Here I was all set to go Elitist on the country singer Lee Greenwood, and I pulled the rug out from under myself. I shared Rachel Maddow's incredulity that the limping duck George W. Bush had appointed Greenwood to the National Council of the Arts. I even had my first two sentences written in my head: "Remember how the Bush takeover squad at the White House complained the Clintonites had unplugged all the PCs on their way out the door? As he steadfastly marches toward his own sunset, it is Bush himself who seems unplugged."
Zing! Totally unfair, but snappy, Bush had two vacancies to fill on the NCA, one for three years, one for six. Greenwood got the six-year term. He'll be the gift that keeps on giving every day during Obama's first term. The Council's job is to advise the National Endowment for the Arts on how to spend its money. I assume Greenwood will support the endowment's Shakespeare in American Communities Initiative, but you can never be sure about those things.
Da-ding! I was just getting warmed up. I was going to sympathize with Bush because fate has set a limited table for conservatives in the arts department. Liberals get Paul Newman, conservatives get Chuck Norris. We get Bruce Springsteen, they get Cousin Brucie. Does such a thing as a conservative dancer even exist? To be sure, Greenwood was a member of a dance ensemble, but that was when he was nine. Look at Thomas Jefferson, founder of the Democratic party, who was a philosopher, author, architect, violinist , inventor, sketch artist and culinary expert, and still found the time to found another branch of the family. JFK told an assembly of U.S. Nobel Prize winners: "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House -- with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." I imagine George whispering to Laura: "Why didn't anyone want to eat with him?"
Ben Snowden: In Dixeland where I was born in, early on a frosty mornin'
Yada yada yada. But then I did a little research on Lee Greenwood and had to abandon my wisecracks. I concluded that Greenwood's career makes him a not unreasonable choice for the Council. To begin with, he is the perfect age, my age. He is a singer-songwriter. He built his own theater in Seiverville, Tenn., and performed there from 1995 to 2000. Wiki explains the theater was not located in the "heavily entertainment and tourist-oriented area of Pigeon Forge," which "contributed to its closing." Greenwood had the semi-obligatory cocaine addiction around the age of 20, which was not all that common in 1962, but "moved to Iceland to go to rehab." He is best known for writing and singing "God Bless the USA," which I do not prefer to Springsteen's "Born in the USA," but that's just me.
Greenwood has lived the American Dream. Raised on a poultry farm outside Sacramento by his grandparents, he started playing the sax at the age of seven. He's won all the big awards, including Singer of the Year and Song of the Year. He took time off to perform at McCain and Palin rallies. By all accounts he is a thoroughly decent man. Although his background may not parallel all of the other members of the NCA, why should it? He brings a fresh perspective. And there is absolutely no reason why country and western, that most American of musical forms along with jazz and the blues, should not be heard from on the Council.
John Prine: But life had lost its fun
And there was nothing to be done
But trade his house that he bought on the G. I. Bill
For a flag-draped casket on a local heroes' hill.
I love country and western music. You would be amazed how much of it I have on my iPod. And not just the Dixie Chicks and Willie Nelson. I'm talking Hank Williams Sr., the Blue Sky Boys, the Carter Family, Doc Watson, Patsy Cline, the Almanac Singers, Leadbelly, Bob Wills, Chet Atkins, Flatt & Scruggs, Asleep at the Wheel, Bill Monroe and of course my all-time most beloved singer-songwriters, John Prine and Steve Goodman.
John Prine made me cry when I first heard him sing "Sam Stone," and that was a long, long time ago, when he was still carrying the mail in Maywood, Ill. I do not believe in psychic powers, but sometimes I feel like I'm prescient. I said to my pals at my table, "He is the best singer-songwriter in America. That song is a great short story." He Is, not will be, because that first night I also heard his "Old Folks." If "Sam Stone" made me cry, "Hello in There" is the one song I've ever seen make Chaz cry.
Sam Stone came home,
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas.
And the time that he served,
Had shattered all his nerves,
And left a little shrapnel in his knee.
But the morphine eased the pain,
And the grass grew round his brain,
And gave him all the confidence he lacked,
With a Purple Heart and a monkey on his back.
Chorus:
There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes,
Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears,
Don't stop to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.
Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm.
Steve Goodman, now taken from us by leukemia and sorely missed, wrote the greatest and most evocative of all train songs, "City of New Orleans." My dad used to drive us up Route 45 north of Urbana to watch the the City thundering at 90mph through Rantoul on its way from Chicago to New Orleans, fabled cities. Then we'd stop at the Home Theater on Main Street to buy popcorn and Necco wafers.
Nighttime on The City of New Orleans,
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee...
Half way home, we'll be there by morning...
Through the Mississippi darkness
Rolling down to the sea.
And all the towns and people seem
To fade into a bad dream
And the steel rails still ain't heard the news.
The conductor sings his song again,
The passengers will please refrain...
This train's got the disappearing railroad blues.
Good night, America, how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son,
I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.
I am so lucky to have been a passenger on both the City of New Orleans and the Panana Limited when meals were still served at tables set with linen, china and heavy pewter utensils. Remind me to tell you the maple syrup story sometime. What the heck. I'll tell you now. I have known Jeff Greenfield for 43 years, I told him this story at a conference of college editors in November 1963, and he has insisted I repeat it every time we have meet since then. It always breaks him up.
My parents put me aboard the Panama Limited from Urbana-Champaign to Chicago. It was my first train trip alone. I had a new tweed sport coat, a tie that was choking me, and a $20 bill in my wallet. I would be met by my cousins Blanche and Ethel Doyle and taken to visit my Aunt Ida. I was to buy myself breakfast on the train. I rushed to the diner, was greeted as "young man," and assigned a table for two. The other seat was soon occupied by a passenger from further front on the train. This meant he was from below Cairo, because from New Orleans to Cairo the train was all Pullman, and then they added day coaches for the people from Illinois who were making the trip to Chicago--around two hours in my case.
Steve Goodman (1948-1984): I've got season's tickets to watch the Angels now
In those days you filled out your own Guest Check. This news seemed to subtly alarm my new companion. There was a sturdy pewter pencil holder with one of those stubby golf card pencils. I carefully printed out: "Pancakes and coffee." The waiter picked up my order. He asked my companion, "What will you-all be havin' this mornin, sir?" He replied, "I think I'll have the same thing my friend here is having." He could not have seen my order. He could not read or write.
Our orders arrived. Before me sat arrayed a majestic assortment of heavy pewter containers, which would not spill if the train rocked. Water. Coffee. Maple syrup. Cream. Half and Half. Sugar. I carefully poured syrup over my pancakes, and coffee into my cup. This was a big deal: The first cup of coffee in my life. I was king of the world. I dug into my pancakes. Something was wrong. They tasted bitter. I looked again at the table. If the coffee was on my pancakes, then where was the maple syrup? I blushed bright red. I was never going to admit my mistake to the waiter. Trying to make the best of a bad situation, I picked up my coffee cup and poured it over the pancakes. My friend studied this, and then poured his own coffee over his pancakes.
Steve Goodman and John Prine. Those were the days, my friends. I was at the Earl of Old Town way after closing time early one morning when Goodman first performed "The City of New Orleans" for Arlo Guthrie. Another night at the Earl, Stevie and John collaborated on what they billed as the Complete All-Purpose Country Verse:
Well, I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison,
And I went to pick her up in the rain.
But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck,
She got runned over by a damned old train.
Lee Greenwood's song-writing may not rival that pitch of perfection, but his heart is in the right place. He wants to include, not exclude. For example, his album "Patriotic Songs" includes not only "God Bless America," "America the Beautiful" and his own "God Bless the USA," but also "This Land is Your Land" and "Dixie." Yes, "Dixie," that celebration of terrorists who wanted to destroy the American government. I imagine the selection can be defended, however, by recent scholarship arguing the song was co-authored by two African-Americans, Ben and Lew Snowden, who intended the lyrics as ironic. Think about them:
Well, I wish I was in the land of cotton!
Ole times there are not forgotten!
Look away, look away, look away, Dixieland!
It's not even very subtle irony, is it? Especially with that giveaway third line.
Footnote. Goodman and Prine both wrote much greater songs, but want to read some quintessentially American lyrics? Steve Goodman knew for years he had leukemia. Nobody ever heard him complain. Most of the time, he looked like a man who knew a great joke and was about to tell it to you.He'd drop out for a while for treatment and then be back at the Earl, where he always hosted the raucous New Years' Eve celebrations. He knew he was dying when he wrote The Dying Cubs Fan's Lament:
By the shore's of old Lake Michigan,
Where the hawk wind blows so cold,
An old Cub fan lay dying.
In his midnight hour that tolled
Round his bed, his friends had all gathered.
They knew his time was short,
And on his head they put this bright blue cap
From his all-time favorite sport.
He told them, "it's late and it's getting dark in here,"
And I know its time to go,
But before I leave the line-up
Boys, there's just one thing I'd like to know.
Do they still play the blues in Chicago?
When baseball season rolls around,
When the snow melts away,
Do the Cubbies still play
In their ivy covered burial ground?
When I was a boy they were my pride and joy
But now they only bring fatigue
To the home of the brave
The land of the free
And the doormat of the National League
Told his friends "You know the law of averages says:
Anything will happen that can."
That's what it says.
"But the last time the Cubs won a National League pennant
Was the year we dropped the bomb on Japan"
The Cubs made me a criminal
Sent me down a wayward path
They stole my youth from me
(that's the truth)
I'd forsake my teachers
To go sit in the bleachers
In flagrant truancy
and then one thing led to another
and soon I'd discovered alcohol, gambling, dope
football, hockey, lacrosse, tennis
But what do you expect,
When you raise up a young boys hopes
And then just crush 'em like so many paper beer cups.
Year after year after year
after year, after year, after year, after year, after year
'Til those hopes are just so much popcorn
for the pigeons beneath the 'EL' tracks to eat.
He said "You know I'll never see Wrigley Field, anymore
before my eternal rest.
So if you have your pencils and your score cards ready,
and I'll read you my last request."
He said, "Give me a double header funeral in Wrigley Field
On some sunny weekend day (no lights).
Have the organ play the National Anthem
and then a little "na, na, na, na, hey hey, hey, Goodbye."
Make six bullpen pitchers, carry my coffin
and six ground keepers clear my path.
Have the umpires bark me out at every base
In all their holy wrath.
Its a beautiful day for a funeral! Hey Ernie lets play two!
Somebody go get Jack Brickhouse to come back,
and conduct just one more interview.
Have the Cubbies run right out into the middle of the field,
Have Keith Moreland drop a routine fly
Give everybody two bags of peanuts and a frosty malt,
And I'll be ready to die.
Build a big fire on home plate out of your Louisville Sluggers baseball bats,
And toss my coffin in.
Let my ashes blow in a beautiful snow
From the prevailing 30 mile an hour south west wind.
When my last remains go flying over the left field wall
I will bid the bleacher bums adieu,
And I will come to my final resting place, out on Waveland Avenue
The dying man's friends told him to cut it out
They said stop it, that's an awful shame.
He whispered, "Don't Cry, we'll meet by and by near the Heavenly Hall of Fame.
He said, "I've got season's tickets to watch the Angels now,
So its just what I'm going to do
He said, "but you the living, you're stuck here with the Cubs,
So it's me that feels sorry for you! And he said,
"Ah, play, play that lonesome losers tune,
That's the one I like the best.
And he closed his eyes, and slipped away.
What we got is the Dying Cub Fan's Last Request
And here it is
Do they still play the blues in Chicago
When baseball season rolls around
When the snow melts away,
Do the Cubbies still play
In their ivy covered burial ground?
When I was a boy they were my pride and joy
But now they only bring fatigue
To the home of the brave
The land of the free
And the doormat of the National League
Footnote, Nov. 7. There are so many wonderful comments below, but this one is in a category of its own, and I don't want you to miss it:
==========
By Martin Gaspar on November 7, 2008 8:06 AM
John Prine used to play once a week at the old Fifth Peg, the Old Town School of Folk Music's pub on Armitage Avenue off of Lincoln. I would go to hear him about three times a month. It got to the point where he would recognize me by sight and on slow nights would give me a nod.
One of my best friends was stationed at Udorn Air Force base in Thailand. He was in a safe place away from the insanity faced by the grunts in Viet Nam. But Udorn was a place for R&R and for recovery of wounded troops with injuries not severe enough for Japan. He would drink with the with them at the E Club and listen to their horror stories. He was personally affected by their stories and became a sort of empath that took away some of the troops pain whose stories they would never tell their families. He saw it as part of his humanitarian duty to give what solace he could, even if it was only to listen.
After his tour of duty, he returned home for a month before his next assignment. He would wear his uniform at all times. When I told him he could lighten up a bit and wear his civvies. I had never seen such seething anger at me when he said he was proud to wear his uniform and did not give a damn.
I told him of this great singer I wanted him to hear. We went to John's show. We were sitting in the front row, no more than seven feet from the mike. When John came out, he did a double take at my friend in full dress. He sang every song except "Sam Stone". He announced his last song, and as he was about to walk away, I said "Sing it, John". He looked at my friend and said "Are you sure, man?". "Yes", replied. He sang "Sam Stone" and got away from his the mike as quick as he could.
My buddy said he was a really great singer. We left and in my car, my friend broke down and sobbed with heart rendering intensity for forty-five minutes. We did not speak until I got him home. When I saw him the next day, he was wearing civvies. "I'm never going wear a uniform again." He never did. His next posting in Eugenie, OR was a little loose and he wore civvies to work.
John may have saved him with one song in one night from nightmares for the rest of his life.
Here's "Sam Stone" and "The Dying Cub Fan's Lament" on YouTube. (Isn't that a great resource? How did we live without it?)
I'm not a Cubs fan, but I am a Padres fan, and a Chargers fan, so I understand the latter song's sentiment exactly.
Roger, please call Wikipedia by its real name, not "Wiki".
A wiki is a website that lets anyone edit it, and there are tens of thousands out there, from Wookieepedia, the definitive Star Wars wiki, to the Get Crafty wiki devoted to home crafts to the right-wing nutjob Conservapedia, a decidedly biased alternative to Wikipedia.
Camile Paglia would be the best pick ever.
"Does such a thing as a conservative dancer even exist?"
Well, Simone Clarke, who was shamefully hounded out of her Prima Ballerina position in the English National Ballet because she joined the British National Party out of concern about immigration.
Roger Ebert getting elitist? A man who uses a star system to rate movies and liked "American Pie"? I'm going to go watch "Picnic At Hanging Rock" and wish Stanley Kaufman's reviews could be found on the internet.
I know a couple of music lovers and old farts who'll make fun of me for this: Some of my favorite songs are from Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty. His popular songs: 3 AM and Bent are some of the best I've ever heard. Just listen to the songs and read the lyrics sometime, I think they're great, some of the most poetic songs ever written. Maybe its just that way that Rob Thomas sings them that makes them good. He pauses in unusual places, places attention on certain words that nobody else would. Not even Hank Williams. Sorry:
3 AM Lyrics
She says its cold outside and she hands me my raincoat
Shes always worried about things like that
She says its all gonna end and it might as well be my fault
And she only sleeps when its raining
And she screams and her voice is straining
She says baby
Its 3 A.M. I must be lonely
When she says baby
Well I can't help but be scared of it all sometimes
Says the rains gonna wash away I believe it
Shes got a little bit of something, God, its better than nothing
And in her color portrait world she believes that shes got it all
She swears the moon don't hang quite as high as it used to
And she only sleep when its raining
And she screams and her voice is straining
She believes that life is made up of all that youre used to
And the clock on the wall has been stuck at three for days, and days
She thinks that happiness is a mat that sits on her doorway
But outside its stopped raining
Goodman either sold out, was robbed or let his song slip into the public domain. Remember "I'm the Olds they call 'Cutlass Sierra'." At least that's one American icon I am glad to see gone (Oldsmobiles, that is.)
I will say this about Lee Greenwood, he isn't a mindless partisan.
I saw him sing at a county fair in September of 1988, back in the middle of the campaign where Bush Sr. was using his song "God Bless the USA" and Dukakis was using Neil Diamond's "Coming to America".
In the concert, Greenwood sang "Coming to America", yet not his own song! It was the only song of his I really knew, so was very odd. (He also did a dance to the instrumental theme of TOP GUN).
Maybe it was because this was in Massachusetts, but still, he made no mention of politics.
I was never a fan of C & W, never particularly liked it, never listened to it- but I wouldn't say "it's just bad music" anymore than I'd say "I don't like science fiction movies and won't go to any".
With both country songs and sci-fi flicks, it may not be my favorite genre but when a particular song or movie is good, it's good. Allthough, as the famous anecdote goes, 99% of both seem to be junk.
It's easy to laugh at conservative celebrities who do tend to be minor league talents but think about this: out of all the minimally talented, C- and D-list, famous-for-being-famous actors and singers in Hollywood, which do you think there are more of, Republicans or Democrats?
We liberals may have George Clooney, Angelina Jolie and Alec Baldwin (and they have Kirk Cameron, Angie Harmon and Stephen Baldwin!) but we also have to put up with Jeremy Piven and Barry Manilow.
John Prine is great. You should check out Bobby Bare and Tom T. Hall if you haven't yet.
i would give blues credit for being a purely american invention as well, but maybe thats just me
One of my favorite jokes from the Reagan years: "The NEA has just instituted a new policy of only approving art that contains dogs playing pool."
That was my initial thought when hearing about Lee Greenwood at the NCA. Thanks for setting me straight...
I think this now clears the way for the Dixie Chicks to be appointed in 2012. Long overdue, in my opinion.
Actually, this makes me curious: Does anyone know what kind of music Obama likes?
Roger,
Thanks for the memories! There really aren't too many sights to rival watching a 90 mph train hurtling past on a straight stretch of track in the flatland of downstate. And being able to hear the horn coming and going with nothing to stop it. Hear that once and you intimately understand the Doppler effect.
I've long since been transplanted to the East. Land of the Yankees. Which also makes me miss the Cubs. When the Yankees don't win the series, people out here are truly disappointed. They expect them to win every year. And they do win a lot. But rooting for them is like buying a new car. It's just never changes your life the way you had hoped and it's not long before it doesn't even smell new anymore. As far as I'm concerned, being a Yankees fan is a miserable experience. Being a Cubs fan is to enter each year with a renewed hope that this will be the year. Not an expectation, mind you. A hope. Like finding a great, low-mileage used car. You don't really expect it to get 200,000 miles without some repairs. You kind of know maybe it's too good to be true; that there's probably a lemon lurking there. But every once in a while, it might exceed your expectations; it might even turn out to be better than you dared hope. Now that's a great feeling.
It's exciting to know that I share my favorite singer-songwriter with my favorite film critic. You should collaborate with John Prine on some lyrics one of these days, or maybe he should collaborate with you on a script. It's destiny, I tell you, or at least destiny within the realm of my own personal preferences. I can't imagine there wouldn't be a curious and potentially rabid audience for the upcoming album by John Prine and Roger Ebert. I would pay hard-earned money for that.
Aside from the great "Sam Stone", "Christmas in Prison" and "Donald and Lydia" are my favorites. Did you ever hear Prine cover Steve Goodman's song about his late father, "My Old Man"? There's an excellent live version of it floating around out there. It's an excellent song to listen to if you enjoy good music and weeping. Seek it!
Anyway, I enjoyed this post very much, and not only for the touting of JP. It is without question the best blog entry centered around the canonization of Lee Greenwood I will read all year. You know who else rules? Tom T. Hall. And Jerry Reed. And The Statler Brothers. Keep up the good work, sir.
Ebert: "Donald and Lydia." Another short story. "My Old Man." Too much love and truth to ever be a hit.
I won't argue with you about any of this Roger, especially Steve Goodman. When I first started getting music from the iTunes store I looked for him. My old albums Somebody Else's Trouble, Steve Goodman, & Words We Can Dance To were getting a bit too worn & the turntable just get fired up much anymore. It took awhile but those albums and more are there. I lived in Madison WI at the time and while I got to Chicago and once to the Earl I never saw him or John live.
For those learning about Steve, it's hard to classify his style. iTunes calls it folk but it's certainly isn't traditional sounding. His sense of humor was broad and his mastery of language was excellent. I wonder if he was speaking of his own troubles when he penned these lyrics for "Somebody Else's Troubles":
Did you ever pay for something that you didn't do ?
And did you ever figure out the reason why ?
And when the doctor says this gonna hurt me a lot more than this hurts you,
Did you ever figure out that that's a lie ?
He knows it ain't too hard to get along with somebody else's troubles
And they don't make you lose any sleep at night
As long as fate is out there burstin' somebody' else's bubbles.
Everything is gonna be alright.
And everything will be alright.
The Clintonites not only unplugged the PCs on their way out the door, they pulled all of the "W" keys out of the PCs in protest, and trashed Air Force One.
Your comment that "fate has set a limited table for conservatives in the arts department" is incredibly ignorant." What about Jimmy Stewart? Bruce Willis? Charlton Heston? Tom Selleck?
Would Gretchen Wilson have been an acceptable choice to you or do you just hate all Southern people - or just entertainers?
By the way, you used to like Chuck Norris, remember? You were one of the few critics who praised films like "Lone Wolf McQuade" and the great action-thriller "Code of Silence," directed by Andrew Davis. That was back when you were a film critic.
Ebert: I still love those movies. And Bruce Willis. And Jimmy Stewart. Selleck is a hell of a nice guy. Heston is such a god sport, he once autographed a girl's brassiere in O'Rourke's, while she was wearing it. But you gotta admit you have to set more places for the liberals.
For the uninitiated, one can stream Steve Goodman over here. http://www.myspace.com/stevegoodman
When I was in grade school back in the early seventies, our science teacher doubled as a football coach. When schedules conflicted, he'd tuck our science class in the library, watching tapes of John Prine concerts so he could be off doing whatever it is that coaches do. Our science studies might have suffered, but what great music!
Thank you for some eloquent words on two of our finest lyricists/musicians. I still remember the first time I hear "Sam Stone": on my way home from work, the sun was just going down, and outside it was freezing. I'd heard a lot of music, and I thought I'd heard a lot of sad songs, but I'd never heard anything quite so heartbreaking. I had to pull over, distraught. It was a perfect combination of spare accompaniment and simple yet resonant and rich language. And that voice... Would that more knew it. Would that as many as recognize Bruce's recognized Prine's (or Goodman's).
"When daisies pied and violets blue
And lady-smocks all silver-white
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men; for thus sings he, Cuckoo;
Cuckoo, cuckoo: O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!
When shepherds pipe on oaten straws
And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks,
When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,
And maidens bleach their summer smocks
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men; for thus sings he, Cuckoo;
Cuckoo, cuckoo: O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!
When icicles hang by the wall
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail
And Tom bears logs into the hall
And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipp'd and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whit;
Tu-who, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
When all aloud the wind doth blow
And coughing drowns the parson's saw
And birds sit brooding in the snow
And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whit;
Tu-who, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot."(LLL)
I heard it told this was the most beautiful thing to come out of England----it sucks you back four centuries like a time machine into the smoke,odours and icicles of Elizabethan....yaga, yaga..
Roger,
Do you listen to any alternative c&w? I'm thinking in the vein of Iron & Wine, Neko Case, Calexico, Jenny Lewis, and Cat Power.
If not, may I recommend some albums to you? I've gleaned quite a bit from this post, minus Greenwood, who I've never particularly liked. I am glad to find out that that song was written in the 1980's, and not for the benefit of post-9/11 Freedom Fry hawking grocery stores.
Nice post--I've been looking for some classic country music to add to my collection, and this inspired me to check out some of the names you mentioned.
It looks like I'll be buying a Carter Family album from iTunes, only a week after I downloaded a sampler of 1950s calypso music. Still trying to curb the impulsive music purchases, without much luck.
Roger,
Thanks for the memories, both of the talented C & W artists but more of the City of New Orleans and the Panama Limited. My dad said you could set your watch by the Panama Limited when it came roaring through Champaign-Urbana. And an overnight ride south in those days took us to another culture...But back to C & W - I remember a night at the Earl of Old Towne... great music. Thanks, Betsy
Roger,
I second Paul's alt country performers. And add The Be Good Tanyas. Well worth checking out.
Look on the bright side--at least Bush didn't name Toby Keith.
I would also like to continue the praise of the always-awesome John Prine and remind people that his later music is just as strong as his early efforts--I would rank compartively recent tunes like "Jesus The Missing Years" and "Lake Marie" as among the best that he has ever done.
Rog, that maple syrup anecdote had me laughing aloud for some time. One of the funniest things I've ever read. I can easily see why Jeff Greenfield requires you tell it each time you meet. You've a wonderful way of retelling vignettes like that; you should consider writing a book of such things
My favorite John Prine song is still " Angel from Montgomery". It's one of the most heavily played on my IPod. Wanna know what number one is? Arlo Guthrie's version of " City Of New Orleans". I spend a lot of time telling people to listen to Steve Goodman, as I believe his premature death robbed us of one of the most talented and, sadly, unheralded songwriters in music. Plus, I'm a Cubs fan, so "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request" might be played at my own funeral if they never get their act together and win the damn thing already ( I lack patience. I'm an angry Cubs fan.)
Ebert: I was so proud of Bonnie Koloc when she was invited on the Tonight Show and she chose "Angel" to sing. Koloc, by the way, has the widest vocal range of any popular singer I am familiar with. Talk about your Sarah Brightman!
No present-day conversation about John Prine would be complete without the lyrics to "Some Humans Ain't Human":
Some humans ain't human
Some people ain't kind
You open up their hearts
And here's what you'll find
A few frozen pizzas
Some ice cubes with hair
A broken Popsicle
You don't want to go there
Some humans ain't human
Though they walk like we do
They live and they breathe
Just to turn the old screw
They screw you when you're sleeping
They try to screw you blind
Some humans ain't human
Some people ain't kind
You might go to church
And sit down in a pew
Those humans who ain't human
Could be sittin' right next to you
They talk about your family
They talk about your clothes
When they don't know their own ass
From their own elbows
Jealousy and stupidity
Don't equal harmony
Jealousy and stupidity
Don't equal harmony
Have you ever noticed
When you're feeling really good
There's always a pigeon
That'll come shit on your hood
Or you're feeling your freedom
And the world's off your back
Some cowboy from Texas
Starts his own war in Iraq
Some humans ain't human
Some people ain't kind
They lie through their teeth
With their head up their behind
You open up their hearts
And here's what you'll find
Some humans ain't human
Some people ain't kind
Mr. Ebert,
we share some similar music tastes. That whole album of John Prine's in '71 was incredible. I used to listen to it a lot and Sam Stone was my favourite. I was 10 years old and living in Winnipeg Manitoba and Prine was one of the people making me aware of the war in Vietnam. For old time Bluegrass I'd also recommend Alice Gerrard and Hazel Dickens - oh, and the Louvin Brothers are favourites too.
I love your blog and have been sending links to all sorts of friends - your Obama post was great and your one on writing really choked me up. Thanks so much for sharing your writing and for allowing us to comment.
Roger,
I noticed in your list of favorite country music acts that you failed to mention possibly the greatest country musician of them all: Townes Van Zandt.
Van Zandt's songwriting is undeniably beautiful and I'd suggest all your readers who haven't heard of him to check out this moving performances
Pancho and Lefty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79MSHD11SuA
For some great, newer country-folk acts, check out
Tim Barry:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=60647030
and Drag The River:
http://www.myspace.com/dragtheriver
My dad, sitting in the darken kitchen at 2 AM, listening to Hank Williams on an old AM transistor radio. "I can hear that lonesome whipperwill He sounds too blue to fly The midnight train is whining low" and dad would chime in "I'm so lonesome I could cry". I would stand in the shadow of the doorway and cry for him. And every night I now hear the 11PM Dow Chemical train and wonder if he had been given the chance, would he have hopped any train heading to nowhere to release the loneliness. Rest in peace dad.
I been thinkin lately bout the people I meet
The carwash on the corner and the hole in the street
The way my ankles hurt with shoes on my feet
And I'm wondering if I'm gonna see tomorrow.
Father forgive us for what we must do
You forgive us we'll forgive you
We'll forgive each other till we both turn blue
Then we'll whistle and go fishing in heaven.
I was in the army but I never dug a trench
Used to bust my knuckles on a monkey wrench
Then I'd go to town and drink and give the girls a pinch
But I don't think they ever even noticed me.
Fish and whistle, whistle and fish
Eat everything that they put on your dish
And when we get through we'll make a big wish
That we never have to do this again again
On my very first job I said thank you and please
They made me scrub a parking lot down on my knees
Then I got fired for being scared of bees
And they only give me fifty cents an hour.
Did you happen to catch last weekend's edition of The Doctor Demento Show? (Heard in Chicago on WLUP) Goodman's "A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request" was the #1 requested song for the month of October.
The quote from JFK is one of my all-time favorites. I recently watched Thirteen Days. I was on the edge of my seat throughout the film. I'm glad someone blinked.
On topic
Albert Lee -- one of the best gigs I ever went to, in Newport, Wales. Astonishing guitarist, though perhaps realising his lyrics aren't so great, mostly sticks to covers or (I have one, and it's superb) instrumental albums. Five times in a row winner of Guitar Player magazine's "Best Country Guitarist". Not bad from a Brit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGU63KqXuZk
If you really want to cringe at Brits trying to look "Southern" (the song's OK), try Matchbox from 1979. Somehow I don't think the whole flag thing works for them as well as Lynyrd Skynyrd: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkJIqL0f50c
...Though as to an earlier post:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>By Jeff Fries on November 6, 2008 6:09 PM
>"Does such a thing as a conservative dancer even exist?"
>Well, Simone Clarke, who was shamefully hounded out of her Prima Ballerina position in the English National Ballet >because she joined the British National Party out of concern about immigration.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Hooey. She deserved it. The BNP are thoroughly obnoxious. British police and prison staff are banned from joining them; all mainstream political parties keep their distance. They are remodelled neo-nazis who have ditched the (public) face of anti-semitism + all things non-white in favour of an anti-Islamic stance ... but that is just to get elected. Underneath they are still the same whites-only racists. For a US comparison think David Duke as opposed to the old KKK. One doubts that Mrs Ebert or the current president-elect would be welcome at one of their coffee mornings. The "wiki", alright, Wikipedia page provides many good links from editorially sound sources to prove it. Some of the latter e.g. Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph are conservative newspapers too.
Please don't let Mr Fries get away with kidding you about the BNP. Just remember not to confuse it with the Banque National de Paris, the sight of whose enormous initials is truly disorienting for any Briton in France who hasn't seen them on a building before in anything other than spray paint.
& conservative dancer? -- Given that she was King Ludwig of Bavaria's mistress, would Lola Montes count? See Roger's review here: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19550101/REVIEWS/907280301/1023
You are a wise and thoughtful man Mr. Ebert. It's always easy to take the cheep shots, but as usual, you rise above that.
I can't say I'm a big c&w fan, but that's not really the point, is it.
Thanks again for another insightful post. As always, looking forward the next one.
Just to point out that Sleepy John Estes is not a country singer but a blues singer, whom I also have on my iPod.
Dan S. commented that he wondered what sort of music Obama likes. Here's a link that should give us all some insight:
What's on Obama's iPod?
I lived in Rantoul from age 12 to 17 and my Dad still owns a Tavern across from the Train Station there - Bud's Bar, and the trains still roll on through every day, though not at 90 miles an hour.
The Home Theater marquee and ticket window is still there, (on Main Street, not Mean Street) but the last movie was shown sometimes in the the late 1970s. A larger two screen movie theater named "The Wings" opened at that time. Odd name for a theater, but it was so named because it had "two wings" and also because of Chanute Air Force Base. The Home is now used as storage - and according to my Dad, whose lived in Rantoul since 1937, that's because the building itself is apparently too small for most retail. Want to see more? Visit http://flickr.com/search/?q=home+theater+rantoul
The base closed in the early 90s and the Wings theater closed in the early 2000s due to the opening of a large multiplex in the expanding shopping developments of Champaign, just 12 miles away. So Rantoul is now a town without a movie theater - which strikes me as being terribly sad.
Of all the souls that stand create
I have elected one.
When sense from spirit files away,
And subterfuge is done;
When that which is and that which was
Apart, intrinsic, stand,
And this brief tragedy of flesh
Is shifted like a sand;
When figures show their royal front
And mists are carved away,--
Behold the atom I preferred
To all the lists of clay!
Emily Dickinson
If Bush was a better man he would have ended the NEA (yes I'm against the use of taxes for such things. That's what charities are for).
But if I were in charge, and had to keep the NEA alive, I would have chosen the wnoderful and brilliant John Zorn. But unfortunately, or fortunately, he's too busy putting out amazing albums and supporting one of the great scenes in modern music - the NY improv scene.
A touching column. I too admire the work of John Prine and Steve Goodman, I wasn't aware that John had a hand in the verse from "You Never Even Called Me By My Name." "Dear Abby" is also one of my favorite Prine songs, even if it is a little lightweight. And hearing "City of New Orleans" gives me chills.
Let me also second Rocco above, who recommended Townes Van Zandt. Like Steve Goodman, Townes was gone too soon. Steve Earle (a great alt-country artist and songwriter in his own right) once said that Townes was "the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that." In fairness, Dylan was a fan of Van Zandt himself.
Steve Goodman was the king. I love the story about how he was in pretty bad shape from luekemia, going through O'Hare, looking up at the sign and saying, "Why do they have to call it a 'terminal'"? Great musician whose time was up way too soon.
John Prine used to play once a week at the old Fifth Peg, the Old Town School of Folk Music's pub on Armitage Avenue off of Lincoln. I would go to here him about three times a month. It got to the point where he would recognize me by site and on slow nights would give me a nod.
One of my best friends was stationed at Udorn Air Force base in Thailand. He was in a safe place away from the insanity faced by the grunts in Viet Nam. But Udorn was a place for R&R and for recovery of wounded troops with injuries not sever enough for Japan. He would drink with the with them at the E Club and listen to their horror stories. He was personally affected by their stories and became a sort of empath that took away some of the troops pain whose stories they would never tell their families. He saw it as part of his humanitarian duty to give what solace he could, even if it was only to listen.
After his tour of duty, he returned home for a month before his next assignment. He would where his uniform at all times. When I told him he could lighten up a bit and where his civvies. I had never seen such seething anger at me when he said he was proud to where his uniform and did not give a damn.
I told him of this great singer I wanted him to hear. We went to John's show. We were sitting in the front row, no more than seven feet from the mike. When John came out, he did a double take at my friend in full dress. He sang every song except "Sam Stone". He announced his last song, and as he was about to walk away, I said "Sing it, John". He looked at my friend and said "Are you sure, Man?". "Yes", replied. He sang "Sam Stone" and got away from his the mike as quick as he could.
My buddy said he was a really great singer. We left and in my car, my friend broke down and sobbed with heart rendering intensity for forty-five minutes. We did not speak until I got him home. When I saw him the next day, he was wearing civvies. "I'm never going wear a uniform again. He never did. His next posting in Eugenie, OR was a little loose and he wore civvies to work.
John may have saved him with one song in one night from nightmares for the rest of his life.
I love all the John Prine songs mentioned. But my favorite is "Paradise", a lament of a young man whose childhood memories of his favorite place in the world had been decimated by corporate greed. The chorus may be the best five lines written.
"Oh, Daddy won't you take me down to Julenburg County
Down by the green waters where paradise lays
Well, I'm sorry my son, but your too late in askin'
Mr. Peobody's coal mine has taken it away"
We who love central and Southern Illinois know all too much about the devastation of Peobody Coal Company.
Well, I can see that you not only have great taste in movies but great taste in music as well. Country & western is one of my favorite genres too, because it produced some of the best songwriters of the 20th century: Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, Merle Haggard. And all great, great singers too! What I really love about this kind of music is its love of the clever lyric, its earthiness, and its reassuring formula, which has endless permutations.
Of course, John Prine comes out of this tradition and is one of the great singer-songwriters. So many excellent songs - "Grandpa Was a Carpenter," "Paradise" (sung with Steve Goodman), and "Souvenirs," possibly my favorite John Prine song.
All the snow has turned to water,
Christmas days have come and gone.
Broken toys and faded colours are all that's left to linger on.
I hate graveyards and old oawn shops,
For they always bring me tears.
I can't forgive the way they robbed me of my childhood souvenirs.
Memories, they can't be boughten.
They can't be won at carnivals for free.
Well it took me years to get those souvenirs,
And i don't know how they slipped away from me.
Broken hearts and dirty windows
Make life difficult to see.
That's why last night and this morning
Always look the same to me.
And I hate reading old love letters
For they always bring me tears.
I can't forget the way they robbed me,
Of my sweetheart's souvenirs.
Memories they can't be boughten,
They can't be won at carnivals for free.
Well it took me years to get those souvenirs
And i don't know how they slipped away from me.
I loved the syrup story. Laughed out loud at work when I read it and now can't stop smiling when I think about. Thanks for making my Friday!
I appreciate and third the previous rounds of Townes Van Zandt love. His reply to the Steve Earle proclamation was also fantastic. When asked about it, he replied, (not exact) "I've met Bob Dylan, and I've met his bodyguards, and I don't think Steve could get anywhere near his coffee table."
"Tecumsah Valley" is one of the best songs ever written; hands-down. And subsequently, Gypsy Sally is one of the best names of a character used in a song ever.
So this is off any topic whatsoever but I notice you've suddenly transitioned from stars to thumbs, in your summaries at any rate. This was such a mindbogglingly obvious way to replace the star system I wonder why no-one thought of it before.
Deborah: Thanks for the link regarding Obasma's musical tastes. While I note with Jersey pride his comments about Springsteen, I'm also glad to see Howlin' Wolf, Miles Davis,John Coltrane, and Charlie Parker on the list. Maybe when it's Obama's turn he'll appoint Wynton Marsalis to the NCA.
Other famous repub's mostly from the Golden Era, but of course ;): James Cagney, Frank Capra, John Ford, Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby, Cary Crant (one of the greatest of all actors IMO), Errol Flynn, Glenn Ford, Clack Gable, Walt Disney, Cecil B. DeMille, William Holden, Rock Hudson, Dean Martin, Robert Mitchum - is this true Roger? I know he's your numero uno, he seems more the Libertarian type, Irene Dunne, Frank Sinatra (Dem to Repub switch), Robert Taylor, Robert Montgomery. Hollywood sure has changed...
Do you think Hank Williams Sr. would beat the hell outa Jr. if he knew that Jr. was whoring himself out doing Monday night football songs? Maybe not...but I'll bet Hank III hates seeing his dad paraded by large chested women in broncos jersey's.
...actually, Hank Jr. might have the right idea...hmmmm
Roger:
I generally concur with you. Mr. Greenwood represents the tastes of many Americans and while I might not totally share them, it is uniquely an American thing that we include them. I believe that "country music" is for many a perjorative label. I consider traditional country music as a true folk music. While Mr. Greenwood's music has always seemed a bit processed, he is a credible singer. He most surely has an appreciation for other artists and forms. It reminds of the exchange between Chuck Berry and Keith Richards in "Hail Hail Rock and Roll"---Keith was playing some mellow chords and Chuck was appreciative. He asked Keith why he did not play that style more often. Keith succinctly replied "ain't no money in it Chuck". Everyone has to do the gig that puts the meat on the table.
The Prine/Goodman duet version of "Souvenirs," which can be found on Prine's "Great Days" anthology, is one of the songs I have requested be played at my memorial service.
"I hate graveyards and old pawn shops
For they always bring me tears
I can't forgive the way they robbed me
Of my childhood souvenirs."
I've always thought, too, that the chorus of "Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow) offered some true words to live by:
"You can gaze out the window, get mad and get madder
Throw your hands in the air, say 'What does it matter?'
But it don't do no good to get angry, so help me I know
For a heart stained in anger grows weak and grows bitter
You become your own prisoner as you watch yourself sit there
Wrapped up in a trap of your very own chain of sorrow."
Finally, the last time I saw JP in concert, he told a very humorous story about a woman at one of his shows who kept hollering for him to play his "happy enchilada" song. He said he told her he had no idea what she was talking about because he'd never, ever used the word "enchilada" in a song.
Well, to make a long story short, it turned out the woman wanted to hear "That's the Way That the World Goes 'Round," the chorus of which contains the line "It's a half an inch of water and you think you're gonna drown."
"Half an inch of water," I guess, sounds a bit like "happy enchilada" if you're not paying close attention!
You had the opportunity, but you neglected to mention the immortal Bob Gibson, to whom you have referred in your reviews from time to time. This was a great performer and a genuinely nice and endearing man.
Mr. Ebert,
I can forgive your decision to not be outraged at this appointment, especially after reading your eloquent defense of country music. What I cannot forgive is getting God Bless the USA stuck in my head for the rest of the day. It is the worst, most non-poetic, uninspiring, treacly, simplistic song ever, and I hate having to defend myself against people who imply I'm un-American for hating it.
Given the first two paragraphs of this article, I was steeling myself for a long paralipsis, but, having reached the end, I find a lovely rumination on Country and Western Music (not to mention a fair defence of Mr. Greenwood) That is why I enjoy reading you, Roger: forever fresh and unexpected.
I understand that it is historical fact that Thomas Jefferson founded the Democratic party, but I sense a certain pride or possessiveness that suggests you wish to say he founded the ideals of our current Democratic party, which is simply not the case. Jefferson is closest to being what the Libertarian Party is today, which is similar to the Democratic party in terms of personal liberty but very different in the government's role. Tossing Jefferson's name into a discussion about the National Endowment of the Arts, a program he would have undoubtedly opposed, is a bit irresponsible. True he was a talented artist, but he wouldn't have let his hobbies skew his politics. He was a bigger man than that. Anyway, most donations to the arts are made by those evil corporations anyway, so the Natioanl Endowment isn't a big factor in the preservation of the arts. I wish we could make people care about theater and literature, but government programs aren't going to do that. It is not the means of production, but the means of consumption which is important here.
As others have said here, thanks for calling attention to Steve Goodman. I first heard City of New Orleans when my little brother learned to play it on the guitar at the Old Town School when they were still in a strip mall in Skokie. Not enough people know who he was.
I don't believe any discussion of gone-too-soon American songwriters is complete without mentioning Warren Zevon, who had the humor and sense of personal irony at the end to cover Knocking on Heaven's Door on his final album. That album closes with Keep Me In Your Heart For A While, which should include a warning label not to listen to while driving (you won't see the road through your tears). I'd have liked to seen him on the NCA.
Roger,
I tell people I'm so conservative that I'm a liberal. My theory being the dial goes right or left but meets at the bottom. Surely you must love Austin City Limits on PBS. It's the best TV show on music and possibly the best TV show period.
Brevity is the soul of wit
Ebert: Brevity = wit.
You like the Blue Sky Boys? I suppose it makes sense, what with all the other singers and songwriters you mentioned. I've heard their music on a couple of soundtracks over the years. "Paper Moon" comes to mind. Yeah, Prine made me cry. Made me laugh, too. And Steve Goodman, I just miss him. Thanks.
Broken hearts and dirty windows
Make life difficult to see.
That's why last night and this morning
Always look the same to me.
I have always been drawn to songs that capture the signigfcance of the overlooked jems all around us. I prefer them to the grand scale anthems geared to make us want to march off to war. The songs that Joe Bonham warned us about in "Johnnie Got His Gun". God Bless the USA. Sound and Fury signigying nothing. God Bless the USA. I surely hope God will. But Let God also protect us from the drum bangers.
I grew up just uphill of the freight line tracks and played under the tressel. I admit we used to throw rocks at the automobiles stacked on freight cars and run befor the caboose could get a look at us. Bored to destruction. A mispent youth led to addiction and suicidal tendencies that took me to the door of the 12 steps. There I found a new foundation and formula for living plus a sense of humor. John Prine is more significant now, sober, than he was when I wore an illegal smile.
You may drive a Chevy
You may drive a Frod
You may drive around this town
till you just get bored.
And then you change your mind
for something else to do
Then you heart gets bored with your mind
and it changes you.
John Prine, Steve Goodman. They sing to the heart and it changes me. Gets me throug. And I cry and I laugh but I don't need to get high to do either. And I'm grateful, so thanks Roger E.
Roger, are you fan of Dolly Parton? I've had a limited exposure to c&w, but she's tops with me. I've no idea what she is politically, though she supposedly answered when asked by Bill O’Reilly if she was a conservative: “Not really, I’m more patriotic than political.” God bless 'er!
Another funny response came when she was asked her opinion of gay marriage: “Gay people should have the right to be as miserable" as married straight people are. Ha!
She specializes in tearjerkers, but one song that often falls under the radar is "The Grass Is Blue." Pull out the hanky for that one.
Ebert: You inspired me to hunt down one of my old Dolly Parton interviews, which I will display shortly in our new department, "First time online."
The Clintonites not only unplugged the PCs on their way out the door, they pulled all of the "W" keys out of the PCs in protest, and trashed Air Force One. - David G.
There was nothing unusual in the White House...
"The General Services Administration found nothing unusual about the condition of White House offices after Clinton officials left, and President Bush's staff said it had no records that indicated damage or subsequent repair work, the accounting office manager said."
or Air Force One.
"There was a companion story that Air Force One had been the victim of the outgoing Clintons and that numerous items from aboard the plane had been pilfered. President Bush himself told reporters aboard Air Force one on February 12, 2001, that the report was not true. According to Salon Washington correspondent Jake Tipper, Bush brought up the subject because the chief steward aboard Air Force One told him the allegations were false."
Roger: I love you and don't want to argue about your opinions (though I assume that your hand would break from the vigorous typing explaining to me how wrong and/or ignorant I am to believe what I do), but I would reduce the amount of pompous that you use in the rice cooker.
If Obama wants a successful presidency, his hope should be that the far left wing stops the pointing and laughing at 50 million Americans who did not vote for democrats. The Republicans have set a tone of respect and reconciliation with the well-earned win by President-Elect Obama. God, even Elizabeth Hasselback is on board. But that will could easily be diminished if the taunting of traditional values continues.
Ebert: Can't say as I've heard any taunting. Why must it be "far left wing?" Why not left wing, ofr left, or liberals, or center-left, or "moderate and liberal coalition," or "majority?" Why is Republicans capitalized but not Democrats? Both are proper nouns. The "tone of respect and reconciliation" is lacking from some of the posts above, as in yours. What would "taunting of traditional values" consist of? Torture? Illegal wiretaps? Uncontrolled deficit spending? Declaring war based on deliberate lies to the American people? The Minnesota GOP headquarters sending out mailings that Obama is a Muslim?
Time to illegally download some John Prine!
You know how John Edwards talked about the Two Americas? Well there are at least a dozen different art(s) worlds in this country. We separate by profession, by money, by political orientation. You pointed to two-- the good guys and the bad guys of C & W. Dixie Chicks, Steve Earle? Good guys. Obama should give the Dixie Chicks a Congressional Medal of Honor for their courageous behavior all those years ago...
So, two worlds in C & W: left and right. Greenwood is typical fascist art, and that is, ideology masquerading as art, ideology in song. Art for people who don't read. Appalling, but not surprising.
How about in film? Readers of this blog are surely aware of the titanic struggles of indies vs. the majors. These days there seems to be a third position, partially supported and funded by the major studios, as long as it remains vaguely profitable. Though some have suggested the majors are gradually folding these pseudo-indies back into themselves, which would be a bad sign for this middle ground.
The visual arts, my chosen field, is at an intriguing crossroads. In Europe, the arts receives a great deal of government funding, and must ironically deal with bureaucrats who want to take credit for progressiveness in art. Here, the government has given us squat for years, although periodically artists are still able to create useful scandals for blowhard politicians, i.e. "Sensation" at the Brooklyn Museum, which allowed loathsome Giuliani to shore up his base in 1999.
No-- here the arts depends on the rich. And not just the sorta rich, but the very, very, very rich. And as you might imagine, we do not do well in times of economic instability. The most recent auctions at Sotheby's and Christie's, the Bush and McCain of the art world, were flat as griddle cakes. Soon galleries all over Chelsea in New York, which over the last 10 years has blossomed into a boundless Art Mall complete with luxury condos and maddeningly expensive boutiques and bars, will begin to shutter their doors.
I for one predict a change in the art world, one which has been brewing for some time. You see, there are many artists out there whose goals have never been to make a killing or ascend to Damien Hirstesque stardom. And these artists know how to get by when times are bad-- times are always bad for us! The practices that this generation have been developing do not depend on sales and pretty objects; they are based in actions in public spaces, social interchange with local communities; humble art. This is not to say that such artists -resist- the sale of their work, but what they sell has changed, and tends to be by-products of actions that cannot be sold.
Here's hoping that these art-world underdogs take center stage, now that buyers are closing their wallets.
I've never bought into the take that all great artists/entertainers are liberal. Personally, I think it's lazy thinking. Where would the world be without the works of Doestoevsky, T.S. Elliot, Robert Frost, Ray Bradbury or Alexander Sohlzhenitsyn, to name a few writers? Speaking of the latter, I never understood why kids never honored him on t-shirts for tearing down the gulag system, instead of honoring a man who helped create it--Che Guevara. Some even argue Shakespeare was culturally conservative with his need for a divine order in the universe, but I'll remain agnostic on that question.
Would the cannon of film be the the same without John Ford (who you yourself described as a right wing filmmaker), Frank Capra or Clint Eastwood? Clint has said Changeling is a call for limiting the powers of government. How about John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Robert Duvall, Gary Oldman, Mel Gibson, Gary Cooper, William Holden, Glenn Ford or all those original studio heads who helped create the Hollywood dream factory?
And in terms of regional rather than political differences, northerners can continue mocking the south as backward all they want, but without her (and despite all her sins), we would never have the Blues, Jazz, Rock and Roll, Country/Western, Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Harper Lee, Truman Capote and Cormac McCarthy, to name a few. You could actually make a case that the South is the craddle of American culture.
Ebert: A call for limiting the powers of government would make Clint Eastwood a Taft-Goldwater-Paul conservative, but not a Bush-Cheney conservative. I sort of said that in my review.
Though, I'm more of an alt-Country" (Lyle Lovett) than straight up "country" fan, my experience tells me that, given your list, you'd enjoy Brad Paisley, Lyle Lovett, and the newest Loretta Lynn recording "Van Lear Rose". Lynn's record, produced by indie rocker Jack White, is one of my favorites.
Once upon a time....
... back in April of '99, I had a wonderful week in Chicago that included watching the Cubs play. I can't remember who they played. I remember it was cold and raining. The game was delayed for two hours. I bought an old-style black Cubbies cap to keep the rain off my head. Sossa hit his first home-game home-run of the year.
I'm hoping to come back again next month with my son. See if I can find that diner again where I had the Best Pizza Ever. Watch the Blackhawks play the BlueJackets.
Yeah. Hockey, not baseball. Posts like this refresh the sick feeling around my heart familiar to any Expos fan who doesn't even have a sad sack team to root and hope for anymore.
Talk about yer country song in the making....
I love John Prine and especially Steve Goodman. Roger, I'd love to read more of your anecdotes about the music scene in Chicago at that time.
Clay Eals recently captured a lot of the flavor of that period in his Steve Goodman biography (Facing the Music). It's a great history of a beautiful man and a great time in American folk/country music. As I recall, you must have been interviewed for the book too since I remember some quotes from you.
Steve Goodman exuded life in his performances and his music. I'm glad you had the rare opportunity to know him.
Joe
We should just thank our lucky stars he didn't choose Ted Nugent or Kirk Cameron.
A few thoughts...
First, great music as always appreciated. I have some Prine and Keen on my iTunes, but no Goodman. That will change.
Second, a typo by an earlier reader gave me a thought. If our 42nd president ever decided to ditch politics and hit the road with his sax, he could do worse for a band name than "Bill and the Clin-Tones."
Third, I now have a massive hunger for coffee'd and syruped pancakes. Having washed down more than a few with a mouthful of coffee, I can't help but note that the flavors were complimentary. Aside from having to eat them with a spoon rather than a fork and knife, can you remember how they tasted? A horrible question to ask after the great punchline, but, while curiosity ain't gonna kill this particular cat, either, his taste buds might wish that it had.
Fourth, everyone seems to be posting sad or bittersweet songs. This is only fair, as country makes some of the most mournful songs. So, I'll add a favorite artist of mine to the mix. Mark Knopfler, former front-man of Dire Straits, has always been able to tell a great story accompanied by very sensitive music. Sometimes, he makes his songs a history lesson; "Sailing to Philadelphia" is about the Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, "Done With Bonaparte" tells the story of a disillusioned soldier, "Song for Sonny Liston" is self-explanatory, "Boom, Like That" chronicles Ray Krok's takeover of a small, family owned California burger chain. I could go on ad infinitum, ad nauseum, but I just wanted to post the lyrics to this song of his, "Hill Farmer's Blues." I don't know its back story, I just know what it makes me feel.
I'm going into tow law
For what I need
Chain for the ripsaw
Killer for the weed
The dog's at the back door
Leave him be
Don't feed him jack
And don't wait up for me
Going into tow law
To fuel my fire
Shells for the twelve
And razor wire
The dog's at the back door
Leave him be
Don't do jack
And don't wait up for me
So bad so bad
So bad so bad
I'm going into tow law
To have my fun
Don't get me wrong
You were the only one
Behind my back lord
You made a fool of me
Don't do jack
And don't wait up for me
So bad so bad
So bad so bad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO4-GvBAW1w
Mr. Ebert,
I am perhaps a most unlikely candidate for 'getting' this post:
grew up in Tehran, Iran and have only been living for the past few years in Toronto, never been to the States because I find the fingerprinting routine at the borders demeaning, never watched a baseball game from start to finish, shall I go on?
but there was something deeply moving about the song that is truly universal. it is deeply sad and calmly joyful at the same time, like the bitter awareness and playful acceptance of death. you dont need to be a cub's fan for 'getting' that.
should I go on and say that I most miserably miss my home and the only thing keeping me here is the possibility of watching movies I love uncensored on the big screen? or that I have been a fan of your writing ever since I read translations of your reviews in Iranian cinematic magazines or that my greatest fear is dying away from home?
"I don't believe any discussion of gone-too-soon American songwriters is complete without mentioning Warren Zevon, who had the humor and sense of personal irony at the end to cover Knocking on Heaven's Door on his final album. That album closes with Keep Me In Your Heart For A While, which should include a warning label not to listen to while driving (you won't see the road through your tears). I'd have liked to seen him on the NCA."
"Keep Me in Your Heart" is another song I want played at my memorial service. The courageous manner in which WZ faced his own mortality was an inspiration.
I am ecstatic that you have Asleep at the Wheel on your iPod.
You've sparked something in me and I almost wish I could discuss this in person with you. As a staunch conservative who has been a fan of yours and film for years I'm struck by your characterization of conservatives with regards to the arts. You're absolutely right that the list of conservative (Republican) artists is a short one but I can't decide whether that's because there are fewer of them or whether they are simply less successful.
There is psychology to ideology. I don't believe conservatives are ignorant of art but like many other things we differ in what we find artistic. If you believe that art like beauty is in the eye of the beholder then certainly liberals and conservatives may see the same picture in completely separate ways.
A gentleman who worked for me as a graphic artist and myself got into a discussion about that age old question "what is art". Of course, as anyone knows, art is indefinable so the conversation turned to what we know art isn't. I mentioned that my most favorite pieces of art were nature scenes. I was quickly schooled. "That's not art, that's talent."
I thought about it and yeah, he was right. That's not art, it's talent. So I ask, "What is art?" He didn't know and I still don't...but I have an idea.
When you get down to it most things we commonly describe as being art like songwriting, acting, dancing are not art at all, they're a reflection of talent and the desire of the public. But at the same time however almost anything can be art because art speaks to the mind and the soul. Not to be confused with those things that appeal to our eyes and ears or our other three senses.
There is that great scene in Ratatouille where the critic after taking a bite of the dish "ratatouille" is given a flashback of a uniquely fond memory from his childhood. My wife makes a lot og good meals but there is that occasion when the meal transcends it's purpose. It sparks an emotion, an idea, a memory. My wife in that moment becomes a culinary artist. Or maybe not.
Maybe the artist is us. We interpret the things we see, hear and touch. No one can do that for us. The "artist" creates the work, our mind does the rest. If we feel nothing at all it's a failure. If we feel what the artist intended then he/she is lucky. And if we feel something entirely different, it's a wonder.
So what's the difference between liberals and conservatives? I believe conservatives respond to those things we find most real and liberals respond to those things that make them feel something they have never felt before. One seeks comfort, the other seeks enlightenment.
So naturally the liberal mind would be more apt to pursue new forms, new styles as a way to enlighten themselves further. Continually exposing themselves to fresh talents. To a conservative the world is filled with art, why change a good thing?
I wouldn't say either is better or worse necessarily but like politics we just see things differently.
I don't want to argue with you Roger, but they weren't unplugged, but rather the cords were cut.
"Oh, Daddy won't you take me down to Julenburg County
Down by the green waters where paradise lays
Well, I'm sorry my son, but your too late in askin'
Mr. Peobody's coal mine has taken it away"
A couple of small corrections. It's:
"Daddy, won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River, where Paradise lays."
Muhlenberg County, Ky., Paradise, Ky., and the Green River all are very real places in the western part of the state, where John's maternal grandparents lived and where John often would visit as a child.
To those touting alt-country above:
Is there a better fit for Roger's ear than the work of the Chicago band Wilco? If only for the joy of introducing them to each other: "Roger.... Wilco".
More seriously, they bring such an intelligent voice to what could better be defined as 'Americana' than country (since the 'country' in Country music is America anyway), and the band's songwriter Jeff Tweedy follows in the great footsteps of Stephen Foster, The Carter Family, the Band (largely Canadian heritage but firmly American content), Prine, and others. See the song "Ashes of the American Flag" from the album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, or ANY cut from that album, for that matter.
In the same vein as the pancake story, from a friend of mine:
He's from a small community in Newfoundland, where inhaibtants see the capital city of St. John's as 'grand'. All hands - aunts, uncles, etc. - were going 'into town' for grandmother's birthday dinner. An uncle reminded everyone to watch their p's and q's. Don't say "mudder/brudder/fodder", say "mother/brother/father".
Everything's fine at the restaurant, until one particularly cautious aunt says "Pass the buther, please".
Thanks, Roger! For 15 years I've thought I was the only one who ever poured coffee on my pancakes by mistake. At the time I figured, "Well if I usually alternate bites of pancakes with sips of coffeee, I suppose I can do them both at the same time". A few minutes later my stomach strongly rejected the logic.
Roger,
You Scoped out your own assumptions about Lee Greenwood and what merit, if any, warranted his appointment to the NCA. And you made transparent your assumptions, your background checks and your revised opinion.
Your generous intellect is one quality that makes your movie reviews helpful to me.
As long as Dana Gioia is chair of the NEA and the NCA, I think the US is in good hands.
I believe the Shakespeare in American Communities Initiative is safe. I hope it's safe. It's one of the most practical efforts I've witnessed at extending the reach of the arts. Gioa has been teaching the need of returning poetry to an oral / aural experience with language. The Shakespeare project goes a long way in letting students hear the beauty of spoken language. I think this will lead many to opening their minds to the beauty of written language.
Lastly, your reviews of "Synecdoche, New York" and of "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" remind me that life's vicissitudes are masked by the mundane. This excerpt from your review of "Synecdoche" could fit in your review of "Striped Pajamas":
"In the process, we place the people in our lives into compartments and define how they should behave to our advantage. Because we cannot force them to follow our desires, we deal with projections of them created in our minds. But they will be contrary and have wills of their own. Eventually new projections of us are dealing with new projections of them. Sometimes versions of ourselves disagree."
That line in the song about crushed beer cups got to me....I remember Jack Brickhouse doing the game wrap-up on WGN and in the back ground you could hear all the kids popping the cups with their feet because they were always day games and they were always filled with kids. To this day when I hear that sound I think of my youth on hot summer days listening to Jack Brickhouse.....thank god I grew up in those wonderful days
The Clintonites not only unplugged the PCs on their way out the door, they pulled all of the "W" keys out of the PCs in protest, and trashed Air Force One. - David G.
There was nothing unusual in the White House...
"The General Services Administration found nothing unusual about the condition of White House offices after Clinton officials left, and President Bush's staff said it had no records that indicated damage or subsequent repair work, the accounting office manager said."
or Air Force One.
"There was a companion story that Air Force One had been the victim of the outgoing Clintons and that numerous items from aboard the plane had been pilfered. President Bush himself told reporters aboard Air Force one on February 12, 2001, that the report was not true. According to Salon Washington correspondent Jake Tipper, Bush brought up the subject because the chief steward aboard Air Force One told him the allegations were false."
I'm reaching into my memory banks, but I believe sometime after Watergate legislation was adopted that required an administration to 'clean house' regarding information, wiping computers, clearing files, etc. for the next administration. Hence Bush I cleaned out for Clinton, Clinton cleaned out for Bush II, etc. Like most legislation it was probably well-intentioned but harmful in application.
Here's looking forward to the First Time Online department.
Music, just like any other art, comes in all different shapes and tastes. If the selection of Lee Greenwood was the full extent of Bush's legacy, we'd be in pretty good shape.
Also, I can't let this slide:
"By David G. on November 6, 2008 9:06 PM
The Clintonites not only unplugged the PCs on their way out the door, they pulled all of the "W" keys out of the PCs in protest, and trashed Air Force One.
That was debunked long ago. Here's a link to an article with more information.
I'm not from the US but from England. I'm 29. Not so many people over here have ever heard of John Prine. A friend of mine introduced me to his first album. Sam Stone made me cry. It's funny when you find some music you love that you think is not popular, it feels like it's a secret you've found that's yours alone. It's a shock, but a pleasant one, to learn that so many other people love it too. Try Pretty Good Day by Loudon Wainwright III or The Band Played Waltzing Mathilda as covered by The Pogues. They make me cry too. There'd be fewer soldiers if young men listened to folk music.
You do like 'em bleak, doncha? Nothing wrong with a purely upbeat number, untwinged by irony or shame.
Surely, at this singular point in history, there's not a reasonable soul among us who couldn't sing: "And there ain't no doubt I love this land."
Hello, Roger. We exchanged a few e-mails many years ago on Genesis.
I love Steve Goodman. The song that illustrates your point better than A Dying Cub Fans Last Request is Somebody Else's Troubles. The studio version featured Bob Dylan on piano and background vocals.
Yesterday I went downtown and saw an old-time picture show
And the hero got a pie in the face;
He didn't like that, and he stormed around the screen.
Everybody else was laughin' in that place.
Chorus: That's 'cause it ain't hard
To get along with somebody else's troubles,
And they don't make you lose any sleep at night.
Just as long as fate is there bustin' somebody else's bubbles,
Everything's gonna be all right.
Everything's gonna be all right.
Tell me, Did you ever have to pay for something that you didn't do,
Did you ever figure out the reason why?
When the doctor says this is gonna hurt me a lot more than this hurts you
Did you ever figure out that, that's a lie?
Chorus: That's 'cause it ain't hard
To get along with somebody else's troubles,
And they don't make you lose any sleep at night.
Just as long as fate is there bustin' somebody else's bubbles,
Everything's gonna be all right.
Everything's gonna be all right.
And I saw the boss come a-walking down along that factory line,
He said, "We all have to tighten up our belts."
But he didn't look any thinner than he did a year ago,
And I wonder just how hungry that man felt.
Chorus: That's 'cause it ain't hard
To get along with somebody else's troubles,
And they don't make you lose any sleep at night.
Just as long as fate is there bustin' somebody else's bubbles,
Everything's gonna be all right.
Everything's gonna be all right.
Now, I asked that undertaker what it took to make him laugh
When all he ever saw is people crying,
First he hands me a bunch of flowers that he'd received on my behalf,
And said, "Steve, business just gets better all the time."
My introduction to John Prine.
It was the fall of 1972 and I had moved to Bucks County PA just a few months earlier. While walking in the center of Doylestown one day I spotted a poster for a Bonnie Raitt concert to be held at Delaware Valley College that coming weekend. No advance tickets, just buy at the door. Appearing on the bill were two bands I had never heard of at that time. Little Feat and a group called Eric, Lurch and Howard. The trio opened first (two guitars and a bass) and they were great. They played a 45 minute folk set that I thought was one of the greatest things I had ever heard up to that point. I had never heard any of their songs before so I assumed they were originals. Then Little Feat with the great Lowell George leading the way and I fell in love, then Bonnie followed by Bonnie and Little feat on the 3 encore numbers. I have seen all of the greats in my time but that is still the most intense concert I have ever been to. Listen to Little Feat on Goodbye Columbus sometime.
The next day I went to a record store and bought all I could find of Little Feat, I already owned all there currently was of Bonnie. but I could not find anything on Eric, Lurch and Howard.
About three months later I was in a bar and started to play pool with a man who would go on to become my best friend, best man at my wedding, and Godfather to my daughter. During our conversation that evening I found out that the man I was playing with was Howard Gibbons of Eric, Lurch and Howard and that the group was a local group not a recording act. They got the gig with Bonnie Raitt and Little Feat because of his friendship with those same musicians. As I asked him about the great songs they played that night and if they had an album out that I could buy he replied that no, there was no album, and all of the songs they played were by an artist named John Prine. He told me that they had made the announcement at the concert but I guess it didn't register with me. The next day I went out and purchased "John Prine" and "Diamonds in the Rough". I listened to those albums so much that by the time a couple of months had gone by I knew the words and harmonies to every song. Howard and I used to drive all over the area in cars with no radio but if the conversation ever lulled he would break out the John Prine and I would pick up the harmony. I have seen John Prine many times over the years and he is now a permanent member of my iPod as well.
There were many times that I used his music to help me heal from one heartbreak or another, including the death of my best friend, but his greatest accomplishment was to open my mind to the wonders of music that transcends genre. I have many wonderful artists in my collection of rock, blues and country that I would never have known if I had never listened to him. He was and is an inspiration to singer songwriters and musicians of all stripes and his music has been covered by most of the greats. When you listed to Bonnie Raitt's version of "Angel From Montgomery" you can almost imagine that it was written just for her.
Roger you are continuing to amaze me with your taste. If you have some Dwight Yokum on your iPod as well (especially "This Time") then I have truly gained some insight into your soul. Take care, John
"Van Zandt's songwriting is undeniably beautiful and I'd suggest all your readers who haven't heard of him to check out this moving performances"
Agreed. Townes' performance of "Waiting around to die" in that film is also a favorite:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTGKzWDakK8
If I were going to pick a conservative country singer with connections to Sevierville, Tennessee, it wouldn't be Lee Greenwood, it would be Dolly Parton.
And I too love John Prine--my husband's and my favorite is "In Spite of Ourselves."
Oh, John Prine is the most underrated singer/songwriter in recent American history. As much as I love Dylan, I'd say I warm to Prine (and Joni Mitchell, and Leonard Cohen, if we're including Canadians) a lot easier and a lot more often.
I'll go beyond the obvious classics ("Sam Stone", "Hello In There," "Paradise", "Jesus The Missing Years") to hopefully post the lyrics to "Christmas In Prison", one of the best "waiting" songs ever written, and not a bad love song, either. And since it's Prine, it gets to be funny, too:
It was Christmas in prison
and the food was real good
we had turkey and pistols
carved out of wood
and I dream of her always
even when I don't dream
her name's on my tongue
and her blood's in my stream.
Chorus:
Wait awhile eternity
old mother nature's got nothing on me
come to me
run to me
come to me, now
we're rolling
my sweetheart
we're flowing
by God!
She reminds me of a chess game
with someone I admire
or a picnic in the rain
after a prairie fire
her heart is as big
as this whole goddamn jail
and she's sweeter than saccharine
at a drug store sale.
Chorus:
The search light in the big yard
swings round with the gun
and spotlights the snowflakes
like the dust in the sun
it's Christmas in prison
there'll be music tonight
I'll probably get homesick
I love you. Goodnight.
But Roger, is Prine a country singer? Not sure he quite fits that bill.
I still remember exactly where I was when I heard the news that Bill Clinton had been elected President. U2's 'ZooTV' tour had come to Vancouver, and halfway through the show the news was flashed with little fanfare on one of the giant screens. I can still feel the roar that went up.
Bono's lyrics have affected me over the years much the same way as Prine's have affected you, Roger. When Obama was declared the winner, I was thinking of the song 'Grace.'
She carries a pearl in perfect condition
What once was hurt, what once was friction
What left a mark no longer stings
Because Grace finds goodness in everything.
We liberals also have to put up with the dude who played Mr. Spock, Hulk Hogan, Rosie O'Donnell, Eric Roberts, Scott Weiland, a hack like Jon Bon Jovi, Nick Cannon, Jessica Alba and Jerry Springer (I adore him as a person, think he's extremely intelligent and very thoughtful and applaud him for using his trash TV show fame to talk about and campaign for worthy issues- but he's still Jerry Springer.)
You can imagine how celebrities such as Tyra Banks or Paula Abdul would be treated if they had endorsed John McCain this election cycle (instead of Obama and Clinton, respectively)? They would be instantly singled out for ridicule by liberals and mocked for their lack of understanding of politics and talent.
When they are liberals, they are treated as yet another celebrity verbally endorsing a liberal candidate (or giving a donation to their campaign or making a fun-for-all public appearance or performance at a political venue or otherwise linking themselves to a politician or party) but when they are conservatives, it attracts more attention and gets laughed at and criticized.
Not that outspoken Hollywood liberals aren't routinely bashed by the right but they seem to be bashed as a group as much as individuals while someone like Tom Selleck or Jessica Simpson is attacked as an individual. The relevance of their opinion is mocked as much as a liberal celebrity's- Jon Stewart laughingly suggesting that Selleck's knowledge of gun rights comes from playing a police officer on a TV show comes to mind.
Another alt-country genius who should be noted here is Maria McKee. Not only has she done a number of great albums, both as the lead singer of the late, great Lone Justice and as a solo performer, she even had the good taste to record a cover of "In the Long Run," a tune from a little-known film by the name of "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"
Oh, please. You are possibly the best movie reviewer in the world. You're a (sorry) lousy political pundit. When I visit this site (which I do; a lot--I'm haven't watched nearly enough good (or bad) movies, but I'm interested in what makes them great (or not), and you reveal that better than any other) I really want to think about movies, not ponder the question of why you think shoehorning a criticism of Sarah Palin into a review is a good idea. Your Greenwood post is a little incoherent--you start by bashing Bush (and there are plenty of things to bash Bush about. His intelligence isn't one of them--he did graduate from Yale) then you say he made the right decision, then you start talking about great C&W stars of the past, then you start copying and pasting song lyrics--like I said, it's a little hard to figure out, but I'm pretty sure that it could have done without the shot at Bush.
I mean, you have the right to your opinions, and it's your website and it attracts a lot more hits than mine, but still, stick to your strengths. Michael Jordan was the greatest basketball player in the world--he decided to do something else, and spent a year and a half embarrassing himself trying to hit curveballs. Don't make the same mistake. Write brilliant movie reviews, not bad political stuff.
BTW, this might sound a bit dissonant with the rest of my post, but I'd just like to say that I tremendously enjoy your blog and website.
Roger: Slightly off topic, but are you as fond of the country music in Stroszek as I am (which is to say quite a lot)?
You are the first person I've ever known who had Bob Wills on his iPod. Wills & His Texas Playboys were the only musical group my father would ever listen to. Subsequently, I was the only kid in Kindergarten who knew "Faded Love" but had never seen "Star Wars".
Regarding the comment about taunting by Democrats which you haven't observed...I have encountered it quite a bit, but mostly in the "blogosphere." I think the author of that comment has been in too many chat rooms and message boards, because the level of taunting and gloating there is unbelievable. But that's pretty common on the internet in my opinion--a lot of chat rooms bring out extremists of every ilk who feel powerful through insulting others.
I agree with that post, however, that Republicans have been quite conciliatory. Heck, even Karl Rove said the election of Obama is a moment that "every American should celebrate." I hope some Democrats in positions of power don't spoil the sense of shared opportunity by embracing a more partisan platform, just as I hope some Republicans don't spoil it by retreating to their failed agenda. I think the election of Barack Obama is actually a victory for the middle--his message was very centrist (no time here to discuss the misconstrued "Joe the Plumber" conversation), and if either party moves to the far side of the spectrum I will be very disappointed.
Ebert: Oh, I'm sure a lot of taunting goes on in all directions in the blogosphere. It is an environment ideally suited for attracting the childish and bringing out the worst in them. I am aware of no unmoderated blog commnt thread that is not infected by the moronic, the illiterate, the obscene and the cruel. Why do you think I read all the comments here? To keep my little corner of the web in quarantine. I have welcomed intelligent dissent in the comments above. Also some dittoheads. I will be glad to return to topics that draw comments not inspired by talk radio. Spare me the Freedom of Expression Act. There will never be one. Obama among countless others is opposed. It is ironic that it angers the very people who might benefit from it most.
I am also a big John Prine fan, although I wouldn't call him C&W. Maybe honky-tonk for lack of a better word. One of the best concerts I ever attended was a Prine/Arlo Guthrie concert at the Tennessee Theater in Knoxville back in the 80s.
Re: Paradise. The correct lyric is "Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it away." And actually, it didn't. Peabody Coal didn't strip mine Paradise; TVA tore it down in 1967 to build the Paradise Fossil Plant, which is still busy polluting the air today.
One of those fun facts to know and tell. :)
That syrup story gave me the biggest laugh in months
I disagree with your review of "Rope". I agree that it doesn't rank among Hitchcock's or Stewart's best work and I agree that it's not entirely successful in several ways but it's hardly a failure.
My biggest problem with "Rope" is the underlying material. It sometimes feels like the talky, high-flown, pretentious and occassionally creaky Broadway play it is based on.
The gimmicks of the body being in the middle of the room and on the brink of being discovered at any moment and the seemingly unbroken single shot actually do pay off.
I'd certainly recommend it to anyone studying Hitchcock's films and movies in general. It has some very good moments of black humor and wit and it's very watchable and entertaining.
I never met my grandfather on my mother's side, who passed in 1948. I'm told he was an aristocratic Englishman who fought and was wounded in the Boer War and never forgot his heritage, forever lamenting the American looseness in manners and protocol. His war wounds left him with permanent pain that led to alcoholism - one simply didn't complain in those days, let alone see a therapist. Do soldiers ever change? My grandmother had fallen in love with this older, dashing man, but by the time he died she so resented him that she never even considered dating or remarrying.
My mother told me her father's last words were "I think the Cubs are gonna do it this year." Those Cubbies take everyone in. My mother, now in her 70s, is still hopeful.
"Does such a thing as a conservative dancer even exist?" Hmm. Good question. I never thought of dance in political terms. Surprised to find out that you do. Didn't expect taht.
Ebert: Can't say as I've heard any taunting. Why must it be "far left wing?" Why not left wing, ofr left, or liberals, or center-left, or "moderate and liberal coalition," or "majority?" Why is Republicans capitalized but not Democrats? Both are proper nouns. The "tone of respect and reconciliation" is lacking from some of the posts above, as in yours. What would "taunting of traditional values" consist of? Torture? Illegal wiretaps? Uncontrolled deficit spending? Declaring war based on deliberate lies to the American people? The Minnesota GOP headquarters sending out mailings that Obama is a Muslim?
As a considerate retort: I used "far-left" in reference to the taunting because I do not hear moderate Democrats engaging in this at the moment. My fear is that they will and the country will become more divided than it already is. This is why I believe the Republicans lost a fair amount of political capital in 2000 and 2004 because of a fair amount of smugness that crept in. I think my point was that, while Obama won handily, if you look at the actual votes, a hell of a lot of people voted for McCain. And a lot of those people, like myself, were not enamored with him as a "conservative" candidate. We were more or less stuck with him (in Pennsylvania, all of the other candidates except for Ron Paul had dropped out before our primary). So, I wonder rhetorically what would happen if a more traditional Republican candidate had survived past the few primaries that dictated to the majority of the states who their candidate was to be. I think the tide was turning regardless, but it may have been closer. Who knows?
But I see this a lot in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic region: People who believe in organized religion are subtly or directly insulted for being religious. People who speak with some twang are "rednecks." And when you see the word "redneck" what image do you conjure in your mind? Stupidity? Poverty? Racists? Dental concerns? Incest? Seriously, this stereotype is portrayed over and over and over. And not one of these civil rights activists say boo about how these individuals are characterized.
I have been to Chicago once, loved it, but I have no idea of the social and political culture except from the news I read and watch. I understand it to be left-leaning (feel free to say "duh"). But, I sense the tone of elitism from this particular post which is why I chose to respond to the blog. And I am not a regular on any blog except yours Roger, and I love reasoned, invigorating and sarcastic (not mean-spirited) debate. There is plenty of that out there. And while I sense that we probably wouldn't ever call each other up to go out for a beer, I still raise my mug to you.
Roger, if you like country music in the vein of Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Merle Haggard and even (dare I say it?) Johnny Cash, you definitely need to add Jamey Johnson's "That Lonesome Sound" to your iPod. It's a country masterpiece. Unlike with most modern country, which seems like it was designed do little more than keep radio listeners entertained between commercials, Johnson plumbs real emotional depths. I mean, somehow, I can't imagine too many of today's "Nash Vegas" lightweights being able to pull off a line about trading his wife, his job and his home for "cocaine and a whore" like Johnson does!
Regardless of its authorship, "Dixie" probably qualifies as an authentically "American" song simply because of the wide dissemination of the song across the landscape of the US over time. And don't forget that the song's melody has had multiple appropriations, like any good folk song should. So, even while we are familiar with the Confederacy's "Dixie" as a major anthem for racist and traitorous values, it coexisted with "Union" versions that attack those values. The lyrics, then, are secondary to the pervasiveness of the melody, and so it is an icon for "American-ness," (or, at least, the struggle over what is "American") on its own.
I grew up not far from Muhlenburg County, so John Prine's been a favorite all my life. Can I recommend a Texan, Guy Clarke, as another wonderful songwriter ("Rita Ballou" and "LA Freeway" especially)
I can't stand what passes for country music these days, but give me the Outlaw guys and before, and I'll listen all day.
As far as conservative celebs go, don't forget the great David Mamet, James Woods, Dennis Miller, Dennis Hopper, or Ron Silver, all recent conservative converts. I'd much rather see one of them over Lee Greenwood.
Ebert: Conservative celebs, you bet. But did they vote for McCain? I am thinking of three who almost certainly did not, and one who quite possibly did not.
I'm waiting for the day that Tom Waits is recognized in some official way for the national treasure that he is.
I would like to quickly point out that "conservative artist" John Ford considered himself a liberal Democrat until the last few years of his life. "Left, always left," he has been quoted as saying.
I believe the Viet Nam protests, which he considered unsupportive of the troops, was unfortunately what led him to Richard Nixon.
Funny, I just started listening to John Prine this year, and I remember thinking that this guy writes songs the way Roger Ebert writes film reviews. Both appeal in a similar way. This blog entry underlines that connection. Keep up the rich, humane writing, and I hope Prine does the same with his songs.
I have only ever known "Dixie," as, first, a minstrel show song that extolled the virtues of slavery, then as the "anthem" of the Confederacy and, as it was in my youth, the favorite song of my fellow Southerners who lamented the results of the "War of Northern Aggression." In or around 1970, when I was five or six, my sister, 10 years my senior, was a student at our local high school, South Rowan Senior High, which was in the early stages of integration. The school's mascot name, the Rebels, and the school song, "Dixie," were, understandably, extremely unpopular with the local African-American population who were entering the one-time all-white school.
Tensions were high on both sides. Angry words led to the occasional gunshot as protests began to grow more violent between whites and blacks. It became so bad that my father told me of needing a police escort in order to take my sister to a doctor's appointment or some such.
In the end, common sense won out and the sports teams took the nickname, "Raiders," and the school song was changed to (ironically enough) the University of Michigan's fight song. (I never quite figured that one out.) By the time I entered the high school, the only visible remnants of the incident were the fading, 10-year-old spray-painted letters, "DIXIE," that remained in the parking lot of a local church near my old junior high school.
I know little of Mr. Greenwood's work or works, and I doubt that his appointment to the NAC will prove embarrassing to any concerned – indeed, he will probably bring an interesting perspective. I do, however, find it fascinating that he would choose to include a song so obviously tied to a discredited racist movement of the past as a "patriotic" song.
It was equally interesting to learn in your column that it may have actually been co-written by blacks and the lyrics were/may have been ironic. I wonder whether Mr. Greenwood was aware of that? Perhaps then, like U2's version of "Helter Skelter," he was trying to "steal it back," the way Bono wanted to free the Beatle's song from the bindings of Charles Manson.
Pardon my skepticism if I find that a little too difficult to believe.
Roger, I wish you'd listen to Daniel Johnston. His song, "To Go Home" is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard:
hoping that my mind don't slip
sailing on a sinking ship
into the sunset in bed
dark night on a long highway
little lights in the houses say
there's somebody staying up late
whoa-oh
I'll be true to you
oh yeah, you know I will
I'll be true to you forever or until
I go home
God, it's great to be alive
takes the skin right off my hide
to think I'll have to give it all up someday
and if I ever treated you mean
you know that it was only because
I'm sorry i couldn't have you for my own
whoa-oh
I'll be true to you
oh yeah, you know I will
I'll be true to you forever or until
I go home
P.S. If you are going to download this song, I suggest you choose M. Ward's cover of it off of his "Post War" album. It is a transcendental experience.
Didn't Abbie Hoffman get in trouble 40 years ago for wearing the same jacket?
I'm a musician on the weekends. There are a few songs our band gets asked to perform at least once a gig: "Brown Eyed Girl," "Old Time Rock and Roll," "Sweet Home Alabama," and (you guessed it) "God Bless the U.S.A."
Just like "YMCA" and "Stayin' Alive" were made for bad dancers, Greenwood's "God Bless The USA" was made for bad singers.
Every paid musician I know (regardless of idealogy) hates "God Bless the USA" because we have to play it every Saturday night.
God, I hate that song.
Another songwriter that rivals these guys is Fred Eaglesmith. Martin Scorsese likes him, if that means anything to ya.
Here are a couple songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROuPxAAtvYw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XxL-PNGqD4
He's playing at Fitzgerald's in Berwyn on Jan 3. See him if you can.
I am 50 years old. Too late for the police action in asia. But, being the last of 10 children, I had great exposure to these 2 artists. Steve Goodman is just as prominent in my house as a family Bible. I have 3 children who know the catalogues of both these guys in and out. What struck me was that my 25 year old daughter can't listen to Sam Stone without crying. It truly is that powerfull. How about listening to "my old man" performed by either of them. That makes me cry. Thanks for the trip!
John P. lives in Nashville Music City now. You are right--he's awesome.
One magical summer night at the girl's softball field I saw John Prine, Delbert McClinton and Vince Gill, all watching their daughters/stepdaughters play.
Roger, you really are a blessing to us all. Keep it up.
But don't go Elitist on us. We expect Chicago-ans to appreciate corn. Disneyworld, Coney Island, Asbury Park, et al. are no better than Myrtle Beach, Branson, Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge. Ski-Bowl is not morally superior to miniature golf. Italian sausage sandwiches are not greater than corndogs.
Cheese is part of a well-balanced diet. Bless 'em all!
I can't go along with Lee Greenwood. His stuff just never hit me.
How good of you, though, Roger, to mention what a nice guy Tom Selleck is. Nice guys in this business can be counted on one hand and that designation will get you a long way.
I interviewed Selleck when he was doing A Thousand Clowns at Duke U. He looked rangy and overgrown, which is appropriate for the part, and even though I was prepared for him being larger than life, I was surprised at what a BIG bastard he really is.
He was humble and gracious and kind to everyone who encountered him during our interview time. But that's to be expected.
The surprise was when he talked about the show. He had a short bit of business where he had to sing, dance, and play the ukelele all at the same time.
He pantomimed a bit of this for me. He clearly was struggling with the coordination of it all, and it showed.
That moment is what endeared him to me. I asked about the show, and he answered, much to his own detriment. He of course looked very foolish, 6'4" or 6'5" or whatever he is, singing and dancing and playing an imaginary ukelele to demonstrate to me, a member of the GD Media, his most vulnerable point in the show.
James Garner fits in that mold, too. I've never seen anyone say anything less than glowing about Garner. I'd love it if someone would do the definitive Garner interview. So many of his contemporaries are no longer capable, available, or, sadly, with us.
I do agree with your underlying premise--that many rural artists are overlooked aesthetically, as if their unwillingness to cut their ties to common people and common values ends their consideration as substantive personalities. They are thought of as less than bright, less than worthy. I've never found that to be the case at all. In fact, just the opposite seems true. If you want a great, dry wit line, read Jesse Helms. His politics were hateful at times but the man was damn funny when he wanted to be.
"I propose now closing up by requesting you play a certain piece of music or a tune. I thought 'Dixie' one of the best tunes I ever heard... I had heard our adversaries over the way had attempted to appropriate it. I insisted yesterday that we had fairly captured it... I presented the question to the Attorney-General, and he gave his opinion that it is our lawful prize... I ask the Band to give us a good turn upon it". -- Abraham Lincoln, concluding a speech from the Executive Mansion a day after the surrender of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox, 10 April 1865 (five days before the President's death).
This isn't going to make me popular on this blog but as a citizen, I'm not sure the National Council for the Arts should exist at all.
That's a funny thing coming from a former art student, avid reader, a big time movie buff, an opera and musicial theater fan and armchair critic such as myself.
When I was studying art, my teacher gave us an unusual assignment: to write a letter to an elected official endorsing some arts related cause. She said that it was to show us the importance of art in the political world and as art relates to the outside world.
My teacher suggested writing to our local representatives to ask them to increase funding for the National Council for the Arts- so I stood up for a principle I believed in and wrote a letter to my local representative asking to abolish it. I don't remember what grade I got on the paper but my instructor wasn't in the least offended by it.
I love art and consider it one of the most important things in my life but as an American and a taxpayer, see a million problems with the government subsidizing it.
Enspecially if a former country singer is in charge of it.
As a person, I don't believe a dollar should go to a painting or a play as long as there is one person starving in America, one person living on the street, one person unable to pay for HIV/AIDS treatment, one person that chooses between a meal and paying the rent or one person unable to buy school supplies for their child.
Tell that person the government gave a four thousand dollar grant to a ballet company in Idaho.
Hi Roger,
I think of you often and always hoping to hear good things. Really miss you on TV but I always check for your review before I order a film on Netflix. If you like it I will not necessarily order it but if you do not like it, I definitely will not either. How's that for perverse!
I omit in this any delving into how I fuse you and my movie ordering or enjoying. Even I do not understand the symbiosis that runs through it. Or maybe that it runs through.
Guess what? What? You did not guess? Gasp!
Google my full name and you may see my book still on Amazon, but it may have run its course by now.
I mention you in it and how you affected my life.
I'd send you a copy but I'm sure you can get one easier than I can.
I have run upon really hard times. Nothing compared to your unfortunate bout with cancer, but I am pretty much running on empty for the past five years, so to me its a disaster.
My health is declining along with my mental faculties. It appears that am unable to make good decisions anymore. Not sure if its dementia, Alzheimer’s, or the effects of 12 years on oxycodone from the VA.
Bought an unfinished house out in Joshua Tree in May of 05 for $30K down ($75K full price) and have not been able to finish it. Now it’s beginning to look like I may never get it done. Being evicted from the house in Long Beach I have lived in since 1999 because they want to fully restore it (It’s a craftsman type bungalow) and then sell it. So I have been packing since March and still looks like I have yet to start. I too am a packrat, remembering your place in Champaign the day you took me there to give me a copy of the New Republic.
So I am running out of time to get out and unable to make the move to the desert place because of the poor access to health care out there. Also unable to figure out any other options. Almost on empty with my funds too.
But somehow I always pull out of a nosedive, but this time I am wondering if my streak has ended and a bad streak has begun.
Did not mean to run on so, just felt like saying hello and best wishes from an old friend.
Richard (I stopped using the name Dick long time ago.)
Ebert: Your photos for a book about hot rod legend Kenneth von Dutch, the father of pinstriping. Sure they have it. Available for overnight delivery. So that's good. I'm sorry the other news isn't better. You're the third or fourth old pal from Urbana days who has dropped in here. I hope there's nothing really wrong, but in any event I'm not going to say "get well soon," because when people tell me that, I want to reply, "How, exactly?"
The Confederacy did not want to destroy the American government. The American government wanted to, and did, destroy the Confederacy.
Roger, among my favorite C&W artists is the now departed Hoyt Axton who I love for his deep resonance and sometimes playful lyrics. He gave voice to Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World" (or the Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog song) and "Greenback Dollar." And his mother co-wrote "Heartbreak Hotel" for Elvis. But it was Hoyt who once sang:
"Work your fingers to the bone and what do you get? .... Boney fingers, boney fingers.
I was first drawn to him by the rousing "Flash of Fire" back in the early 70s. "Lion in the Winter" never fails to inspire me. I enjoyed his acting; you remember him in "The Black Stallion," one of my favorite movies.
Bob
The sentiments of Agatha strike somewhat a note since I recalled Sarte's refusal of the Nobel in the sixties on the ground that it would reduce him to an institution--how many's creative energy survives the death blow of this or similar institutionalisation?
Roger, you have deflated my "individualistic" opinion of myself. How could so many people love the music I do? I strum and sing songs for my own amusement and with a few friends, none of us approaching the title of musician. At a "package show" that included John Prine, a friend asked who that was singing all my songs.
And my favorite PBS program had people who had hits with Townes Van Zandt songs merging with Townes' versions of those songs. If your eyes don't get watery when Prine sings "Hello in there," you don't have a soul. And where do you start with Goodman? I love people who can manipulate words so wonderfully, even the disgustingly racist David Allan Coe.
You have given me a new way to look at Lee Greenwood, but I still won't buy any of his songs. I don't dislike him, I just don't like him.
But your column and the responses have really rekindled thoughts of why I like these other guys. So, as JP wrote, "Yes, I guess, they ought to name a drink after you."
I suggest Vodka and Maple Syrup.
As with any piece of art, context matters.
I wandered through Washington in the days after Katrina had destroyed New Orleans and we were all helplessly watching television images of people standing on their roofs and abandoned at the convention center. I was just trying to gather my thoughts, regain my composure, and decide what I was going to do to get my family members settled somewhere else.
I wandered past an African American street musician playing Dixie on the trumpet. It was a slow and forlorn rendition. I had seen this man around town in the past and felt that his song choice was a comment on the storm, since it wasn't the sort of thing that he would normally play. I thought about the words and felt that they reflected exactly what I was feeling in that moment, even though I had always been offended by the lyrics and their intent in the past.
I enjoy the instrumental version from the Ken Burns film and have it on my Ipod. And I believe that Lincoln said that he enjoyed it.
I miss the days where Roger stuck to just movie reviews and film discussion, this political talk bores me, Sure he can do that all he wants, but it totally turns me off. I will be avoiding the non film parts of the site from now on.
Ebert: Synecdoche blog coming up next,
Oh Please, Send the political demon back!
Is it not enough the torture of two years captive by the "best political team on television"?
May we not get back to the pot?
And, yes . . . I concur with some of the posters that state that actually the same conservative intellectuals that were repelled by Palin should be the first ones to dennounce any form of unfundamented appointment or cronyism from any conservative administration. I can not state such is the case of Mr. Greenwood, for my knowledge of country is limited to four words: The man in black.
God Bless.
I'm glad to hear that you like Country Music Mr. Ebert.
Hey try a band called Old Crow Medicine Show, they're bluegrass.
They get a little crazy sometimes, but I recomend a song called Wagon Wheel, it's very soothing and it's kind of a Bob Dylan Cover.
You had a commentator yesterday who wrote:
"I interviewed Selleck when he was doing A Thousand Clowns at Duke U. He looked rangy and overgrown, which is appropriate for the part, and even though I was prepared for him being larger than life, I was surprised at what a BIG bastard he really is."
Of course, the Selleck he describes is the opposite of a 'bastard'. Maybe that was a typo, or maybe I'm just not up on the lingo today's kids are using, but that did strike me as an odd choice of words.
As for Lee Greenwood. Not only am I not a conservative, I'm not even an American. But his "God Bless the USA" gets me every time.
@ David G. (11/6, 9:06 pm)
See link for debunking of your White House and Air Force One vandalism BS, please, and stop listening to Rush Limpballs.
OMG, I watched some of "god on trial" last night because of Stellan Starsgard...I didn't know it was coming on again....THANK YOU!...YES!
Typical unfairness, Rog. Paul Newman vs. Chuck Norris? How about conservative Jon Voight vs Lindsay Lohan? Or conservative Gary Oldman vs. your friend Rob Schneider?
There might be a lot of other conservative names, had the Hollywood left not cowed them into silence - or outright harmed their careers. The new McCarthyism.
Great advice on screenplays. My favorite part Boyce said was about the title of the film...I was just thinking that a few days ago. And I've always thought that if I wanted to write a movie, it would have to be a movie made for free practically with a digital and college actors etc....but before I thought that I though, hell, I should just write novels for fun or a play or a musical...REFRESHING!
Mr. Ebert, apologies in advance but if it's not too far off topic, and as long as we're discussing political figures anyway...
I read in his book Right Turns that you and Michael Medved debated several times in the 1980s and 1990s about Hollywood's influence on society, for good or ill. Just wanted to ask, if it's okay: did Mr. Medved and his wife provide to you any kind words upon hearing of your recent health problems? (As a conservative myself, I would certainly hope that they did.)
EVERYONE on this board- check that -everyone who loves a good song should immediately listen to Steve Goodman's 'Busman's Holiday' (don't know if he wrote it or it's a cover BUT sucha great song- easily the equal of City Of New Orleans and in my mind- Better....
Everybody has rosebuds---could be a pot or a movie.A post about rosebuds?
I remember being 8 years old in 1981 and hearing you on TV and thinking to myself, "When I get older, I should really check out Prince of the City."
We're politically different, but I appreciate your willingness to do your research before you zing it away to condemnation. One thing pundits tend to forget, especially in elections years, is that the majority of Americans still love their country and fellow man more than their "party."
((BTW, do you still think Full Metal Jacket is a thumbs down? I watched it and Platoon recently, and I thought FMJ was the better movie.))
I'm a little late getting here with this; it might just be the last comment on this entry. I guess you could call it off-topic in a way, but the Left-Right dichotomy will always be with us, so here goes./*/*/ (By the way, that business with the slashes and stars is because I can't figure out how to make paragraphs on this damned thing.) /*/*/ I used to know a guy whose name was Ross. A nice guy, a good and loyal friend, and politically as far to the Right as the spectrum allowed. Our disagreements were frequent, vocal, wildly animated, and totally congenial. Ross (who died a few years back) had his favorite right-wing periodicals sent to him at the office, so I got a pretty good reading, on that end of things. One of these publications was HUMAN EVENTS, which still thrives today online - but this story goes back a few years before that. /*/*/ (And this is where the story REALLY starts.) You will recall a character actor named John Randolph: a bluff, hearty man who specialized in authority figures - bosses, generals, politicians, grandpas, etc. Possibly best remembered as Jack Nicholson's father in PRIZZI'S HONOR, and a staple player on TV for many years - once he got off the blacklist. /*/*/ Sometime in the '80s, Mr. Randolph was given a testimonial by his friends in the New York theater community, who took out a full-page ad in the city's papers to call attention thereto. This testimonial came to the attention of HUMAN EVENTS, whose writer was sore aggrieved by it. Not by the testimonial itself (those old NY Lefties threw fetes for a each other all the time) but by the presence among the signatories of the names 'Senator & Mrs. Alan Simpson.' That's conservatie Republican Senator Simpson of Wyoming, with a conservative voting record of nearly 100%, putting his and his wife's names in there with all those showbiz left-wingers, not to mention much of New York's far Left. The HUMAN EVENTS writer placed a call to Simpson's office, demanding an explanation of this 'outrage', and was told that Sen. Simpson and Mr. Randolph had known each other for many years, and often went hunting and fishing together. This reply didn't satisfy the HUMAN EVENTS writer at all, and he proceeded to do a full-page expose (including a reproduction of the original ad) wondering how conservative Sen. Simpson could really be if he was,pardon the expression, "palling around with a known radical" like Mr.Randolph. /*/*/ Personally, I thought that if a cowboy senator and an old Red actor could be hunting and fishing buddies, that this spoke well about both men (unless you're a PETA type who's against hunting and fishing, which is another argument altogether). /*/*/ When I talked about this story with my friend Ross, who was enough of a TV watcher to know who John Randolph was, he was a bit thrown by the seeming anomaly, but after giving it some thought - and considering all the good-natured guff he got from the rest of us - he just shook his head and let it pass. (End of irrelevant anecdote.) /*/*/ Anyway, I think it's a good story, and I pass it on for what it's worth.
This North Indian (Panjab) folk classic describes the homesickness of a recently wedded bride for her parental village in the mountains,hearkening to times when partings were pretty final and a spell casting performance by a great Pakistani artist.The audience reaction reminded me of the children's faces in the puppet show in "400 Blows" and the audience at the Globe Theatre in the Romeo and Juliet play within a movie in "Shakespeare in Love."
This North Indian (Panjab) folk classic describes the homesickness of a recently wedded bride for her parental village in the mountains,hearkening to times when partings were pretty final and a spell casting performance by a great Pakistani artist.The audience reaction reminded me of the children's faces in the puppet show in "400 Blows" and the audience at the Globe Theatre in the Romeo and Juliet play within a movie in "Shakespeare in Love."
"I may drown in still water, but I'll never swim Kern River again."
These spiteful comments that pop up here and there, demanding that you go back to being a film critic are maddening. I can't remember when I've seen so many film reviews by Roger Ebert, as well as film essays, and the reliable Answer Man column. This is a blog, and I consider it a bonus. It is our chance to learn things that in the past we have only been able to pick up by inference and logic. Now I have an idea about what kind of food Roger likes at home, and how he likes it prepared. Before that, I only knew that his favorite hamburger joint is "Steak 'n' Shake," that he visits McDonalds about once every 18 months, and that he knows the entire E True Hollywood story of the hot dog. Rice cookers hadn't crossed my mind until last week, and now I will forever view them in a different light. When I get one, I think I will give him a proper name.
Now, onto the subject of music. I've got some random information stored in my memory. I know that Roger likes Alan Menken songs, but that he didn't like the songs in "Newsies." I know that he owns the "Buena Vista Social Club" cd and thinks everyone else should, too. But now, thanks to this blog, I have a wide array of Roger's favorite music to discover. This is a gift, people. And yes, he doesn't hold back on his political beliefs, but he also doesn't hold back on publishing your disagreement with his beliefs. Practice your free speech, and be civil. And try to remember, Roger is smarter than you.
Back to music. When I see Madonna concert tickets at prices of up to $1,000, I sigh for the sad attendees who have forked over rent money to see that woman gyrate on stage. And then I smile a wicked little smile, knowing that I saw a superior "concert" in Hollywood in 2006, for $20. That unknown gem, Maria McKee, the one who sang "If Love Is Red Dress" in "Pulp Fiction," performed at a tiny bar, with about 40 people in attendance. It was a sit down bar, with food served, to be eaten while watching the show. When I first sat down, an old woman across from me said, "I'm sorry, that's where Dad's sitting." I wondered why the woman would be so informal to call her husband "Dad" with a complete stranger. It turned out that it was Maria's mother and father. Where does one find that kind of intimacy these days?
Maria and her backup singer gave an acoustic performance, with just a guitar and a piano. A highlight was when she sang "In the Long Run" from "In the Valley of the Dolls."
And here, for anyone curious, is a Letterman clip of her "Wayfarin' Stranger" cover from the film "Songcatcher."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnaANP3cxDg
P.S. Back to food. Wild blueberries are considered nature's best antioxidant. Here in California, we have a wonderful store called "Trader Joe's" which sells frozen 12 oz. bags for $2.69, organic, and imported from Canada. I eat them three-fourths frozen. They taste like popsickles and just about melt in the mouth. It is important to eat berries organic, since they are soft and absorb chemicals. A fruit like a banana, not as important, because it has that tough outer peel.
Oh, crap!
I typed "In the Valley of the Dolls." I meant, of course, "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls." Of course, of course!
Mr. Ebert: I have been an admirer of your criticism for many years, but I had no idea of your eclectic musical taste. I'd love to send you a few CDs of -- in my opinion -- the best folk singer-songwriter of the past 10 years: Dave Carter, along with his musical partner, Tracy Grammer. I have no affiliation with the duo, but I have a strong feeling, based on your feelings about Prine and Goodman, that you'd love their music as much as I do.
Is there a mailing address where you'd be most likely to receive them?
Thanks.
No need to approve this for the comments section, Mr. Ebert, but below is a good sample of Dave Carter's songwriting ability (his lyrics are posted on his partner's website in full, so I don't believe I'm breaching copyright by copying them here). Sadly, Mr. Carter died in 2002 at age 50, after recording only three albums with Tracy Grammer, but they are three of the most lovely and profound folk collections ever recorded - Mr. Dylan included.
I posted a short two-part documentary on YouTube, if you're interested in seeing and hearing them at the time I discovered them. Again, please don't take this as an attempt at attention seeking on my own part. I am just a fan who feels that far too few people have heard Dave Carter, and everyone should.
And, again, I have extras of all of their CDs and would be honored to send them to you.
http://www.youtube.com/user/kenjames64
Respectfully,
Ken James
Aliso Viejo, CA
-------------------------
WHEN I GO
Dave Carter, 1998
come, lonely hunter, chieftain and king, i will fly like the falcon when i go
bear me my brother under your wing, i will strike fell like lightning when i go
i will bellow like the thunder drum, invoke the storm of war
a twisting pillar spun of dust and blood up from the prairie floor
i will sweep the foe before me like a gale out on the snow
and the wind will long recount the story, reverence and glory, when i go
spring, spirit dancer, nimble and thin, i will leap like coyote when i go
tireless entrancer, lend me your skin, i will run like the gray wolf when i go
i will climb the rise at daybreak, i will kiss the sky at noon
raise my yearning voice at midnight to my mother in the moon
i will make the lay of long defeat and draw the chorus slow
i'll send this message down the wire and hope that someone wise is listening when i go
and when the sun comes trumpets from his red house in the east
he will find a standing stone where long i chanted my release
he will send his morning messenger to strike the hammer blow
and i will crumble down uncountable in showers of crimson rubies when i go
sigh, mournful sister, whisper and turn, i will rattle like dry leaves when i go
stand in the mist where my fire used to burn, i will camp on the night breeze when i go
and should you glimpse my wandering form out on the borderline
between death and resurrection and the council of the pines
do not worry for my comfort, do not sorrow for me so
all your diamond tears will rise up and adorn the sky beside me when i go
But you gotta admit you have to set more places for the liberals.
That's because actors, like sheep, have to follow the crowd.
If you like the works of Steve Goodman and John Prine you should definitely listen to the words of Malcolm Holcombe and for you Steve Earle fans find the work of his sister and brother-in-law-Stacey Earle/Mark Stuart. Malcolm's lyrics are, at the least, every bit as good as anybody's including Stev Earle and Townes Van Zandt. Great article and as a Vietnam veteran coming home I wore out several John Prine records. Thanks, Mike
"Hey try a band called Old Crow Medicine Show, they're bluegrass.
They get a little crazy sometimes, but I recomend a song called Wagon Wheel, it's very soothing and it's kind of a Bob Dylan Cover."
Wrong on a couple of counts.
Although their music certainly has bluegrass elements, OCMS aren't a bluegrass band in the strictest sense; they're more pre-bluegrass folk anachronists.
In other words, Bill Monroe probably would have liked some of their songs, but hated others!
Also, Bob Dylan only wrote the chorus of "Wagon Wheel." It was an unfinished song that was completed by OCMS member Ketch Secor.
I caught OCMS in concert recently in Covington, KY. Fantastic show. Go see 'em if you get the chance!
I appreciate your work Mr. Ebert, but I really must point out that Thomas Jefferson was not the founder of the modern democratic party. Jeffersonians and Federalists both basically ceased to exist by the Jacksonian era. If anyone is the founder of the modern Democratic party, it is Andrew Jackson.
Townes van Zandt is the greatest songwriter in the world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say so---Steve Earle
I've seen Bob Dylan's bodyguards and I don't think you're getting anywhere near that coffee table--Townes van Zandt
Townes was incredible. A documentary was made about his life, "Be Here to Love Me." In my opinion it is a fantastic portrait. I would love to see a review of it sometime.
From Townes' "Catfish Song":
Well, to meet is like springtime
And to loves like the summer
Her brown eyes shone for nobody but me
Then autumn forever, the fool come a fallin
And the rain turned to freezin inside of me.
Ill kindle my fires with the words
I cant send you
And the roads I cant follow
And the songs I cant sing
Well, all you young ladies
Who dream of tomorrow
While youre a listenin
These words will I say
Cling to today with its joy
And its sorrow
Youll need all your memories
When youth melts away.
Roger,
Why are the columns on your site so political these days?
My son and I love your movie reviews and lately, we just cannot escape the political views on rogerebert.com when we simply want to learn how you rate a film.
Can you post these political views somewhere else?
It is ridiculous to read about conservatives and liberals on ESPN sport forums already, can your site please stick with movies?
Thanks,
Paul & William Chiu
Forest Hills, NY
Ebert: "Synecdoche" was a return, I guess. My Aunt Martha used to wear an apron saying, "This is the kitchen of Martha Stumm. If you doubt it, start something."
Paul and William Chiu: Sorry. Roger writes what Roger wants.
Roger, apparently you are indeed a Dolly Parton fan. I just enjoyed your delightful interview with her from nearly 30 years ago.
In your intro, you mentioned that you came away from one interview with the inkling that she had healing powers. I think she may have just healed me of my cynicism. Pray tell, what did she heal YOU of?
Ebert: Of not taking her seriously enough. She has an amazing voice, and real heart.
As a child (2 or 3yo) with a father in the military stationed in San Antonio for a time, my mom and I caught the train in New Orleans to go meet him. I remember not able to get any water when the train was stopped.
Many moons later, my own little family caught the City of New Orleans in Hammond for a weekend in Jackson, Ms. Aside from a six hour delay on the way home (storm blew trees on the tracks north of Jackson), it was a great experience we hope to relive -- but this time all the way to Chicago.