Category Archives: Music

UPDATED (10/26/021): So Many Dumb People Are Breaking America, AND Then There is MATTHEW WHITAKER

America, Art, Human Accomplishment, Music

There are so many incredibly dumb and destructive people controlling and breaking America that it’s useful to remember the select few—not that many—extraordinarily bright and beautifully gifted people who light our country up:

MATTHEW WHITAKER.

My own preference runs to Dvorak’s Piano Quintet, not jazz, but whatever he plays—and he can do Dvorak justice—MATTHEW WHITAKER amazes and inspires. What a story!

Meet the blind piano player who’s so good, scientists are studying him“:

Matthew Whitaker has been rocking crowds with his improvisational piano playing for most of his short life. He may be blind, but a neuroscientist has found Whitaker’s visual cortex goes into overdrive when he plays.
… Every so often, someone so young does something so amazing you can’t help but wonder – how do they do that? That’s what happened the first time we heard Matthew Whitaker play piano. Matthew is a jazz pianist who is blind, and since the age of 11, he’s been performing around the world. He’s been called a prodigy and, as we noted when we first aired this story in February, his talent is so extraordinary. He’s also caught the attention of scientists who are now studying his brain and trying to understand his vision of music.
Whitaker doesn’t just play music, he plays with it. Twisting melodies, crafting complex harmonies and improvising at lightning speed. It’s acoustic acrobatics performed over 88 keys and it is not for the faint of heart. …

MORE.

UPDATE (10/26/021): Adele:

The Musical ‘HAIR’ Is Not Anti-White; IT’S Quintessentially WHITE And Western

Art, Culture, Film, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Music, Race, The West, War

In mentioning Milos Forman’s formidable musical in “The Kiss,” my latest column,” an Unz Review reader alleges I was promoting an anti-White film.

“Hair” is a magnificent antiwar movie, featuring Western ideas, music and dance at their most triumphant.  This musical is an achievement (and I don’t much like musicals).

Who do you think That War killed? Poor white boys (and millions of Vietnamese).

What kind of music does it feature? Quality Western music. Western dance at its best, too. (No matter the color of the choreographers, I see the great Martha Graham’s influence in there).

What kind of black-Americans does “Hair” the movie showcase? Blacks singing in the Western tradition, dancing in the same tradition (no twerking) and signing-up to the tradition of anti-state war protest.

What kind of Left was featured in “Hair”? The Old Left, the anti-war Left, before “liberal brains became pickled in the formaldehyde of wicked woke, identity politics.

As I wrote, “At its most effective and substantive, the left once protested against gratuitous wars.” Now, “’the new liberal brand’ amounts to nothing more than ‘commodified and market-tested ‘diversity.’”

Hair is not anti-white; it instantiates Western culture in every respect.

UPDATED (5/26): March Of Mephisto By Kamelot (Music Is Male)

Art, Culture, Gender, Human Accomplishment, Music

It’s so obvious. Music is male. It was male when Johann Sebastian Bach was making it. And it was male until real men fell from favor and were replaced with prancing androgyny.
For the few progressive rockers remaining (check), here’s “March Of Mephisto” by Kamelot, which MUST be cranked-up:

RELATED: “Best Headbanger Ever: Simone Simons Sings ‘The Haunting’ By Kamelot”

UPDATE (5/26):
She forgot about #MeToo and #Masks and reacted like men and women once used to react to one another: naturally. Adorable.

Best Headbanger Ever: Simone Simons Sings ‘The Haunting’ By Kamelot

Culture, Europe, Human Accomplishment, Music

Any prog rockers in the house? Two? Better than none. Good progressive rock is as popular as H. L. Mencken these days.

No wonder Kamelot did not keep the marvelous, classically trained mezzo-soprano Simone Simons. Too much competition (and jealous wives). Best headbanger ever. Superb singer, too.

The Haunting,” a song on Kamelot’s “The Black Halo” CD, sports a strong melody and fine arrangements, to say nothing of solid playing and stunning vocals from the backup singer, Ms. Simons mentioned. Then again, the instrumentals make it clear these lads listen to symphonies—from Mozart to Mahler.

Not that lyrics matter much, but for inspiration, the band draws on imagery evoked by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust. How tellingly Western.

Heroic, epic, grand themes serve as a contrast to the self—and inner-injury—obsessed themes that animate today’s musical illiterati.

“The Haunting”
Merely the sound of your voice
Made me believe that, that you were her
Just like the river disturbs
My inner peace
Once I believed I could find
Just a trace of her beloved soul
Once I believed she was all
Then she smothered my believes
One cold winter’s night
I may follow her voice to the river
Somewhere in time I will find you and haunt you again
Like the wind sweeps the earth
Somewhere in time when no virtues are left to defend
You’ve fallen deep
How could that first time recur
When memories linger on and on
What made me think you were her
Helena is dead to all
Dead to all
Nothing can bring her to life
Don’t pretend that I’ll be loving you
Once I believed she was gone
I corrupted from within
Leave me for now and forever
Leave what you can
Somewhere in time I will find you and haunt you again
Like the wind sweeps the earth
Somewhere in time when no virtues are left to defend
You’ve fallen deep
I was a liar in every debate
I rule the forces that fueled your hate
When the cold in my heart leaves, it comes to an end
Quietly now go to sleep
Follow me into the light
Like ice on a lake of tears
I’ll take you through
Or leave me tonight
I’ve gone too far to begin all anew
With someone like you
Somewhere in time I will find you and love you again
Like the wind sweeps the earth
Somewhere in time when no virtues are left to defend
You’ve fallen deep
I was a liar in every debate
I rule the forces that fueled you hate
When the cold in my heart leaves, it comes to and end
Quietly I’ll go to sleep

RELATED: “March Of Mephisto By Kamelot.”