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Music
Walden Pond meet Bon Iver
Jul 21st
In One Tree Hill, Peyton Sawyer (whom I vicariously lived through during high school) says:
“There are lyric people and music people. You know, the lyrics people tend to be analytical…all about the meaning of the song. Then there’s the music people…who could care less for the lyrics as long as its just got like a good beat and you could dance to it. I don’t know, sometimes it might be easier to be a music girl and not a lyric girl. But since I’m not, let me just say this. Sometimes things find you when you need them to find you, I believe that. And for me it’s usually song lyrics.”
When I think about this quote, despite that I’m slightly embarrassed I have all 129 episodes memorized (discarding season 6, it was horrible), I find this quote to be overtly true. In times of need, emptiness and heartbreak I have been found by music and changed, ultimately by its lyrics. A few artists come to mind when I consider who has spoken to me the most, and one of these is Bon Iver. At my high school in Texas, Bon Iver was almost unheard of simply because the general public did not accept those who did not sport cowboy boots; ass-less chaps optional. But in Boston, he seems to be a more noted artist.
Bon Iver, pronounced “bon eevair”, is actually Justin Vernon who wrote Bon Iver’s first album, For Emma, Forever Ago, in a remote cabin in Northwestern Wisconsin over a period of three months post breakup with band, girlfriend and with mononucleosis. Vernon was not planning on writing an album, but in the progression of his own personal recovery just happened to do so. He came up with the name while watching Northern Exposure on DVD, where a group of men in Alaska wished each other a ‘bon hiver’ or a good winter. When I first heard Bon Iver’s creation story, I immediately thought of Thoreau and his work Walden, the prodigious product of his own solitude. And in the same way, I think Vernon’s seclusion along with the selfishness in which he made the album is undoubtedly the genius of For Emma.
When For Emma was released in 2007 it received extremely fragmented reviews but I understand why. It’s whether you’re a lyric person or a music person. Some find it an instant epic, while many think its hushed vocals and constant demeanor which evokes an almost dismal sadness is simply boring and depressing. I recommend you take a listen to the album, but approach it as you would a novel rather than individual tracks. Listen to it all the way through as a body of work to appreciate its evocative and haunting beauty. However, if you are too impatient, I suggest Skinny Love, which suffices as a seven-course meal on its own.
Here is a video of Bon Iver performing Skinny Love on The Late Show:
Since For Emma, Bon Iver has released a four-track EP album titled Blood Bank in 2009 and has mainly been collaborating with other artists such as St. Vincent for the New Moon Soundtrack. If you ask me, this might just be Twilight’s one redeeming quality. Way to go, Edward.
Dance for Forgiveness
Jun 30th
These days, everytime I go to CVS, there’s a new magazine cover documenting the latest celebrity scandal. I can’t help but wonder, “Why should I care?” I mean, I’d much rather worry over my own problems than how Lindsay Lohan may or may not be able to get out of her anklet. However, I’ve recently had a revelation: in some strange way, we SHOULD care because, as members of our society, we need to hold them accountable for their offenses and treat them accordingly.
How did I come to this conlusion? This whole thing started Sunday night when, every four seconds, someone in my news feed on Facebook was updating about the BET Awards. For a while, I monitored the status updates without really caring what was going on, but when people started posting about Chris Brown, I started paying attention. People’s statuses ranged from commending him on his tribute to Michael Jackson to how he’s making a great comeback.
Uh…HELLO PEOPLE?! Was it not just a year ago he was going through major fallout about abusing a woman, and not just any woman, a woman that has quite a bit of status in the entertainment world. I’m surprised at how easy it’s been for him to just slide back into his former life as if he didn’t commit a serious crime. Yeah, he got punished: probation and community service. Jail time? Don’t bet on it. To add insult to injury, he’d been quoted saying, having come from a home where his own mother was abused, that he hated any person that disrespected or mistreated a woman. Really?
Where is the accountability? Why do young girls continue to fawn over a person that has admittedly committed one of the more sensitive crimes against women? Better yet, why are their parents not telling them that it is NOT okay to support his music? Just because he happens to know his way around the dance floor and can record catchy songs, he can just skate by on picking up trash on the side of the road and issuing a hardly believable apology online? Everybody wants to end Tiger Woods’ career because he cheated on his wife, but Chris Brown abuses Rihanna, and we welcome him back with open arms?! I don’t understand the scale here.
All that being said, do I think he’s not endured backlash and had to deal with his own personal demons since the incident? No. I certainly think that he’s suffered both publicly and privately for what he’s done. However, I don’t know that we’ve really let him have it, to put it frankly. What is an appropriate response and how long should we stonewall? Has he suffered enough? Should I buy his new CD (the answer to this is a resounding NO. I’ve never been a big fan)? I can’t answer these questions because it’s a sticky, tangled up mess of a situation. All I know is that one Michael Jackson does not equal exoneration of any kind.
Sweet Caroline
Apr 12th
Neil Diamond http://natalielefler.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/neil_diamond.jpg
My attempt to convince you to see a Red Sox game continues. I have broken down and have decided to give you a small taste of that Fenway Park culture I alluded to before (see my earlier post, “Batter Up!”).
My favorite part of the whole game at Fenway is all the way in the middle of the 8th inning. Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline.” This song marks the climax of the entire game. No matter how the score of the game stands at this point be sure that 35,000 people will join as one singing as loud as humanly possible when Mr. Diamond hits the first note. And please, throw an arm around the person to either side of yourself and sway. It’s just the right thing to do.
Again, you may have never been to a game but have already heard this amazing phenomenon while walking down Bay State or Comm. Ave. Like baseballs, noise is not very well contained inside Fenway Park.
Some may think Neil Diamond had known that “Sweet Caroline” would catch on as much as it has in Boston or that maybe he somehow promoted it to the sound crew at Fenway. On the contrary, Neil Diamond was pleasantly surprised at the song’s success and perhaps confused about how all this came to be.
So too was I.
Here is the lowdown. First, Fenway-wide karaoke night to “Sweet Caroline” only began during the 1998 season. Between 1998 and 2002 the song was a good luck charm played anytime between the 7th and 9th innings, and only if the Red Sox were winning. In 2002, the song’s traditional 8th inning slot was made official and featured at every single home game. Regardless of when the song was played, fans grew increasingly anxious for it at every game. The fans enjoyed it so much that the sound crew obliged and it became a Fenway staple.
Interestingly enough, Neil Diamond wrote our beloved sing-along very hurriedly in 1969. He was awaiting his turn in the recording studio and in under an hour came up with “Sweet Caroline,” adding to his amazement that it caught on with listeners.
The “Sweet Caroline” tradition at Fenway Park grew solely from a group of fun-loving alternative New-Englanders attending a baseball game. Here is enough proof that there is more to see than just the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Be a part of as many traditions as possible while you live in Boston. Perhaps, if you are lucky, you will be there when a new one begins.
Life Goal: Kid n’ Play Kickstep
Apr 9th
Kid n' Play in House Party
Life is short. If you don’t believe me, you should ask some one who’s dead. Unless you’re really old, then life might be long. Like that old guy from the Bible who was like a thousand; he was probably really bored. If only he had DVR or like slavery movies cause those take forever to watch. But back to my point: life is short so do what you like. Fortunately for me what I want to do is usually something random and takes like a week to learn, such as random spiels from Do
Flapper performing the Charleston
the Right Thing or how to recite the alphabet backwards. So since life is short, why not do things that make you happy today? The only difference between today and tomorrow is 24 hours, and time is not on your side. So, my goal for the week is to learn the Funky Charleston ak(47)a the Kid n’ Play Kickstep.
If you know who the guys in the picture above are or you are a fan of flappers or black in the 80’s, then you already know what I am talking about. For the rest of us: The Charleston is a fast rhythm dance with many toes-in, heels-out twisting steps.* Named after where it originated from -Charleston, South Carolina- the dance became hugely popular after the success of Broadway show Runnin’ Wild.
Then in the 1988, the rap dou Kid n’ Play (picture above) reintroduced pop culture to the dance with their version of it, nicknamed the Funky Charleston or the Kid n’ Play Kickstep. It incorporated moves from the original Charleston with the New Jack Swing-aerobic dance moves common to late 80s urban street dancing. The new dance also consists of two people, not one. The dance became, and remains, a monumental staple of hip-hop culture, encompassing the light, fun and party side of hip-hop in the 1980’s.**
Kid n’ Play’s famous dance scene from their successful movie House Party:
Click for more if you want some steps on how to learn the dance or an awesome video from the 1920’s of the original Charleston dance. Well worth the click, trust me. More >
Music Rooms.
Mar 25th
I came to BU with the quest to set up a band. I ended up doing that, fulfilling the life long goal of my cousin and I, but there was one problem: I play drums and I needed a place to store them and to practice. BU fell very short. Not only do I have nowhere to store my drum kit, there are no rooms to play individually or with the full band. I sent emails, joined clubs, went to the Office of Student Affairs; I did it all. Basically I wasn’t in CFA and I was tired of jazz bands, so I was screwed. I got nothing.
Then the band started practicing at Tufts (all the other kids go there) and bam instant access. A room open seven days a week until 11:00 at night with a drum kit, three amps, a piano and vocal stands. Are you kidding me?!? Tufts is comprised of twenty hipsters and at most 4 professors and they have all that! 36,000 people go here and we got nothing. Seriously BU?!
I am sure there are tens if not hundreds of kids looking to plug-in a guitar, slap a bass, or bang some wooden cylinders. We have clubs for people watching, ping pong, and God knows what else, but not one room to play rock music, not one room for bands. So if any administration reads anything I write, which is borderline hilarious in itself, please throw down a couple thousand dollars and an empty room. I guarantee you, a room with a couple guitar amps, a bass amp and a kit would tears to the eyes of BU’s musicians.
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