We have an "office party" this afternoon. Ostensibly it's for St. Paddy's, but honestly I believe it's an attempt by my boss to suck up to me after changing the rules in a way that cost me a bonus last month. Thing is, I don't even drink beer anymore and I'd rather go home and hang out with my kid than linger here over microwave appetizers.
The comments sections of web pages dedicated to debating scientific topics are often filled with crackpots trying to peddle their theories of everything. One of these crackpots told me I should read his essay and then he gave me a link to it. My response:
"I’ll read your paper, but only after you read mine: it’s a lengthy three tome essay on metaphysics, and it’s in french. The first volume is called “Je”, the second is called “Me” and the third volume is called “Branle”. It’s accessible here: http://www.zombo.com"
It bums me out for two reasons. The first that it's sad that we lost one of the greats, obviously.
The second is that now I have to listen to a bunch of well-meaning people re-litigate the "black people invented rock n' roll" argument. I don't so much mind the parts that take white people to task for cultural appropriation, which is holy shit, of course, more than fair, and I certainly applaud trying to make sure legends like Berry, Little Richard, et al. get their due. But it always seems to slip in short order from that to mythologizing men like Berry and Fats Domino into mythic people who invented their sounds out of thin air, or at best extracted them via divine inspiration from primitive and hastily brushed aside blues forbears as part of some magical lineage. Magical negro upon magical negro. It's condescending and reductive. And it shows a weird ignorance of how pop and folk music even work, how those weird chains of synchronicity and cross-pollination even work. Fuck yes, Chuck Berry was a titan who created an amazing sound that helped crystallize rock n' roll. But it doesn't demean him to note that he did it with a genius recombination of a bunch of existing stuff, including a bunch of R&B, but also big band and even western swing.
Even that mythologizing might wash with me, though. I sure love hyperbole and hero worship. But then it always bleeds into trying to find a villain. I keep seeing people (infallibly white people) posting Mos Def's line about "Elvis ain't got no soul/Chuck Berry invented rock n' roll." Neat trick considering Elvis's first batch of a half dozen legendary Sun singles were released before Chuck Berry put out his first single. Elvis was great. Full stop. Chuck Berry was great. Full stop. Each was instrumental in rock n' roll's sound. Full stop. We don't need to pit them against each other to work out our country's racist baggage.
Rock n' roll began primarily from black music. With substantial, noteworthy contributions from some white folks and immediate opportunistic pillaging by other white folks. No one person made it, though there is a list of people it might not have happened without. It was a result of a collision of cultures. Like most folk music, it resists an easy narrative.
Okay, thanks. Sorry for the rant. It was just in my head this weekend.
I'm sitting here listening to Tilda spell our entire address to Mama phonetically, letter by letter in Hungarian, and having Mama repeat it back incorrectly over and over and I promise you it's the funniest thing ever and it's positively criminal you can't be here to take it in.
Literally every time I go to Goodreads, it asks me to login and when I try, it goes into a death spiral of reloading the page saying, "Loggin you in..." or whatever over and over again.
I can't get it to keep its shit together long enough for me to even read a single sentence.
I have a feeling this might be right up Eric's alley:
Huh, I thought this was just a spoof trailer. But now I see that it's actually playing in a few weeks at our local art house. And it's got solid reviews.
I really liked The Three Body Problem. If you're into science fiction at all, I'm pretty sure you'd dig it. Hopefully I'll be able to score a copy of the second book from the public library pretty soon, but I plan on reading Dirty Snow first.
Comments
We have an "office party" this afternoon. Ostensibly it's for St. Paddy's, but honestly I believe it's an attempt by my boss to suck up to me after changing the rules in a way that cost me a bonus last month. Thing is, I don't even drink beer anymore and I'd rather go home and hang out with my kid than linger here over microwave appetizers.
She's laughing harder about this than anyone, though.
"I’ll read your paper, but only after you read mine: it’s a lengthy three tome essay on metaphysics, and it’s in french. The first volume is called “Je”, the second is called “Me” and the third volume is called “Branle”. It’s accessible here: http://www.zombo.com"
The second is that now I have to listen to a bunch of well-meaning people re-litigate the "black people invented rock n' roll" argument. I don't so much mind the parts that take white people to task for cultural appropriation, which is holy shit, of course, more than fair, and I certainly applaud trying to make sure legends like Berry, Little Richard, et al. get their due. But it always seems to slip in short order from that to mythologizing men like Berry and Fats Domino into mythic people who invented their sounds out of thin air, or at best extracted them via divine inspiration from primitive and hastily brushed aside blues forbears as part of some magical lineage. Magical negro upon magical negro. It's condescending and reductive. And it shows a weird ignorance of how pop and folk music even work, how those weird chains of synchronicity and cross-pollination even work. Fuck yes, Chuck Berry was a titan who created an amazing sound that helped crystallize rock n' roll. But it doesn't demean him to note that he did it with a genius recombination of a bunch of existing stuff, including a bunch of R&B, but also big band and even western swing.
Even that mythologizing might wash with me, though. I sure love hyperbole and hero worship. But then it always bleeds into trying to find a villain. I keep seeing people (infallibly white people) posting Mos Def's line about "Elvis ain't got no soul/Chuck Berry invented rock n' roll." Neat trick considering Elvis's first batch of a half dozen legendary Sun singles were released before Chuck Berry put out his first single. Elvis was great. Full stop. Chuck Berry was great. Full stop. Each was instrumental in rock n' roll's sound. Full stop. We don't need to pit them against each other to work out our country's racist baggage.
Rock n' roll began primarily from black music. With substantial, noteworthy contributions from some white folks and immediate opportunistic pillaging by other white folks. No one person made it, though there is a list of people it might not have happened without. It was a result of a collision of cultures. Like most folk music, it resists an easy narrative.
Okay, thanks. Sorry for the rant. It was just in my head this weekend.
But how should I go about getting more Goodreads friends?
Me: Yeah, he truly embodied rock'n'roll!
What are you reading these days, Moe?
I can't get it to keep its shit together long enough for me to even read a single sentence.
Love you guys. See you later.
Huh, I thought this was just a spoof trailer. But now I see that it's actually playing in a few weeks at our local art house. And it's got solid reviews.
Ok, then.
I'm gonna put that Liu Cixin book on my list. I'm always on the lookout for non-anglo science fiction.