Public culture in the US over the last 50 odd years has lost some of its verve, some of its acuity some of its sharpness. It is truly rare that one encounters a public official that can truly speak and by speak I mean show a coordinated facility between the production of thought and the command of language. We are a society that is underwhelming in its ability to think on its feet, speak with clarity or manifest verbal style. Organically our leaders reflect this. I doubt if there will ever be a book published detailing the Wit and Wisdom of George W. Bush. In light of this I am saddened by the recent announcement of the retirement from Congress of the Hon. Barney Frank (D-MA). There will be discussions of his legacy after 31 years of service to the nation but I will miss his impish approach to articulating his ideas. Frank is gifted at breaking the gentile china bowl of politician-constituent relations and saying what a thousand public officials wish in their heart of hearts they could say.
Ordinarily this would come off as a condescending dickishness to a misguided voter but Frank's willingness to open up a can of verbal whip ass regardless of rank or position is quite admirable.
Note that Rep. Ryan attempts to speak as if the Republicans have never had power in the past 20 years. Frank's having none of that. Shaming the devil is a rare skill. Frank's brazenness was coupled with an exquisite policy mind and his command of details and procedures was often put to bruising effect.
Note to legislators: If you are going to serve in a legislative body, you might want to know the rules or at least avoid displaying that ignorance in front of Barney Frank. Frank is the rare pol that is more than happy to, certainly gleefully willing to, point out the hypocrisies of his opponents. For Barney Frank, the first member of Congress to volunteer that he was gay (1987), the closeted lives of Republican pols and supporters was an unbeatable high value target.
Whether it was his willingness to go toe to toe with the morons that infest the halls of congress . . .
or engage high mockery to contend with right wing bullshit . . .
Barney Frank was always a voice of uproarious reason. There are few brave people in government willing to tell the truth and able to make you laugh. Thank you Barney Frank.
I once heard acclaimed Afri-US historian Sterling Stuckey discussing the African/Black presence in the novel Moby Dick or The Whale by way of Herman Melville's time spent in upstate NY in the first half of the 19th century and by way as Toni Morrison has pointed out the essay Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, through the marginal references to race. In his discussion, Stucky discusses how the Black cabin boy aboard the Pequod, Pip, plays music described as "gloomy jolly". It is this characterization which opens up a way to think about African based music in the diaspora. No correction, not so much the music but more so the spirit or ethos within the music. It is difficult and in our contemporary approach, practically racist, to talk about general characteristics or traits among various racial or ethnic groups. Yet can one talk about attitudes or fairly general approaches to large issues such as the nature of life and living, that could be said to be common among cultural groups? Similar to the way one could describe a spiritual or philosophical viewpoint, can we talk about music having a specific theoretical perspective or character? Even further can we suggest that the music itself becomes an embodiment of a theoretical or philosophical attitude? If so, than perhaps we could see the ways in which these cultural perspectives pervade cultural media. Can we say that among African based populations there are cultural forms that maintain ambivalent elements that reflect or make comment about the nature of existence itself. Cutting to the chase, do Black people's inner lives live through their music?
Going back to Melville's term "gloomy jolly" it matters that the term carries such a paradoxical meaning. I am not certain about the importance of the source of the term, whether it be Melville's way of describing the music played by the character, Pip, or a term used among sailors to describe a type of music and a interesting as it would be to know, whether this is a term that comes from the African based community of the time. Regardless what is central to these musings is the ambivalence that lies at the heart of the term. The words gloomy and jolly are complete opposites of each other. The terms describe emotional states that are incompatible, wherein both describe almost absolute states of emotion. Unlike terms or emotional states such wry, sardonic, bemused, which suggest a limit or a mixture of negative and positive feelings, one limiting the fuller expression of the other, "gloomy jolly" articulates a disengagement from a full commitment to either emotion. Neither side of the term gloomy nor jolly can establish itself as the dominant feeling or the the primary ground in which the music is based.
Ambivalence may be the way to think about the term, or rather the music that the term describes. Ambivalence suggests not just a considerable divestment in either emotional state, but possibly recommends the existence of a state removed from these options. The sensibility is one that weaves awareness and recognition of emotional states, with apathy toward feeling a set way about said states. I say this because it is my thought that the music is indeed responding to something. In Melville's novel Pip plays the "gloomy jolly" strands on his tambourine on that "dramatic midnight". As instrumental music, the tambourine lets the circumstances create the context that the tambourine then responds to or by which it is understood. Lyric based musical forms, of course, are able to ore explicitly establish their meaning. Point being, their is a context in which the music is played to which it responds, comments on, or even, interrogates. Through this interlocution we are able to understand the nature, personality and character of the music and its producers.
The Afri-US form, "The Blues" are seen as the paradigmatic example of the emotionally ambivalent style in Black music. Noted for its focus on the more morbid and negative aspects of human experience the music itself serves a very social function. One would assume that singing about despair (above), death, murder, heartbreak and disappointment would lead to a solitary life yet the Blues and the institutions it supports leads to an extreme sense of joyous community. Notable is in the face of dire experiences, the understanding of the resilience gained in community. Is it the comfort of shared gloom? Is it the presence of others that distracts us from our hurt? Or is it that loud ass, shit talking mother fucker, laughin' in the corner that cracks you up and gives your soul a chance to breathe again? Whatever the cause, the point is the experience of the balance between the most personal pains in the circumstance of the most public venue.
Assuming a thread from Melville's Pip to Big Jack Johnson and all arterial (musical) tracks in between, allows for the recognition of an attitude, a disposition toward being alive expressed in the music. In the broadest sense this willingness to engage, recognize and acknowledge the misery of existence but without surrendering to itand in fact confronting it with a healthy amount of disregard (insouciance even), argues a remarkable cultural and spiritual courageousness. Albert Murray calls it "heroism". I call it "funnin' the Devil". I will not adopt Murray's description though I understand and appreciate his articulation of this impulse, but "funnin' the Devil" is more appropriate for this discussion because laughter and pleasure (funnin') are central to the disposition that disregards surrendering to the dark. It is more than disregard it is almost a mockery of the possibility of being absorbed into damning emotions.
Arguably, knowing the dark is so close gives the insouciance a certain edge, heroism is not quite the pose, the heroic is confrontational, implying a certain self seriousness. Funnin's power lies in the ability to take neither the dread emotional state or the emotional subject, seriously. It is a striking sensibility that listens for its own goofy laugh echoing across the precipice of despair.
This pose, is certainly a survival strategy, developed against the danger in investing in one's self destruction as well, it is a wink and a nod to the randomness of existing, one must not expect too much from "order" nor be overly committed to it either. Moments of disregard are like escape hatches in a demented fun house, one must always know when it is time to escape, once the ride gets too heavy. All of this living in the shadow of one's own darkness or in the midst of horror beyond your control, is messy business and if tools of negotiation can not be developed than cancel Christmas! In particular strains of music in Black life, the courage to continue on and to do it with self awareness and control are manifested through the craft of the creator. Banging beats, nasty grooves and brassy insinuation all function with an attitude of "I'm gon do my thang!" which is a call to arms against the peoples, institutions, forces and notions that eat souls on the regular. At the heart of every revolution is the idea of doing one's own thang and the first step toward freedom is a step away from oppression. The key to the kingdom of understanding how Black people have survived so long in spite of all the things we could mention, have managed to hold on to some idea of themselves is the understanding of freedom, pleasure, and joy that emerge from and transcend morbidity, are moments of self command that momentarily disrupt and sever, ties that can bind us to feelings beyond our control.
is what I get out of watching dramas about damned men. Breaking Bad has got me officially open. Like a meth head I have been spending (weekend) hours sitting in shuttered rooms hitting the Netflix pipe for hit after hit after hit. (My lips are burned, don't ask any questions). True drama depends on the clash of extreme circumstances. Whether it be
1) A good man/woman weathering bad times (ex. Japanese manga classic Lone Wolf and Cub )
3) Evil People doing bad things for righteous reasons (ex. Kill Bill Vols. 1 and 2 )
and my favorite
4) the slow self corrupting of a noble soul (paradigmatic ex. The Godfather ).
And so I am enmeshed in the story of Walter White/Heisenberg (nom de drugs) high school chemistry teacher cum meth genius (or as series creator Vince Gilligan states "Turn Mr. Chips into Scarface) and his struggles to survive and command the circumstances of his two lives.I am not sure if what I enjoy is the tragedy of such a tale or the adventures in transformation nature of it.
The tragedy of course is the witnessing of the good, the pure and the noble being dragged down in to the reality of living. Of course we may enjoy the ride because, let's be honest the "good, the pure and the noble" irritate the shit out of us because those are rare qualities among bustling humanity (Fuck em' why should they be superior!). But of course what we really are doing is grieving for the loss of the possibility of these qualities among humanity. The world is a hard place and one that we want to be better through the presence of better people. When Walter White is affected by the horrors he witnesses and then later on logically, necessarily commits them, we watch him slowly fall prey to warped but noble intentions. There is something frightening about good intentions going to shit because they blind you because weall have good intentions and are subject to getting sucked into that tunnel vision. It is more than believing that the means justify the ends but the danger of being consumed by the details of the ends and losing the larger picture. It's not the Devil in the details, it is Hell itself.
The other side is the adventure of the character's transformation. Character arcs, dynamic personas are engaging because it ads dynamism to the story, the characters changes affect the plot, tone and possibilities of the story. Walter White's transformation into cold hearted, cooly logical, bloody handed Heisenberg is all the more exciting because as actor Bryan Cranston tells us
Walter White is imminently identifiable to most viewers. His lack of power to change his life, his vulnerability to the chaos of existence and as Cranston describes the character's emotional core to Marc Maron on the WTF Podcast, his fear is so immediately recognizable to most viewers that White stands in for us as we take charge of our lives. The "damning" of his soul is also an adventure in the transformation of a kitten into a tyger. White's descent into the worlds of drug dealing is a step by step discovery of reserves of energy and will, the character did not know he had. Eschewing the timid, insecure, quietly desperate high school chemistry teacher, White asserts himself in a Nitszchean will that alters his consciousness and by sheer force the world around him. We can certainly debate the merits of how, why and into what Walt transforms but lets not be hypocritical, our culture's identification with bad asses encompasses a host of anti-social types (homocidal cops, sociopaths and soldiers). Good, bad or indifferent the point is power, and at the end of the day everybody wants it. Walter White taps into that lizrd side of himself and like some dark chrysalis evolves into a new being, eating his fear of failure, chance and authority's control over him in order to nourish a figure never before seen on US commercial television. There is immeasurable pleasure and satisfaction in witnessing self creation even if its means plunging into the bowels of a borderland hell. Walter White is not a role model but he is an example of a humanity willing and able to sharpen its instincts and make full use of its powers to procure what humans have desperately scrambled over this blue marble for, for tens of thousands of years . . . control.
Because the insane monstrosity of the Petting State Child Sexual Assault Conspiracy is in its tragedy only equaled by the monstrous absurdity of the Republican Primary race we are going with the absurdity (because lets face it for my soul's sake--after Penn State, we need a distraction)! This is the Republican Presidential Race Non Sequitur Venting My Spleen Edition!
1) I have said it before and I say it again New Gingrich is an insufferable ass bag wind hat. His public persona smells of cheap sausage bathed in flop sweat. His is the intellectual anxiety of a small man clinging desperately to a cheap degree from a vague school.
2) Rick Santorum, two points
a) His is one of the finest minds of the 13th Century and
b) Google his last name
6) Jon Huntsman- dude let it go, already. It would seem that in the Republican Party, sane, reasoned, responsible policy goals and experience in governing are trumped by the up hill climb of no one knowing who the f*** he is. And by the way get an h for that name!
7) Mitt Romney, the flip flopping, soulless, craven, no belief but in his own superiority, having bastardy of his politicking doesn't grate me as much as his smug, "I will be president because it is my divine right," attitude is what gets me. I hate, hate, hate the born rich running for president. M*****f*****! The universe is not yours to have!
8) Rick Perry- The ability to constantly deliver comedy gold is not a quality which will win you the White House (see above).
Obama, man, short of another Great Depression like dip in the market, don't sweat it too much.
Update: Of course Jon Stewart would do it better . . . . he has a bigger budget.
I am quite disappointed in the unexpected implosion of Herman Cain's campaign. I am completely convinced that Cain is taking every body for a ride. There is no way that he could possibly be serious about being POTUS. His already classic Uzbekistan answer gave you all the insight you need into who we are dealing with. This is no ordinary right wing maniac though the xenophobia is just the right temperature for a Republican presidential candidate. But Mr. Cain is doing something more that is betrayed by the slight smirk that gives him away on his ads.
Hermie Herm is straight clownin'! As George Clinton says, "[He] just funnin'!" He's not serious about being president, he is serious about shaking some money from the conservative money tree plantation (plantation in its horticultural sense). That smile, the slight gleam in his eyes ("C'mon now you can't take me serious!") all are sayin' "You have to know that I am bullshitting!" Despite this, however, Hermie's attempt to paint lefty critiques of him as racist, despite high dis-approval ratings from Black Americans, is a bit "he doth protest too much." For the clear eyed observer that is hip to Herman's game, we see the oldest, Blackest figure in African Diasporic iconography. Herman Cain is channeling West African Folk figure Anansi. In the Ghanaian versions of the Anansi tales (the figure is prevalent throughout West Africa) Anansi is a smaller creature compared to the other animals (Lion, Elephant, Monkey, etc) in the folkloric jungle. Anansi, a spider, has to use his wits to out smart and manipulate his physical superiors. Anansi is always scheming up on how to get food, position, advantage, etc for himself.
Anansi's key characteristic was the ability to use his mark's weaknesses againstb them Usually nthese weaknesses were not apparent to the mark. Anansi was good at manipulating qualities such as pride, arrogance, vanity, naivete, etc. Though a selfish, cruel and often malice filled character, Anansi, could teach a lesson or two to serve his purposes.
Our Mr. Cain is (consciously or unconsciously I have no idea) teaching a few lessons at the expense of the weaknesses of the Republican mind. Like the Deadly Sins of Roman Catholic dogma we can identify these Republican weaknesses as exploited by the right wing's most popular prankster.
Vanity leads them to believe they have finally found out of 35 million African Americans the ONE smart enough to see the correctness of their beliefs. Sheer ignorance on the part of the other 34,999,999 is the only way to explain the disgust with which they hold the Republican Party.
Ignorance or rather the celebration of ignorance which is becoming a hall mark of the party. Such a celebration allows Mr. Cain to display such shocking displays of non sense only becomes it affirms the "regular guy-ness" of him that ignorant Republicans thinks proves their normality. As Sensei George Carlin taught us, "If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're gonna get selfish, ignorant leaders."
Insecurity is exposed in the election of Cain as the Republican Party's "Black Friend". If you are so desperate to not seem racist despite the comments of some of your most prominent voicesthat you drool over the one Black Guy that supports you, well nuff said. Herman Cain understands (see above smirk).
Arrogance is obvious by the fact that your self righteous sense of entitlement to the Presidency leads you to be believe any old fool, as long as they are a Republican, can win the White House. As well your self righteousness is re-enforced by the belief that "real" Americans support your policies and will naturally vote for you (despite policy based polling to the contrary)
I could go on but the night is getting late and I have a lecture to write. But I must say I was soooo looking forward to Cain winning the Republican nomination and having him utter the "You fuckin' with me!" that rang around the world. At the least I know I can rest comfortably in the knowledge that Herman Cain will get his money and laugh all the way to yet another mansion paid for by Fox News, or The Heritage Foundation or Americans for Prosperity or the New York Post or . . . . . . .
(What does it say about popular images of Afri-US financial power, when I could not find a single image of a Black hand holding dollars on Google images?)
