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OT: God I'm tired


blaghaus

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Originally posted by blaghaus

I wouldn't mind if I was busy but I'm not. Thats whats doing me in.

 

 

I'm plenty busy today, but it's absolute drudgery. I've been writing as much as possible trying to get this book done by Thanksgiving (might come a week later now...), and every so often, I have to write about stuff I'm just not into. I'm doing about 750-1000 words on folks in the 1920s that tried to make jazz safe for democracy -- sweet bands like Guy Lombardo (and eventually Lawrence Welk), and crossover types like darius Milhaud and Gershwin and Paul Whiteman, and I really don't give a crap about this music.

 

Meantime, I couldn't get to sleep last night, so I'm going on about 4 interrupted hours. I basically hate the world today.

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Originally posted by ginnboonmiller

I'm doing about 750-1000 words on folks in the 1920s that tried to make jazz safe for democracy -- sweet bands like Guy Lombardo (and eventually Lawrence Welk)

 

Am I correct in having read somewhere that Lawrence Welk's music was always aimed at elderly people, even when he was younger?

 

His cover of "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" kicks ass.

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Originally posted by palthegiraffe


Am I correct in having read somewhere that Lawrence Welk's music was
always
aimed at elderly people, even when he was younger?


His cover of "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" kicks ass.

 

 

It's certainly true by the time he had a tv show. His band was basically a polka-inflected offshoot of a style of music that lived and died in the 1920s. But I'll tell you -- I am in no way an expert on Lawrence Welk, and I have no interest whatsoever in becoming one. His name only makes the book in parentheses to give readers an idea of what the sweet bands were doing. And it's likely not to survive editing, honestly.

 

I love that he was born in the US, and his freaky accent is entirely due to the freaky German-speaking North Dakota neighborhood he lived in. It's like Spanglish for the whiter-than-white.

 

And-a now for that Duka Ellingtona classic, "Take A Train."

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Originally posted by ginnboonmiller


I'm doing about 750-1000 words on folks in the 1920s that tried to make jazz safe for democracy -- sweet bands like Guy Lombardo (and eventually Lawrence Welk), and crossover types like darius Milhaud and Gershwin and Paul Whiteman, and I really don't give a crap about this music.

 

 

BTW, this is a great blurb to put on the inside cover of the book.

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I'll second the sentiment, blaughaus. I'm currently doing the Network Administrator thing... things are dead right now, and it's a complete SNORE.

 

Gah.

 

I almost wish someone would get a virus or something... (not).

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Originally posted by ginnboonmiller

I love that he was born in the US, and his freaky accent is entirely due to the freaky German-speaking North Dakota neighborhood he lived in. It's like Spanglish for the whiter-than-white.

 

I had no idea. That makes him seem twice as strange.

 

Will any of the jazz/jazz-pop artists that my dad used to play for me as a kid make the book's cut--Ramsey Lewis, Herbie Mann, Vince Guaraldi?

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Originally posted by palthegiraffe


I had no idea. That makes him seem twice as strange.


Will any of the jazz/jazz-pop artists that my dad used to play for me as a kid make the book's cut--Ramsey Lewis, Herbie Mann, Vince Guaraldi?

 

 

All three of those guys kind of walk the line between deserving mention and not fitting in a short intro... Herbie Mann will certainly get mentioned at least once, even if it's just for when he hired Sonny Sharrock. Guaraldi is another tricky one. He's good, but most people only know him for the Peanuts stuff, but the Peanuts stuff is also really terrific (ain't it?). Lewis might get quick mention, but frankly he's a guy that I don't like enough to want to do the research and I can get away with leaving him out and no one will mind. I'll know in a couple weeks for sure.

 

[EDIT -- hey, blag, is our little digression helping the work-related ennui at all?]

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Originally posted by ginnboonmiller

Pal -- weird connection I just noticed from reading wikipedia's Lawrence Welk entry -- Welk did a record with alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges (of Ellington Orchestra fame), and Hodges had Cecil Taylor in his band for a gig in 1951. Weird, wild stuff.

 

That's kind of like finding out that the Monkees knew Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles. Cool.

 

As for Vince Guaraldi, I have a late-fifties (pre-Peanuts) album of his that my 19-month-old daughter seems to really like. She also likes Charlie Christian. She didn't seem as interested in the Dictators or the Ramones the other day, though. I guess there's time for that later.

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