Dec. 14th, 2017

jazzy_dave: (Default)
What would you rather write with - a pen or a pencil? Any particular type?

What is one topic in which you would consider yourself an expert?

Do you read the answers of others before answering yourself?
jazzy_dave: (bookish)
David Stubbs "Fear Of Music:Why People Get Rothko But Don't Get Stockhausen" (Zero Books)






Despite being subtitled "Why people get Rothko but don't get Stockhausen", Fear of Music doesn't actually address the question of "why modern [read: avant garde] art is embraced and understood while modern [as above] music is ignored, derided or regarded with bewilderment as noisy, random nonsense perpetrated and listened to by the inexplicably crazed", as the blurb puts it, until its conclusion - a mere 26 pages out of 137. Rather, the first 111 pages set out the parallel histories of the two beasts.

The answers eventually proffered are: because the megabucks associated with modern art have familiarised the public with it; because modern music can feel like an infliction; because music more powerfully depicts the future, and the future is bleak; because humans are inherently more tolerant of visual than auditory chaos; and, a more general repetition of the first, because people aren't used to modern music.

Of these, I give most credence to the infliction and tolerance suggestions. To take the latter first, modern music much more commonly causes physical pain through sheer extent (in its case, volume) than modern art when experienced live, and auditory chaos also much more readily causes headaches (even at reasonable volume).

The infliction point is related. Although modern art often aims to challenge, it doesn't generally aim to cause as much unpleasantness to its audience as possible, whereas this does seem to be the aim of bands like Throbbing Gristle, Napalm Death and Sunn O))). A more appropriate comparison to these more extreme avant garde bands than the sublime (in an artistic sense) works of Rothko would be images of violence such as those force-fed to Alex in A Clockwork Orange.

The very premise of the book is on shaky ground in this respect. In setting out the history of avant garde music, Stubbs includes such figures as Jimi Hendrix, Kraftwerk, Joy Division, Brian Eno and Radiohead - hardly musicians that lacked a popular following. Furthermore, he states that millions of people already do embrace avant garde music (albeit calling this "a tiny fragment of the overall demographic"). Most damagingly, he even says "it's hard to conceive that Duke Ellington's music was once considered 'dissonant' or to recapture just what a fissure the joyful peal of Louis Armstrong's trumpet represented" - i.e., that in these cases at least the avant garde has been wholly accepted by and subsumed into the mainstream.

Likewise, although Rothko is indeed extremely popular, the same cannot be said of all avant garde art. The Tate Modern may receive millions of visitors per year, but this is due more to its cannily having been established as a symbol of trendy London and to the monumentalism of the building itself than to its housing works by the likes of Giacometti, which are barely glanced at by the incessantly shuffling crowds, despite a Giacometti having sold for $141m in 2015. The public much prefers shows of works by old masters like Rembrandt and Leonardo or impressionists like Monet to the Futurists or conceptualists.

Having said all that, I like the premise of the book even if it's a false one, simply because it gives Stubbs the chance to provide his parallel histories of these two fascinating movements. And I like the book itself: Stubbs writes well and with a keen eye for what to cover from what must have been a wealth of material, and includes just enough of himself to add an extra dimension without being intrusive. I read it in one day, fighting to keep going through straining eyes.

The book is also a fantastic way of discovering new music, and I recommend having access to Spotify or similar when reading it so that you can appreciate what's being discussed as you go along.
jazzy_dave: (Default)
Disney Buys Fox

https://www.cnet.com/news/disney-fox-deal-takeover-hulu-netflix/?ftag=CAD-03-10aaj8j
"
The combination solidifies Disney's position as the world's biggest traditional media company, bringing Fox's popular X-Men, Deadpool and "Planet of the Apes" franchises to a company that is already home to Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar's stable of animated films. The combined company will also own the Mickey Mouse and Simpsons characters."
jazzy_dave: (Default)


I shall reveal the answers tomorrow.
jazzy_dave: (Default)
Latest Riley pic taken by my brother.

Does your mum know you are in there?..

Image may contain: indoor

Oh that look of so called innocence ... lol!
jazzy_dave: (Default)
The WiFi is back on at the Quays. However , all my shows from the USa are taking the winter break apparently. So my next fix may well be the Dpctopr Who special. Or i might rewatch some old shows.

Meanwhile, i am waiting for payment from a geezer i sold a CD to on Discogs. Three days waiting now!

Friday i will be in the Thanet area, now four visits to do, and then Saturday, Maidstone and Tonbridge ,and then just one more visit in London next Wednesday. That will probably be the last one before Xmas.

Weather

Dec. 14th, 2017 11:20 pm
jazzy_dave: (Default)
Looking at the long range forecast for the weather it seems that as from next week we shall have milder weather culminating to double figures degrees C by Xmas Eve. The odds of a white Xmas was shortebd to 2-1 but if the weather doesimprove those odds willget longer.

Menawhile,i restored the old heavy laptop today -that is a total recovery - and hey presto ,no more oval shaped faces and squattiness, with DVD'splaying smoothly again.

Finished anothe book today,so that is now number 89 read, and just one more to go to achieve the ninety.

Next up, some music.

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