Category Archives: Music

UPDATE II: Jackie Kennedy: enchantress (Style & Substance)

Aesthetics, America, Art, Critique, Etiquette, History, Human Accomplishment, Music, The State

Jacqueline Kennedy’s dowdy daughter Caroline Kennedy has released “never-before-heard audio recordings of interviews conducted with the former first lady in 1964, shortly after her husband’s assassination,” together with a book, “Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life With John F. Kennedy.” We know Jackie Kennedy for her style, sophistication, sense of history, and love and knowledge of music and art. We now know something about her well-formulated opinions and astute observations, delivered in dulcet tones and exquisite English. (The other day I used “hermetically sealed,” which was common usage when I was, well, much younger. My husband wanted to know why I was using a term used in engineering!)

Discussions with the late historian Arthur Schlesinger reveal Jackie to be not only a dazzling conversationalist, but a forceful, if ever-so feminine personae.

Especially appreciated is Jacqueline Kennedy’s opinion about the sainted Martin Luther King (whose real worldview I discuss briefly—and unfavorably—in my book). All the more so given how irreverent she is in coming out and dissing a legend in the making. PC was not an issue back then. My book also quotes Kennedy on affirmative action: the man was conservative as few conservatives are today.

From a performance of Pablo Casals in the White House to Beyonce’s bump and grind: how far we’ve fallen. To be fair, Bush was also without class and culture.

UPDATE I (Sept. 16): STYLE & SUBSTANCE. Myron Pauli: Like many a libertarian, you refuse to address issues of culture. A comment such as mine, dealing with an impressive, classy lady—Jackie was certainly mistreated by her husband, but never responded like a tawdry tart, as is the custom nowadays—is reduced to the problem of statism. In a universe in which everything is reduced to the state, is there any place for observations about culture, human accomplishment, personality, etc?

I suggest to you that things would not be so bad if more women today had the class and classical education of a Jackie O. At the very least, women with a similar frame of reference would not feel so obsolete and voiceless.

UPDATE II: “Go, Jackie,” writes Lew Rockwell:

Funny how the media are trotting out Mrs. Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline, to try to smooth over her mother’s taped views: that LBJ was an integral part of the assassination plot (of course, but not mentioned in this article), that she didn’t admire Martin Luther King, FDR, or Churchill, that she rejected feminism, etc.

Should the Fretboard Man Fret?

Business, Free Markets, Government, Individual Rights, Law, Music, Natural Law, Regulation, Technology

The house virtuoso does not own a Gibson guitar; he dislikes them with a passion. Being one hell of a neoclassical, instrumental guitarist, Sean Mercer has his reasons. (Listen to the YouTube posted below.) He does, however, own the following fine instruments, which are crafted with assorted hardwoods, some rare, and possibly illegal:

Carvin DC747 (Maple)
Carvin AC275 (Hawaiian Koa body & neck, Ebony bridge)
Carvin AC175 (maple, ebony)
Carvin LB76 (Curly maple)
Carvin IC6 (Walnut, maple)
Carvin NS1 classical (mahogany, ebony bridge & fretboard)
Warwick Streamer (Wenge, maple) – Germany
Warwick Double Buck (Wenge neck, Alder)
Yamaha Classical (Rosewood back & sides, Ebony, Spruce)
Jackson SL1 (maple)
Kramer Stagemaster (Maple, ebony fretboard)
Kramer Pacer (Rosewood fretboard, maple)
Dean 7 string (mahogany body, maple neck, ebony fretboard)
Brian Moore iGuitar (Rosewood fretboard, alder border)

For the possession/importation/smuggling of “rare ebony wood from India used to make some of the world’s most coveted guitars,” US federales have raided the Tennessee plants of Gibson Guitars.

The meek chief executive of Gibson Guitars, Henry Juszkiewicz, pleaded plaintively with the public: “We were not engaged in smuggling. ‘We have been importing fingerboard stock on a regular basis from India for 17 years.'”

He might have pointed to the fact that this is part of the feds’ ongoing criminalization of naturally licit behavior, and that, last he looked, ex post facto prosecutions were unconstitutional. In other words, when Gibson began importing these woods, the practice was legal. It is unconstitutional to criminalize actions that were legal when committed.

Business in the US is anything but Randian; it adopts an obsequious manner with the both the pitchfork-hoisting public and our DC Overlords.

Downsize the “Oink Sector”!

As promised, here is a piece from the CD “Electric Storm,” by instrumental guitarist Sean Mercer. Sean’s compositions were featured in Guitar Player Magazine. Wrote the great Mike Varney:

Sean’s demo showcases his skills as a producer, engineer, writer, performer, and keyboardist. His set of neo-classical instrumentals are [sic] reminiscent at times of works by Tony MacAlpine. Complex arrangements, tightly played ensemble lines, and a grand display of thematic solo work should make this tape of particular interest to neo-classical fusion fans. [Mike Varney, Guitar Player, October 1991]

UPDATE III: Naipaul Right About Women Writers

English, Gender, Literature, Music, Pop-Culture, Reason

It is getting harder to tell men from women writers, as males have been so thoroughly feminized over the last couple of decades. Still, Nobel Laureate V.S. Naipaul is correct when he states the following: “I read a piece of writing and within a paragraph or two I know whether it is by a woman or not. I think [it is] unequal to me.” In general, you can indeed tell right away if what you’re reading was penned by a man or a woman. On the whole, the best writers have always been men, still are. I excerpt here from “The Silly Sex?,” in which I was way to kind:

Since 1950, women have won only five Nobels in literature. And some of those are questionable. How can one put Toni Morrison into the literary company of Patrick White, Albert Camus, and Isaac Bashevis Singer? In past years, the literature prize went to authors of the caliber of J. M. Coetzee, Günter Grass, and V.S. Naipaul. But last year, Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek was awarded the literature prize. I’m not suggesting the grumpy Jelinek is a fraud like Guatemalan leftist and Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu. Some of Jelinek’s dusty works, translated crudely into English, showcase some skill (if one can stomach the contrived subject matter). However, unlike her male predecessors, she is better known for politically correct posturing than for penning memorable works of literature.

Naipaul fingers women’s “sentimentality, the narrow view of the world … that comes over in her writing too.” True. Sentimentality, moreover, accounts for why women (including those with the Y chromosome) are wont to misplace compassion. If you can’t think clearly, your feelings tend to be muddled and flimsy; your sense of justice is skewed too.

Mundane, mainstream media are furious with Naipaul. This Via NPR:

Alex Clark, a literary journalist, said: “It’s absurd. I suspect VS Naipaul thinks that there isn’t anyone who is his equal. Is he really saying that writers such as Hilary Mantel, A S Byatt, Iris Murdoch are sentimental or write feminine tosh?”

YES! When Vladimir Nabokov, Patrick White and Isaac Bashevis Singer died, I stopped reading novels.

As for non-fiction, Ann Coulter (and this writer) excepted, where is the woman who writes a strong, witty, wickedly funny column? Nowhere. Sure, I like Diana West a lot, but even she suffers from that singularly female proclivity to fixate obsessively on one issue only: Islam this; Islam that. On and on. All terribly important, but it can get repetitive. And that’s another thing: Non-fiction female writers cleave to a couple of easy, oft-charged subjects. Most steer clear of economics. (How many Amity Shlaes are there?) They simply don’t seem to have a wide array of interests. (I’ve covered Ann Coulter’s awful acolytes in many a blog post, “The Republican Tart Trust” is one.)

I’ll tell you what I’ve discovered, though: men generally prefer women who’re sentimental and unhinged, so long as they don’t have a better head than they do.

UPDATE I (June 3): Cross-posted on Facebook:

Has any of my Hebrew-speaking readers read Shmuel Yosef Agnon? Pure genius. Better than Naipaul. He was, of course, widely translated, as is all Hebrew literature. A translation would not do justice to Agnon’s use of the Hebrew language. But this was required reading when I was growing up. The current crop of Hebrew writers is as bad as their English, stream-of-consciousness counterparts.

Agnon was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966, well before honoring females, however forgettable, became the rule.

UPDATE II: Myron, Ayn rand was one of the greatest essayists, showcasing a brilliant, unparalleled capacity to development a logical argument. But one would be less than honest as a writer—and fall into sycophancy—if one failed to mention that her style was a little dour, lacking in any humor. The classical liberal philosopher DAVID CONWAY alludes to this fact here.

UPDATE III: Rob, I do think Brookner is a genius. I devour her books. I discussed her with Derb, who, in my opinion, has mistaken her subject matter—the utter aloneness of a certain kind of character—for some sort of feminine preoccupation. However, Brookner has written equally of males in this predicament. I ventured that because our Derb is such a suave, confident gentleman, he does not empathize with the kind of person who is as alone as Brookner’s protagonists are. Needles to say, I do.

UPDATE IV: Grammy Awards: And The Winner Is … Auto-Tune (Quality Vs. Longevity)

Art, Music, Pop-Culture

The tartlets I watched “sing” at the Grammys would have been even more inaudible and tuneless were it not for the Auto-Tune: the “holy grail of recording,” that “corrects intonation problems in vocals or solo instruments, in real time, without distortion or artifacts.” (See “Antares.com”) With the exception of Lady Antebellum, a group that was passable compared to the rest, the In Memoriam segment featured the event’s better talent (all passed, sadly). (I missed the classical section.) I had never before heard Rihanna, Katy Perry, and Gaga, who with all her pretentious Yoko Onanisms, actually proved, surprisingly, more hard-working and polished than the first two. This is not saying much, I know. But, as a studio musician explained to me, this T & A line-up (to which you can generally add Talor Swift, the Britney Spears of country music) would be reduced to embarrassing grunts, out-of-tune yelps, and bedroom whispers, if not for the Auto-Tune. As to “The Suburbs”/Arcade Fire as Album of the Year: For once, I’m without words to describe their sheer ineptness.

I did not catch the entire thing, but Iron Maiden are good.

UPDATE I (Feb. 16): TRY TRUE TALENT. Mike D: You might like “Arcade Fire,” but they are G-d-awful as musicians. They sustain one or two pitches and exhibit zero proficiency on any of the instruments they belabor. The guitarist strums wildly, producing a cacophony with almost no melodic momentum or variation. One of his guitar strings was broken, but it made no difference. Not only are their songs lacking any chord progression, but, again, they cannot play their instruments. Why learn to play like virtuoso Tony MacAlpine plays guitar (and piano), when you can get a contract and sell your crap without it?

Standards are dead. To those who wish to reclaim a feel for such an unhip concept, here’s a start:

Here’s the same chap, who’ll never get honored for artistic achievement at the Grammys or the Trash House, playing Chopin, no less (bloody difficult):

UPDATE II: WOW: Thanks to Graham who sent a clip of Gaga “before she went gaga.” Not half bad. I knew my instincts for music were good (was brought up listening critically to music—everything from the Beatles to chamber music from a tender age), when I wrote above that “Gaga, with all her pretentious Yoko Onanisms, actually proved, surprisingly hard-working and polished.” Stephanie Germanotta was okay, at least far better than Madonna (although I thoroughly dislike the wailing and the agonized style of singing, in general).

UPDATE III (Feb. 17): QUALITY VS. LONGEVITY. Robert, you too seem to confuse the immutable quality of art with its longevity. Most young people can’t tell you who Bach is. If the Idiocracy has the upper hand, in 100 years or so, he too will have been forgotten despite his unparalleled genius.

“Arcade Fire” are categorically horrid as far as music goes. But they were sweet. Quebecers are nice. Very un-American. Regular folks. Not arrogant, and without airs and graces. Perhaps there is an art to being pleasant?

UPDATE IV (Feb. 18): Michel, thanks for the invite to Montreal. I adore that city; spent time there in 2003. What food! What sweet people. So beautiful too; good-looking and thin folks; what’s not to like? However, I was not prepared for the cold.