Wednesday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Wednesday, July 17, 2024
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84 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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Picked up this at BJ – 6 page pdf, Biden’s health:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Health-Summary-2.28.pdf
Just so you know. Bringing back the spoils system. Nothing corrupt there.
‘Fire every single mid-level bureaucrat’: Vance on federal employees
Someone posted on Twitter side-by-side pictures of Vance and Pence with the caption “Always ask potential employers why the position is open” and I am very glad I didn’t have a mouth full of coffee. That’s funny…!
A piece of work, he is.
A good piece on Vance:
https://open.substack.com/pub/johnganz/p/the-meaning-of-jd-vance
A good piece on Vance:
https://open.substack.com/pub/johnganz/p/the-meaning-of-jd-vance
Safe to say this is not must see TV for the ophidiophobic. (I had to look that one up)
@charontwo: Pretty much normal to good for an 81-year-old man.
I noticed a distinct lack of statements like “he is the healthiest man to EVER hold the Presidency!”
The difference between DEMs and GOPs: When a DEM politician is convicted of crimes, DEMs call for his resignation and impeachment if he refuses, while GOPs make a convicted felon their presidential nominee.
@charontwo: This may convince you and some other politically aware people that Biden is fit for the the job, but , unfortunately, it’s going to have no effect on the great mass of Americans who have decided he is not.
@OzarkHillbilly: That GOPs close ranks around an accused GOP is a legit criticism of GOPs for their corruption and cynicism. But Ds should note as a tactical lesson that it works. George Clooney and the horse he rode in on. He must have a dozen top Dems in his Contacts, but instead of keeping his criticism of Biden in house, he went to the editorial page of FTFNYT to air his grievance.
@mcnp:
Polling post-debate all but leveled off to pre-debate levels, prior to the shooting on Saturday. My hunch is that those numbers too, will return to the baked-in numbers post-convention. Dems will see a minor bump after their convention, and then return to the standard.
This election isn’t going to be about sways in “masses” of Americans. It will be fought in a handful of states, over an incredibly small portion of voters.
An interesting video from Dan Murrell putting numbers to the suspicion that Hollywood has stopped making original films – films that are not prequels or sequels or based on existing IP, but sprang from the mind of a writer with an original idea. Short version: it’s really bad.
Culprits include the reliance on overseas markets which have no interest in American comedies, for example. And consolidation, with ever larger companies chasing ever larger payoffs for ever larger investments, while shying away from risk. And of course the tolerance of American audiences for derivative crap.
The death of originality in music is just as pronounced. Here’s Rick Beato discussing the reasons, which include a novel suggestion that availability breeds contempt.
In lit world Barnes and Noble is now refusing to buy middle grade hardcover, except in a few cases. (As it happens I’m married to one of the exceptions.) The last really big Young Adult hit was probably Divergent, which came out in 2011. I’m not as familiar with adult books, so maybe others here have an opinion on that market.
I don’t think this is because the people who come up with original ideas have somehow run out of originality, but they can’t get paid for originality.
On a personal level, we’ve done very well coming up with original ideas – Animorphs, Gone and one idea based on an old news story, The One and Only Ivan – but we sequeled the hell out of those. 63 books, 9 books and 5 books respectively. K has been squatting on the bestseller lists with several original, non-series books, but the kidlit bestseller lists are still topped with continuing series.
As for gaming? It’s not a world I know, but a glance at the bestseller list sure has a lot of sequels and extensions.
There’s something wrong when creatives in movies, music, books and games can only get paid to rehash someone else’s original idea. There’s a convergence coming between AI which can only do unoriginal, and an audience and business model that rejects originality.
I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few weekends watching Mythbusters eps on Youtube.
I hadn’t noticed sometimes they plain lose the thread, or do the wrong tests or comparisons. For instance, they did an ep on Pykrete, which is a composite material made of ice and wood pulp.
The British allegedly considered building an aircraft carrier out of it, but didn’t (there were a lot of off the wall ideas for innovation in warfare, as well as substitution of scarce materials at the time; most didn’t work*).
Well, they made Pykrete (14% wood 86% water) and tested it. But only against plain ice. Was it stronger than ice? Yes, a lot stronger. But the comparison should have been made with wood and steel, the common materials for building boats and ships.
For instance, they shot a bullet at a block of ice. It shattered. Then they shot one at a block of Pykrete. It left a small crater, but bounced off. Nice. But now imagine shooting a bullet at a comparable block of wood or steel. They didn’t do that.
Oh, well….
Pykrete is an interesting material, but fundamentally useless. For one thing, it melts at temps humans find congenial with life. At best it might serve to make temporary structures in cold places, if one doesn’t mind signposts, billboards, and such that would melt and leave some sawdust behind come Spring.
*This was a thing on all sides. The overhyped nazi rockets were supposed to be a workaround the prohibition on artillery imposed on Germany in the Versailles treaty. The Japanese tried submarine aircraft carriers (didn’t do much good). The British also attempted the Panjandrum. The US seriously looked at strapping incendiaries on bats, to be released over Japanese cities.
And much, much more. Like the Manhattan Project.
@gVOR10: The difference between pushing someone out of a window and throwing them under a bus is plausible deniability. It seems to me that liberals are more apt to follow Luther’s advice to “go out and sin boldly.” What better way to do that than as the Pharasees pray–in public with lots of ruckus to attract attention?
@Jen: GOTV!
@mcnp:
What should I do with that information?
@Kathy: I seem to remember Thoughty2 did a good rundown of the whole Pykrete project.
@Michael Reynolds: Agreed. And, I think we see it in adult fiction as well…for a while, it felt like every other book was set in WWII. So, not even plot lines or book settings feel original.
@Grumpy realist:
Oh, they did. And with their own idea of using newsprint instead of sawdust or wood shavings, which they modestly termed super Pykrete. But no one makes aircraft carriers out of ice. So comparing it to ice was like a low bar that was not at all relevant.
I enjoyed the episode, and was glad to learn something about Pykrete as more than an odd footnote to WWII. I just think they missed a good chance for a fair comparison to steel.
@charontwo: Looks reasonable.
Now let’s compare it to such a detailed report for Trump …
/crickets
@Franklin: I recall that when TFG was being treated for covid at Walter Reed, his physician there spoke to the press outside the facility but wouldn’t answer too many questions… He actually cited HIPAA, instead of giving the real reason that the patient wouldn’t authorize the release of most of his medical information.
@Michael Reynolds:
I’m not sure Beato is wrong, but I think he also has a pretty strong bias. Eg looking at his critique of the new RS top guitarists list, he seems pretty much stuck in guitar rock of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s; he’s looking for a particular thing, and if he’s no finding it, he sees no value.
Re: “Availability breeds contempt”, I’m an LP/CD person but I’ve found some amazing music on Spotify (Wailin’ Jennys) and Pandora (Mastodon). Again, I think he misses the actual levers.
@Kathy:
Where is Ice 9 when we need it?! (-:
@Kathy: My limited watching of Mythbusters included an episode where they set out to show whether driving a pickup with the tailgate open (down) increases fuel efficiency. They chose as their test route a long drive up and down a mountain pass, which I thought was pretty obviously a poor design of that particular experiment.
Speaking of court term limits in the other thread, I’ve been pondering the issue of upper age limits for elected and appointed positions, I’ve said before an upper limit is arbitrary and permanent. That is, a person X years old may have many years of capable function, yet be barred from service for life. This seems unfair, even if most people at age X are not capable of such service.
I see two issues with advanced age: 1) the ability to continue to meet the demands of a position, 2) keeping some of the younger people off a limited number of positions.
One possible compromise would be to bar anyone over age 75 at the beginning of a term of service from even seeking elected office, or to be appointed to any position. Those on appointed positions without a fixed term, would be forced to retire at 75. And to revise the upper age limit upward by one year every five years.
Why the upward revision? Because people keep living longer and, contrary to popular belief, aging better. Not necessarily at the ratio I propose, and there will be an upper limit someday (possibly 85-90 for 95% of all people).
This idea does not yet fully take into account Kathy’s Law: there are downsides to everything.
@Ol’ Nat:
There is still interesting, original music – Ren being one excellent example – but not the music that breaks through into Top 20. IOW, not artists making a living. Look at the top live music performers. The 2023 Top 15 include Pink, Blink 182, Springsteen, Metallica, Shania Twain, Janet Jackson and Stevie Nicks. Not exactly cutting edge.
One other point. In very fraught times, where is the new Country Joe or CCR or Buffalo Springfield. Music no longer wields any real power. It is politically irrelevant. Tamed.
@Eusebio:
They had problems with many fuel efficiency myths. In fairness, they tried the same thing for both modes. Later they would bypass the fuel tank, and use a container with a fixed mass of fuel. After testing, they’d measure the remaining mass, and determine which used up more.
But, yes, for all their claims of “science”, and the use of controls, and lots of scary math, they weren’t that rigorous all the time, and left plenty of things unexplained. IMO, their tests were suggestive of plausible explanations.
On the other hand, it was a TV show meant to entertain first and edify second. It wasn’t a documentary on rigorous scientific testing.
@OzarkHillbilly: I’m not sure dressing up like Santa on New Years is going to attract Jewish kids.
I don’t know which is more pathetic — being a white supremacist or being so bad at white supremacy plots. They’re not the best and the brightest, that’s for sure.
@Michael Reynolds:
I’d say Beyoncé is pushing some boundaries, especially around country music. I saw that recent album as a pretty clear shot across the bow. Taylor Swift comes to mind as well, though that also seems to be pure star power as opposed to political power. I’m a huge Janelle Monae fan; her Dirty Computer album was entirely political (and totally amazing!)
We could definitely argue about reach, but I think the good stuff is out there.
@Michael Reynolds:
Beato has his thing, and he’s an old man who is upset that the world is moving on and that it’s not his thing. Just like people who hated hip hop becoming a major musical form because it wasn’t guitar rock. He’s also upset the albums are less and less of a thing.
Modern music sucks compared to older music less because things are changing, but because the sucky old music has mostly been forgotten.
Plus music habits have fractured the same way television habits have fractured — people aren’t discovering music through a few radio stations that sculpt the culture anymore, they’re finding it through TikTok, sharing playlists and the mysterious algorithms. The big hits are less and less of the market, and they’re more disposable. They’re the RealityTV of music — a weird, last gasp of the status quo in a medium undergoing a major set of interconnected changes. There are countless smaller genres like Midwest Emo and Depressing Low-Fi and Some Guy With A Ukelele and things like that which exist, and have devoted fans. The big hits are the songs that appeal to a common denominator that many different people enjoy despite being more interested in some obscure subgenre.
Also, for all Beatos complaints about everything being digitally perfected, I cannot imagine someone like Mitski getting the same incredible sensation of isolation and emptiness if there was any element of humanity left in her music. It’s a tool and it takes time to learn when and how to apply those tools.
@Michael Reynolds:
I wonder if Beato’s problem is more that he’s an old rocker and that does seem fairly well dead right now. I don’t know much about him other than one of his things one youtube that was interesting.
You take away the top 40 and mainstream stuff, which I agree seems to have ossified, and go underground there is a ton of wild and interesting stuff being done. I don’t know about other musical scenes but Chicago has a THRIVING House and Techno scene. There’s a lot of new and interesting stuff coming out of here. I’m sure there are tons of different little microcosms of music that are just bad ass. You just have to put in a slight bit of effort to find the decent/good/great stuff that’s out there, it’s just not being pushed by the labels/radio.
@Michael Reynolds:
@Gustopher:
I grew less interested in music after high school. And almost completely uninterested once I started listening to podcasts and audiobooks while driving. The only time I put music on is when I come to the office on a weekend to catch up with work, and it’s all “classical” music.
Now, the other day I forgot the phone where I had the current audiobook, so on a short drive I had nothing. I put on the CD in the car stereo, which has a mix of mostly 80s and 90s female rock and pop (Bangles, Go-gos, Paula Abdul, Blondie, Joan Jett and the like).
More recent music (I don’t know if 80s and 90s qualifies as modern), is structured in one melody where the main lyrics go, a chorus, and a bridge, The melody and the chorus repeat two or three times (or more in songs like American Pie, Stairway to Heaven, or Like a Prayer).
I’ve known this forever. But having heard little other than classical music lately, it strikes me as excruciatingly repetitive. A song 4-5 minutes long seem more like a 1-1:30 minute song repeated two or three times, plus a bridge. In contrast a symphony lasting from 15 minutes to several hours, contains phrases and themes that repeat, but not constantly, and every move is different from the others.
I’ve wondered, too, whether classical music can incorporate modern instruments. There have been some, like Vangelis, who mix synthesizers with acoustic instruments (though the theme for Chariots of Fire, which I do like, strikes as repeating the piano melody over and over).
@Kathy: there are so-called classical composers that do the same thing, a.k.a. Philip Glass.
There’s still a lot of good modern classical composers, but they’re not composing “art for art’s sake”. They’re composing music for films, TV shows, and video games. Which seems to indicate that what people really like is a combination of Early Music and the romantics.
P.S. I think there have been pieces composed for some of the newer weird instruments, like the theramin.
Adam Schiff has decided to continue to undermine his party’s Presidential candidate. Sigh.
Also, John Hinkley has made a statement about the Trump assassination attempt. “Violence is not the way to go. Give peace a chance.”
Not sure why The Guardian listed these two things side by side, and whether they meant anything by it. Also, no word on whether Jane Fonda was impressed by the recent statements of either of them.
@Grumpy realist:
I’ve posted links to Alma Deustcher’s compositions. She does the classical composer work: concertos, waltzes, and an opera. She’s also around 19 years old.
I’ll look up Philip Glass.
Music scores for movies and TV are mostly classical music. John Williams’ get a lot of play, especially Star Wars.
@Gustopher:
What about Jodie Foster 😉
@Gustopher: @Beth: @Kathy:
Yes, as I said, there’s still a lot of original music being produced. But it get’s nowhere near even the Top 100. Nor are those performers touring. IOW, I don’t think many are making the rent. The performers getting paid are producing safe, derivative pop, or they’re a legacy act. And the closest thing to a cultural moment that extends beyond niche, is Taylor Swift.
No one even bothers to condemn music anymore because it doesn’t say anything. It doesn’t matter. Mainstream music is neutered, calibrated to be accessible and acceptable to produce maximum profit and minimum impact.
We are a hair away from losing our democracy. And what does mainstream music have to say about that? Nothing, because it might hurt the bottom line. Put it this way: if tomorrow the National Guard killed four students and injured nine more, would mainstream music even make a peep?
@Gustopher:
Lol who asked him, and why? Just for lulz?
MAGA is not happy with the fact that Vance’s wife is of Indian ancestry.
To be fair, someone on the left also objects: Sair Rao, who regards Usha Vance as a white woman ready to do the biddy of white supremacists.
Given the million legit reasons to object to Vance, his wife’s ethnicity is NOT one of them.
@Grumpy realist:
Glass is doing it specifically for effect; the repetition is the hallmark of Minimalist music. He’s not doing it to stretch anything out but rather to make you think a certain way about the music. I could listen to Powaqqatsi forever!
@CSK:
Does Hillary still have the basket ready?
@DK:
She had to get a bigger one.
@Michael Reynolds:
I dunno, John Summit, Deadmau5, Tiesto, and a bunch other DJ/Producers are selling shit out like mad. My boy Summit sold out MSG. He’s gone a little more pop EDM, but he’s got solid dance music.
I agree with you that mainstream music is neutered for the masses, but that’s not everything.
@Michael Reynolds: I disagree. I think the reason that no one criticizes contemporary popular music is because nobody listens to the radio anymore, so the likelihood of someone hearing something that offends their aesthetique is remote to non-existent. Beyond that, music radio is a dead medium captured by boomers a generation and a half ago. Thus, stations that pledge “we play everything*” (*as long as “everything” is contained between the years of 1979 and 1986).
The reason that you “don’t hear any creative music anymore” is the same reason that I don’t. We don’t climb out of our caves looking for any. (In my case, it’s also because I don’t go out anymore and live in a live music desert. Part of the desert effect for me is that I was never a guy to pay significant money to go to concerts. The number of non-auditorium venues–i.e. bars–that have live music where I live can be counted on one hand. Metro population, 2.25 million.)
@CSK: Meh… Bigots gonna bigot. And, apparently, both sides do it, too.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Quite so. Saira Rao is of Indian descent. But she objects to Usha ance because Usha Vance is…also of Indian descent?????
Flamingos have been sighted on Cape Cod, according to local news.
I just realized the really big missed opportunity in the Mythbusters Pykrete ep.
See, early on the show’s run, they tested the infamous myth, seen in movies and TV, of making a bullet out of ice or frozen meat. The idea being the bullet then melts, and no one can trace that.
Unsurprisingly, such bullets don’t work. For one thing, they melt enough just from the heat of the gun’s propellants to be made useless. If you shot someone point blank with one, they’d be wounded more by the propellant gasses and bits of un-burned powder.
They should have tried a Pykrete bullet.
I predict it wouldn’t be lethal. But between the fact Pykrete melts far more slowly than ice, and is far stronger, it might have the effect of a rubber bullet. Which, of course, makes Pykrete again a lesser choice for material, rubber bullets being abundant and cheap. And as far as I know, no one has made use of Pykrete for any kind of structure or vehicle.
But it would have been totally the Mythbuster thing to do.
@Kathy: “I’ll look up Philip Glass.”
I would recommend starting with his “Glassworks,” which epitomizes his style, but is more accessible and even moving in parts.
In fact, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Stu7h7Qup8
@Kathy: I generally listen to classical. The Cincinnati Public station, WGUC, has a good streaming service I listen to on the exercise bike. But I have a problem in the car. It came with a year of free Sirius satellite. I decided to keep it, and it’s OK for pop or jazz, but the audio quality is simply unusable for classical. Fortunately we’re on the edge of radio range of a decent Sarasota public radio station here in SW FL. The car has Apple Play, which I’ve started using more with my phone, but I like being fed variety by a radio station.
Reading a bit between Beato’s lines I see a lament at the loss of the collaborative process. Used to be you HAD to find good musicians to work with. Had to work with human beings, and most every idea spawns a related but different thought in the head of another talented pro. Definitely affected nearly all the pop music we revere today.
Seems wrong to label it a disaster out of hand though, as all the old classical music was written by one guy working alone.
@charontwo:
Biden said today he’d quit the race if doctors advised he do so.
Adam Schiff slides in the shiv….
Was it Obama, or Nancy who gave him the green light?
An ode to the creepiness of Peter Thiel, courtesy of a German publication.
@wr:
Thanks. I’ll check it out when I get home.
@gVOR10:
I kind of have some favorites I can listen to over and over, and don’t look much for other works. There are classical music radio stations here, I’m sure, but while driving I still prefer audiobooks.
At the office we have a radio (my fault). Since it’s communal, it’s tuned to some pop music station or another. I’m sure they’d rebel if I tuned it to a classical music station.
One time some of us had to work on a Sunday, I got a bluetooth speaker and put on all of Beethoven’s symphonies on Youtube (I think I’d left it off at the beginning of the 6th). As the others arrived, no one said a thing and no one turned on the radio. But when the long play finally ended, they did turn the radio on, and one muttered “thank god.”
Philistines.
I’ve watched Beato a lot. I can see where you might understand him as an aging rocker shaking his fist at the clouds.
AND, I am sure he would agree that there is plenty of good underground music going on, enough to suit anyone’s taste. And the thing that he is addressing is that this stuff is underground, and has no path to the mainstream. One might posture and sniff at the mainstream, but do you really think that bands in the earlier days spurned popularity?
So while I agree with most of what Rick says, I think he left something important out: There is no clear path to promote an artist that an A&R man or a record label think is really good. There are no record stores to do promotions through. Radio stations don’t really have any punch any more. The “discovery” algorithms favor “more of the same” rather than new stuff.
A few years ago, I decided I didn’t want to just dwell in the past with my musical tastes. I decided that there must be lots of good music being made right now, but it was much harder to find it. Spotify is not going to help you find it either.
This seems to me to be exactly the same issue that @Michael Reynolds is referring to in his business. You can see it in the film business, too, and in TV/video. Disintermediation has left us with a mess, where nobody knows how to find stuff they might like, and businesses don’t want to touch stuff they don’t think they can promote.
I can think of an answer in music. We need curated “stations” and playlists, developed by people that are trusted by their listeners. These people/institutions need to have some financial stream, and that means we need to revise the way we handle royalties. An ASCAP/BMI license is way too expensive for people dipping their toes in the water, and negotiating with individual artists is way too expensive. And yet we need these more lightweight, low-cost aggregators. We need them desperately.
@Gustopher:
I’m going to side with Beato on this one. Rock and roll started out as musically simplistic and naive in execution, but within 25 years it had evolved to produce such diverse musically rich and advanced bands as Gentle Giant, Yes, Jethro Tull, Steely Dan, Led Zeppelin, the Who, late Beatles, Heart, Fleetwood Mac, Kansas… and many of those bands were also (wildly) commercially successful.
Hip hop has been around for decades now, and… where are the musically sophisticated and evolved hip hop performers? Who is the Ian Anderson or Donald Fagen or even Paul McCartney of hip hop? Am I missing something? If so, please advise…
ETA: Just to be clear, my point is not that those listed bands were better than hip hop — it’s that they were way better, and more diverse, and more sophisticated, than Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers and early Beatles and the other early rock-and-roll hit-makers. I don’t find a similar flowering in hip hop.
@CSK: She might object because Usha is from a different part of India, thereby not being a “real” India person. She might be objecting because Usha married a Caucasian to advance her social position. I had a friend in college who was Dravidian, from the South of India. He used to regale us with stories about prejudice that would rival anything outa Dixie.
@Gustopher:
Could be that it’s not for him, not meant to be understood by or approved of by people like him.
It is difficult to find informed critique of hip-hop. Most of its critics are really saying “I lack depth and sophistication in my hip-hop knowledge” or “My ears are broken” or “I don’t like hip-hop.” The genius-level output of Missy Elliot, DJ Premier & Guru, The Roots, Wu-Tang Clan, OutKast, Timbaland, 2Pac, and Dr. Dre has been around for decades. Kendrick Lamar didn’t win a Pulitzer Prize by being simplistic musical slouch — his peers Frank Ocean and J. Cole are no slouches either.
I don’t like metal, so I know better than to think I have an informed opinion on the genre. Clearly I don’t connect with it, and it’s not for me. Thus, I just listen to what my one metalhead friend has to say on the subject. One doesn’t have to like hip hop, but then don’t fault hip-hop when the fault is in you.
@DrDaveT:
A matter of taste, clearly. More sophisticated than, yes. Equally as good as, yes. But to my ears there’s not a single song from any artist that’s “way better” than Elvis’s recording of “That’s All Right Mama” or the Everly Brothers’ “All I Do Is Dream.” How do you get better than perfection?
More complexity can qualify as good, but not automatically so. You don’t necessarily need 10,000 spoons when one knife will suffice.
Biden has caught the trump virus*. Initial reports are of mild symptoms, and that he’s taking Paxlovid. No clue whether he’s had a Covid booster in the last year.
Just today he said he might consider dropping out if forced to by a medical issue. Oh, the irony.
*Told you that’s the vilest name I can call anyone, or anything. That’s why I reserve it for a pandemic virus.
@Beth:
I’ve seen Kaskade, Zedd, and Benny Benassi recently, and they seem to be getting better with time. Kaskade especially — everything he puts out is still brilliant, even after twenty years, especially the Deadmau5 collabs.
In general, I am noticing progressive house making a comeback in the queer party scene, a relief after so many years of The Gays pushing crappy, repetitive tribal/circuit garbage music.
Will people on here STOP with the criticism of people like Clooney or Schiff who are only stating the obvious. You people are almost as bad as the in denial GOP about how flawed their candidate is.
Joe should take a series of cognitive tests done by an independent specialist. And let his party know once and for all his mental status. If he passes, then let’s all rally behind him.
If not, let others contest at the convention.
This has “Feinstein” written all over it. And most of you are unwitting enablers.
Where is JohnSL?
@Beth: I love all that great EDM. My 20 year old son rolls his eyes when 58 year old me throws on some Tiesto or Deadmau5 or Martin Garrix or Dom Dolla, but I can tell he still thinks it’s kinda cool.
@Michael Reynolds:
Cigarettes After Sex is touring, as is Cavetown, AJR, etc. They aren’t doing stadiums, but they are doing shows. With streaming, bands only make money by touring these days. (My tastes run to the twee.)
The big acts doing stadiums are commanding insane prices per ticket that price out everyone poorish.
And Kendrick Lamar might be a cultural moment, but not for you and yours. I expect there are lots of artists that are effectively a cultural moment and I’ve just not kept up with culture. I expect it is the same with you, and that no one you recognize or value is doing big numbers.
But, there also aren’t many cultural touchpoint tv shows or movies these days. (The Star Wars tv shows might be like The Rolling Stones continuing to tour…)
@DK: I don’t love hip-hop. My real introduction to hip-hop started when I asked an Alexa to play some Olla Belle Reed and it misunderstood me and played Erik B and Rakim instead and I was blown away. If that’s even hip-hop (I don’t know… there might be twelve genres that sound the same to me).
Ola Belle Reed is an amazing banjoist and singer from way back. I’m so glad my reaction to not-banjo wasn’t to just correct Alexa, but to go with it for a little bit.
Alexa introduced me to a lot of music by being really shitty.
@DrDaveT: I don’t think that instrumental hip-hop would be very interesting, as I think it’s all about the voice, and particularly the rhythm of the voice. I think you’re trying to measure it by the wrong metrics.
That’s a lot of “I think.” I don’t claim to understand it.
@The Q: nah.
There’s no signs that this is a Feinstein thing, Biden’s not going anywhere, and you folks are taking what is a toss-up and hammering away at it so it won’t even be that.
And, if Trump gets elected, people will blame you. I’m sorry you’re so blameworthy.
@The Q:
Look. If Biden had stepped down two weeks ago (or is it longer), then fine, assuming all the hurdles Jen and Charontwo have pointed out can be surpassed and all.
But after all this time, it’s clear Biden won’t drop out, and won’t consent to be replaced. Hammering away at him will only weaken his candidacy. No matter how flawed he is, or how less capable, etc. he’s the best alternative we have.
The mission is to keep the Convicted Felon out of office. All those still calling for Biden to step down, are making the mission to replace Joe Biden on the ticket. Please don’t fixate on that.
I know you think Biden needs to be replaced or we will lose the election. That may be so, but if he won’t move and he can’t be moved, then continuing to attack his capability and competency ensures he will lose come November.
This all reminds me of chasing losses at the casino. Facing a loss of half their stake at the tables, the gambler will bet more in order to recoup their losses. When they lose all, they will borrow money, or take more money from their accounts, to recoup the losses. It ends in disaster.
At first Biden was in decline, now he’s in worse shape than Feinstein. I don’t recall Biden congratulating the Convicted Felon on running such a well-organized debate, or taking a long leave of absence and insisting he never left. It’s more like you’re doubling down.
Me, I think he should have announced after the midterms he wouldn’t seek a second term, and let the primary process play out. But I don’t have a Doc Brown DeLorean handy.
It seems like Bob Menendez got an attack of decency. NBC reports he’s told allies he will resign from the Senate.
See, the Democrats even attract a better kind of criminal politician.
He will still appeal, and with the Halan-Leo court, he may even win. But at least he will no longer be a blight on the Senate.
And now…….Schumer is Brutus.
Hey wr!!!! Dumbass. You were saying something about tinfoil hats?
You were wrong. I was right. The long knives are out…….
@JoJoFromJerz has something to say. She has a point.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Yes and no. I was never a big music lover, (a regret) and I do not spend a lot of time checking out new stuff. But looking at what for some reason I label my, ‘Work Playlist,” I see The Warning and Amyl and the Sniffers and the Southern River Band, which are relatively new. Granted that the balance overall favors 90’s Punk, some Metal, Blues, Reggae. Some Eminem and Snoop. Some 60’s/70’s stuff, but when normal kids were listening to pop or rock, when I was in my teens I listened to Beethoven and JS Bach.
@DK:
Fair enough. I regretted that phrasing later, because I do love me some Jerry Lee and Elvis and Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly and even Bill Haley. But the point stands — did it evolve? Did it spawn a dozen increasingly-complex variants, each with its devoted adherents? Did it do what great music has always done, over the centuries?
I’m ready to be educated about the stuff I’ve been missing.
@Gustopher:
I’m not sure what I said that made you think I was only talking about instrumental music, but whatever it was that’s not what I meant. History has produced all kinds of sophisticated, complex vocal music, from organum through Arvo Pärt — I can even get behind an argument that vocal music is the true music, and everything else is derivative. But the question stands — where is the vocally complex and evolved version of hip hop? It’s not a rhetorical question — if it’s out there, I want to find it.
Mick and Keith would be proud.
…because I used to love Biden, but it’s all over now…
Sung by Chuck, Nancy and BO, with a whole lotta background singers.
Hip hop has been around for decades now, and… where are the musically sophisticated and evolved hip hop performers? Who is the Ian Anderson or Donald Fagen or even Paul McCartney of hip hop? Am I missing something? If so, please advise…
Old man here with a golden age in mind–Public Enemy, De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, Beastie Boys, Digital Underground, and then Wu-Tang and Eminem. In the 00s, I loved Dr Octagon/Kool Keith. And then A$AP Rocky and Danny Brown are pretty good as well. Digging before hip-hop, you have Miles Davis’ On the Corner, Kraftwerk, serious disco, and industrial/synth acts like This Heat.
I do think pop music had a golden age and it’s gone. (Old man again.) The great American pop music of the 80s–Madonna and Michael Jackson–was just expert-level work. I’ve listened to Taylor Swift with as open of a mind as possible and it just sounds like drama-free pablum.
Regarding guitar-based rock, it evolved in ways different from the bands you listed. (Gentle Giant?) Look at Black Sabbath, The Velvet Underground, and The Stooges. Probably the 3 most influential early-70s bands on punk and post-punk/new wave and then indie. This is the like the flow of jazz from Kind of Blue-era Davis to the early-70s, where it merged with the avant-garde. The avant-garde hip-hop merged with is fashion and design, i.e. Kanye.
@Jay L Gischer:
I think this was a piece I was missing. Normally I like to disagree with Daddy Reynolds cause it’s fun, but this time there was some piece I wasn’t getting and I think it’s this. Most of the new music I’m finding is because I’m listening to DJ sets either live or on SoundCloud/Apple Music. If there’s a song I like I either Shazam it or look it up on 1001tracklists. That way, for me, there’s always someone saying “this is cool you should listen to this.” I also have a bunch of 21-30 year oldish friends playing stuff for me. That leads me to artists like Hannah Laing, Brutalismus 3000, Massano, Airwolf Paradise. House and Techno are healthy, partly because of this. I’m sure it’s hard work, but it’s working.
@DK:
I saw Kaskade at a pool party in Miami and I was so bored. It was shocking. Like, I’d give him another chance, but man, boring is the worst. Also, I’m bummed that I missed Benny Benassi doing an Italo disco set at a small basement club. That would have been cool.
You should come to ARC and party with us.
@Mikey:
Dom Dolla is awesome. I hate that mustache though.
Global opinion of the attempt on Trump, Uganda
@JKB:
Vladimir was terrified. Trump is his only hope of the mass rape and slaughter Soviet, er, Russian troops are known for. Trump’s friends, Vlad, Kim, Victor, Aleksandr and Bibi. A squalid pack of losers, perfect for Trump.
@Jack: Drew/Guarneri, go to bed, you’re drunk.
Just in case anybody missed the tail end of a post a couple days ago, Jack is not a new troll. He’s an old troll that used to be Drew/ Guarneri.
How pitiful, to keep coming back and getting banned.
@Jack: “You were wrong. I was right”
What, you have proof of the space aliens living in your head?
@Ol’ Nat:
I’d say Beyoncé is pushing some boundaries, especially around country music.
How is she pushing boundaries? All the genre shifiting and costume changes just looks like marketing to me…
@Beth: Chicago has ALWAYS had a thriving house/electronic scene. Well at least going back to the 90s as prior to that I was in single digits age wise and didn’t really pay attention to raves and such yet.