[Harp-L] re: Blues in Nurnburg (warning....long)

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

 Here's my 35 Lire on the subject:

I spent my first 18 years fairly evenly divided between N.Y.C. &  
Italy (or France). While living in Europe I though it would be  
encumbant on me to absorb and enjoy the cultural difference(s)  
between there and the U.S. (hereafter erroneously referred to as  
America). My father, an enlightened American Consul cultivated that  
aspect in we 3 children and mother.

Don't want to upset anyone's apple cart and beings that hurting  
people's feelings is not high up on my entertainment list, I will  
write the following with some trepidation, but it always upset me  
when Americans would persist in doing everything American whether or  
not they were IN America.

We always lived ON the economy. Rented 'their' apts or villas,  
shopped at their stores, rode their transportation, ate their foods,  
wore their clothes and most importantly wore their shoes (the  
ULTIMATE dead giveaway). We went to their restaurants, listened to  
their music. And interacted with THEM attempting to speak their  
language, and use their money system.

Having been on the list off and on for approx 10 1/2 years (2 on, 1  
off, 2 on, 1 off, and the rest on), It has been some years since I  
have heard this but there used to posts like "Blues is alive and well  
in Buda-Pesht". This would upset me. The first thing in MY mind was  
"Oh great, just we need, blues in Hungary. Home of some of the best  
music there has ever been". Then thoughts like "Ok, good, ruin  
ANOTHER  country why doncha?".

When we lived in various cities in Europe (Trieste, Naples, Genoa,  
Venice, Paris, Wien), we could get (basically) 3 types of music.  
There was the local stuff, then there was the armed forces radio out  
of Heidelberg Ger. (big band) and if you had a short wave (like us),  
my favorite out of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, Jugoslavia,  
Greece, and the list goes on.

So, if I were in Klagenfurt Austria, I wanna hear AUSTRIAN music. If  
in Garmiscch Ger, I want the BAVARIAN stuff. If Lisboa, I want  
PORTUGESE. If in Paris, I want FRENCH. I sure as he!! don't want  
AMERICAN. It's just my opinion you understand. Now I DO realize that  
a lot of this 'so-called' ethnic music is commercialized for the  
tourist, but if you look around and don't take the typical tourist  
attitude, you WILL have access to the real McCoy.  I have nothing  
against American bands touring around the world, but to travel around  
and expect American food, beverage, and music everywhere is not being  
very fair to the natives.

While on a Med cruise with the SeeBees, most of the men on the ship  
were listening to piped in music over the ship's pa system. It was  
the Beatles, and various rock & roll from America. I was out on the  
fan-tail listening to Morocco, Spain, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, Cyprus,  
Tunisia, Bulgaria, Roumania. Yeaah, gimme that 'Dracula' music...or  
that Klezmer stuff.

It's no secret that many peoples from many lands want to emulate  
Americans and all that America is. They watch movies and TV and get a  
fixed idea of what America is, but they never get to see the America  
that isn't. The dirty mill & mining towns with their 125 year old  
decrepit insul-brick frame rotting down homes. Their initial  
perception is that America is a pot of gold with limitless funds. And  
while our middle class is much larger (and usually better off) than  
other countries, our EXPENSES are high, and we don't  ALL live like  
that. They see situation comedies with unrealistic 'movie-set'  
atmospheres. This is Hollywood America (or California) America. It's  
NOT America. What REALLY gripes me is that American males are always  
made to look like idiots, imbeciles, or morons. It's as if someone is  
purposely trying to make American males look like Cretins. (But  
that's a different subject)

Most Americans are poor. At least by American standards. Most are in  
debt (unusual in some countries).

If I were to go to Germany (for example) I would RELISH...absolutely  
relish whatever German music I could get. Fake or not. As for blues  
and jazz. While they ARE basically American, they are derived from a  
mix of other cultures and don't represent ALL Americans.

Funny story: I had purchased a chromo at the Navy PX. I was 12 1/2  
years old. 1 1/2 years later I was playing in an open air cafe in  
Naples in the corner of the Mergelina bayfront park. We were doing  
Italian music (Quando si bella Roma, La Stella di Napoli, stuff like  
that). Invariably, if we got Americans there, they wanted to hear  
something American. They didn't know 'I' was American and were  
surprised when I knew the songs. Unfortunately, the band usually  
didn't, so I would indulge them 'Acapulco'. (and the band would try  
their best to join in). It was as hilarious as hell. Yes, those were  
my 'salad' days. Oh to go back to 1956.


smokey-joe