Dirty Beaches perform in Paris. It was a fine show, and leader Alex Zhang Hungtai is a magnetic performer, but there was something strange about it. I like Dirty Beaches' record Badlands from earlier this year, but at one point I was joking with some people that his approach to music could be summed up as: "I like Link Wray, Elvis' Sun Sessions, Suicide, and David Lynch." (Of course, Lynch's presence in this particular list is in some ways redundant, because his aesthetic already overlaps with the references in the other three, but the twist he provides is essential.) And sure enough, when he took the stage in Paris, the first sound was him strumming the chords to Wray's "Rumble" (maybe you know it from Pulp Fiction, another cultural artifact littered with pop re-blogs). Hungtai has greased hair and strong features and manages to evoke the vibe of the 50s bad boy, and here he was up there with a saxophone player who had sunglasses and a beret. They were lit by spotlights coming from the rear of the stage, so they appeared in silhouette. The vibe was palpable. I thought for a moment of Bill Pullman in Lost Highway, grinding away on his horn as an outlet for his wife's marital infidelities. The reference was probably not intentional, but that's the way this kind of subconscious imprinting works. When I later heard a rumor that Dirty Beaches had talked to the bookers of the Lynch-designed Paris club Silencio about playing a gig, it brought everything full circle. "I like David Lynch" had become "David Lynch likes me" (Lynch doesn't own the club, so I'm speaking metaphorically here) and suddenly the world of music retro seemed caught in an endless feedback loop.
Also, this article Not Every Girl Is a Riot Grrl, was pretty good:
We are at the Black Cat in Washington, D.C., watching two male guitar techs set up the stage for Dum Dum Girls. The girl continues in the same wide-eyed tone, "Look at these guys setting up the stage for a girl band-- that's how it should be." Quiet for a few moments, her boyfriend seems unsure of how to respond. Then he affects that sarcastic, jokey tone that you're supposed to coat most of your words in when you're 16-- lest you give too much of yourself away-- and says, "See? Sexism is dead!" No one invested in the discussion, myself included, seems sure what he means by this. The comment hovers for a minute, gesturing toward something bigger and stickier than anybody feels like getting into. Talk soon returns to the Harvest Dance.
I have a friend who likes to say that most people still talk about music as though "female" were a genre, but as today's wide stylistic variety of women making independent music attests, there is no "female" sound. There is only the sound of being perceived female: the same old assumptions, conversations, reference points, and language-- all-female, girl band, riot grrrl-- reverberating through an echo chamber, hollow and fatigued.
That Dum Dum Girls bit is from yesterday.
Dirty Beaches, David Lynch, Lana Del Rey. (GOOGLE SEARCH)
Published 11/23/11
alex dirty beaches in gq- full page
This opportunity was developed by Jeff Anderson at Solid Gold Public Relations- now opening an office in New York City. Dirty Beaches- GQ- tuxedo- from the December issue.
Jeff Anderson...delivered the goods with the Dirty Beaches Badlands campaign. Personally, I wanted to hire him for that job because of his work on Best Coast, and for him to turn around and work Best Coast in 2010 and Dirty Beaches in 2011- whatever one's personal preference about either act- the results? Undeniable.
Alex was essentially an unknown outside of the noise tape underground as of 12/31/10 and within the year- WITHIN THE YEAR- he's doing national print media. Of course, it's all credit to the artist, but you can't accomplish it, not really, without PR.
Published 12/4/11
Champlain's Dream: The European Founding of North America
by David Hackett Fischer
p. 2008
Simon & Schuster
I don't know if there are more then a handful of history professors who can swagger into the office of a major US publishing company and say, "Seven hundred page biography of the french dude who founded "New France" in the 17th Century... with about 20 color prints... GO!"
But the fact that Champlain's Dream exists is a testament to the weight that David Hackett Fischer carries in the academic/popular publishing industry. For example, his last couple forays into historical biography concerned what I would call two "red meat" subjects for American History fans: Washington's Crossing (2006) (Part of the Pivotal Moments in American History series) and Paul Revere's Ride(1995).
Those are the type of subjects that move units in non-fiction publishing, as witnessed by their continuing sales strength. (1) On the other hand Champlain's Dream is about a French guy from the 17th century, which is way, way, way outside of the interest field for most of the people who would pick up Paul Revere's Ride paperback at the local Barnes and Noble.
The fact that Fischer chose to write this book is a testament to his strength as an intellectual. An effective purveyor of ideas is someone who conveys those ideas to an audience forcefully and with style, and by both measures, Fischer has to be one of the primary operators in the field of academic history. In this book, Fischer doesn't just write a 500 page biography of the man, he provides a 50 page Appendix concerning the 400 year historiography of books about Champlain and another fifty pages of End Notes citing many of the books discussed in the historiography appendix.
Throughout Champlain's Dream Fischer shows himself at the top of his game: combining an understanding of narrow technical literature with an interesting ethical perspective and a mesmerizing command of narrative. Fischer's break out hit was 1989's, Albion's Seed. Albion's Seed persuasively described colonial America as the combining of several regional cultures with their roots in different geographic parts of England. Champlain's Dream represents a kind of extension of those themes into Canada. Champlain's Dream is different from Albion's Seed in that the technical discussion is cloaked in what is putatively supposed to be a straight-forward biography of a Canadian "Founding Father."
Towards the end of this 500 page plus biography, Fischer describes the result of Champlain's Dream as the creation of 3 francophone cultures, Quebecois, Acadian and Metis. The Quebecois are the main-line French settlement line, the Acadian's were originally in the coastal area of Canada, the east coast, and they were more from South Western France- and ended up migrating into Louisiana (Cajuns.)
Finally, and most intriguingly, there are the Metis, a combination of French and Indian cultures, language and customs. This is a culture that is less studied/understood then the other two- and they were certainly hanging out on the Great Plains and Great Lakes period for the first couple centuries of the United States. It's fair to say that the Metis have gotten the shaft from American historians.
Champlain himself shows many admirable qualities, particularly in his relationship with Native Peoples. New France was a disease free, almost conflict free oasis in North American for at least a century and Champlain deserves that credit.
NOTES
(1) For example, Washington's Crossing, published 2006, is 17,000 over-all in "books," #11 in the sub-sub-category of "Books About George Washington," and #40 in History/Americas/United States/Founding Fathers. Paul Revere's ride is 40,000 over all and #45 in that same Founding Fathers sub-category.
Jeff Anderson...delivered the goods with the Dirty Beaches Badlands campaign. Personally, I wanted to hire him for that job because of his work on Best Coast, and for him to turn around and work Best Coast in 2010 and Dirty Beaches in 2011- whatever one's personal preference about either act- the results? Undeniable.
Alex was essentially an unknown outside of the noise tape underground as of 12/31/10 and within the year- WITHIN THE YEAR- he's doing national print media. Of course, it's all credit to the artist, but you can't accomplish it, not really, without PR.
Published 12/4/11
Champlain's Dream: The European Founding of North America
by David Hackett Fischer
p. 2008
Simon & Schuster
I don't know if there are more then a handful of history professors who can swagger into the office of a major US publishing company and say, "Seven hundred page biography of the french dude who founded "New France" in the 17th Century... with about 20 color prints... GO!"
But the fact that Champlain's Dream exists is a testament to the weight that David Hackett Fischer carries in the academic/popular publishing industry. For example, his last couple forays into historical biography concerned what I would call two "red meat" subjects for American History fans: Washington's Crossing (2006) (Part of the Pivotal Moments in American History series) and Paul Revere's Ride(1995).
Those are the type of subjects that move units in non-fiction publishing, as witnessed by their continuing sales strength. (1) On the other hand Champlain's Dream is about a French guy from the 17th century, which is way, way, way outside of the interest field for most of the people who would pick up Paul Revere's Ride paperback at the local Barnes and Noble.
The fact that Fischer chose to write this book is a testament to his strength as an intellectual. An effective purveyor of ideas is someone who conveys those ideas to an audience forcefully and with style, and by both measures, Fischer has to be one of the primary operators in the field of academic history. In this book, Fischer doesn't just write a 500 page biography of the man, he provides a 50 page Appendix concerning the 400 year historiography of books about Champlain and another fifty pages of End Notes citing many of the books discussed in the historiography appendix.
Throughout Champlain's Dream Fischer shows himself at the top of his game: combining an understanding of narrow technical literature with an interesting ethical perspective and a mesmerizing command of narrative. Fischer's break out hit was 1989's, Albion's Seed. Albion's Seed persuasively described colonial America as the combining of several regional cultures with their roots in different geographic parts of England. Champlain's Dream represents a kind of extension of those themes into Canada. Champlain's Dream is different from Albion's Seed in that the technical discussion is cloaked in what is putatively supposed to be a straight-forward biography of a Canadian "Founding Father."
Towards the end of this 500 page plus biography, Fischer describes the result of Champlain's Dream as the creation of 3 francophone cultures, Quebecois, Acadian and Metis. The Quebecois are the main-line French settlement line, the Acadian's were originally in the coastal area of Canada, the east coast, and they were more from South Western France- and ended up migrating into Louisiana (Cajuns.)
Finally, and most intriguingly, there are the Metis, a combination of French and Indian cultures, language and customs. This is a culture that is less studied/understood then the other two- and they were certainly hanging out on the Great Plains and Great Lakes period for the first couple centuries of the United States. It's fair to say that the Metis have gotten the shaft from American historians.
Champlain himself shows many admirable qualities, particularly in his relationship with Native Peoples. New France was a disease free, almost conflict free oasis in North American for at least a century and Champlain deserves that credit.
NOTES
(1) For example, Washington's Crossing, published 2006, is 17,000 over-all in "books," #11 in the sub-sub-category of "Books About George Washington," and #40 in History/Americas/United States/Founding Fathers. Paul Revere's ride is 40,000 over all and #45 in that same Founding Fathers sub-category.
Published 12/5/11
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
by Max Brooks
p. 2006
I think you could make an argument that Max Brooks and his Zombie Survival Guide deserve credit for single-handedly kick-started the surge in Zombie related literature and popular culture. The Zombie Survival Guide was published in 2003, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, was published by the same author, Max Brooks, in 2006, and continues, in its airport novel edition, to sell strongly- #230 in books overall and in the 10 ten in three different sub-categories of "Horror" over there at Amazon.
Clearly, the Zombie is a metaphor for contemporary alienation and economic anxiety that is perfectly- PERFECTLY- in tune with the mood of this country over the last five years. When will our fascination with Zombies end? Probably when the economic climate improves. The role of "horror" in literary and genre fiction is as old as novels themselves- Gothicism was one of the first identifiable stylistic trends in the Novel itself.
However to call World War Z a "novel" is to do it a wee bit too much justice, I think. World War Z is more like a property, in the same way that the preceding Zombie Survival Guide was something you bought at Urban Outfitters...not Waldenbooks. World War Z takes the form of an "oral history" a format familiar to readers of such magazines as Spin and Esquire. The writing is casual to the point of detracting from the over-all merit of the work, but no one is very much concerned with critical acclaim.
The airport novel version I read was released in September of this year, so you can see a long gestation period at work between initial publication and full-on hit-for-the-ages status- which is where World War Z is right now- five years between initial publication and version suitable for sales in our nations airports and hotel gift shops. If I was going to right an airport Zombie novel, I would festishize the locations and clip around the world, but keep the focus on one central Zombie Killer- a special forces type or post-apocalyptic anti-hero.
Historically, the Zombie film was all about the claustrophobia and solitude that budgetary limitations dicatated. Half a century on, the Zombie novel has merged with the post-Apocalypse fantasy genre, but its appeal in an era of anxiety is all too obvious. My sense is that World War Z was a hit, first of all because it was published in 2006- after his own 2003 Zombie Survival Guide raised interest levels, but way before The Passage, Zone One, 28 Days Later, etc. Brooks was first on the ground with the expansive combination of Zombies/Apocalypse.
Brooks is not much of a prose stylist- both Cronin's The Passage and Whitehead's Zone One run circles around Brooks clumsy magazine speak, but Brooks is laughing all the way to the bank, and considering the gap of time that elapsed between World War Z being released, and the subsequent timing of the books by Cronin and Whitehead, you could argue that they were directly inspired by the success of World War Z.
Published 12/5/11
Cultures Merging: A Historical and Economic Critique of Culture
by Eric L. Jones
p. 2006
Princeton University Press
The Princeton Economic History of the Western World, Joel Mokyr, Series Editor
I almost certainly read this book because it references Tyler Cowen's In Praise of Commercial Culture, with the same level of respect & admiration that I feel for the same work. I ordered it on September 28th of this year, and I already finished it- pretty good turn around time, shows I'm interested in the subject matter which is best described as.... I would say a history of ideas. A cross-disclipinary work, though it's hard to ignore its inclusion in the Princeton Economic History of the Western World series.
That series features heavy, heavy titles like, Quarter Notes & Bank Notes: The Economics of Music Composition in the Eighteenth and Ninteenth Century, by F.M. Scherer. And who could forget the immortal classic by Timothy W. Guinnane, The Vanishing Irish: Households, Migration, and the Rural Economy in Ireland, 1850-1914. That's SNOOZE CITY, BAYBAY.
Unlike some of the tedious sounding titles that share the Princeton Economic History of the Western World designation, Cultures Merging is a breezy little book, without so much as end notes (foot notes, often to news publications, dot the text in an unobtrusive fashion. The fact that the Author, Eric L. Jones, has read Cowen's work is key, key, key to animating Cultures Merging.
Whereas Cowen is very mild about the implications of his argument in Praise, Jones is less so:
However, Jones' restatement of the positive impact the Market has on artistic creativity is worth noting, "Markets relax the constraints on internal creativity. The great thing is to evade single buyers- patrons or Arts Councils- since these are likely to cramp one's style, like that of poor Velasquez, who had to paint eight-one portraits of Philip IV." Cultures Merging is appropriately sub-titled as a "Critique" of the meaning & impact of Culture, but it's a sensitive, well-reasoned critique that was obviously to sophisticated for the public to grasp.
All I'm saying is that you take Cowen's critique and then add Jones' stuff and rename it "The Psychology of Culture" instead of trying to pitch it as history or economics. Truly no one gives a shit about history (unless it's the Civil War or World War II) and truly, truly, no one gives a shit about economics, but psychology books are all over the place, and selling.
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
by Max Brooks
p. 2006
 |
| Brad Pitt in World War Z |
I think you could make an argument that Max Brooks and his Zombie Survival Guide deserve credit for single-handedly kick-started the surge in Zombie related literature and popular culture. The Zombie Survival Guide was published in 2003, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, was published by the same author, Max Brooks, in 2006, and continues, in its airport novel edition, to sell strongly- #230 in books overall and in the 10 ten in three different sub-categories of "Horror" over there at Amazon.
Clearly, the Zombie is a metaphor for contemporary alienation and economic anxiety that is perfectly- PERFECTLY- in tune with the mood of this country over the last five years. When will our fascination with Zombies end? Probably when the economic climate improves. The role of "horror" in literary and genre fiction is as old as novels themselves- Gothicism was one of the first identifiable stylistic trends in the Novel itself.
However to call World War Z a "novel" is to do it a wee bit too much justice, I think. World War Z is more like a property, in the same way that the preceding Zombie Survival Guide was something you bought at Urban Outfitters...not Waldenbooks. World War Z takes the form of an "oral history" a format familiar to readers of such magazines as Spin and Esquire. The writing is casual to the point of detracting from the over-all merit of the work, but no one is very much concerned with critical acclaim.
The airport novel version I read was released in September of this year, so you can see a long gestation period at work between initial publication and full-on hit-for-the-ages status- which is where World War Z is right now- five years between initial publication and version suitable for sales in our nations airports and hotel gift shops. If I was going to right an airport Zombie novel, I would festishize the locations and clip around the world, but keep the focus on one central Zombie Killer- a special forces type or post-apocalyptic anti-hero.
Historically, the Zombie film was all about the claustrophobia and solitude that budgetary limitations dicatated. Half a century on, the Zombie novel has merged with the post-Apocalypse fantasy genre, but its appeal in an era of anxiety is all too obvious. My sense is that World War Z was a hit, first of all because it was published in 2006- after his own 2003 Zombie Survival Guide raised interest levels, but way before The Passage, Zone One, 28 Days Later, etc. Brooks was first on the ground with the expansive combination of Zombies/Apocalypse.
Brooks is not much of a prose stylist- both Cronin's The Passage and Whitehead's Zone One run circles around Brooks clumsy magazine speak, but Brooks is laughing all the way to the bank, and considering the gap of time that elapsed between World War Z being released, and the subsequent timing of the books by Cronin and Whitehead, you could argue that they were directly inspired by the success of World War Z.
Published 12/5/11
Cultures Merging: A Historical and Economic Critique of Culture
by Eric L. Jones
p. 2006
Princeton University Press
The Princeton Economic History of the Western World, Joel Mokyr, Series Editor
I almost certainly read this book because it references Tyler Cowen's In Praise of Commercial Culture, with the same level of respect & admiration that I feel for the same work. I ordered it on September 28th of this year, and I already finished it- pretty good turn around time, shows I'm interested in the subject matter which is best described as.... I would say a history of ideas. A cross-disclipinary work, though it's hard to ignore its inclusion in the Princeton Economic History of the Western World series.
That series features heavy, heavy titles like, Quarter Notes & Bank Notes: The Economics of Music Composition in the Eighteenth and Ninteenth Century, by F.M. Scherer. And who could forget the immortal classic by Timothy W. Guinnane, The Vanishing Irish: Households, Migration, and the Rural Economy in Ireland, 1850-1914. That's SNOOZE CITY, BAYBAY.
Unlike some of the tedious sounding titles that share the Princeton Economic History of the Western World designation, Cultures Merging is a breezy little book, without so much as end notes (foot notes, often to news publications, dot the text in an unobtrusive fashion. The fact that the Author, Eric L. Jones, has read Cowen's work is key, key, key to animating Cultures Merging.
Whereas Cowen is very mild about the implications of his argument in Praise, Jones is less so:
In Praise of Commercial Culture (1998) came as a shock to conventional anti-market wisdom. Cowen demonstrates that government agencies and public monies are not essential to creating an active and original world of the arts.
Some of his most intriguing observations are directed at the way individuals form their taste, devise their judgment, and erect their (mis)perceptions about cultural products.
However, Jones' restatement of the positive impact the Market has on artistic creativity is worth noting, "Markets relax the constraints on internal creativity. The great thing is to evade single buyers- patrons or Arts Councils- since these are likely to cramp one's style, like that of poor Velasquez, who had to paint eight-one portraits of Philip IV." Cultures Merging is appropriately sub-titled as a "Critique" of the meaning & impact of Culture, but it's a sensitive, well-reasoned critique that was obviously to sophisticated for the public to grasp.
All I'm saying is that you take Cowen's critique and then add Jones' stuff and rename it "The Psychology of Culture" instead of trying to pitch it as history or economics. Truly no one gives a shit about history (unless it's the Civil War or World War II) and truly, truly, no one gives a shit about economics, but psychology books are all over the place, and selling.
Published 12/8/11
DIRTY BEACHES IN PALM SPRINGS & SALTON SEA (PHOTOS)
DIRTY BEACHES IN PALM SPRINGS.
DIRTY BEACHES AT SALVATION MOUNTAIN, SALTON SEA CA.
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