“highway to hell” – ac/dc (1979)

I really like to explore and learn about new music, or at least music that is new to me.  And I have plenty of opportunities where that effort is realized.  I co-organize a bi-weekly album discussion group, I volunteer in the record archive of a music school, and I am very active with a local community radio station.  I am surrounded by music and it is really great.

Though, admittedly as I get older, my tastes and preferences will continue to be cemented. Sure, I’ll discover new things and that will be fun and exciting, as well as expand my musical taste and understanding. However, I know what I like. And as I get older, sticking with the familiar is comforting.

Many of the artists and bands that I’ve listened to since high school are still very important to me and I’ll never let them go.  David Bowie came into my life when I turned 13, and he was followed by heavy doses of Bob Dylan and the Clash in high school. U2, Tom Waits, Frank Zappa, and soul music had been the soundtracks to my college experience.  And now, as I am in my early 30s, I find myself listening more and more to the esoteric sounds of world, jazz, and experimental.

Though, we all have at least one artist we loved when we were younger but have since outgrown. These were bands that appealed to your younger sensibilities but just are not that relevant anymore.  Sure, you may hear their songs on the radio and think “oh yeah, I really used to be into them” but they are not something you’ll take time out of your day to listen to. For me, that group was AC/DC.

Towards the end of my elementary school years, I was really into classic rock radio.  At that time, in the late 1990s, I was living in rural Kentucky and the only real musical outlets for me were whatever I could find at the local Wal-Mart or could hear on commercial radio, the latter of which was increasingly becoming more formulaic (a concept I would begin to understand as I got older).  Even MTV was not great of a musical outlet for me as it had begun to phase out music videos in favor for original programming a few years prior. When I moved from rural Kentucky to the significantly larger city of Anchorage, Alaska, it was pretty much the same where I still did not something like a record store but instead a mall with an FYE.

Due to all the cultural limitations I had with music during my formative years, it was classic rock radio all the way for me.  And AC/DC was one of my favorites.  They sounded raw and dangerous, qualities that appealed to my rebellious pre-teen experience.  Their music was simple, straight-forward, and uncomplicated.  Anything more than that would have been lost on me and underappreciated.

One of my favorite tracks by them was “Highway to Hell,” the titular song and first single from their 1979 studio album. I did not know at the time when AC/DC was in my heavy rotation that the song was about the band slogging through a grueling tour schedule.  As far as I knew, it was exclusively a Satan-worshipping love letter to rock and roll excess. What appealed to me was the cartoonish nature of the band’s whole aesthetic. I actually remember one day calling into the local classic rock station in Anchorage.  I had reached a DJ and requested they play “Highway to Hell.”   I must’ve been 12 at the time.  When the DJ did their on-air intro to the song, they dedicated it to the “very disturbed kid” who had called in the request.  I was no angel growing up, but I surely could never live to the raw rock and roll reality AC/DC portrayed when I find myself a little offended.

As soon as I got into high school, my listening to AC/DC stopped entirely.  I had moved onto classic punk, folk, and other genres that more appealed to my intellectual curiosities through the artists’ lyrics.  Looking back, I am not embarrassed by the love I had for AC/DC when I was younger.  Just more amused.  Especially when I think about other classic rock staples I could’ve been obsesses with instead, bands far cooler and more complex like Led Zeppelin.

Highway to Hell was the last album featuring Bon Scott as the vocalist before he died of alcoholic asphyxiation forty years ago this month. The band would eventually replace him with Brian Johnson starting with 1980s monstrously successful Back in Black. I always preferred Johnson’s era of the band, but I still have a soft spot for AC/DC’s wilder days.  A bygone era that was exciting and dangerous, at least for a pre-teen boy.

“summertime blues” – the who (1970)

Assuming you have a great producer with all sorts of tricks and technical wizardry at their disposal, studio albums have the benefit of smoothing out a band’s or artist’s rough edges to create a polished, technically proficient sound that is optimized best for personal listening. We all enjoy listening to our favorite groups on CDs or vinyl, which is the product of a team, in addition to the recording artist, working together masterfully craft a specific aesthetic to the album’s sound.  Engineers, mixing artists, and other studio staff work together to get the best quality out of the band’s performance within the context of the space they are recording. When everything comes together well, it represents a fantastic synergy where everyone involved is a part of the magic.  However, some things might be missed when that sound is replicated in a live setting.

I do not go to as many concerts as some of my fellow music-loving friends but regardless how frequently you attend a live show, we have all experienced a bad concert.  It could be that the sound was bad, perhaps a fault of the sound team or how the artist’s sonics fit within the venue space. Or perhaps the group you paid money to see is just having a bad night, either from being tired from touring too much or they just don’t care about the quality of the performance.  Or maybe the act just cannot replicate their studio sound in a live setting and the magic of their recordings does not translate well in front of an audience.  A lot of factors can play out, or together, when you see a bad show live.

However, let’s say you had an amazing experience seeing a group live.  You connected with the band in a way that you could never achieve listening to their album in your apartment.  The actual physical presence of the music interacts with your entire body in a way an album cannot replicate and the experience of sharing a significant moment with a group of people, all coming together as one for a single blissful moment, are the reason people leave a show with a memory that will last a lifetime.  It is a communal experience, practically spiritual in many respects, that can be life-changing, an emotional and mental cleansing that takes you out of yourself and reality, even if only for a moment.

It can be a challenge for an artist to record a truly amazing studio album. And it can be difficult to translate that carefully crafted sound into a live setting that energizes an audience.  And, going further, it is almost impossible to capture that live energy onto an album.

There a lot of mediocre live albums, recordings that failed to capture any magic of a group at all.  There are some very decent live albums, a decent documentation of an artist that captures some of the energy one might experience live but otherwise fully cannot live up to.  However, there are only a handful of live albums that are so significant, such powerful representations that capture a singular energy, that it can transcend generations to truly create a masterful work of art, a performance piece that can never be replicated again.

Recorded on Valentine’s Day in 1970, fifth years ago this month, The Who performed at the University of Leeds Refectory to record their first live album, Live at Leeds, released in May of that year. Following the release of their 1969 album Tommy, The Who were recording shows from that tour but were not impressed with the sound.  So, with performances scheduled at the University of Leeds in addition to one at the University of Hull, the goal was to craft their sound to feature more hard rock arrangements for the sole purpose of releasing a live album that captured their energy on wax.

Those concerts were a hard rock tour de force with the live release whittling down the setlist to just six tracks (though later releases would contain more tracks), though enough songs were mixed to accommodate a double album.  Curiously, half of the songs released on the album were covers which were part of the group’s live repertoire at that time which included “Young Man Blues” by Mose Allison and “Shakin’ All Over” by Johnny Kidd and the Pirates.  Though there were not strict covers as the songs included extended instrumentals, stop-start sections during, and key changes with power chords. Though, you could hear this same energy applied to The Who originals that appeared on the album, especially with the nearly 15-minute version of their classic single “My Generation.”

The best track on the album, and the one that best captures the sweating energy of the live performance, is their cover of “Summertime Blues” originally written and recorded by Eddie Cochran.   Released as a single in June of 1970 to support the album, “Summertime Blues” was a concert staple that secures a spot on the initial Live at Leeds release and really elevates the experience to a whole new level. Now only does it capture the powerhouse energy of the band, it also accomplishes the monumental feat of being better than the original. Cochran’s original recording is great and certainly well-known, but The Who’s rendition takes the song to new heights and recaptures it as a natural extension of The Who. Very few artists can take the original and effectively own it for themselves.

“Summertime Blues” has not been performed live since the death of John Entwistle in 2002.  For those, like me, who have never had the experience of seeing The Who live, will likely never have the experience of seeing one of their most notable live staples in person.  So, in that case, all I have is Live at Leeds.  And while it may not be the real thing, it is as close to it as you can get.

“soju one glass” – jung jae-il & choi woo-shik (2019)

Bong Joon-ho’s darkly comedic thriller Parasite took several of the top prizes at last night’s Academy Awards including the honor of “Best Director” and “Best Picture,” making history as the first foreign film to earn the Academy’s distinction.  The film also took home the award for “Best International Film,” a symbolic rebranding of the now defunct “Best Foreign Language Film.” The South Korean film made history on several fronts, and rightfully so. Of the nominees, it was the best film of the year and deserved every accolade it won.

The plot of Parasite revolves around the lives of the Kim family, a husband and wife with their son and daughter, as they struggle to make ends meet. Together, they work low-paying gigs and pool their money to keep their lives stable in a small semi-basement apartment, complete with poor plumbing, bug infestations, and a window view of drunks urinating in the street.  When Ki-woo, the son, earns a gig as a tutor for the daughter of a wealthy family, the family conspires to take advantage of Ki-woo’s new role as an opportunity to make life better for themselves, albeit deceitfully.

The Kim family plots to have the remaining staff of the wealthy family laid off and, one by one starting with Ki-woo as the tutor, recommend someone else from the family as a replacement but appearing as unrelated.  Soon every member of the family has a new job working for the wealthy family, living adjacently to a life of luxury.

One evening, when the wealthy family is out of town, the Kim family shack up in the wealthy family’s house and live as though they owned the home.  Drunk, and with food trash everywhere, they have nearly turned the pristine house into their semi-basement slum, proving that old habits die hard regardless of setting.  When the wealthy family’s prior nanny makes a surprise visit to the house in a middle of a rainstorm, the Kim family learn that they are not the only ones feeding off the wealth and success of their employers and ultimately, for the sake of the film’s title, hosts.

Parasite is a clever and shocking analysis of class and social inequality.  It serves as a reflection of modern capitalism, with individuals relying on connections to get ahead in life. And given that the remaining eight nominees for “Best Picture” featured well-known Hollywood juggernauts, seeing a fresh, international face garner such acclaim is refreshing.  Especially at a time when tackling gender, ethnic, and racial inequality in entertainment was a top priority.

I was thrilled when Parasite took the top prize last night.  The group I was with watching the Oscars with all let out shocked cheers when the announcement was made.  We knew it was the best film of the year, but still felt like it was a longshot to earn the distinction of being the best film of the year.

When the awards were over, I was joking with my friends that the Korean movie about the poor family usurping the rich family winning the biggest award of the night was really funny.  Think about it.  For all the criticisms that Hollywood gets for being too white and male, the dark house foreign film swept most of the biggest awards.  The foreign film usurped the biggest night in American film.  The irony was rich, but then something started troubling me.

Chris Rock and Steve Martin were two of the first presenters and took some time to roast Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, about him being there. Martin proclaimed Bezos a great actor and followed that by saying “He’s got cash. When he writes a check, the bank bounce” and “Jeff Bezos is so rich, he got divorced and he’s still the richest man in the world. He saw Marriage Story and thought it was a comedy.” It was a funny joke and I laughed at the time.  But when I left the Oscars party I was at and walked home, I was thinking more and more about that moment.

Amazon Prime has been making headway with content production and distribution, with titles that have earned accolades at the Emmys and Golden Globes, and it isn’t stopping there.  Streaming media is not just changing the business of television, but film as well.  Netflix had produced and distributed The Irishman, Martin’s Scorsese’s latest epic that earned several Oscar nominations (though no wins), thus proving that streaming media is changing the landscape of cinema.  With Netflix paving the way for streaming media to earn recognition in Hollywood’s most elite circle, it stands to reason that Bezos wants Prime to get a piece of the action.

Bezos in the audience means that Hollywood is courting Prime to finance, produce, and distribute films.  And I see that as being a big problem for more films like Parasite to earn the recognition they deserve.

It is getting increasingly difficult for smaller and more independent content creators to distribute their film.  Major media conglomerates are absorbing, and sometimes dissolving, smaller studios and often serve as the gatekeepers.  Where once were many commercially and critically successful media companies, there are much less now as only a handful of major media conglomerates control the vast majority of content production and distribution.  It is getting increasingly difficult for independent filmmakers to get their films seen let alone be commercially viable or critically recognized.

A lot of jokes and comments were made during the ceremony about Hollywood’s issue with diversity and inclusivity.  And it certainly does have an issue when it comes to gender, ethnic, and racial representation.  Our entertainment needs more women and people of color on screen and in roles that are dignified with commercial and critical appeal.

However, the solution to solving Hollywood’s diversity problem cannot just be solved by adding more women and people of color to films.  Hollywood is a business, and a very elitist one at that; a business built on nearly a century of systemic institutional flaws that where gatekeepers enforce a consistent status quo.  Hollywood wants a to talk a big game about accessibility or how the stories they tell reflect people from all walks of life, but not if affects their bottom line.

So, the real solution to making Hollywood more inclusive and diverse and breaking down the big money that drives the industry and culture.  It means keeping people like Jeff Bezos from earning so much power in the highest echelon of film.  It means dismantling the institutional biases that allow the largest studios to remain unchecked. It means taking the money out of the awards circuit, with often the big winners being the ones who spent the most money.  It is about taking the power from the few and transferring it to the many.

The ultimate irony is not that the foreign film usurped the American awards.  It is that a film that condemns class struggle and inequality won big in the arena that is courting one of the richest men in the world, thus signifying the arrival of yet another conglomerate taking up space that could be reserved for elevating films from smaller studios.  I really hope Parasite is a sign of true change and not an exception.  If we really want to continue to see more groundbreaking, unique, and diverse films like that, Hollywood has to change on a deeply institutional level and not be swayed by big money.

Since this is a blog with music as its central theme, let’s pivot.  While Parasite was not nominated for “Best Original Score,” the soundtrack to the film is stellar. Composed by Jung Jae-il, the soundtrack effectively captures the tension and conflict of the film.  With many tracks from the soundtrack’s score really elevating the narrative quality of the film, with an aesthetic that symbolizes the score as a sort of character in the film, the needling piano and disquieting strings and drums allow you to immerse yourself into the house.  You feel you are taking up space along with Kim family.  The score feels uncomfortable and signifies that you don’t belong there.

Most notable in the film is the track “Soju One Glass” which plays over the film’s credits and closes out the soundtrack.  Written by director Bong Joon- ho and sung by the film’s star Choi Woo-shik, “Soju One Glass” is the Kim family’s son’s declaration that he will buy the house he had helped to try to usurp.  With the ending of Parasite being somewhat ambiguous, though reinforcing the wide inequity of class today, the song is a perfect extension of the film’s theme and the Kim family’s struggle. And much like Bezos infiltrating Hollywood, one’s dreams are at the mercy of someone far richer.

“fair and free elections” – oscar brand (1960)

With the Iowa caucuses underway today, we have officially entered the 2020 election cycle. For the next four months, as the rest of the country holds their own primary and caucus elections, and candidates one by one drop out due to lack of delegate support, the divisions without our country will be bolder than ever. As toxic and vitriolic as much as the lead-up to the 2020 election has been so far, this next phase of the cycle will continue pushing the boundaries and testing the limits of what our county and its institutions can endure.  As the Democrats work, and struggle, to eventually unite behind one candidate before their convention in Milwaukee in July, the message until then is clear: find the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump.

In the past, I have criticized the Democrats for their overall lack of a platform in the 2016 election. As Donald Trump became more of a threat in the last election, the overall narrative of his opponent Hillary Clinton was nothing more than “I am not Donald Trump, so therefore you should vote for me.”  While I supported and voted for Clinton in the general election, I was critical of that messaging because it was not built on policy. That is not to say she did not have strong policies.  She certainly did.  However, you cannot campaign largely on the idea that you are not your opponent.

It seems, while most of the candidates have great policies and plans, or at least policies better than Trump’s, that those are getting overshadowed by the message of removing Trump by any means necessary. Part of me feels that this is a doubling down of the anti-Trump non-platform rhetoric I heard in 2016.  Though, since seeing how the Trump presidency has unfolded and learning more about the flaws of the Democratic campaign, I am now confused by the best way forward.

In 2016, I felt the predominantly anti-Trump message of the campaign only served to motivate Trump’s base and dissuade centrist Democrats who voted primarily based on policy. Now, I am putting more weight, though not fully, into the messaging of a largely anti-Trump platform now that we have seen firsthand the damage he has caused this country.  And because of this, I think about who has the best chance of defeating Trump just on that message alone.

I’m a very far left-leaning progressive voter who is supporting a progressive candidate.  I plan on supporting my candidate through the primaries and, hopefully if they are nominated, through until the general election.  However, even though I support my candidate with such vigor and know they will unite people and get so much done, I struggle with the idea if a progressive candidate is the right strategy this election.  With the country so divided and many of our institutions increasingly delegitimized, I think about whether a centrist candidate is the way forward to a 2020 victory.  The idea being that if we get a centrist in office then we can take time reset and then move left from there.

Then again, so much has changed and things will never go back to what they once were. Something dark was awakened by Trump’s victory and even when he eventually leaves office, the spirit of his movement will manifest itself into another and more detestable candidate. His influence will be around for generations.  So, considering that, sometimes I think that a centrist Democrat means failure and that we should “go big or go home” by getting the most leftist progressive we can into the White House.

I hate that the election has officially started while the Senate currently debates on whether to remove Trump from office. On Friday, Senate Republicans voted not to introduce witnesses into the trial, signaling a potential victory for Trump when the Senate officially votes to end the trial on Wednesday. Despite all the corruption, recognized but dismissed by the Republicans, it is likely that our president will have gotten away with abusing the power of his office for his own personal, financial, and political gain.  A precedent will be established that will be virtually impossible to ignore and allow for more opportunities for whoever is president to abuse the power of the office.  A lot is at stake this year and I am unsure of how things will turn out.

Regardless of how the primary elections unfold and the ongoing failure of the Senate to maintain checks and balances, the key to stopping all the madness lies with the people.  The people must vote and do so without obstruction and dirty tricks.  If we want to restore order and stomp down the madness, we need our country’s elections to be pure, fair, and honest.

“Fair and Free Elections” is a traditional American folk song written circa 1800 sung to the tune of “Yankee Doodle.” The tune is about the sanctity of law and order within our election process.  While power hungry tyrants aim to take elections “some on rights and some on wrongs,” it is up to the people to demand their right to fair and free elections, taking to the ballot box to thwart schemes from traitors and foreign powers.

Oscar Brand was a Canadian-born American folk singer who recorded a version of “Fair and Free Elections” for his 1960 studio album Election Songs of the United States, accompanied by Billy Faier on guitar and banjo.  Over the course of seven decades, Brand’s music career ranged from novelty music to songs with serious political and social commentary.  Also, for 70 years, he was the host of a weekly folk music show on New York’s WNYC Radio.

Election Songs of the United States is one of the best examples that represents his music career.  Covering political songs from around 1800, with “Fair and Free Elections” opening, to the 1948 penned tune “I’ve Got a Ballot,” Election Songs of the United States represents the storied tradition of one of our country’s most trusted and cherished institutions; elections.

A lot is going to happen between now and November, most I am sure will be entirely unpleasant.  It is essential, for every American, to ensure that every person of voting age can participate in the process unencumbered.  And to stand in the way of anyone through voter suppression, whether it involves gerrymandering, purging of voter rolls, limiting or excluding early and absentee voting, or identification requirements, to stop an individual from participating in one of their most treasured civil rights is treasonous and un-American.