The Sell Out (Part 7)

A Quote on Los Angeles:

"If I close my eyes, and picture L.A., all I see is one big varicose vein." - Marilyn Monroe

Can an entire city be a sell-out?  I have been thinking about this with the recent deaths of Gary Coleman and Dennis Hopper.  I know that this may seem excessive - or just perverse - but I have to see both losses as a symptom of that town we all know and exaggerate: Hollywood, the place where dreams come to die. 

I've been there.  We went to Los Angeles when I was eleven years old.  It was a road trip from Canada to California and I loved it, even the bad food, incredible heat, and uncomfortable sleeping arrangements (usually in a van).  But what I remember most is the end of that trip in SoCal.  Dust, desert scrub, expensive houses surrounded by dead air.  We visited a mall and it felt like the last days of Rome (decadent and dying); I went swimming at a man-made lake (perverse again; I only saw the beach once) and was surrounded by the youth of L.A.  It was like the DMZ between the Koreas or the neutral zone in "Star Trek".  You had to learn fast how to deal with the unexpected.  A lot for an eleven-year-old, but still...

So, celebrity death and selling out: they do go together.  I am more convinced of this as the deaths and scandals roll on.  When I was there, I had that inexplicable feeling that I was trespassing.  It was not a place that belonged to me culturally, emotionally or psychologically.  After that trip by van, we had to take a plane home.  Part of me is glad about this.  Getting out that air space helped me think about what I had seen and done.  Again, I was only eleven.

You will be missed, Misters Hopper and Coleman.  We can only hope that there is peace for you both now...

The Sell Out (Part 6)

More on music:

I have been thinking about hip-hop and how it has definitely sold out.  Yeah, that sounds like blasphemy, but there is something seriously wrong with the whole culture when the wife of the biggest producer in rap music today can sing at the White House and no one blinks.

Don't get me wrong.  I think things are great with the industry (the only part of the music biz that is still making good money).  I remember how hated it was and when teachers would warn us against listening to it.  Now, I hear rap in commercials for children's cereal.  I see hip-hop characters in children's programming.  I have heard reporters - who had no right to do so - use "bling" and "shorties" without any sense of irony...

Stetsasonic, Public Enemy, EPMD and NWA, come home.  Your culture needs you...

The Sell Out (Part 5)

Q: "Will success spoil U2?"
A: "I certainly hope so."   - Bono in interview (1981)

I had to post that today, and this photo (from May 29th, 1981 at the New York Palladium - Bono with a lucky fan).  It has just been announced that U2 will not tour North America this year.  Bono has injured his back and will not be able to play his role as frontman.  He should take a break.  As a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize who has also been married to the same woman for almost thirty years, he deserves some sort of rest.

I have never seen the band live (it is either see them live or eat for a month and I have often chosen the latter).  I was a fan of the group by the age of seven when I first saw them on the former CITY-TV program called "The New Music" and Bono made his comment on fame with a smile and a laugh.  I could not hold that against him.  No one I knew had heard of the band and they would not be global superstars for at least another six years.  But I was hooked.

Now, dear web surfer, you know that I love the Who (a band that U2 has cited as an influence) and that I feel bad about their particular career arc.  With U2, it is not the same sort of love, but there is affection there and I felt bad when I heard about the tour cancellation.  This is a band that had no choice but to become bigger than the post-Punk/New Wave environment that they grew in, otherwise they would have ended up as just another noise among many other noises.  Selling out for arena rock actually made them seem taller and better in the media's eye.

No wonder I still like them (even if the albums now suck)...

The Sell Out (Part 4)

I'm listening to the Who as I type.  They are going through the motions on "See Me, Feel Me" from Woodstock (great film clip if you are interested).  This band has always intrigued me and I can say that there are very few other groups worth obsessing over.  Yet, they are also a damned frustrating subject when on the topic of selling out.
They famously put out an album in the middle of the Flower Power era called "The Who Sell Out".  "Tommy" soon followed.  It was not the first rock opera, but it was famous enough to inaugurate a whole era of pretentious arena rock.  Even the band knew this (why else would they jump back to their roots with "Live at Leeds"?).  But the toothpaste was out of the tube.  They put out "Quadrophenia", continued to crawl on after an essential member died in '78 (and if you do not know who that was, stop reading right here) and "Tommy" became a bad film and an overrated Broadway musical.
A true sell out, by any standard...   And I still love them.

The Sell Out (Part 3)

"Dying young is hard to take/
Selling out is harder..." - Sly Stone

Too true, but so many of us do this that we must be able to take it, I guess.  I am finding this true when I discover old faces over Facebook or run into people who are now leading lives I would never have guessed to be possible for them.  There is some comfort in knowing that there are people who will give up and just try to get through this life with what comforts they can find.

I truly envy them...

The Sell Out (Part 2)

Okay, back to the argument:

I have dealt with only music here.  No one ever accuses actors, painters, dancers or sculptors of selling out.  Their work can command a big fee and people expect this; they will even pay more for what they produce. 

Music is a very different creature, at least popular music is.  From the moment rock and roll gained any space in the media, it has been accused of going straight, selling out, and even dying.  Why?

A theory: it was music associated with youth.  Elvis was a truck driver who made good by gyrating on TV and making women realize that there was more to a singer than just his voice.  The Beatles were youthful enough to seem like the perfect boys next door; the kind of people mothers and fathers would find acceptable for their daughters (even with the long hair).  When the music became grimier, louder and, on the surface at least, more revolutionary, bands became wary of seeming too nice and acceptable.  And there was punk, rap, various forms of metal and hardcore that seemed to be untouchable.  There was an established elitism with these types of music; a beautiful ugliness.

The Sell Out (Part 1)

Let's start with two quotes:

"I don't mind the Royal Family existing.  It's part of our culture in England and we should not eliminate them because of some daft, left-wing, current socialist philosophy."

And...

"Can someone make hybrid cars as comfortable as a Bentley, please?"

Now, let's guess who said what.  Both comments are very striking, provocative and even shocking to some people.  Both were made in 2007 by two people well-known in the media and the public eye.  And both allowed themselves to be quoted and accepted.

The first quote?  John Lydon, the former Johnny Rotten who has shilled for butter and become friendly enough with his old prog-rock enemies to be seen in a friendly pose with Phil Collins.  The second quote comes from - you guessed it - Yoko Ono, artist and former Mrs L. who did not enjoy her Prius.

I wonder about how we have changed.  I once was an angry young man and hated it when bands that I admired seemed to be giving in to the system.  I now understand that the only ones who never sold out are the ones no one remembers. 

But there has to be some sort of stand taken against the system, right?  Anyone?

Spring (Poem)

Now, I don’t know
if she saw me
when she decided to

bend over to
pick up her bag and go
past the last tree

on the right.
My eyes did not seem
responsible

for the light
of a fresh sunbeam
that caught her full

and quite heavenly
body (smooth –
bedded or tanned

like warm sand).
It was for me
to watch and move,

maybe even to remember
what comes with these warm days,
all endless

as that beam; that light
had to caress her;
another shade among the rays.

The Lord’s Prayer (Revised Version)

Our Father,
Who is smart about Heaven,
Harold be thy name.
Thy wisdom numb,
Thy will is fun
On Earth as it is in Hamilton.
Give us this day our staley bread
And give us our bus passes
As we give to those who use passes after us.
For wine is a bring down,
Like power tools and guppies
Forever (or hardly ever),
Ah, man…

One Little Line (Poetry)

One little line
growing

One little idea
meaning

One little poem
ending

Warning Labels and Guidelines (Revised Versions)

Viewer distinction is advised

You must be eighteen or bolder

Blasphemies not included

Some scenes may not be inscrutable for all anonymous members

Twelve items or lose

Do not touché

Keep harms in at all times

Shock well before opening

Keep refumigated

Blast before dull dates

Shtick hazard – do not opine

Take two troubles once a day

The following program may contain hoarse language

Sin and tax error

Money-blocked guarantee

No perking out loud

Please bail the following forms

Each scolds separately

Seek insurrections in the back

First come, first nerved

Buyer be bared

We’ll be back after these massages