Sunday, November 28, 2010

Folk Music?

During a fit of insomnia, I watched one of the semi-annual PBS pitches for funding.  The hawking was wrapped around a retrospective show of the folk-music craze of the late 1950s and 60s.  It was hosted by John Sebastian.  The show was a fascinating look at a phenomenon that I remembered as reflecting and to some degree encouraging the peace and civil rights movements.  I was surprised to hear how bland the music was. Many of the songs had no edge or grit.  The performers often seemed smug and cute.  “If I had a Hammer”, sung by Trini Lopez was a great example of a fine song being trivialized.   In fact, some of it was just silly, e.g., “Don’t Let the Rain Fall Down, “and   “Tom Dooley.” To include these novelty songs with Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” in the same category does an injustice to some really good music. 
There were, however,  some notable exceptions to the white-bread nature of this music. One was “Kingston Town” by Harry Balafonte.  In the video of him performing the song, he was smooth and handsome and he had a wonderful smoky voice.  Another was Jesse Colin Young singing “Get Together,” which became an anthem for peace and brotherhood.  Young continues to have a great voice and passion to go with it.  There was a duet of Pete Seeger and Judy Collins singing “Turn! Turn! Turn!”  Seegar had written the melody for the song, the lyrics of which came from the biblical Ecclesiastes. Collins’ voice was pure and without the cold edge that had come to characterize her more mature voice.  However, this beautiful song was like easy listening music.  In contrast, Roger McGuinn reprised the Byrds’ rock-tinged, grittier version of the song. It was a wonderful contrast to the Collins-Seeger rendition and it was apparent that the Byrds had transformed the song’s lyricism with musical power. 

The most powerful portion of the show, however, was sung by, of all people, Bobby Darin.  This rat-pack-in-waiting singer had written one of the most potent lyrics for “A Simple Song of Freedom:”

Come and sing a simple song of freedom
Sing it like you've never sung before
Let it fill the air
Tell the people everywhere
We, the people here, don't want a war

Hey there, Mister Black Man can you hear me?
I don't want your diamonds or your game
I do want to be someone known to you as me
and I will bet my life you want the same

Come and sing a simple song of freedom
Sing it like you've never sung before
Let it fill the air
Tell the people everywhere
We, the people here, don't want a war

Seven hundred million are enlisted
Most of what you read, most of what you read, is made of lies
But speaking one to one, ain't it everybody's sun
To wake to in the morning when we rise?

Come and sing a simple song of freedom
Sing it like you've never sung, never sung, before
Let it fill the air
Tell the people everywhere
We, the people here, don't want a war

No doubt some folks enjoy doin' battle
Like presidents, prime ministers and kings
So let's all build them shelves so they can fight among themselves
and leave us be those who want to sing

Come and sing a simple song of freedom
Sing it like you've never, ever, sung before
Let it fill the air
Tell the people everywhere
We, the people here, don't want a war

Come and sing a simple song of freedom
Sing it like you've never, ever, sung before
Speaking one to one
Ain't it everybody's sun
To wake to in the morning when we rise
Speaking one to one
Ain't it everybody's sun
To wake to in the morning when we rise

This powerful paean to peace and freedom stills strikes home some 50 years later.  It surprised me that Darin, a wannabe Vegas entertainer, penned this and had the chutzpah to sing it on national television.  Go Bobby Darin!  I hope that it might be heard by Bush/ Obama, Kim Jong Il, Ahmajinedad, Netanyahu,  Bin Laden, the pope,  radical Christians and Muslims to name just a few of the tyrants and warmongers on the world stage today.  

Monday, November 22, 2010

The Next Three Days is not such a long time

“The Next Three Days”  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Next_Three_Days) is directed by Paul Haggis and stars Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks.  There are also appearances by Liam Neeson and  Olivia Wilde.  Having Banks and Wilde in the same movie provides for some great eye candy.  Crowe ,  on the other hand, is becoming a bigger star- literally. 

The movie was filmed in Pittsburgh and concerns a loving husbands attempt to rescue his unjustly imprisoned wife from life of incarceration.  The main part of the story involves Crowe’s meticulous planning for and implementation of a prison-break plan.  The plot is full of holes, and for the most part, stretches credibility.  But it does have some great qualities.  Did I mention Banks and Wilde?  But seriously, I was very troubled by the moral ambiguity of the story.  I have led a life seeing mostly gray, so moral ambiguity is an old friend.  But here, Crowe and Banks are nice people, but I didn’t know enough about them to like them.  So when Crowe develops his plan to rescue his wife, he is willing to take the lives of others (undesirables, yes, but people nonetheless) in an effort to recapture his wife and family.  After he killed the thugs, I found his situation less compelling.  In addition, I wondered how he ever thought that his family life could ever be untroubled in the future after what he had to go through in order to save it.  It’s like our foreign policy where we believe that the way to save another country is to destroy it.

There is one scene where Banks demonstrates her acting chops.  She is in an elevator after he recently sprung her from a civilian hospital.    She has a look of fear in her face when she looks at Crowe that is so believable and compelling.  I felt her terror.   Maybe to get into the mood she was contemplating what would happen if Crowe fell over on her. 

The soundtrack was quite good.  The music by Danny Elfman fit the grittiness of the film’s image.  There is one song, I believe by Moby, which has his trademarked sadness and gloom.  It was also fitting for the subject matter. 

It’s been about an hour since I saw the film.  I still feel anxious- so maybe the film was a success in spite of itself.