Nexus, Winter 1967
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Wright State University CORE Scholar Nexus Student Activities Winter 1-1-1967 Nexus, Winter 1967 Wright State University Community Follow this and additional works at: https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/nexusliteraryjournal Part of the Fiction Commons, Illustration Commons, Interdisciplinary Arts and Media Commons, Mass Communication Commons, Nonfiction Commons, Other Arts and Humanities Commons, Photography Commons, and the Poetry Commons Repository Citation Wright State University Community (1967). Nexus, Winter 1967. This Creative Work is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Activities at CORE Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Nexus by an authorized administrator of CORE Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. exus Nexus, Winter, 1967, Vol. II, No. Ill. Nexus is a literary quarterly produced by members of the Wright State Campus Poetry: a Teach academic community. Staff members are Mary Lou Plummer, Cynthia Cotterman, Pam Hale, Larry Gault, and Carol Winslow. Dick Al I en Editor, Eve Shelnutt Art Editor, Jim Servaites 21 A Quiet Sunday in the Suburbs 22 A Quiet Monday tn the Suburbs -- Ml ke Shackman 33 A Letter to Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, From Henry II, King of England -- WIii lam Harris 35 The Graduate -- Gary Kissick 37 Walking the Covered Br1 dges -- Earl Butler 43 Vignettes David Stu 11 er 45 A Poem for Amateurs Dick Al I en 47 Your Infidel tty (to the blonde In blue bel I-bottomed trousers) -- Gary Kissi ck Prose: 2 The Role of Popular Music Today: With Special Attention to the Career of one Robert Zimmerman -- David Patterl ine 10 The Orderly Man -- Bob Rowlands 18 And the Cradle Will Fall - A Book Review -- Mary Lou Plurrmer 24 Requiem for a Moral Man -- Susan Bennett 40 The Piano Player, The Bass, and Me -- MI ke Shackman Cover: Photograph by: Leonard E. Ptatt The Hole 01 Pooular Music Today: With soecial Attention to the ca- reer 01 one Hobert Zimmerman What is the role of "pop" music today? How does it differ from and what does it owe to the music of past? What are the imp I icit considerations that lead up to explore what, in America, especially since the dawn of the mass media, has been a sterile, commercialized form of communica tion? And finally, does the current flurry of relative creativity signal a significant advance? The first assumption, which many may prefer not at al I to grant, is that popular music does have a role. Its scope of influence is not equal led by any other form, mainly by its singular avai labi I ity through the mass communications - radio and television. It is also very apparent that this responsibi I ity (assuming a function beyond that of a senti mental pal I iative) has been regularly abused. What is not so read i I y di scernab I e is the way in w·h i ch segments of our cultural heritage have been ignored and excluded. These elements, mainly the separate but overlapping strains of Negro and folk rhythms and attitudes, wi I I be dealt with later, but their appearance, rather, their dominance, i n the sixties, form the basis of our present vitality. II lustration by: Nick Stamus 2 jazz, minor successes were attained, most notably by the Ideally the role of popular music would be to produce Third Stream Music of the Modern Jazz Quartet and by Dave an elevating influence, aesthetically and practically, on Brubeck. In poetry, the barbarians, led by remnants of the our culture. Carried to its ii logical I imits, it could beat movement, had significant but qua I ified popularity. partially usurp the traditional function of poetry. The These various attempts to reinstate meaningful artistic drawbacks are not as insurmountable as they seem. For communication to the mass cultural I ife of the nation had example -- rhyme, which is not essential in poetry, is use I ittle lasting effect. The subsequent trends in popular ful though not an absolute prerequisite, for a pop song. music of the '60's owe their origin partially to this sense It carries, however, inherent seeds of doom in its preten of cultural deprivation, plus the rejuvenation and merging tions to a higher and more meaningful plane. Its main ob of the folk and blues tradition. stacles are the necessity for an ear-catching rhyme (usually to the detriment of the lyrics), the restrictions of rhyme The best chronological definition of these two trends and the intel I igence I imitations of the audience. Al I these and the circumstances accounting for their rebirth can, per pltfal Is are unfortunately compounded by the Insistent fact haps, be best fol lowed in the career of the most prolific of musical I ife, that basic, blatant, commercial Ism. and talented songwriter (also erstwhile poet and musician) of this generation -- a hazy, zany figure from Hibbing, This commercial ism is not, however, al I bad. Although Minnesota, a midwestern Jew, Robert Zimmerman, better known it is debil ltating in its general effect, the other factors by his adopted name, Bob Dylan. He was born, near the onset such as its ready accessibi I ity and pervasive nature provide of World War I I, into the midwest baladeer tradition, best ambiguous side effects. Talented, as wel I as untalented, exemplified by the figure of Woodie Guthrie. He was con individuals are drawn by the promise of great financial ceived too late to experience any of the major dislocations gain. When popular success has been achieved and a reputa that betel I the American grass-roots left-wingers of whom tion gained, a group or individual may wel I turn to more Guthrie was the poet-laureate. The depression and World artistically cha I lenging forms. Witness the recent War I I were before his time and the wrenches of Korea and attempts, crude but promising, by the Beatles -- their ex McCartby left no tangible impression. But the heritage of perimentation with Eastern instrumentation and lyrics of this roving folk singing tradition was stronger than it had social comment. The Byrds, perhaps the most proficient ever been. American popular group, have taken the Indian raga form and extended (or perverted) it into varied electronic fugues. It was for Dylan to mine and exploit this vein arisen from the subterranean voices of the Wobbl [es and other Much of the experimentation, particularly with exotic blithe but brutally ostracized spirits of the American forms and instruments, was prefigured by jazz musicians of heartland. Along with this classic, but underground, tradi the '50's. These variations were, for the most part, tech tion, was the related perpetuation of the blues, particular nical successes, but, by the very nature of the complexity ly Negro urban blues. This phase is distinguished from the inherent in modern jazz, beyond the capacity for mass dis "country" (Mississippi) blues mainly by the musical accou semination. These new paths exploited, coupled with the trements of our age -- electronics. They embody the tradi intricate improvisional format, led to the demise of modern tional blues motifs, plus a bold, electrified scream, grasp jazz as a major cultural force. The music was lost in the ed from the heart of the northern ghetto. Dylan, by his own complexity of the artistic personality as the form itself possibly doubtful account, studied at the feet of one of the became a means for expression -- lacking in common experi city blues' heroes, Joe Wi I Iiams. He has drawn heavily on ence for the I istener and encouraging more intensely person this source, especially in his more recent efforts. al musical harrangues. One set of Ornette Coleman or John Coltrane should be enough to make anyone see the futi I ity Thus armed, with folk guitar and Negro harmonica, he (and the beauty) of this exclusive approach. assaulted the bastion of folk singing, Greenwich Vi I lage. With these tools along, however, he would hardly have Analogies may be drawn between the gradually evolving emerged from the welter of similar types flocking to the sense of personal revelation and Infatuation with documen coffee houses. His forte was talent, specifically, a lyri ting the creative impulses in jazz with the same tendencies cal way with words. His rise is public record, but, what in modern poetry. In either field, lack of communication is germane to this discussion, is the growth and shifting cannot be explained by dearth of talent. Potentially out of his musical modes, which can be followed by the albums he standing musicians, as wel I as poets, were and are stil I in has re Ieased. evidence. Similarly, attempts to popularize and uncompl i cate these respective fields were relatively fruitless. In 3 4 He first took by storm the traditionalists, with a Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky pseudo-Guthrie style and original compositions ranging from With one hand waving free, paeans of the open road (Highway 61) to a naive Indictment SIihouetted by the sea, of munitions manufacturers (Masters of War). The next stage, Circled by the circus signs, which he summarily pre-empted, pointed the I ialson between With al I memory and fate folk singing and the civi I rights movement. He became the Driven deep beneath the waves; overnight darling of college campuses, penning the anthems Let me forget about today unti I tomorrow. of the student movements, Blowing in the Wind, The Times They Are A-Changing, and many others. Unti I this time he had been reliant on the folk tradition almost exclusively. Al I this is accompanied by his grating voice, adequate His next step, which disenchanted many of his enthusiastic guitar and excel lent harmonica.