ihearanewworld.blogspot.com
I Hear A New World
http://ihearanewworld.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html
I Hear A New World. Wednesday, February 14, 2007. For ultra-quixotic, and therefore probably somewhat embarassing, reasons, I penned some lines about the Wu-Tang Clan, which I thought I would share with you, my people. Since a computer crash eightysixed an earlier and loopier version of this post (best line that no longer makes sense: "don't despair karma, you are not what they say you are! I verbally assault with my tongue Goodbye Short 20th Century. Posted by the sad billionaire @ 10:49 AM. Adorno, eve...
ihearanewworld.blogspot.com
I Hear A New World
http://ihearanewworld.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html
I Hear A New World. Saturday, May 27, 2006. Here is a dumb axiom that is nevertheless useful. Different kinds of music help us understand different kinds of theory; conversely, different kinds of theory help us understand different kinds of music. Misapply the wrong kind of analytic framework to the wrong kind of examples and you end up with a big old mess. The Sopranos and Philosophy. Home Improvement and Philosophy. Bad Music: The Music We Love To Hate. Ultimately, however, "bad music" should alert us ...
ihearanewworld.blogspot.com
I Hear A New World
http://ihearanewworld.blogspot.com/2008/01/if-twee-fails.html
I Hear A New World. Friday, January 11, 2008. If (a) Twee Fails. My brother's blog alerted me to some controversy regarding Juno's status as a legitimately "indie" film. While considering matters cinematic is outside my ken, I will echo others who claim that the search for "authenticity" in indie cinema is a fool's errand and that allegations that Juno is derivative are overstated (and poorly formulated, even if true: don't we turn to indie cinema for "more of what we know we like" in the first place?
ihearanewworld.blogspot.com
I Hear A New World
http://ihearanewworld.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html
I Hear A New World. Thursday, March 20, 2008. Once the media decided that Wright was going to be a problem for Obama, the only question for pundits, critics, and the Obama campaign itself was how best to control the damage. Lost in this rush to evaluate how well Obama has performed public contrition and denunciation of Wright are larger questions. For instance, why are African American politicians asked to publicly negotiate their relationships to radical intellectuals when whites are not? The Wright spe...
dinosaurgardens.com
The Mysteries of “Misirlou” – Dinosaur Gardens
http://www.dinosaurgardens.com/archives/297
Excavating the tar pits of popular culture. The Mysteries of “Misirlou”. Most people today know “ Misirlou. 8221; (often spelled “Miserlou”) as Dick Dale. 8216;s signature piece, extremely popular back when issued in 1961 and then again when used to great effect in. In 1994. (Whippersnappers might know it better from The Black Eyed Peas. Sampling Dale’s version in a song last year.) But “Misirlou” is an old folk song, its origins obscure. For amusing examples). We also don’t really know. 8216;s version, ...
ihearanewworld.blogspot.com
I Hear A New World
http://ihearanewworld.blogspot.com/2008/07/i-pity-poor-immigrant.html
I Hear A New World. Sunday, July 27, 2008. I Pity the Poor Immigrant. So, we have been watching. It is just as amazing as everybody says it is. There is a lot more to write about it than I can think through right now, but I wanted to jot down some notes about. And history, in particular the American relationship with history. (I will proceed as if readers know the basic details of the show, so you might not want to read on if you haven't seen it and want to stay surprised). I pity the poor immigrant.
ihearanewworld.blogspot.com
I Hear A New World
http://ihearanewworld.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_archive.html
I Hear A New World. Thursday, July 20, 2006. I just got the new/old Wire. Magazine (their website shows a new issue already out), which I do every month, because, when all is said and done, I really like the Wire. Magazine. This month I was curious to read the review of David Borgo's Sync or Swarm: Improvising Music in a Complex Age. And the United States Congress would have us believe that this is something about which we ought not care. There is something remarkable about hearing Kerbaz persist in his ...
ihearanewworld.blogspot.com
I Hear A New World
http://ihearanewworld.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_archive.html
I Hear A New World. Monday, June 19, 2006. The Race is Off: Butcher Jazz, Part 2. Can we make sense of jazz and machismo without thinking about race. The term that is conspicuously missing in John Gill's controversial screed in Paris Transatlantic. Alternatives to establishment groupthink. If this point is perhaps obvious, it does tend to get lost in the shuflfle. A few years back, Robert K. McMichael wrote a great article about this topic ( Robert K. McMichael, "'We Insist Freedom Now! Vol 16, 1998).
ihearanewworld.blogspot.com
I Hear A New World
http://ihearanewworld.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html
I Hear A New World. Wednesday, March 21, 2007. Blogging: An Infantile Disorder. No surprise, I have been deeply immersed in matters scholastic. Enjoyable but harried. So much so that now I can only communicate in Mickey Spillance sentence frgments. No time for verbs. For younger US history and American Studies types, this negative impression of the Popular Front seems dated; since the publication of Michael Denning's. The Cultural Front: The Laboring of American Culture in the Age of the CIO. Having ever...
ihearanewworld.blogspot.com
I Hear A New World
http://ihearanewworld.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html
I Hear A New World. Saturday, December 30, 2006. Insecure Men with Money Like Guitars, Apparently. Insomnia has also brought me face to face with the prominent place given to guitars in infomercials. The ghastly yet fascinating Zorro impersonator Esteban has been peddling a guitar/amp/dvd package on every channel, leaving a "z"-shaped imprint on my gray matter that will never heal. You spend 50 grand, and they give you a free 75 dollar "axe" made by toddlers in a chinese sweatshop? You're right. Not.
