John Foehrke: Hip Hop Technology

Thurs., Aug. 7

We finished off the academic portion of this summer’s institute with a distance learning presentation on Hip Hop Technology given by John Goehrke of the Rock’n’ Roll Hall of Fame. We had met him briefly during our visit to the Rock Hall the week before but got a chance to get to know him a little better during this videoconference. The videoconference technology made things slow—John had to speak carefully, and the video froze up on him every couple of seconds, but I think the delayed transmission of every utterance actually made the presentation clear and easy to follow; I got everything he said which is not true of the other presentations we’ve seen. Goehrke has probably done the videoconference on hip hop a number of times and has his pacing down.

Hip Hop, as we learned in our visit to the Rock Hall, started in the Bronx in the 1970s. The building of the Bronx Cross Island Expressway was a huge part of the emergence of hip hop because its construction displaced some 200,000 Bronx residents and led to economic decline in an already impoverished area. During the ten years that the Bronx Cross Island Expressway took to be built, businesses around the construction area closed down and the Bronx became a barren urban wasteland.

Enter Afrika Bambaataa, Bronx native who after visiting Africa and seeing the tightly knit community there, decided to try to build a similar community in the Bronx. He organized block parties where he was the dj. The parties became so popular, kids started dropping out of gangs in favor of break-dancing crews.

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s song “The Message” (1982) is widely regarded as the first hip hop song. I should mention here that the term “hip hop” refers to the whole lifestyle associated with rap including break-dancing, graffiti, turntables, the language, and dress while the term “rap” refers to the music of hip hop. Several in our group did not buy this at first and thought hip hop was a subset of rap music, but no, the Rock Hallers know their stuff, and they showed us actual video footage from the late 70’s/early 80’s showing that this was the usage of these terms.

Listening to “The Message”—a simple bebop beat with casual spoken verse, “It’s like a jungle sometimes…” –I wasn’t too impressed. In fact, the simplicity of the music and the retro quality of the technology made me laugh. It was only after hearing (and reading) several of the first verses completely that I came to appreciate the strength of “the message” and the song; each of the sections were sung (spoken?) with a slightly different beat that fit the particular lyrics it was delivering. Most memorable were the lines, “Don’t push me, cause I’m close to the edge / I’m trying not to lose my head” which Grand Master Flash delivers in a broken manner before switching into the casually spoken, understated chorus, “It’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder / How I keep from going under.”

The music got more to my taste as it progressed. I liked Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power”, featured in Spike Lee’s movie “Do the Right Thing” (1989) which connected rap back to the civil rights movement. I liked Queen Latifah’s “Ladies First” (1989), an anthem for women in the 1980s hiphop scene, even more. And by the time we got to the sampling geniuses of Jay-Z with “Hard Knock Life” (1998), Nas with “I can” (2003), Kanye West with “Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix)” (2005), I was all over it.

I kind of wanted to hear “Mama said Knock You out” by L.L. Cool J. I had come across the song when I saw this little 11-year old boy rocking out to it on one of the Rock Hall headsets. I took his place at his headsets also wanting to rock out. It’s such a good song!

In class today, Bobby Paul, the finely dressed African-American male and Pittsburgh local in our class (pictured here with me), shared his story of meeting Grandmaster Flash at Nikki Beach in South Beach. Bobby Paul saw Grandmaster Flash outside this club where there was a long line of people waiting to get in. He saw him and asked, “Are you Grandmaster Flash?” Indeed, it was. Grandmaster Flash sauntered into the club no problem, and Bobby Paul followed in next to him. Everyone thought Bobby Paul was just part of the entourage, Grandmaster’s buddy.

The Misadventures of Mike Fowler or "I went to Pittsburgh and all I got was an appendectomy."

All of us have had a hard time being away from home, but there is one person who has had the hardest time by far and that is Mike Fowler. En route from Tampa to Pittsburgh, Mike’s appendix burst. He somehow lived to tell the tale so here it is.
As a social studies teacher, Mike was enthused to be participating in this year’s Voices Across Time and had been planning on doing a historical tour of Charleston, Jamestown, Yorktown, Monticello topping it off with a 4th of July visit to Philadelphia before his arrival into Pittsburgh on July 6. He was so excited about the trip, in fact, he couldn’t sleep and decided to start driving at 3:30 in the morning. This was Tuesday, July 1. He started off for Fort Sumter feeling fine. It wasn’t until he got to South Carolina that he started to feel a little funny. By noon, he had reached Charlestown and that’s when the stomach pains began. Thinking it was some bad yogurt, he got tickets and boarded the ferry for Fort Sumter. That’s when he started to feel deathly ill. It was at Fort Sumter that Mike threw up in front of 150 other tourists, desecrating a national monument. It was the first time he had thrown up since he was 3. The staff at Fort Sumter roped off the area where he had thrown up, not bothering to attend to his medical needs. The doctors would later say that this was probably the moment his appendix burst, but everyone including Mike himself still thought it was food poisoning.
He didn’t sleep much that night or the next night and it was around this time that Mike had a hunch it might be his appendix. He googled his symptoms, diagnosed himself with appendicitis, and at 4:30 a.m. started the seven hour drive to Pittsburgh. By the time he checked into the Shadyside Hospital Emergency Room, Mike was in such bad shape they didn’t even bother to take a cat-scan before admitting him into surgery. They took out what was left of his appendix, and after the surgery, the doctor told him he was lucky to be alive.
Mike went in for a follow-up appointment two weeks later on Thurs., July 17 and was issued a clean bill of health. Mike mentioned that he had experienced some fever but the doctor said that if there were going to be any infections, they would have appeared already. Mike decided to join us for the Gettysburg tour the next day which included two four-hour long bus rides. Mike should probably not have come out with us that day. It was during the bus ride that Mike developed a fever of 102.8. The next night, he was admitted into the hospital where they discovered one large abscess and several smaller abscesses. They installed a drain through his right butt cheek—probably the worst part of the whole ordeal, he says—and after a couple of nights in the hospital, a home health nurse was assigned to visit Mike once a day to flush the tube out with saline. Well, the home health nurse must have been new because it was found out several days later that the valve had been in the “off” position the whole time she was making her daily visitations.
On Monday, the valve was found to be cracked (probably a result of its having been in the “off” position for several days) and Mike contacted the doctor to let him know he needed to see him. But the doctor put him off that Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday--Mike (and the rest of us) all the while fearful of another infection. By Wednesday, one of the organizers of the Institute got a lawyer involved and like magic Mike was able to see a doctor—not the same doctor he had seen in his previous visits, but a doctor nevertheless. Luckily, there was no infection and they took the tube out without incident.
Mike says the whole ordeal has made him appreciate the simple things in life—like driving a car and taking a shower. It has been a lonely experience he says with his friends and family 1,500 miles away.
Mike will be joined by his boyfriend Steve shortly and together they will be driving his car down to Williamsburg where Mike will finally get the trip of his dreams.

Dale Cockrell: Music in "Little House on the Prairie"

Mon., Aug. 4

I had never read any of the “Little House on the Prarie” books before coming to this Institute. As a kid, I’d seen snippets of the TV show as I flipped the station to Scooby-Doo or the Incredible Hulk. The aesthetic of “Little House” does exactly appeal to a child of the 80s.

But I loved the book and should probably go ahead and read the others in the series. Wilder captures what life might have been like during that period with vivid descriptions of everything from the Indians to the little covered carriage which carried her family to far-away states only to be taken apart in a matter of seconds. The story captures the strict parental discipline absent today, the sibling rivalry between Wilder and her sister, and the childhood love of pets—Jack, definitely my favorite character!

The interesting thing to me about “Little House on the Prairie” is that Laura Ingrams-Wilder was 65 when she published the book in 1932. Wilder would have been about 2 years old in the 1860s when the events in the story take place. And though a lot of the details come from family lore, a lot of it is also based on her own memories of that period.

There was a tender/awkward moment during Cockrell’s lecture when he looked like he was about to tear up. The book was really about the demise of the Osage Indians, he said, whose population dwindled from 2 million in its heyday to 2,000 (today?). In Wilder’s book, the Indians are portrayed as villains who come in to steal the family corn and at one point are about to walk out with their furs—they end up leaving it behind. But Cockrell pointed out that during the 1860s the Osage Indians were literally starving to death and probably stole food from settlers to survive.

The book was a huge critical success saving Harper Collins Publishers. It stayed on the top ten children’s book of all time for many years before the Harry Potter series came to dominate.

Cockrell’s work with the book has centered around digging up the backgrounds to the 127 songs mentioned in the series. He is working on recording all of the songs. CD’s to accompany the books can be purchased at http://www.pasfiddle.com/

Andy Warhol Museum

Sun., Aug. 3

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Andy Warhol as most of us know, is well known for his radical pop art silk-screens of Campbell’s soup cans and bananas. He was a major mover and shaker in the Greenwich Village underground scene hobnobbing with the likes of Jackie Kennedy Onassis and other celebrities. He started Interview magazine, a magazine about celebrity. And “held court” at his club—I forget the name of it now.

Looking at his old artwork--ink drawings of delicate ankle boots and chairs with whimsical scripted text, it is clear he has always been interested in graphic design. And I suppose the gaudy scribbles over his sloppy silk-screens of Grace Kelly, and Elizabeth Taylor are supposed to be commentaries on celebrity and fame, but are they? Really? They seem simple and appealing to teens who like bright colors and pretty people.

My favorite pieces in the whole seven floors were two early paintings by Mondrian—the guy who does those blocks of black and white and blue and red. These early paintings were impressionistic depictions of windmills and landscape with the colors all wrong, but so right—you really saw the light as it would have appeared at dusk. 1907 these paintings were done.

I kept expecting to see some Nan Goldin—another artist who presents the seedy underground scene in New York (but with heart). Here’s some of her work on the Guggeinheim website:

http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_works_192_0.html

Was thinking of purchasing a Velvet Underground CD in the gift shop, but thought better of it.

One of the Warhol quotes that caught my attention: “I never read. I just look at pictures.” If he was being serious then I have to assume he’s an idiot. But if he was trying to be tricky and sarcastic and saying, you silly people worshipping me when I spend all my days looking at pretty pictures, well, then, we should stop worshipping him. Not a fan of Andy Warhol or of pop art.

The Recommendations of Tammy Metz

Techie turned librarian Tammy Metz currently lives and works on an Indian Reservation in Chinle, AZ and is in a bluegrass band there. Tammy did not break out into song as readily as some of the others in our group but she has a strong beautiful voice and we missed her at this weekend’s Progressive Dinner especially when we sang “Wagon Wheel”.

These are my favorites from the artists she mentioned. (She may not have been the one who recommended the Buffy Sainte-Marie.)

Phil Ochs “I ain’t marching anymore”
Famous for his protest songs including “Here’s to the state of Missisippi”, Ochs killed himself in 1976.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pQa44Ied9o&feature=related

Bill Miller “Ghostdance”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Vdg2sVB0XU8

Buffy Sainte-Marie “Universal Soldier”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv9Oy7XoJJA

Steve Earle “Can’t Remember if we said goodbye”
Steve Earle has had a long career spanning from the Vietnam era. He recently had a concert here in Pittsburgh with tickets going for $50 so he’s still got a following.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4cNiEplXuM&feature=related

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Cleveland, Ohio

Thurs., July 31

It was a two and a half hour drive from Pittsburgh to Cleveland (including the rest stop and Cleveland morning rush hour traffic). But the trip was well worth the drive even just for the day. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a Louvre look-alike located on the water, appears big from the outside but is actually pretty small. And after just ten years, it sounds like they are growing out of the place.

We arrived only to be corralled into a windowless auditorium and given a lecture, but the two Museum representatives who spoke to us were passionate, knowledgeable, engaging performers who also knew how to teach. And they did a great job introducing us to some amazing songs. I am now a heavy metal convert as a result of their little lecture.

They put the lyrics up for us, then read through it for us, pointing out the significance of some of the choice of words, and then. And then, they played it with the music, and it was like a revelation. Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”, one of the first songs regarded as “heavy metal” because of the strange guitar sound—the guitarist had just gotten the ends of his thumbs (fingers?) lopped off in an accident (surgery?) and so had to loosen his guitar strings, creating a sound that had never been heard before. I was surprised by the amount of empty space in the song. Most of the song was Ozzy Osbourne singing rhymed meter (rather proper actually and very British) with the occasional gunfire drums and twanging electric guitar just framing it.

I wasn’t particularly interested in hearing Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” yet again, but, oh my! Seeing her perform it is quite another matter! Her vocals were smooth as buttuh. The sweat was dripping from her face with her back-up singers working even harder. Queen of Soul. I have seen the light.

We did a close reading of “Ball of Confusion” originally performed by the Temptations and redone by Love and Rockets.

After being released from captivity, we made our way to the basement where the museum is set up chronologically, beginning with the blues and making their way through the present day. They had a room for Elvis, a display contrasting the psychedelic album covers from the San Francisco music scene with the beachy paraphernalia from the L.A. music scene. They had a display for Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Soundgarden—all out of Seattle? And they had videos of the various performers all throughout the exhibit which were really distracting--I kept looking at them and not at anything else.

There were childhood drawings by one Jimi Hendrix who was quite the artiste even as a young tike. It was interesting to see his passions and interests through the ages reflected in the art. One of the very first drawings was a lively drawing of a 50’s rock'n'roll band. Next to that was a sleeping dog, because, well, you know, kids love dogs. Soon though came a whole bunch of drawings of football action shots--these were the teen years, I guess--and then eventually fighter pilots around Hawaii Kai. I’m familiar with Hawaii Kai as a suburban community so couldn’t quite figure what the reference was to or where he would have seen these.

Spent too much time at the display on funk and soul, entranced by Arthur Alexander's song “Anna (Go with him)”. And never made it to the upper floors which included an exhibit on Pink Floyd.

Many in our group were upset about the idolatry of rock stars and the lack of character education in the museum program. Many of the musicians featured in the exhibit were drug users and philanderers. A museum devoted to this lifestyle of sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll seems wrong, they said.

Susan Cook: Ballads on Social Documentaries (Telling a Gendered Story)

Wed., July 30


Susan Cook was the first guest lecturer who listened to us and engaged us with questions. I loved her energy though her agenda with the particular songs she selected was a little opaque. We listened to the tragic ballad “Mattie Grove”, the upbeat and ladylike “Gonna be an Engineer” about a woman who succeeded in becoming an engineer despite the odds, and “After the Ball”, the popular song that had everyone swaying like we were characters in a Disney movie.

Lesson learned: don’t ask kids to follow the lyrics to a song without giving them the lyrics to the song.