Philosophy
On Woody Guthrie's 100th birthday, let's think about the country he loved so much. He was born in Oklahoma, driven to Texas by the dust bowl, ended up in California, New York, the Pacific Northwest, and here and there all over the country. He was so moved by the lives and plight of the working and out of work folks he found that he wrote song after song after song. So many of them were about rambling, seeing the country, going to places. Are there still really places in the country? Have we become a single culture rather than the patchwork of Woody's time. Is there that much difference between Seattle and Tulsa? Between small towns in the midwest and New York City? We use red and blue as if there were different Americas in America, but how full of distinct places are we anymore? Would rambling have the same meaning now that it did for Woody Guthrie? Would it really have any meaning?
- Bullshit Or Not: Woody Allen Edition
Here's a bit that used to be a regular at the Playground, but which I haven't dusted off in a while. The title comes from a sketch in the old film "Amazon Women on the Moon" which included a spoof of the old Leonard Nemoy series "In Search of..."...
- Seeing America
While we're on a USA roll, we're thinking about car trips we'd like to take this summer with the short people. Looking at the Lucy-Desi museum in Jamestown, NY which is close to some big waterfall on the Canadian border people keep talking...
- Oprah, Bob Dylan, And Middle Class Neuroses
Yesterday was Bob Dylan's 70th birthday and today is Oprah's final show. In a certain sense, the work of both have been about the same exact thing, the neuroses of the American middle class. Dylan's rise to prominence came as a result of...
- Feast Of Saint Woody
It is a season of holiness, my Comedist brothers and sisters. Not only did we just see the birthday of Steven Wright (wrighteously celebrated by good brother Phil at Philosophical Bits), but we have also just seen the passing of the anniversary of the...
- Folk Songs...dead?
The folk singers [Brewer & Shipley, Mamas & Papas, Maria Muldaur, Peter, Paul & Mary, Simon & Garfunkel, The New Christy Minstrels, The Kingston Trio, Woody Guthrie, and scores more]...died or disbanded. One wonders if the genre is still...
Philosophy
Has Woody's Ameirca Been Homogenized?
On Woody Guthrie's 100th birthday, let's think about the country he loved so much. He was born in Oklahoma, driven to Texas by the dust bowl, ended up in California, New York, the Pacific Northwest, and here and there all over the country. He was so moved by the lives and plight of the working and out of work folks he found that he wrote song after song after song. So many of them were about rambling, seeing the country, going to places. Are there still really places in the country? Have we become a single culture rather than the patchwork of Woody's time. Is there that much difference between Seattle and Tulsa? Between small towns in the midwest and New York City? We use red and blue as if there were different Americas in America, but how full of distinct places are we anymore? Would rambling have the same meaning now that it did for Woody Guthrie? Would it really have any meaning?
- Bullshit Or Not: Woody Allen Edition
Here's a bit that used to be a regular at the Playground, but which I haven't dusted off in a while. The title comes from a sketch in the old film "Amazon Women on the Moon" which included a spoof of the old Leonard Nemoy series "In Search of..."...
- Seeing America
While we're on a USA roll, we're thinking about car trips we'd like to take this summer with the short people. Looking at the Lucy-Desi museum in Jamestown, NY which is close to some big waterfall on the Canadian border people keep talking...
- Oprah, Bob Dylan, And Middle Class Neuroses
Yesterday was Bob Dylan's 70th birthday and today is Oprah's final show. In a certain sense, the work of both have been about the same exact thing, the neuroses of the American middle class. Dylan's rise to prominence came as a result of...
- Feast Of Saint Woody
It is a season of holiness, my Comedist brothers and sisters. Not only did we just see the birthday of Steven Wright (wrighteously celebrated by good brother Phil at Philosophical Bits), but we have also just seen the passing of the anniversary of the...
- Folk Songs...dead?
The folk singers [Brewer & Shipley, Mamas & Papas, Maria Muldaur, Peter, Paul & Mary, Simon & Garfunkel, The New Christy Minstrels, The Kingston Trio, Woody Guthrie, and scores more]...died or disbanded. One wonders if the genre is still...