musicology #460

TheManWithTheBag #10

(Dinah Washington – Silent Night)

LISTEN

Have to throw down early today, (didn’t happen !!) as we, (kids and I), are off on a little excursion up to the beautiful Lake District, (Ambleside to be precise), for a few days to kick back before Christmas and I don’t think the internet has reached there yet !! so themusicologist won’t be able to throw down until returning to the big smoke.

STOP PRESS……in fact I’m throwing this down from Ambleside in a coffee shop with free Wi-Fi..i’ll keep it as brief as possible..our daughter is on me like a rash to get on facebook but it’s, (proper), snowing up here and the junior musicologist and I have climbed a mountain today, (look out for the pics…soon come)

Today’s fine cut is courtesy of, (in my subjective opinion of course), one of the greatest singers to have ever graced the mic. A voice overflowing with expression and emotion, drawn from the deep well of existence, (and essence), when Dinah Washington opens her heart and sings even the birds stop to listen and nod in appreciation. Born Ruth Jones, she first came to the attention of Lionel Hampton in 1943 and for the next 19 years waxed some of the most heart wrenching slices of musicology known to wo/man. Personally speaking…it’s her Mercury output that brings me to my knees, trembles my marrow and brings tears to my ‘minces’ but I could never turn Dinah off no matter what the period. (This one is from the Mercury 78)

musicology #439

Fragments #5

(Junior Byles - Fade Away)

LISTEN

"There is nothing left to protect us from the scene of the real. Nothing left to protect us from the obscenity of the virtual, (of information, transparency etc). We are no longer the actors of the real but the double agents of the virtual"

Baudrillard, (among others), spoke of the 'Hyper - Real'. Which, as I have understood/interpreted it, is the place where reality, (of human contact, emotion, character and such things that used to define being human), is replaced by the virtual, (particularly visual media). Almost everything in the virtual is created, faked or at least edited to present and maintain the illusion of progress..politics and the news are clear examples...both offer but deliver nothing real.

Society is rotten at the core, (maybe it has always been?), and to cover that truth/reality the hyper - real was created to take our 'eye off the game'. Look at the growth in so called social networking, (or to put it another way the network economy), which is clearly the brave new world of the hyper real...

almost everyone I know, (rebels..hold firm), is on facebook..my children included. It seems to be the place where people choose to 'communicate' to their 'friends' and more importantly colleagues on the banality that fills the post modern desert that has been created for and forced on us. Do a search and see for yourself what the champions of the hyper-real are trading in. My guess is that it's value-less mediocrity or in the case of politricks....tomorrow. the day that never comes.

Anyway...enough of the social comentary and on with the musicology...Today's cut is from the enigmatic Junior Byles..well known slice of the Channel 1 pie that has trembled my marrow for at least 25 years...Seems like the right time has come to throw it down.