Archive for February, 2008
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008
hall of mirrors.
well, this is always an interesting thing to think about. personally, i think everyone is influenced by the work of those who came before. sometimes it’s a positive influence - one might think a certain style of music is intriguing and that further experiments in that direction are worthwhile - sometimes a negative one - one might think a certain style of photography is dull and that going further down that road isn’t worthwhile.
if we talk about recycling pieces of art - entire songs, films, books, etc. - then it’s possible for someone to create a replica without adding anything to it. i think the basic fact is that the value of the new piece depends on the creativity and the talent of the artist who finds some inspiration in the original, gives it a personal interpretation, and then recreates it.
i’d agree that there’s more value to be found in old things than in new, but then that’s mainly because there are so many more old things than new ones.
it’s funny how films and plays are different like that. i don’t really know why films usually run in cinemas for just a few months, but plays can run for decades. i mean, dilwale dulhania le jayenge ran [and may still be running, i don't know] for over a decade in mumbai, but that’s an anomaly. it would be an excellent thing if major cinemas did show classics alongside new releases, but i think the industrialisation of cinema [and music, and literature, and more] makes it difficult to see that happening on a large scale.
a word on the johnny cash video - i got into him around a year ago and went through most of his american recordings. tom petty played for cash on a couple of those albums, and, if i’m not mistaken, that’s petty doing backing vocals on the song. i think it’s a good example of someone taking another’s work and giving it something extra.
Monday, February 25th, 2008
the new or the old?
first things first, amanat ali is awesome. coming from someone who doesn’t really listen to hindi film songs, i really, really, like his performances.
on novelty, the bacon quote is very interesting albeit slightly extreme. Al, I’d be interested to know how much you think artists who are influenced by those who come before them add value to that work, if at all.
i have to be careful with my current line of thinking, which is more along the lines of the bacon quote, that we are more likely to find value by delving into the archives and listening/watching classic albums and movies. this is because you can pretty easily reach the conclusion that there’s no point producing new culture as its unlikely to be good as that which has already produced.
of course, i don’t think that that’s true and what i’m probably arguing for is changing the ratio of how we consume new and old information. for instance, i think it would be great if cineplexes showed classics on a couple of their endless number of screens, instead of the crummiest of the new releases.
funnily enough we see this in theatre, which i actually think goes too far the other way by having too much shakespeare. i used to be more strongly against this, but have tempered my position somewhat. shakespeare is obviously a source of great insight into the human condition and has more to say than most contemporary playwrights.
I’ll end by linking to one of my favourite songs right now. “I won’t back down” by Tom Petty, covered by Johnny Cash.
Sunday, February 24th, 2008
On novelty
That dicussion we were having reminded me of a quote i’d read by Francis Bacon somewhere.. i think you guys will like it.
Salomon saith, there is no new thing upon earth. So that as Plato had an imagination, that all knowledge is but remembrence; so Salomon giveth his sentence, that all novelty is but oblivion.
All novelty is but oblivion. nicely put.
Sunday, February 24th, 2008
return to motown.
digging through motown music from the 60s, it’s amazing how great an influence it’s had on musicians since. take, for instance, “please mister postman”, by the marvelettes, from 1961:
this was, of course, covered by those beatles on with the beatles in 1963, which, i’ll admit, is where i heard it first.
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
amanat ali.
have you heard of this guy? from faisalabad, he’s got one heck of a voice, and he’s just 20 years old. these are from the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007, where he finished 3rd.
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
very funny, can i have my money back?
Al, the BBCI book is now out, and despite my reservations about Tariq Ali’s skills with a pen, i think ill have to give it a try; i’m genuinely growing depressed about the dichotomy between number of books waiting to be read by my bedside and the number i actually have time to read..
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
nothing of the kind.
yeah, i’ve heard lewis recently on conan o’brien etc. and he didn’t sound up to it. i don’t know much about him, but i do know he was one-fourth of the million dollar quartet.
lewis is the one on the left. those other fellows - now a heavenly trio - went by the names carl perkins, elvis presley, and johnny cash.
ah, the powerpoint - in my experience, equally terrifying to those who wield it and those subjected to it. i haven’t had much use for slideshows and stuff. at college, i preferred not to use it, when given a choice. i found html to be a good alternative. i’ve got openoffice on my pc now - seems all right, but i haven’t really used it much. but it’s free!
i’ve used linux briefly, in the depths of the misery that was statistical & thermal physics (!), so i can’t say much about it. the mac os is excellent. the new macbook air looks lovely - as does most apple hardware - but i’m not sure it’s worth the cost - again, like most apple products. i don’t think it even has a cd drive. if you want to go all fruity, i’d suggest a standard macbook, or go all out and get the pro version. i nearly bought a mini while shopping around for a pc last year, but settled on a gateway-vista notebook. ugly & crude - fits perfectly into my life.
oh, inflection is fun! “in fect”, i reckon, it’s almost as much fun as the jumping, dancing … queen of our country.
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
acha?
Ah motown, there was a jam at ronnie scott’s which had the vestiges of the motown gang over, which was my first introduction to their music.
Which reminds me, I was once reading an old lonely planet guide to pakistan, from which i can recall two interesting snippets. The first was an explaination of how one word (namely, ‘acaha’) based merely on inflection can mean so many different things in the urdu language. If I recall they enumerated atleast 12 different connotations.
The second (a little more saucy) ill tell you some other time.
I’ve just lost atleast 4 hours of dedicated labour, because even though powerpoint assured me it had been saving my work.. it somehow decided not to. Times like these i just want to turn apostate and run into the non-profit embrace of linux. Have you guys ever tried it? how about apple? the new apple air notebook looks well swank.
And just as i am coming to grips with my loss, this very appropriate ghazal comes up on my ipod:
Duniya Mein Hoon Duniya Ka Talabgar Nahi Hoon
Bazar Se Guzra Hoon Karidar Nahi HoonZinda Hoon Magar Zeest Ki Lazzat Nahi Baqi
Harchand Ke Hoon Hosh Mein Hoshiyaar Nahi HoonIs Khana-e-Hasti Se Guzar Jaoonga Belaus
Saaya Hoon Faqut Naqsh Badeewar Nahi HoonWoh Gul Hoon Khizan Ne Jise Barbad Kiya Hai
Uljoon Kisi Daman Se Main Woh Khar Nahi Hoon-Seemaab Akbarabadi
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
not quite johnny cash
yup, definitely need a course on motown classics. unfortunately my knowledge of motown is rudimentary at best.
in other news, i thought it was a shame that jerry lee lewis performed ‘great balls of fire’ at the grammys. i have no idea what his place in music history is, but his voice wasn’t upto it and it came across as a very gimmicky, lets try and replicate johnny cash type of deal.
on the other hand the video is still worth checking out as john fogerty was pretty cool, even though i don’t think i’ve ever heard anything by the creedence clearwater revival before.
moving away from music for a bit, a few years ago Atomsmasher sent me a series of four classic lollywood clips. for now i can’t be bothered to upload them, but i did manage to track the first one down on youtube. unfortunately it doesn’t allow me to embed, so you’ll have to follow the link.
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
rip it up and start again.
well, thanks. =) to be honest, it was something i picked up on thanks to various sources around the interwebs. i recognised the similarity across ‘last nite’, ‘the sporting life’ and ’selfish jean’ at first, later ‘town called malice’, and then some digging around brought up the rest. can you think of any others? in fairness, ‘last nite’ and ’selfish jean’ have different tempos, so it’s less apparent. even in ‘town called malice’ you have to really try to pick out the beat - i think it’s most apparent at the beginning, where they play the ‘beat’ on the bass and snapping fingers! i’m surprised you hadn’t heard ‘you can’t hurry love’ before. might i suggest a refresher course in motown classics?
emma goldman was an lithuanian-american anarchist. the wikipedia article on her is decent. so, the thing is, emma goldman is mistakenly attributed the quote:
If I can’t dance, I don’t want your revolution.
or variations of that. sophie ellis-bextor’s song ‘if i can’t dance’ is based on this.
apparently, the closest thing to this that she said/wrote is:
At the dances I was one of the most untiring and gayest. One evening a cousin of Sasha, a young boy, took me aside. With a grave face, as if he were about to announce the death of a dear comrade, he whispered to me that it did not behoove an agitator to dance. Certainly not with such reckless abandon, anyway. It was undignified for one who was on the way to become a force in the anarchist movement. My frivolity would only hurt the Cause.
I grew furious at the impudent interference of the boy. I told him to mind his own business. I was tired of having the Cause constantly thrown into my face. I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from convention and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy. I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement would not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it. “I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody’s right to beautiful, radiant things.” Anarchism meant that to me, and I would live it in spite of the whole world — prisons, persecution, everything. Yes, even in spite of the condemnation of my own closest comrades I would live my beautiful ideal.
i haven’t read as much of her as i’d like. wikiquote tells us this is from living my life.
as for amy winehouse, she of course just won a grammy for record of the year. i’d say she’s fairly well-known around these parts. and her troubles have gotten quite a bit of publicity on tv, etc. definitely more than pete doherty, i’d say. i’d also guess his music - with either the libertines or babyshambles - has less of a following than winehouse’s music.