DOCSLIB.ORG

Ripping Off Black Music

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ripping Off Black Music Margo Jefferson PERFORMING ARTS RIPPING OFF BLACK MUSIC From Thomas "Daddy" Rice to Jimi Hendrix Part the First: Being an Exposition Crow," buttressed with ragged clothes for a time as "The Two Real Coons" on the Development of the Myth of and blackface makeup, was acclaimed by managers anxious to distinguish Rock Music as Viewed hy Antagonis. the comic performance of the Louis- them from numerous noncoon rivals. tic Participants, and Containing as ville season; within weeks Daddy was And James Weldon Johnson writes Much of the History of the Minstrel the toast of New York, and eight years about the famous New York producer Show as Is Necessary for the Read- er's Understanding. later the toast of London. who gained a reputation for inven- Naturally, minstrel shows grew like tiveness by studying the Will Cook- LVIS PRESLEY was the greatest Topsy, playing to the highborn and Paul Lawrence Dunbar show, Clor- E minstrel America ever spawned, the lowly across the land. With indy-the Origin 0/ the Cakewalk, and he appeared in bold whiteface. their Irrepressible High Spirits they and learning from it that choruses He sang like a nigger, danced like a cheered the South through the Civil might be taught to sing and dance nigger, walked like a nigger, and War, and managed to create such simultaneously, and that a certain talked like a nigger. Chuck Berry, un- goodwill in their audiences that by syncopated beat was very catchy when fortunately, was a nigger. They are the late 1860s even Negro performers applied to orchestral music. As radio two of the more splendid beings in were in demand. Negro minstrels, took its place in the entertainment the Great Chain of Minstrelsy that though, were accorded no special pantheon, minstrels began to call stretches from the start of the nine- privileges, the assumption being that themselves Amos'n' Andy; and when teenth century to the present, encom- none had a patent on the "pathos and the first talkie musical film opened, passing circuses, medicine shows, humor," the "artless philosophy," or no one was surprised to see veteran Broadway, the Fillmore East, night- the "plaintive and hilarious melo- vaudeviller Al Jolson enter in black- clubs, concert halls, television, and dies" of Negro life once it became face, prance down a runway, fall on Las Vegas. public entertainment. Like their white one knee and cry "Mammy!" while co-workers, black minstrels wore the orchestra played "Swanee" furi- burnt cork makeup and colorful rags ously in the background. (as country bumpkin Jim Crow) or The white minstrel has an endless white gloves and tails (as city dandy supply of incarnations: playing nig- Zip Coon). Once these Ethiopian gel' is first-rate theater. It has laughs, bards overcame some prejudice, par- tears, cheap thrills--a bargain cathar- ticularly among Southern audiences, sis. The performer's white skin, like they were said to be very funny in- an actor's curtain call, is an ingenious deed. safety device, signaling that the show Secession, abolition, the Civil War, is over and nothing has changed. and Reconstruction passed: the min- Aristotle neglected to mention that strel remained. When the form itself the aftermath of a catharsis is the faded toward the century's end (la- viewer's smug satisfaction with the mented by song publisher E.B. Marks capacity for feeling, a satisfaction as a sign that manners no longer that permits a swift and comfortable flourished in America), its clowning return to business as usual. You can't and soft-shoe routines trotted into lose playing the White Negro, because vaudeville and its songs drifted into you are in the unique position of re- Tin Pan Alley and musical comedy. taining the material benefits of being The patriarch of the minstrel show Songs by black writers were placed white while sampling the mythologi- was Thomas "Daddy" Rice, a white in white shows, serving as vehicles cal ones of being black. gentleman who, with a keen eye for for white stars and as best sellers entertainment, based his 1829 debut for white publishers. White com- on the antics of a deformed and rheu- posers, updating Stephen Foster's UCH HAS BEEN MADE of the matic ex-slave. The ex-slave made a habit of borrowing melodies from M 1950s, when America's teen- few pennies a day performing a neces- black churchgoers and boatmen, agers thrilled to the sounds of rhythm sarily limited but appealing song and spent hours in black clubrooms writ- and blues. It began, so they say, with dance he called "Jump Jim Crow"; ing down the tunes they heard and a small group, first listening to the copyrighting them as their own. charmed with it, Daddy studied, re- Margo Jefferson, a free-lance writer living in hearsed, and in a short time made Song-and-dance comics George New York, graduated from Columbia Univer- 40 show-business history. His "Jump Jim Walker and Bert Williams were billed sity School of Journalism in 1971. PERFORMING ARTS fugitive sounds on black radio sta- because "I am the King, the King of tirely exempt from the vulgarities tions, then venturing into black clubs Rock and Rhythm. I am the only one which have hitherto characterized ne- and theaters. White disc jockeys took allowed to be pretty." gro extravaganzas." * When Chuck notice, white record producers and There was Fats Domino too, and Berry sings, "Roll Over Beethoven/ radio station owners took action, and Jackie Wilson and Chuck Willis: also Dig these rhythm 'n' blues!" it is an faster than you could say "Zip Coon" Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis,' and outlaw's challenge to white culture. the country's youth was dancing to Bobby Darin; there was LaVern When the Beatles sing their version, the sounds of Elvis Presley and Chuck Baker, minstrelized by Theresa it has the sweet naughtiness of Peter Berry. Brewer, and Etta James, Jane Crowed Pan crowing "I Won't Grow Up." by Georgia Gibbs. There were many The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the others too, like Big Maybelle, Ruth Animals, and others sparked a jubi- Brown, the Chantels, and the Jesters, lee. In news conferences they boldly who stayed in the rhythm and blues announced that they listened to Chuck market, with their unpalatably ethnic Jackson, Smokey Robinson, and Sol- voices and rhythms, and were rarely omon Burke; white fans listened too, heard of by whites until the 1950s re- or at least memorized the names. The vival nearly twenty years later, when Stones pronounced Wilson Pickett's no one cared to spoil the nostalgia by "Midnight Hour" the best record of remembering whom they had or the year; "Midnight Hour" became hadn't grown up listening to. Peter the hit record of the year. ;u o Townsend of the Who has written Far from breaking ground, these » about those days: groups were the inheritors of a tradi- tion that began in England with the I'm a substitute [or another guy, 1 look pretty tall but my heels are eighteenth century, when "Negro high. songs" were first performed on the The simple things you see are all concert stage. In 1866 a black min- complicated, strel troupe visited London, and the 1 look pretty young but I'm just local streetsingers began to blacken backdated. their faces; English music-hall stars It's a substitute lies [or jact . • were soon crossing the Atlantic to f:!v':s Presley 1 look all white but my dad was popularize black-inspired American black ..• In fact, one portion of America songs with white American audiences. chose Elvis, son of Daddy Rice, and Elvis and his contemporaries During the 1920s small groups of the other opted for Chuck, bastard of shocked and thrilled because they English people began to cultivate the Jim Crow. Elvis was a good boy. In were hybrids. What had taken place jazz styles that black creators had addition to appearing on The Ed Sul- was a kind of Immaculate Miscegena- abandoned, collecting records, bring- livan Show, he made movies in Holly- tion, resulting in a creature who was ing performers to Europe, and form- wood with scrubbed starlets and at once a Prancing Nigger and a Blue- ing their own bands. stage-set teenagers who bopped like Eyed Boy. the Peter Gennaro Dancers. Chuck Berry remained in rock shows and black theaters, complaining about HE BEATLES emerged before courts and car salesmen, mocking T American audiences in 1963, with high school, and begging rock and a varied assortment of songs, some roll to deliver him from the days of clever updatings of the Everly Broth- old. Elvis lived quietly in Hollywood ers sort, some new versions of old with his mother while Chuck tried to black rock hits by the Isley Brothers, smuggle a child bride across the the Shirelles, Little Richard, the Mir- Georgia state line, and when Elvis acles, and Chuck Berry. According to went into the Army, Chuck went to rock and roll chroniclers, the Beatles jail. "revolutionized rock and roll by Then there was Bo Diddley, Chi- bringing it back to its original sources cago follower of Howlin' Wolf and and traditions" -in other words, Muddy Waters, who declared that he they brought Us together. It would be had a tombstone hand and a grave- more accurate to say that the Beatles yard mind, a taste for diamond rings, seasoned, cooked, and served some of barbed wire, and cobra snakes; he Us up to others of Us with appropri- warned, prophetically, that you can't ate garnishing. They refined and ex- Houilin' Wolf Muddy Warers judge a book by looking at its cover.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • TN Bluesletter Week 10 080310.Cdr
    (About the Blues continued) offered rich, more complex guitar parts, the beginnings of a blues trend towards separating lead guitar from rhythm playing. Shows begin at 6:30 unless noted Texas acoustic blues relied more on the use of slide, In case of inclement weather, shows will be held just down the and artists like Lightnin' Hopkins and Blind Willie street at the Grand Theater, 102 West Grand Avenue. Johnson are considered masters of slide guitar. Other June 1 Left Wing Bourbon local and regional blues scenes - from New Orleans MySpace.com/LeftWingBourbon June 8 The Pumps to Atlanta, from St. Louis to Detroit - also left their mark ThePumpsBand.com on the acoustic blues sound. MySpace.com/ThePumpsBand When African-American musical tastes began to June 15 The Blues Dogs change in the early-1960s, moving towards soul and August 3, 2010 at Owen Park MySpace.com/SteveMeyerAndTheBluesDogs rhythm & blues music, country blues found renewed June 22 Pete Neuman and the Real Deal popularity as the "folk blues" and was sold to a PeteNeuman.com June 29 Code Blue with Catya & Sue primarily white, college-age audience. Traditional YYoouunngg BBlluueess NNiigghhtt Catya.net artists like Big Bill Broonzy and Sonny Boy Williamson July 6 Mojo Lemon reinvented themselves as folk blues artists, while MojoLemon.com Piedmont bluesmen like Sonny Terry and Brownie MySpace.com/MojoLemonBluesBand McGhee found great success on the folk festival July 13 Dave Lambert DaveLambertBand.com circuit. The influence of original acoustic country July 20 Deep Water Reunion blues can be heard today in the work of MySpace.com/DWReunion contemporary blues artists like Taj Mahal, Cephas & July 27 The Nitecaps Wiggins, Keb' Mo', and Alvin Youngblood Hart.
    [Show full text]
  • Bright Tunes Music V. Harrisongs Music
    420 F.Supp. 177 United States District Court, S. D. New York. BRIGHT TUNES MUSIC CORP., Plaintiff, v. HARRISONGS MUSIC, LTD., et al., Defendants. No. 7 1 Civ. 602. | Aug. 31, 1976. | As Amended Sept. 1, 1976. OPINION AND ORDER OWEN, District Judge. This is an action in which it is claimed that a successful song, My Sweet Lord, listing George Harrison as the composer, is plagiarized from an earlier successful song, He’s So Fine, composed by Ronald Mack, recorded by a singing group called the “Chiffons,” the copyright of which is owned by plaintiff, Bright Tunes Music Corp. He’s So Fine, recorded in 1962, is a catchy tune consisting essentially of four repetitions of a very short basic musical phrase, “sol-mi-re,” (hereinafter motif A),1 altered as necessary to fit the words, followed by four repetitions of another short basic musical phrase, “sol-la-do-la-do,” (hereinafter motif B).2 While neither motif is novel, the four repetitions of A, followed by four repetitions of B, is a highly unique pattern.3 In addition, in the second use of the motif B series, there is a grace note inserted making the phrase go “sol-la-do-la-re-do.”4 My Sweet Lord, recorded first in 1970, also uses the same motif A (modified to suit the words) four times, followed by motif B, repeated three times, not four. In place of He’s So Fine’s fourth repetition of motif B, My Sweet Lord has a transitional passage of musical attractiveness of the same approximate length, with the identical grace note in the identical second repetition.5 The harmonies of both songs are identical.6 *179 George Harrison, a former member of The Beatles, was aware of He’s So Fine.
    [Show full text]
  • Music Video As Black Art
    IN FOCUS: Modes of Black Liquidity: Music Video as Black Art The Unruly Archives of Black Music Videos by ALESSANDRA RAENGO and LAUREN MCLEOD CRAMER, editors idway through Kahlil Joseph’s short fi lm Music Is My Mis- tress (2017), the cellist and singer Kelsey Lu turns to Ishmael Butler, a rapper and member of the hip-hop duo Shabazz Palaces, to ask a question. The dialogue is inaudible, but an intertitle appears on screen: “HER: Who is your favorite fi lm- Mmaker?” “HIM: Miles Davis.” This moment of Black audiovisual appreciation anticipates a conversation between Black popular cul- ture scholars Uri McMillan and Mark Anthony Neal that inspires the subtitle for this In Focus dossier: “Music Video as Black Art.”1 McMillan and Neal interpret the complexity of contemporary Black music video production as a “return” to its status as “art”— and specifi cally as Black art—that self-consciously uses visual and sonic citations from various realms of Black expressive culture in- cluding the visual and performing arts, fashion, design, and, obvi- ously, the rich history of Black music and Black music production. McMillan and Neal implicitly refer to an earlier, more recogniz- able moment in Black music video history, the mid-1990s and early 2000s, when Hype Williams defi ned music video aesthetics as one of the single most important innovators of the form. Although it is rarely addressed in the literature on music videos, the glare of the prolifi c fi lmmaker’s infl uence extends beyond his signature lumi- nous visual style; Williams distinguished the Black music video as a creative laboratory for a new generation of artists such as Arthur Jafa, Kahlil Joseph, Bradford Young, and Jenn Nkiru.
    [Show full text]
  • Billy Preston
    Billy Preston Billy Preston was a soul singer and pianist who, in addition to having a successful solo career, collaborated with some of the greatest names in the music industry, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Little Richard, Ray Charles, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, Sammy Davis Jr., Sly Stone, Aretha Franklin, the Jackson 5, Quincy Jones, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Often called “the Fifth Beatle,” this former child prodigy left one of the most profound and prolific legacies in music. William Everett Preston was born in Houston, Texas in 1946. He began playing piano at age three, and by ten he had joined the band of gospel great Mahalia Jackson. At age twelve he appeared in the 1958 film St. Louis Blues, portraying blues composer W.C. Handy as a young man. In the 1960s Preston performed with Little Richard and Ray Charles, and became a regular singer and pianist on the ABC television series Shindig. Preston went on to a successful career as a session musician, including lending his talents to the Beatle’s Let It Be album. That collaboration led to his signing to the Beatles’ Apple label, and in 1969 his solo effort, produced by George Harrison, was released. The album That's the Way God Planned It and the single of the same name met with limited success, but in 1972 he released an instrumental funk single, "Outa-Space," that reached #2 in the U.S. and won the Grammy award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. Over the next two years, Preston enjoyed more number one hits including "Will It Go Round In Circles" and "Nothing From Nothing." He was the first guest musical artist on the premier episode of the popular TV show Saturday Night Live.
    [Show full text]
  • The Twist”—Chubby Checker (1960) Added to the National Registry: 2012 Essay by Jim Dawson (Guest Post)*
    “The Twist”—Chubby Checker (1960) Added to the National Registry: 2012 Essay by Jim Dawson (guest post)* Chubby Checker Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” has the distinction of being the only non-seasonal American recording that reached the top of “Billboard’s” pop charts twice, separately. (Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” topped the holiday tree in 1942, 1945, and 1947). “The Twist” shot to No. 1 in 1960, fell completely off the charts, then returned over a year later like a brand new single and did it all over again. Even more remarkable was that Checker’s version was a nearly note-for- note, commissioned mimicry of the original “The Twist,” written and recorded in 1958 by R&B artist Hank Ballard and released as the B-side of a love ballad. Most remarkable of all, however, is that Chubby Checker set the whole world Twisting, from Harlem clubs to the White House to Buckingham Palace, and beyond. The Twist’s movements were so rudimentary that almost everyone, regardless of their level of coordination, could maneuver through it, usually without injuring or embarrassing themselves. Like so many rhythm and blues songs, “The Twist” had a busy pedigree going back decades. In 1912, black songwriter Perry Bradford wrote “Messin’ Around,” in which he gave instructions to a new dance called the Mess Around: “Put your hands on your hips and bend your back; stand in one spot nice and tight; and twist around with all your might.” The following year, black tunesmiths Chris Smith and Jim Burris wrote “Ballin’ the Jack” for “The Darktown Follies of 1913” at Harlem’s Lafayette Theatre, in which they elaborated on the Mess Around by telling dancers, “Twist around and twist around with all your might.” The song started a Ballin’ the Jack craze that, like nearly every new Harlem dance, moved downtown to the white ballrooms and then shimmied and shook across the country.
    [Show full text]
  • Lightnin' Hopkins
    Lightnin' Hopkins Samuel John "Lightnin'" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist, and occasional pianist, from Centerville, Texas. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 71 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. The musicologist Robert "Mack" McCormick opined that Hopkins is "the embodiment of the jazz-and-poetry spirit, representing its ancient form in the single creator whose words and music are one act". Life Hopkins was born in Centerville, Texas, and as a child was immersed in the sounds of the blues. He developed a deep appreciation for this music at the age of 8, when he met Blind Lemon Jefferson at a church picnic in Buffalo, Texas. That day, Hopkins felt the blues was "in him".He went on to learn from his older (distant) cousin, the country blues singer Alger "Texas" Alexander. (Hopkins had another cousin, the Texas electric blues guitarist Frankie Lee Sims, with whom he later recorded.) Hopkins began accompanying Jefferson on guitar at informal church gatherings. Jefferson reputedly never let anyone play with him except young Hopkins, and Hopkins learned much from Jefferson at these gatherings. In the mid-1930s, Hopkins was sent to Houston County Prison Farm; the offense for which he was imprisoned is unknown. In the late 1930s, he moved to Houston with Alexander in an unsuccessful attempt to break into the music scene there. By the early 1940s, he was back in Centerville, working as a farm hand. Hopkins took a second shot at Houston in 1946. While singing on Dowling Street in Houston's Third Ward (which would become his home base), he was discovered by Lola Anne Cullum of Aladdin Records, based in Los Angeles.
    [Show full text]
  • The Portrayal of African American Women in Hip-Hop Videos
    Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 6-2005 The Portrayal of African American Women in Hip-Hop Videos Ladel Lewis Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Lewis, Ladel, "The Portrayal of African American Women in Hip-Hop Videos" (2005). Master's Theses. 4192. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/4192 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE PORTRAYAL OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN IN HIP-HOP VIDEOS By Ladel Lewis A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Department of Sociology Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan June 2005 Copyright by Ladel Lewis 2005 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thankmy advisor, Dr. Zoann Snyder, forthe guidance and the patience she has rendered. Although she had a course reduction forthe Spring 2005 semester, and incurred some minor setbacks, she put in overtime in assisting me get my thesis finished. I appreciate the immediate feedback, interest and sincere dedication to my project. You are the best Dr. Snyder! I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Douglas Davison, Dr. Charles Crawford and honorary committee member Dr. David Hartman fortheir insightful suggestions. They always lent me an ear, whether it was fora new joke or about anything.
    [Show full text]
  • Crossing Over: from Black Rhythm Blues to White Rock 'N' Roll
    PART2 RHYTHM& BUSINESS:THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF BLACKMUSIC Crossing Over: From Black Rhythm Blues . Publishers (ASCAP), a “performance rights” organization that recovers royalty pay- to WhiteRock ‘n’ Roll ments for the performance of copyrighted music. Until 1939,ASCAP was a closed BY REEBEEGAROFALO society with a virtual monopoly on all copyrighted music. As proprietor of the com- positions of its members, ASCAP could regulate the use of any selection in its cata- logue. The organization exercised considerable power in the shaping of public taste. Membership in the society was generally skewed toward writers of show tunes and The history of popular music in this country-at least, in the twentieth century-can semi-serious works such as Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, Cole Porter, George be described in terms of a pattern of black innovation and white popularization, Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and George M. Cohan. Of the society’s 170 charter mem- which 1 have referred to elsewhere as “black roots, white fruits.’” The pattern is built bers, six were black: Harry Burleigh, Will Marion Cook, J. Rosamond and James not only on the wellspring of creativity that black artists bring to popular music but Weldon Johnson, Cecil Mack, and Will Tyers.’ While other “literate” black writers also on the systematic exclusion of black personnel from positions of power within and composers (W. C. Handy, Duke Ellington) would be able to gain entrance to the industry and on the artificial separation of black and white audiences. Because of ASCAP, the vast majority of “untutored” black artists were routinely excluded from industry and audience racism, black music has been relegated to a separate and the society and thereby systematically denied the full benefits of copyright protection.
    [Show full text]
  • Omega Auctions Ltd Catalogue 28 Apr 2020
    Omega Auctions Ltd Catalogue 28 Apr 2020 1 REGA PLANAR 3 TURNTABLE. A Rega Planar 3 8 ASSORTED INDIE/PUNK MEMORABILIA. turntable with Pro-Ject Phono box. £200.00 - Approximately 140 items to include: a Morrissey £300.00 Suedehead cassette tape (TCPOP 1618), a ticket 2 TECHNICS. Five items to include a Technics for Joe Strummer & Mescaleros at M.E.N. in Graphic Equalizer SH-8038, a Technics Stereo 2000, The Beta Band The Three E.P.'s set of 3 Cassette Deck RS-BX707, a Technics CD Player symbol window stickers, Lou Reed Fan Club SL-PG500A CD Player, a Columbia phonograph promotional sticker, Rock 'N' Roll Comics: R.E.M., player and a Sharp CP-304 speaker. £50.00 - Freak Brothers comic, a Mercenary Skank 1982 £80.00 A4 poster, a set of Kevin Cummins Archive 1: Liverpool postcards, some promo photographs to 3 ROKSAN XERXES TURNTABLE. A Roksan include: The Wedding Present, Teenage Fanclub, Xerxes turntable with Artemis tonearm. Includes The Grids, Flaming Lips, Lemonheads, all composite parts as issued, in original Therapy?The Wildhearts, The Playn Jayn, Ween, packaging and box. £500.00 - £800.00 72 repro Stone Roses/Inspiral Carpets 4 TECHNICS SU-8099K. A Technics Stereo photographs, a Global Underground promo pack Integrated Amplifier with cables. From the (luggage tag, sweets, soap, keyring bottle opener collection of former 10CC manager and music etc.), a Michael Jackson standee, a Universal industry veteran Ric Dixon - this is possibly a Studios Bates Motel promo shower cap, a prototype or one off model, with no information on Radiohead 'Meeting People Is Easy 10 Min Clip this specific serial number available.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Slut I Hate You': a Critical Discourse Analysis of Gendered Conflict On
    1 ‘Slut I hate you’: A Critical Discourse Analysis of gendered conflict on YouTube Sagredos Christos, Nikolova Evelin Abstract Research on gendered conflict, including language aggression against women has tended to focus on the analysis of discourses that sustain violence against women, disregarding counter-discourses on this phenomenon. Adopting a Critical Discourse Analysis perspective, this paper draws on the Discourse Historical Approach to examine the linguistic and discursive strategies involved in the online conflict that emerges from the polarisation of discourses on violence against women. An analysis of 2,304 consecutive YouTube comments posted in response to the sexist Greek song Καριόλα σε μισώ ‘Slut I hate you’ revealed that conflict revolves around five main topics: (a) gendered aggression, (b) the song, (c) the singer, (d) other users’ reactions to the song and (e) contemporary socio-political concerns. Findings also suggest that commenters favouring patriarchal gender ideologies differ in the lexicogrammatical choices and discursive strategies they employ from those who challenge them. Keywords: violence against women, language aggression, conflicting discourses, conflict on YouTube 2 1. Introduction The proliferation of online public spaces through social media can among others be seen as some kind of opening the “access to prestigious discourse types” and, therefore, as offering a greater or lesser potential for “democratisation of public discourse” (Fairclough 1992, 201). However, there is little consensus about the democratic potential afforded by such new technologies. While some focus on the plurality of voices that are allowed to be heard and the diverse identities that may gain visibility, others highlight that anonymity in digitally mediated communication may foster a feeling of unaccountability, thus reinforcing online incivility and polarisation of ideas (Garcés-Conejos Blitvich 2010; Papacharissi 2009; van Zoonen et al.
    [Show full text]
  • Boys and Girls by Alice Munro
    Boys and Girls by Alice Munro My father was a fox farmer. That is, he raised silver foxes, in pens; and in the fall and early winter, when their fur was prime, he killed them and skinned them and sold their pelts to the Hudson's Bay Company or the Montreal Fur Traders. These companies supplied us with heroic calendars to hang, one on each side of the kitchen door. Against a background of cold blue sky and black pine forests and treacherous northern rivers, plumed adventures planted the flags of England and or of France; magnificent savages bent their backs to the portage. For several weeks before Christmas, my father worked after supper in the cellar of our house. The cellar was whitewashed, and lit by a hundred-watt bulb over the worktable. My brother Laird and I sat on the top step and watched. My father removed the pelt inside-out from the body of the fox, which looked surprisingly small, mean, and rat-like, deprived of its arrogant weight of fur. The naked, slippery bodies were collected in a sack and buried in the dump. One time the hired man, Henry Bailey, had taken a swipe at me with this sack, saying, "Christmas present!" My mother thought that was not funny. In fact she disliked the whole pelting operation--that was what the killing, skinning, and preparation of the furs was called – and wished it did not have to take place in the house. There was the smell. After the pelt had been stretched inside-out on a long board my father scraped away delicately, removing the little clotted webs of blood vessels, the bubbles of fat; the smell of blood and animal fat, with the strong primitive odour of the fox itself, penetrated all parts of the house.
    [Show full text]
  • Check out 8 Songs Musical Artists Have
    Search TRAILBLAZERS IN MUSIC: CHECK OUT SONGS MUSICAL ARTISTS HAVE SAMPLED FROM WOMEN OF MOTOWN By Brianna Rhodes Photo: Classic Motown - Advertisement - The Sound Of Young America wouldn’t be known for what it is today without the trailblazing Women of Motown. Throughout its 60-year existence, Motown Records made an impact on the world thanks to music genius and founder, Berry Gordy. It's important to note though, that the African- American owned label wouldn’t have reached so many monumental milestones without The Supremes, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Mary Wells, The Marvelettes, Tammi Terrell and Gladys Knight. The success of these talented women proved that women voices needed to be heard through radio airwaves everywhere. As a kid, you were probably singing melodies created by these women around the house with family members or even performing the songs in your school’s talent show, not even realizing how much of an impact these women made on Black culture and Black music. This is why it’s important to acknowledge these women during the celebration of the label’s 60th anniversary. The legendary reign of the Women of Motown began back in 1960, with then 17-year-old musical artist Mary Wells with her debut single, “Bye Bye Baby.” Wells, who wrote the song herself, helped Motown attain its first Top 10 R&B hit ever. Wells continued to make history with her chart-topping single, “My Guy” becoming Motown’s fourth No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and the company’s first major U.K. single.
    [Show full text]