Fan with Guitar
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University of New Orleans ScholarWorks@UNO University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations Dissertations and Theses 5-16-2008 Fan with Guitar Jeremy Tuman University of New Orleans Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td Recommended Citation Tuman, Jeremy, "Fan with Guitar" (2008). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 667. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/667 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by ScholarWorks@UNO with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights- holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. 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Fan with Guitar A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of New Orleans in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Nonfiction by Jeremy Tuman B.A. University of Alabama, 1994 May, 2008 Copyright 2008, Jeremy Tuman ii Table of Contents Abstract.............................................................................................................................. iv Preface..................................................................................................................................1 Part One ...............................................................................................................................7 Reflections on the Wrayman..........................................................................................7 Soul Connections .........................................................................................................12 Part Two.............................................................................................................................23 A Jew in a Nazi Band?.................................................................................................23 I Hate Hardcore............................................................................................................29 Three Nights in the Tight Pants Aquarium..................................................................41 Tossers .........................................................................................................................59 The Pits ........................................................................................................................71 Noise, Sweat and Tiny Coffees: Rock and Roll Travels in Europe.................................................................................79 Part Three.........................................................................................................................112 The King of Haight Street..........................................................................................112 A Home Without........................................................................................................125 Vita...................................................................................................................................139 iii Abstract Fan with Guitar is a collection of ten personal, nonfiction essays written between 2005 and 2008. The theme that connects them is music. The essays all explore, to some degree, the significance of music in our lives, the value we place on it, and the trials and merits of a life dedicated to music. The majority of the essays deal with the author’s experiences traveling and performing with a musical group, thus also functioning as travel essays. Two essays address the role of the fan, and two others concern the idea of community and touch on how music plays a part in that idea. iv Preface Before I entered the writing program at UNO, my goal was simple: to write about music. I had spent the eleven years since earning my bachelor’s degree playing guitar, bass and drums in a handful of bands on both coasts. Also in that time I continued to collect records, go to shows and basically be as active a member as I could in the scene, more specifically, the garage-rock scene. Garage rock during the years 1995-2005 was a blend of punk, mid-sixties rock and early rock and roll, a true mélange of American sounds, filtered through groups that ranged in ability from charmingly amateurish to menacingly precise. But members of these groups often shared a crazed enthusiasm for old records, old bands, old sounds, which set the scene apart from other rock scenes. I wanted to give voice to my love and enthusiasm for the music, a love nurtured by this vibrant scene, through writing. This goal included a desire to continue the great tradition of music writing practiced by Peter Guralnick, Nick Tosches and, of course, Lester Bangs. Reading these writers, one needn’t wonder about their motivation, or how they felt about the music. They dug it. Plain and simple. And their writing was only an extension of their digging it. They wanted to know more, to get to the essence of the music, to illuminate the power of the songs. They sought to get close to the artists, to uncover their mystery, to see what made them tick. When a heart beats as loud and fast as it does when locked into the spell of a great rock song, one naturally wants to know a little more about what the hell that’s all about. What makes rock and roll so damn cool anyway? Sure, music writing might not deal with the most pressing and consequential issues of our time, the way literature maybe should. Music writing doesn’t engage in 1 questions of the nature of war, poverty, famine or the plight of the underclass in a world increasingly dominated by heartless corporate greed. But what it does deal with is the good stuff, the fun stuff, the stuff that makes all the difficult stuff easier to take. And in doing that, music writing can and often does delve into our search for meaning in our lives. In music lies meaning. Who provides the soundtracks to the moments that make up our favorite memories? Is it enough to acknowledge the music’s existence and move on to more important matters? Or is the music worth a deeper look? After all, isn’t what’s playing in the background during the happiest moments of our lives worth some consideration? Or at least some adulation? My father, who openly disdained the boneheaded simplicity of rock and country, once offered this thought: you might not ever think that somebody had to sit down and write, had to actively create the songs we hear (even the “stupid” ones), but think of the void in the world there would be if a song like “Country Roads” didn’t exist. To that I add that while jazz (my father’s music) and blues may be among scholars’ choices as America’s greatest cultural exports, the people tell a different story. Go to any club, bar or restaurant, any place where people, everyday people, congregate to enjoy themselves, in any city on the planet. Chances are you won’t hear any blues or jazz. It’s the popular music of the second half of the twentieth century, the rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, funk, disco, rap, metal, punk and all the derivatives in between, that is truly America’s greatest cultural export. But that seemingly simple plan was what I had in mind before I entered the program. Once I got in I quickly realized that I wanted to write about more than music. A lot more. I wanted to examine the communities in which I lived, communities that I consciously placed myself into, originally as an outsider, and of which I eventually came 2 to feel a part, to a certain degree. I wanted to write about friends, some of whom shared my passion for music, many of whom did not. I wanted to write about my family, that mysterious combination of forces that somehow helped make me what I am. And, of course, I wanted to write about women and love, to examine the “whys” and “hows” of the handful of romantic relationships I’ve had over the years. So I did. And in the process, I came to realize that all of these topics, on some level, at some point, had something to do with music. Not all of these topics wound up in this thesis, but through the process of writing about them, I gained a greater understanding of the role of music in my life: how it came to be so important to me; how love of music shaped my personality, influenced my decisions, altered my life’s course; why I ultimately still believe in the power, the goodness, the necessity of popular music. As for what did wind up in this thesis, it begins with a look at my original role in music, that of a fan. “Reflections on the Wrayman,” a tribute to Link Wray, recounts the part his music has played in my life and the way, through various stages, my relationship to music always reverts back to that original state of observer/fan. “Soul Connections” offers a similar take on Sam Cooke. In examining what it means to be a fan, I find that certain music (often created well before my birth) has been with me since childhood. While my perception and appreciation of music changes with time, the essential attraction of it does not. My love of the big beat was there early on, and it’s still there. Next is Part Two. “A Jew in a Nazi Band?” recounts how I came to be involved with The ZKs, my