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Just a 'short' list of my geeky passions.
Who wants to talk about any of these?
In no particular order of importance:
1) Music history - how do certain genres form? When? What musical elements coalesced to form them? Who in a genre was 'first' or groundbreaking?
2) The Beatles
3) Dungeons & Dragons - especially older editions, but any D&D talk will do!
4) Mythology - moreover how is works - Joseph Cambell, Carl Jung, archetypes, etc.
5) Grey areas of history - those interesting stories at the cusp of what is 'known' vs what is not 'known'.
6) Things I may add later 😆
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Shadow Bliss
I can do "Music History" and maybe some mythology (that kind of thing interests me)
Cool
Hit me with some music history!
by Cranky Old Witch; ; Report
Now I'm being put to the test, I've gone blank for what to talk about.
Did you know the true source of Robert Johnson's (Blues guitarist, 27 club founder) "supernaturally gained gifts with a guitar" was him learning for about a year straight with Ike Zimmerman? They did it in a graveyard at midnight because "only ones here are me and the dead and they don't care."
Is that too early? Too late? I can go either way.
by Shadow Bliss; ; Report
Oooo, Robert Johnson lore!
So much has come out about his life then, and I am sorry that Zimmerman hadn't recorded anything (or, no recordings are known).
Yes, I did know that. But that wasn't really known in the 80s when I was first chasing RJ down
Another aspect of the legend is that Tommy Johnson was the one who used to brag about selling his soul, and I think UNCAREFUL blues folklorists conflated his story with Robert's
by Cranky Old Witch; ; Report
That also has to do with Johnson a LITTLE BIT. A lot of his lyrics refer to a religion called "Hoodoo" which he'd reference again and again in his songs. Because he was performing along the Mississippi Delta in the 30s, he had to protect himself and supposedly a surefire way of doing so was "don't fuck with me, I got supernatural powers on my side!"
by Shadow Bliss; ; Report
Now we're getting into cross-sectional interests of mine
Hoodoo is more of a practice than a religion. Think the difference between the practice lf witchcraft and the religion Wicca.
RJ's music makes reference here and there to hoodoo practices:
"She sprinkled hotfoot powder all around my bed"
or "Everybody says she's got a mojo"
But hoodoo is ALL OVER blues lyrics, pre- and post- WWII blues. And it's never 'explained', it's all sung matter-of-factly. It's embedded in the place, culture, and times.
by Cranky Old Witch; ; Report
Fair.
I just didn't notice it as much with my other favourite blues artists (if I had to name them; Leadbelly, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, BB King)
by Shadow Bliss; ; Report
Good array of names
Favorite tunes by any of them?
by Cranky Old Witch; ; Report
Curtis
My understanding of genre is that it's all about the audience. Genre is a group of musicians who are all listened to by the same audience; and this is critical for radio station programming and advertising. As music ages, it can change genres as different audiences discover it; search YouTube for "yacht rock" and you'll see young people giving a new name for what used to be called "soft rock" or "album oriented rock". Meanwhile some in the audience become musicians, and they develop into a community of musicians with a shared fanbase, forming a new genre.
I've also noticed that genre names pile on top of each other like sediment at the bottom of the sea. "Emo" is short for "emotional hardcore punk rock and roll" though you'll never hear anyone say all those words - the names piled on top of each other as the music was passed to new generations. Rock and roll - rock - punk rock - punk - hardcore punk - hardcore - emotional hardcore - emo. Same attitude, different musicians and audiences.
Certainly an interesting take on it, yet genres, regardless of the name and how it may change generationally, have stylistic musical elements.
by Cranky Old Witch; ; Report
111009 0017673
1,4,5
Right on.
Which one first?
by Cranky Old Witch; ; Report