Saturday, December 1, 2007
If the world had Souled out
One of the flaws of modern society is that they don't put Soul and Rhythm and Blues music in a special top-drawer holy place.---Yes, there is the question if such a place lives in our world anywhere, but that's a problem to explore another time.
The bandwidth span we need for folks to get real with is from Louis Armstrong to Jill Scot, most of the last hundred years. The testament that begins with Sam Cook, should be considered most prominently.
Consider Chuck Brown. The "Feel Like Bustin' Loose" man from DC. and Godfather of GoGo has the ability to make one feel remarkably awake and alive. Why is this pitiful world satisfied with him doing regional gigs only? Why isn't he at Bumbershoot, the Warfield, the Wiltern, the Moore and the Crystal Ballroom with the same routine frequency as George Clinton and his busses of funky folk. And for that matter, shouldn't George be giving six hour mini-Wattstaxxes in stadiums one for every region in the country?
I ponder an alternative cultural universe where in 1970s, Leon Russell and Joe Cocker's Mad Dog and Englishmen review didn't implode in a post-Woodstock wake, but continued to infuse the mainstream pop world with R&B with entire waves to follow. What if tight horns, gravelly and sweet soul vocals, and music truer to Memphis had turned out to spring forth and replace the sort of cultural influence that say, Led Zeppelin had. The world would be a better place, I say. As George Clinton used to say Funk not only has the power to move, but to remove.
Ultimately, you won't get logic from a disciple of Soul and Rhythm and Blues. Certainly not from someone who read the latest mainstream media report on the St John Coltrane Church and concluded it made more sense than many or most varieties of faith that millions participate in.
posted by well-executed buffet at 1:02 PM
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