I’ve loved Halloween ever since I can remember. I think I enjoy it even more than Christmas. There’s something about the creativity and imagination it inspires. I also get a kick out of that little chill that comes from being scared of something you don’t really have to be afraid of. It’s cathartic.
Bauhaus – Hollow Hills
Thinking back on Halloween makes me feel like a kid again, when I guessed the number of pumpkin seeds in a jar at school and won the jack-o-lantern, went trick-or-treating dressed as a pirate, came home and ate candied apples, went through the haunted house and felt the dead man’s eyes and guts (grapes and macaroni).
Plastic vampire teeth and those little wax harmonicas that used to drive my dad batty. Sitting in the dark with my best friend and a flashlight, telling ghost stories.
Roky Erickson – Creature With the Atom Brain
Now that I’ve grown up it isn’t quite the same. I don’t dress up for Halloween the way I did as a kid. My wife went to a Halloween party the other night dressed as a princess. I wore a T-shirt that looks like there’s a frog inside, trying to get out. I think that confuses the fairy tale a little, but nobody noticed.
I mainly just get in the mood by playing really cool scary songs and there’s a lot to choose from It seems to bring out the best in so many musicians.
Here’s a YouTube playlist of stuff I like to listen to on Halloween, things I really like. No “Monster Mash” here. I like things a little darker.
Nation of Language – Too Much, Enough. I’m getting a dark New Wave/Postpunk kinda vibe, like Modern English or Comsat Angels.
Last time my friend shared a song his daughter liked it was a little rough. Some teenage boy singing a sad song about a number. My friend admitted he didn’t get it either. She was little.
She got older and now her favorites are Icelandic jazz singer Laufey and a band called Nation of Language.
Nation of Language – Sole Obsession.
“New music sucks.” I’ve heard that for years from my peers, through the metal years, the grunge years, the hip hop years (which I guess we’re still in?). I never did buy it.
There’s always good music. You just might have to dig for it. Personally, I don’t care what’s popular. I care if it’s good, and there’s so much available online, why worry about what everybody likes? Find what you like.
Laufey – Bewitched. This is really interesting, bringing back that orchestrated jazz sound from the 40s and 50s. Why shouldn’t that be cool again?
Laufey – From the Start. Bossanova a la Astrud Gilberto. I approve.
The internet squabble over Oliver Anthony’s song “Rich Men North of Richmond” really got under my skin. I already wrote about him, but I wasn’t done. I couldn’t write about anything else until I got it out of my system.
I’ve always been a contrarian. Sometimes I stick up for the wrong people and get egg on my face. Maybe it’ll happen again. But I’d rather be a contrarian for undeserved empathy than undeserved cruelty. I hate having to choose between mobs.
“I Want to Go Home” really gets me in the feels, with that line about the grandkid selling the family farm and seeing “only got concrete growin’ around.” People in the country do get attached to the land. The system doesn’t like that.
Instead of dwelling on what Oliver Anthony’s agenda was, I decided to take a deeper dive and see what I thought of him as a musician. I’m a fan of his type of music. Based on the dozen or so very good song he’s been uploading for the past three years, I don’t see an agenda. As far as I can tell he’s just been following the muse and got caught up in other peoples’ fight.
This comment on his Facebook page doesn’t sound something a would-be culture warrior would say: “I HATE the way the Internet has divided all of us. The Internet is a parasite, that infects the minds of humans and has their way with them. Hours wasted, goals forgotten, loved ones sitting in houses with each other distracted all day by technology made by the hands of other poor souls in sweat shops in a foreign land.”
I can’t help but notice he’s Appalachian. A culture that has influenced a lot of America, but doesn’t seem to get much respect. There are reasons why he and his fans think the way they do.
She talks about exploitation by the timber, mining and pharmaceutical industries.
What I found interesting was her explanation of how money-based economies and governments try to urge people from land-based cultures into the city, and how that has resulted in a superiority complex among city dwellers and internalized shame among country folk.
Oliver Anthony – Rich Man’s Gold. I like the tone of this song. “You weren’t born to just pay bills and die…”
As for those lines about welfare… I watched his Joe Rogan interview and he said something interesting about “Rich Men North of Richmond.” He didn’t think it was his best song and was only half-finished when Radio WV chose it. He finished the second half in a hurry.
So I think he meant what he said, though not necessarily with any ill intent. It’s pretty much middle of the road thinking where he lives. I had similar views as a rural Texan, and I was a lot more liberal than the average Republican.
Why don’t people from Oliver Anthony’s demographic find progressives convincing?
It comes down to something Kingsolver said. “We will only take information from people we trust…. so if you open a conversation with ‘you bonehead’ the conversation is over.” In other words, they don’t trust the the messenger, so they don’t trust the message.
City culture is the mainstream culture of America. Most of our media comes from cities. But that’s not the only culture. People in the countryside don’t feel like city people aren’t on their side.
So they don’t trust what the mainstream says. That’s how the rich men north and south of Richmond are able to fool them. They pretend to care. If those rich men won’t lift a finger to help, at least they’re on the correct “side.”
What would it look like if progressives actually did care?
In the South, there is a custom where you want to have a little conversation first, before you get down to business. You talk about your kids, your dogs, your favorite music. Anything to establish a connection. I think that custom would come in very handy on social media.
If you dislike the messaging in “Rich Men North of Richmond,” and you find someone who likes it, what if you tried to make a connection instead of writing them off? You liked his voice, or maybe you like some of his other songs? Start there and maybe they’ll care what else you have to say.
Oliver Anthony – Ain’t Got a Dollar. I can vibe with this song. There is value in living on the land near where you grew up, instead of moving all over to chase a dollar.
Writer’s blocked at the moment. I’ve been writing, but it’s all been dreck. Spent two days working on something and decided I was talking out of my ass. Decided to chill for a bit and listen to one of my favorite bands: Suede, aka the London Suede.
So unique and beautiful. I don’t know why they never made it big in America. Currently watching this awesome live concert video, Love & Poison, recorded at the Brixton Academy in 1993. I can’t think of any band that sounds quite like they did.
I especially love their debut with its beautiful ballads like “The Next Life” and “Pantomime Horse.” Those get me every time. I need to go back and listen to their whole catalog for that matter.
BTW, they have links to a bunch of other live concert videos in the description.
A few days ago I noticed the YouTube reaction channels talking about this red-haired country singer, Oliver Anthony. Just a guy and his guitar, singing his heart out. I was moved as a lot of the reactors were moved.
Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North of Richmond
Then a few days go by and suddenly my feed is swamped with “reactions” by some of the worst people on the Internet.
It seems the right wing had snatched him up as one of their own and were using him to sow division.
Sounds genuine to me. Hoping for the best.
Then the left wing creators started giving their takes. He’s punching down on welfare recipients, he might be anti-Semitic, he’s an industry plant, etc. So I second-guessed myself.
I thought great, something else to fight over. I finally see someone who seems like they might be able to get Americans talking again – and wham! They’re fucked right out of the gate.
Oliver Anthony – Ain’t Gotta Dollar. I like this one. Puts me in mind of bluesmen like Robert Johnson and Mance Lipscomb.
But there was something about that song. It felt genuine. We’re not used to genuine these days. Go for the cynical take straightaway and you don’t get disappointed. But maybe he was the real deal after all?
Sure enough, he popped up with a clarification. He didn’t much appreciate getting “adopted” by the Republican party and having his lyrics misconstrued. His line about welfare might have come across like a right wing talking point, but I don’t think he meant it that way.
He comes across to me as an independent country conservative, basically me, 30 years ago. I had a heart for the poor back then, but I might’ve said similar things about welfare. I just wasn’t able to see the big picture back then.
I see where he turned down a record deal by some folks who apparently wanted to promote him as something he was not. So maybe he’ll do the YouTube thing like Ren and make it that way. Integrity? Could it be?
Billy Bragg – Rich Men Earning North of a Million. I never grew up around unions. Texas is a “right to work” state. But this country needs unions. The world needs unions. I’ve never been as sure of that as I am now.
I did kinda like the way English activist and folks singer Billy Bragg handled it, putting out a pro-union version, “Rich Men Earning North of A Million.” Most of us non-billionaires can agree on the problem. So why not respond with a possible solution.
I hope Oliver Anthony meant what he said in that video, because I’m tired of watching my favorite tribes fight.
Just discovered another amazing bit of culture from the Adrar region of Southern Algeria. I’d like to know more about this tradition. Looks fun as hell.
The polyrhythms with the clapping remind me somehow of Flamenco dancers in Spain. Hard to do. Looks like there’s a competitive element to the dancing.
Dvorak – Slavonic Dance Number 2. My favorite of the Slavonic Dances, some of my favorite pieces of classical music.
Mispronouncing Dvorak is not a hit with the ladies. I have several senses of humors, one of them being to play dumb on purpose to annoy people.
If people think I’m dumb, but since I know I’m joking, it’s funny to me…
I used to torture my mom by pronouncing classical composers’ names wrong on purpose: Prokofiev like “Proko-feev,” Dvorak like “Dizz-vorzhak,” Tchaikovsky like “Chis-kowsky.”
It pissed her off because I listened to the stuff all the time with Dad and she knew I knew better. She still corrected me, just like, pissed off.
It was funny to me… Tried that routine on a date once. It was not a hit.
My wife is still annoyed at me because I got her to mispronounce Dvorak when she first met my mom. “Gets a reaction every time,” I said.
Mom said nothing. She was being polite to my new girlfriend.
“Just think,” I said this morning, “Mom went to her grave thinking you pronounced it Dizz-vorzhak.”
It was not a hit.
Anyway the joke’s on me, because I apparently don’t and never will say Dvorak right since I’m not Czech and already have my hands full learning Spanish.
How Czechs say Dvorak
So Duh-vorzhak it is. (Unless you’re my wife. Then it’s gonna be Dizz-vorzhak on purpose.)
Two Indian uncles listen to psytrance music: Blastoyz – Mandala
Had to pass this along. This really made me smile this morning. So much joy. I get that feeling when I hear their music too. I like the little bit at the end.
Courir de Mardi Gras in Mamou Louisiana. The other Mardi Gras.
I love Louisiana culture, especially the way they celebrate Mardi Gras – even though I often forget, since I was raised protestant. Most of the fun has probably been had by now or is under way.
When I remember, I usually play music from Lousiana. Close as I’m probably going to get.
I recently found out they don’t just do Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Cajuns have their own version. It comes with its own set of traditions including some wild looking costumes and a chicken chase. I love that traditions like that still survive.
Like a lot of folks outside Louisiana tend to think of New Orleans first, but the only time I ever celebrated Mardi Gras properly, it was a Cajun event – Charles Thibodeaux of Beaumont, Texas put on a concert at Central Market in Austin.
Lots of transplanted Cajuns were there, dancing and drinking wine, kids were doing their own thing. I envy cultures like that, where drinking can be family friendly. When I was a Baptist I drank plenty, but only when I was sinning.
#Mardi Gras, #Cajun, #Courir de Mardi Gras, #Louisiana, #Charles Thibodeaux
I’m definitely going down a Polish culture rabbit hole. I found the most amazing singer, Kasia Mos. What a set of pipes!
The song above is from a project called Moniuszco 200. According to the venue: “New takes of compositions by Stanislaw Moniuszko performed by AUKSO Chamber Orchestra for voice, piano, synthesizer, moog, electric violin, bass and drums.”
The concert was captured in a gorgeous live album by the same name. Here it is on Spotify:
I didn’t know about Moniuszco, although I am very much into classical music. He’s a famous composer in Poland, “The Father of the Polish opera” (Belarussians claim him too). Here’s a detailed biography.
Late Boomer's Den 
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