Welcome to MetaFilter, Mr. Shakespeare July 8, 2011 12:09 PM Subscribe
Once again, the subject of a post signs up to comment; this time it is Joel Chandler Harris's great-great-great grandson.
It's always cool when that happens. Except when it's Scott Adams.
posted by 6550 at 12:30 PM on July 8, 2011 [23 favorites]
posted by 6550 at 12:30 PM on July 8, 2011 [23 favorites]
Oh good. I didn't want to say this in thread because it's not relevant, but Lain Shakespeare is officially the best name ever.
posted by grapesaresour at 1:34 PM on July 8, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by grapesaresour at 1:34 PM on July 8, 2011 [5 favorites]
Thanks for pointing this out, TedW.
That Beatrix Potter was likely inspired by Uncle Remus delights me.
Just like The Rolling Stones, The Animals, and the Beatles, in her own way.
posted by jamjam at 2:07 PM on July 8, 2011
That Beatrix Potter was likely inspired by Uncle Remus delights me.
Just like The Rolling Stones, The Animals, and the Beatles, in her own way.
posted by jamjam at 2:07 PM on July 8, 2011
Peachy keen.
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 7:26 PM on July 8, 2011
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 7:26 PM on July 8, 2011
Those are wonderful essays, Mr. Shakespeare. Thank you so much. Sometimes I wonder how we've all made it this far.
posted by Melismata at 7:30 PM on July 8, 2011
posted by Melismata at 7:30 PM on July 8, 2011
Yeah, the essay was excellent! I also very much enjoyed the TED talk linked at the end.
posted by kaibutsu at 2:21 AM on July 9, 2011
posted by kaibutsu at 2:21 AM on July 9, 2011
That Beatrix Potter was likely inspired by Uncle Remus delights me.
Just like The Rolling Stones, The Animals, and the Beatles, in her own way.
Well, like the Beatles, at least, if Joel Chandler Harris were an upper-crust Elvis.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:32 AM on July 9, 2011
Just like The Rolling Stones, The Animals, and the Beatles, in her own way.
Well, like the Beatles, at least, if Joel Chandler Harris were an upper-crust Elvis.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:32 AM on July 9, 2011
Infusion of American blues
Jagger and Richards shared an admiration of Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters and Little Walter, and their interest influenced Brian Jones, of whom Richards says, "He was more into T-Bone Walker and jazz blues stuff. We'd turn him onto Chuck Berry and say, 'Look, it's all the same shit, man, and you can do it.'"[8] Charlie Watts, a traditional jazz drummer, was also introduced to the blues through his association with the pair. "Keith and Brian turned me on to Jimmy Reed and people like that. I learned that Earl Phillips was playing on those records like a jazz drummer, playing swing, with a straight four..."[130]
Jagger, recalling when he first heard the likes of Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Fats Domino and other major American R&B artists, said it "seemed the most real thing"[131] he had heard up to that point. Similarly, Keith Richards, describing the first time he listened to Muddy Waters, said it was the "most powerful music [he had] ever heard...the most expressive."[132] He also stated, "when you think of some dopey, spotty seventeen year old from Dartford, who wants to be Muddy Waters-- and there were a lot of us-- in a way, very pathetic, but in another way, very... heartwarming".[133]
There's a great interview with Eric Burdon rolling around somewhere out there in the void in which he describes a post-WWII cultural enrichment program (government sponsored, Randians-- what do you suppose ROI on that was?) that brought mainly black American bluesmen to a little auditorium near his home as part of a national tour when he was a kid. Burdon would read about upcoming performances and go to the venue a few days in advance to wait for the musicians to come check out the hall, and when they almost invariably did, he'd offer to make all their arrangements for them and show them all the local stuff.
In return, he got to hang around at practices and performances, and I think you can hear the results in almost everything he ever did.
posted by jamjam at 12:13 PM on July 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
Jagger and Richards shared an admiration of Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters and Little Walter, and their interest influenced Brian Jones, of whom Richards says, "He was more into T-Bone Walker and jazz blues stuff. We'd turn him onto Chuck Berry and say, 'Look, it's all the same shit, man, and you can do it.'"[8] Charlie Watts, a traditional jazz drummer, was also introduced to the blues through his association with the pair. "Keith and Brian turned me on to Jimmy Reed and people like that. I learned that Earl Phillips was playing on those records like a jazz drummer, playing swing, with a straight four..."[130]
Jagger, recalling when he first heard the likes of Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Fats Domino and other major American R&B artists, said it "seemed the most real thing"[131] he had heard up to that point. Similarly, Keith Richards, describing the first time he listened to Muddy Waters, said it was the "most powerful music [he had] ever heard...the most expressive."[132] He also stated, "when you think of some dopey, spotty seventeen year old from Dartford, who wants to be Muddy Waters-- and there were a lot of us-- in a way, very pathetic, but in another way, very... heartwarming".[133]
There's a great interview with Eric Burdon rolling around somewhere out there in the void in which he describes a post-WWII cultural enrichment program (government sponsored, Randians-- what do you suppose ROI on that was?) that brought mainly black American bluesmen to a little auditorium near his home as part of a national tour when he was a kid. Burdon would read about upcoming performances and go to the venue a few days in advance to wait for the musicians to come check out the hall, and when they almost invariably did, he'd offer to make all their arrangements for them and show them all the local stuff.
In return, he got to hang around at practices and performances, and I think you can hear the results in almost everything he ever did.
posted by jamjam at 12:13 PM on July 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
I wish that thread didn't turn into an argument about how Southern is Baltimore.
posted by bleep at 12:24 PM on July 9, 2011
posted by bleep at 12:24 PM on July 9, 2011
In return, he got to hang around at practices and performances, and I think you can hear the results in almost everything he ever did.
Yes, that's the point exactly. The Stones and the Animals (and the Yardbirds, etc.) as well as the Beatles were directly inspired by African American performers and their music.
But Beatrix Potter was inspired by a white American author's performance of material from African American folk culture. So that would be like the Beatles being inspired by Elvis's performance of material by Big Mama Thornton or Bill Broonzy. Just one more link in the chain is all.
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:55 PM on July 9, 2011
Yes, that's the point exactly. The Stones and the Animals (and the Yardbirds, etc.) as well as the Beatles were directly inspired by African American performers and their music.
But Beatrix Potter was inspired by a white American author's performance of material from African American folk culture. So that would be like the Beatles being inspired by Elvis's performance of material by Big Mama Thornton or Bill Broonzy. Just one more link in the chain is all.
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:55 PM on July 9, 2011
Yeah, I was surprised to see Lain pop up in thread. I've had the pleasure of interviewing him a few times and would like to point out that he is a really cool guy. I hope he sticks around.
posted by Maaik at 8:49 AM on July 10, 2011
posted by Maaik at 8:49 AM on July 10, 2011
I take your point, FelliniBlank. I have to confess I was relying on a family tradition (my parents were southerners) that the author of the uncle Remus tales was black, instead of reading the links of the original post.
It's interesting you bring up Elvis, whom I've never liked, but whenever people criticize him (justly, if the times and the culture are included) for being a white performer who appropriated black music, I always think 'hmm, looks like a whole lotta indian shakin' goin' on there', so I was a little surprised to read just now that only one of his great great great grandmothers on his mother's side is known to have been a full-blooded Cherokee, making him 1/64th indian (much less than I am, though a couple of black friends have independently annoyed me somewhat by announcing to all and sundry that I look like Elvis--also Joe Namath once), but nothing is known about the identity of a great grandfather on his father's side.
I once had a coffee table style anthropological survey of the world, under the general editorship of Levi-Strauss, the title of one subsection of which was, faithfully translated from the original French: North America: Continent of Miscegenation.
Yes, absolutely.
posted by jamjam at 11:02 AM on July 10, 2011
It's interesting you bring up Elvis, whom I've never liked, but whenever people criticize him (justly, if the times and the culture are included) for being a white performer who appropriated black music, I always think 'hmm, looks like a whole lotta indian shakin' goin' on there', so I was a little surprised to read just now that only one of his great great great grandmothers on his mother's side is known to have been a full-blooded Cherokee, making him 1/64th indian (much less than I am, though a couple of black friends have independently annoyed me somewhat by announcing to all and sundry that I look like Elvis--also Joe Namath once), but nothing is known about the identity of a great grandfather on his father's side.
I once had a coffee table style anthropological survey of the world, under the general editorship of Levi-Strauss, the title of one subsection of which was, faithfully translated from the original French: North America: Continent of Miscegenation.
Yes, absolutely.
posted by jamjam at 11:02 AM on July 10, 2011
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posted by TedW at 12:15 PM on July 8, 2011