Subject: [Harp-L] Re: Lightning In a Bottle

[EGS1217@xxxxxxx]

Paul Sehorne writes (snipped): about the Lightning in a Bottle Movie:
 
"I just watche Lightning in a Bottle this past week.  It was  excellent, but 
was tarnished by one number.  I don't know the artist's  name, but a rapper 
was allowed to do Boom, Boom.  He changed it to 'No  Boom, Boom' and used it 
as an anti-war political statement.  I'm making any  comment about where war 
is right or wrong.  I'm just stating that the  producers made a mistake by 
allowing this to creep into an otherwise  EXCELLENT tribute to the 
Blues.  Probably half of the U.S. population  audience would be disappointed 
by this political diversion display, while  the other half were made happy. 
And how many additional Blues fans would be  upset but the making Boom, Boom 
into a rap number.  Why lose half or more  of your audience. 100% of Blues 
fans would love this up to the point of being  disgusted by this 
inappropriate interuption."
 
....As I've already explained, Paul...I haven't yet seen the entire Movie.  
But did check online to read various synopses and reviews.  While  
understanding that you found the included Rap number inappropriate....I found  this 
interesting and illuminating comment (by a regular Aol subscriber  who reviewed it):
 
"enjoyable documentary, 17 July, 2005
( 7 stars)
Author: Roland _______  from United  States

The thing that separates the Blues from many other types of music is that it  
is an art born of pain and suffering, of a collective experience that 
includes  slavery, Jim Crow laws, segregation, discrimination and poverty. With all 
that  to face, who wouldn't be singing the blues? Yet, as with any great art 
form, the  suffering is only a part of the story. For the Blues derives its true 
energy and  strength from the optimism and hope it exudes, that hope for a 
better future  that resides in the human spirit even in the darkest of times. 
Through the  years, the Blues has given voice to the powerless and helped change 
the world in  ways that one never could have imagined a hundred years ago. 
That is its true  legacy. All of this has been effectively captured in 
"Lightning in a Bottle,"  

......what I'd like to add is  that Blues music is itself a form  of 
protest....and aside from the Blues, musicians of all races and  genres have since the 
1960's been openly involved in various forms of  protest both within and 
without their music.  Being a musician, singer or  songwriter shouldn't preclude 
any citizen from having the right to express their  points of view openly, 
should it?  When I became a citizen I  don't remember reading anywhere in my 
documents that by virtue of being a  poet/songwriter I would be giving up my 
freedom of expression.  On the  contrary...it was precisely the guarantee  of 
freedom of speech which  prompted me to decide to become naturalized.  (As well, I'd 
lived here  too long without the right to vote.)  
 
 Blues was born of a people who created music with almost no money,  ability 
to buy instruments or even a way to bring their music to the  masses.  The 
musicians traveled on foot, hitchhiking or by bus to gigs  in towns where they 
often had no place to sleep for the night, so were forced to  sleep on the bus 
or in private homes...Hotels were for "whites only".  If a  young musician of 
2003 (and I'm not particularly fond of Rap music per  se)...chooses to express 
his version of the Blues in that form in that  documentary as his protest 
against an imminent war (could this have been  filmed prior to the US invasion of 
Iraq?)  then I can personally find  nothing untoward about it anymore than  I 
did the protests  against segregation in the South back in the 50's or the 
Vietnam War of the  60's.
 
Have you listened to the words of Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday?  It  makes 
me weep each time.  If that is not a protest song....what is?
 
I just found this:  "Billie Holiday's Strange  Fruit: Using Music to Send a 
Message 
By Donna Hendry  
Overview  
Music can help people express a range of feelings and topics. Many early  
African-American songs, such as "The Drinking Gourd," were used to pass secret  
messages during the period of slavery. As Reconstruction passed into the Jim  
Crow Era, predominately African-American music such as jazz and blues evolved.  
This music explored the feelings of frustration, poverty, and depression that 
 many African-American communities experienced. This music also began 
advocating  for social change. Songs that promoted social activism were rare before 
the mid  1960s. One of the earliest of these songs, "Strange Fruit," was sung 
by the  blues singer, Billie Holiday--she first sang it in a New York club in 
1938.  Though it was popular, Holiday's recording company, Columbia Records, 
refused to  produce the song due to its controversial nature. A small record 
company picked  it up, and it has now been commonly accepted as Holiday's 
signature  song."
 
......... I believe the audience for a Blues  documentary/show who understand 
and appreciate Blues and Roots  music are much more sophisticated about the 
underlying truths of its  origins  than one might realize and would no more 
find it  "disgusting" or be turned off by a single controversial  moment than I 
would.  I'm much more intrigued now to see the entire  Show than I even was 
before, so...thanks for that!
 
Elizabeth