Culture, Anti-Culture, and Nostalgia
by Carl R. TruemanResponding to two common criticisms of my view of the rise of the anti-culture. Continue Reading »
Caravan Palace: A Swingin’ Disco Addendum to the Songbook
by Carl ScottSorry about the light blogging of late, especially Songbook-wise, but I’m movin’ to Newport News for a “new gig” and travelin’ meantime back to my Cali home. Thanks to a tip from a tardy commenter on my epic essay on social dance , however, here’s a ‘lil . . . . Continue Reading »
Carl’s Rock Songbook #71: Swingin’ Tips for Youth Group Leaders, Courtesy of Whit Stillman and Jane Austen
by Carl ScottThis is going to be an odd essay. The argument, in a nut-shell, is that those officially charged with being our youth leaders, whether by religious groups or schools, as well as those who unofficially are youth leaders, simply by being youths themselves that their peers might follow if invited and . . . . Continue Reading »
Carl’s Rock Songbook #70: Social Dancing as a Key to Whit Stillman’s Films
by Carl ScottWhit Stillman fans know that his first three films are a loosely connected trilogy of sorts, with THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO being the film that ties them together by means of our meeting key characters from the other two in its Club. How then, does his recent DAMSELS IN DISTRESS, a rather stranger . . . . Continue Reading »
Carl’s Rock Songbook #69: THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO, Pt. 2
by Carl Scott. . . one can change human institutions, but not man; whatever the general effort of a society to render citizens equal and alike, the particular pride of individuals will always seek to escape the [common] level . . . In aristocracies, men are separated from one another by high, immovable . . . . Continue Reading »
Carl’s Rock Songbook #68: THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO
by Carl ScottThis and the next will be the last songbook posts on pop-music movies for a while. Despite my doing five(!) posts on ALMOST FAMOUS , two on the SCHOOL OF ROCK, and an epic one on THE DOORS, I do think that among my list of pop-music films , THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO is the standout in terms of sheer . . . . Continue Reading »
Carl’s Rock Songbook #67: How to Think about Disco
by Carl ScottHave any of you seen the Eric Rohmer film 4 Aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle? It’s sort of a retelling of the “Country Mouse, City Mouse” story. Two young women, one from the country, one from the city, are thrown together and become friends. They represent a certain sophistication . . . . Continue Reading »
Carl’s Rock Songbook #39: What Martha Bayles Said
by Carl ScottMartha Bayles is the author of the best book on pop music I know, Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music . For its final chapter, she borrows the title of a William Bell song, You Don’t Miss Your Water ‘til the Well Runs Dry , so as to refer to the . . . . Continue Reading »
Carl’s Rock Songbook #37, XTC, “Life Begins at the Hop”
by Carl Scott[ Note: by the criteria laid out in Songbook #12 , this is not a Rock song, but a rock n’ roll one. ] The last Songbook post raised the problem of repetition, of “new music” that is only sort of new. The first sign that recorded pop music could not remain ever-progressive in its . . . . Continue Reading »
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