And here I thought it was easier to connect to the actual, ugly face of racism in the music biz. If you like any kind of music more than your average radio listener, you are going to come across all kinds of people who don't look or think like you do and that has always been a major selling point for me. I do appreciate that the larger tribe of us white folks are all finally having to look that sh*t straight in the face but I am beyond depressed that it has taken this effing long for even my more progressive friends to have their come to Jesus moment. After reading Shawn Reynaldo's newsletter, I feel fortunate that as an impressionable youth I had legendary music people there to set me straight about what was what in regards to racism vs simple, down home style bigotry. It was like having Moses throw one of those stone tablets right at my face and the first commandment on it was "You must stare down injustice every single effing day...starting with racism."
ME: "Every day?"
MOSES: "Every goddamn one!"
I never forgot that or what a very sage and controversial fellow once told me when asked who my favorite three jazz players were... Lester Young, Bud Powell, and Charlie Parker came off my tongue without hesitation. "Racism killed every one of those cats", he said. For me, this troika was the living embodiment of the concept of the uber-mensch, they were far greater than normal people by a magnitude of a thousand and they all died tragically young because of the way things are for black people. That has never, ever sat right with me and it's actually changed the way I want to interact with American society, always at as far a distance as possible and ALWAYS holding my nose. As you can surmise, I have few allies and those that are say I am poisoned by my cynicism. It's been a rough few weeks but it's nice to see people feeling the unease I have felt for so long it feels like a family member, you know, the racist one. After living through the LA riots, I adopted the adage of - It's always thoughts and prayers when someone else gets cancer but it becomes a radical awaken when it happens to you.
PS - I still have quite a few old copies of The Bob, I could never throw my old fanzines away, and now I have quite the museum library of them. I really loved the way they loved music, it was inspirational.
Alright, gonna bench the superiority complex now. Unfortunately, I just love talking to hear my own voice - it's both weakness and vice. Thanks for the music & politics, with the music being explicit and the politics implicit. It never feels like you are talking down or finger pointing at anyone and there is way not enough of that right now in the world.
And here I thought it was easier to connect to the actual, ugly face of racism in the music biz. If you like any kind of music more than your average radio listener, you are going to come across all kinds of people who don't look or think like you do and that has always been a major selling point for me. I do appreciate that the larger tribe of us white folks are all finally having to look that sh*t straight in the face but I am beyond depressed that it has taken this effing long for even my more progressive friends to have their come to Jesus moment. After reading Shawn Reynaldo's newsletter, I feel fortunate that as an impressionable youth I had legendary music people there to set me straight about what was what in regards to racism vs simple, down home style bigotry. It was like having Moses throw one of those stone tablets right at my face and the first commandment on it was "You must stare down injustice every single effing day...starting with racism."
ME: "Every day?"
MOSES: "Every goddamn one!"
I never forgot that or what a very sage and controversial fellow once told me when asked who my favorite three jazz players were... Lester Young, Bud Powell, and Charlie Parker came off my tongue without hesitation. "Racism killed every one of those cats", he said. For me, this troika was the living embodiment of the concept of the uber-mensch, they were far greater than normal people by a magnitude of a thousand and they all died tragically young because of the way things are for black people. That has never, ever sat right with me and it's actually changed the way I want to interact with American society, always at as far a distance as possible and ALWAYS holding my nose. As you can surmise, I have few allies and those that are say I am poisoned by my cynicism. It's been a rough few weeks but it's nice to see people feeling the unease I have felt for so long it feels like a family member, you know, the racist one. After living through the LA riots, I adopted the adage of - It's always thoughts and prayers when someone else gets cancer but it becomes a radical awaken when it happens to you.
PS - I still have quite a few old copies of The Bob, I could never throw my old fanzines away, and now I have quite the museum library of them. I really loved the way they loved music, it was inspirational.
Alright, gonna bench the superiority complex now. Unfortunately, I just love talking to hear my own voice - it's both weakness and vice. Thanks for the music & politics, with the music being explicit and the politics implicit. It never feels like you are talking down or finger pointing at anyone and there is way not enough of that right now in the world.