Thanks for the opportunity to ask you this question. One of my favorite pieces by you is your late ‘90s appreciation of character actor J.T. Walsh. I was wondering if there are any character actors working today (folks who have been around during the last 10 years) that you are a big fan of, or who approximate a similar appreciation for you that you had for Walsh. —STEVEN WARD
The CRTC/cancon definitely made us suffer through a lot of mediocrity over the years--Dan Hill, the Stampeders, Bryan Adams, and many, many more, but it did help promote some genuinely Canadian quirky gems like Doug and the Slugs, Toronto, the Littlest Hobo, Hinterland Who's Who, the Beachcombers, Seeing Things, Mr. Dressup, Body Break, etc. which were fun .
Probably the best example of Canadian content of the 1970s is the film "Goin' Down the Road", which is excellent--there was an SCTV parody that was almost better than the movie--and profiles the mishaps of two down on their luck drifters from Canada's East Coast who move to the big city--Toronto--for fame and fortune. It captures the time very well and is quite moving, but it's essentially the Canadianized, nice, version of "Midnight Cowboy" in that it's gritty and a little violent, but nobody dies--and that's what makes it fit into the endearingly non threatening Canadian pop culture of the time. Still a great movie and worth seeing, though.
I can confirm there is Drake every hour, on the hour, when it comes to the Top-40. "Hotline Bling" may truly never die.
And I love Cohn's words to describe the world of radio-past. Choices are so safe and sanitary on most any station today, unless you happen upon a free-form campus radio who are not beholden to anyone (besides the CRTC). Though it also reminds me of Lester Bang's discussion with Dick Clark where Dick says you can only ever do so well with a radio format that involves turning "crazy hippies" loose on the airwaves and they play the same song 20 times or enter the avant-avant-garde. Either way, it does seem like the business men of radio prevailed, but they've definitely become a lot less interesting.
Thanks, always, for the answer to my question, and thank you very much for "Folk Songs". Just about finished it and it and I loved the journey it took me on.
P.S. I did find a copy of "Axes, Chops & Hot Licks" and will report back any findings worth sharing. So maybe no further reports.
I’m surprised at your take on using the word “enslaved.” Consider it again, I bet you change your mind. I feel the same as you do about the things that I feel that way about, and a minute with the NYTimes style guide would yield examples. But you are wrong about the usage of “enslaved.” It comes out of the success of the last decades of historical research and writing, theorizing and teaching – we have more to say, to provoke – and richer ways to tell it—to feel it.
Daniel Boorstin, Librarian of Congress, top of the heap consensus school of mid-century. An important and admirable liberal intellectual, and unfortunately a high school text book writer.
This from 1989 text: “Though most slaves were whipped at some point in their lives, a few never felt the lash. Nor did all slaves work in the fields. Many may not have even been terribly unhappy with their lot, they knew no other.”
Howard W. French, Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans and the Making of the Modern World 1471 to the Second World War (2021)
I set off…in the opposite direction to look for reminders of the first two recorded events involving slaves or would-be slaves on this island.”[Sao Tome]p. 128
-and also-
A ship carrying captives from the African mainland had run disastrously aground, but somehow enough of the freshly enslaved people had swum to the shore and managed to regain their freedom. p. 129
Maybe not as persuasive as I hoped. Any way ask Wilentz! he will disagree with you too.
and this book by French, get it, it is a treat of a synthesis of much of the great recent decades of scholarship.
The CRTC/cancon definitely made us suffer through a lot of mediocrity over the years--Dan Hill, the Stampeders, Bryan Adams, and many, many more, but it did help promote some genuinely Canadian quirky gems like Doug and the Slugs, Toronto, the Littlest Hobo, Hinterland Who's Who, the Beachcombers, Seeing Things, Mr. Dressup, Body Break, etc. which were fun .
Probably the best example of Canadian content of the 1970s is the film "Goin' Down the Road", which is excellent--there was an SCTV parody that was almost better than the movie--and profiles the mishaps of two down on their luck drifters from Canada's East Coast who move to the big city--Toronto--for fame and fortune. It captures the time very well and is quite moving, but it's essentially the Canadianized, nice, version of "Midnight Cowboy" in that it's gritty and a little violent, but nobody dies--and that's what makes it fit into the endearingly non threatening Canadian pop culture of the time. Still a great movie and worth seeing, though.
I can confirm there is Drake every hour, on the hour, when it comes to the Top-40. "Hotline Bling" may truly never die.
And I love Cohn's words to describe the world of radio-past. Choices are so safe and sanitary on most any station today, unless you happen upon a free-form campus radio who are not beholden to anyone (besides the CRTC). Though it also reminds me of Lester Bang's discussion with Dick Clark where Dick says you can only ever do so well with a radio format that involves turning "crazy hippies" loose on the airwaves and they play the same song 20 times or enter the avant-avant-garde. Either way, it does seem like the business men of radio prevailed, but they've definitely become a lot less interesting.
Thanks, always, for the answer to my question, and thank you very much for "Folk Songs". Just about finished it and it and I loved the journey it took me on.
P.S. I did find a copy of "Axes, Chops & Hot Licks" and will report back any findings worth sharing. So maybe no further reports.
Greil,
I’m surprised at your take on using the word “enslaved.” Consider it again, I bet you change your mind. I feel the same as you do about the things that I feel that way about, and a minute with the NYTimes style guide would yield examples. But you are wrong about the usage of “enslaved.” It comes out of the success of the last decades of historical research and writing, theorizing and teaching – we have more to say, to provoke – and richer ways to tell it—to feel it.
Daniel Boorstin, Librarian of Congress, top of the heap consensus school of mid-century. An important and admirable liberal intellectual, and unfortunately a high school text book writer.
This from 1989 text: “Though most slaves were whipped at some point in their lives, a few never felt the lash. Nor did all slaves work in the fields. Many may not have even been terribly unhappy with their lot, they knew no other.”
Howard W. French, Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans and the Making of the Modern World 1471 to the Second World War (2021)
I set off…in the opposite direction to look for reminders of the first two recorded events involving slaves or would-be slaves on this island.”[Sao Tome]p. 128
-and also-
A ship carrying captives from the African mainland had run disastrously aground, but somehow enough of the freshly enslaved people had swum to the shore and managed to regain their freedom. p. 129
Maybe not as persuasive as I hoped. Any way ask Wilentz! he will disagree with you too.
and this book by French, get it, it is a treat of a synthesis of much of the great recent decades of scholarship.
No question just hating the world for your grief and sending love to you and your family.
I'm not sure if they ever guest-starred on "Degrassi Junior High"