"Scoby's eyes reddened and he started to sniffle. He was cracking under the pressure. Watching his hands shake, I realized that sometimes the worst thing a n----- can do is perform well. Because then there is no turning back" (118).
It's the first scene we see Nick starting to break. When you're perfect, all the pressure is put on you. So many are putting their faith and hope in you. After all, isn't perfection what we all shoot for? While some are putting their faith in you entirely, others despise you. They hate you for being the perfect one, especially if that you is black. Shouldn't the perfect one be the "racially perfect" one as well? It's sick, the hatred that's out there.
Gunnar, realizing both the consequences of perfection and the signs that his best friend can't bear that burden, takes Nick's spot. Gunnar definitely seems to be the second runner up, a follower of Scoby. Very self-aware, he recognizes his apathetic tendencies and knows that that's what will allow him to carry it for Nick. Nick is the truly reluctant leader. He should be the leader in this novel, but if he were, he wouldn't be able to handle it. He knows that's not where he wants to be. Yes, Gunnar is also a reluctant leader, but not as reluctant. Gunnar sees himself rising up and does nothing about it. He's reluctant more just because he doesn't care. All he cares about is Scoby, so he takes on the load for his friend.
Even then, he knows that Scoby's losing it. Gunnar can't take it all away, because Scoby's amazingness just cannot be concealed. While writing to Yoshiko during his time away for basketball, his concern shines through. "I think Scoby is going insane. The scrutiny he is undergoing is unbelievable....They would be a lot better off if they simply called Scoby a god and left it at that, but no way they'll proclaim a skinny black man God" (192). It has got to be hard getting cups thrown at you nearly every game. Gunnar just happens to have a special, unrecognized talent to not care about anything and make a joke out of everything. This, coincidentally, happens to be Scoby's weakness. Other people get to him easily. He wants to be a part of something, rather than apart from everything. Nick Scoby's a wonderful, well-developed character whose gifts drag him down into a depression that doesn't end until his death.
Friday, November 16, 2012
How does the music make you feel, man?
In the midst of the L.A. Riots, jazz instrumentalist Eric Dolphy blasts through the headphones of Nick Scoby. "I feel like I'm dry heaving while free free-falling from fifteen thousand feet" is Gunnar's description of the style. His description is scarily accurate. Dolphy is considered to be on the forefront of "free jazz." For example, his tune "Out There" is definitely free. Free-falling and trainwrecking. (In a good way, though!)
Dolphy acts outside the limits of jazz. In "Out There," dissonance is everywhere and key signatures are so hard to identify that many times throughout the song you get a sense of atonality. It creates a really curious, cool, surreal effect. Switching between flute, alto sax, and bass clarinet, this guy can do anything, and he does. His goal was to make his instruments sound as close to human or animal as possible, playing on the music the occurs naturally.
One of the best ways to get to know someone is to look for patterns in the people he/she hangs out with. Dolphy's two longest musical partners were Charles Mingus and John Coltrane. Bassist Charles Mingus, as we discussed in class once upon a time, was a musical genius. Very full of passion and emotion, Mingus enjoyed things such as moaning while playing and having everyone solo simultaneously. It worked well for him; he's one of the few well-know bass players. Then there's incredible tenor saxophonist John Coltrane. Personally, he's one of my favorite artists. Known for his abstract techniques and crazy speed, Coltrane loved to take advantage of multiphonics, overtones, screeches, and the altissimo register. Basically, he experimented with his sax and regularly used methods and notes that there aren't keys for. Magazines described Dolphy and Coltrane's combined works as "anti-jazz." Eric Dolphy's two best friends were (lovably) crazy. His music definitely reflects that.
What interests me most, though, about Eric Dolphy is his death. In June of 1964, Dolphy collapsed on stage. Everyone, including the doctors, assumed he was a drug addict and collapsed as a result of overdose, so they didn't bother testing him for anything else. It turned out that he was a diabetic and had gone into a diabetic coma. But the stereotype of black jazz musician drug addicts took over, and he was judged without a fair trial, without any tests, so he died. It's a prime example of the way masks are automatically thrown up without a second thought that maybe there's something wrong.
All in all, Dolphy's one of the most influential, out-there jazz musicians to this day. "Dolphy's horn matched the streetside cacophony flutter for flutter, screech for screech" (130). His music was real. It symbolized real life. How does the music make me feel? Inspired.
Dolphy acts outside the limits of jazz. In "Out There," dissonance is everywhere and key signatures are so hard to identify that many times throughout the song you get a sense of atonality. It creates a really curious, cool, surreal effect. Switching between flute, alto sax, and bass clarinet, this guy can do anything, and he does. His goal was to make his instruments sound as close to human or animal as possible, playing on the music the occurs naturally.
One of the best ways to get to know someone is to look for patterns in the people he/she hangs out with. Dolphy's two longest musical partners were Charles Mingus and John Coltrane. Bassist Charles Mingus, as we discussed in class once upon a time, was a musical genius. Very full of passion and emotion, Mingus enjoyed things such as moaning while playing and having everyone solo simultaneously. It worked well for him; he's one of the few well-know bass players. Then there's incredible tenor saxophonist John Coltrane. Personally, he's one of my favorite artists. Known for his abstract techniques and crazy speed, Coltrane loved to take advantage of multiphonics, overtones, screeches, and the altissimo register. Basically, he experimented with his sax and regularly used methods and notes that there aren't keys for. Magazines described Dolphy and Coltrane's combined works as "anti-jazz." Eric Dolphy's two best friends were (lovably) crazy. His music definitely reflects that.
What interests me most, though, about Eric Dolphy is his death. In June of 1964, Dolphy collapsed on stage. Everyone, including the doctors, assumed he was a drug addict and collapsed as a result of overdose, so they didn't bother testing him for anything else. It turned out that he was a diabetic and had gone into a diabetic coma. But the stereotype of black jazz musician drug addicts took over, and he was judged without a fair trial, without any tests, so he died. It's a prime example of the way masks are automatically thrown up without a second thought that maybe there's something wrong.
All in all, Dolphy's one of the most influential, out-there jazz musicians to this day. "Dolphy's horn matched the streetside cacophony flutter for flutter, screech for screech" (130). His music was real. It symbolized real life. How does the music make me feel? Inspired.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Armed With a Spray Can Soul
Coldplay's latest album, Mylo Xyloto, was released in October of last year. Chris Martin, Coldplay's lead singer, says the album is based significantly on the 70's New York graffiti. "I've spent a lot of my life playing it a bit safe or conforming to something, even though I didn't agree with it. So I have respect and admiration for people who don't," said Martin (Michaels). The band also made a comic strip to go along with the album, and much of it had to do with painting the town with colors to wake it up, while others try to silence them, as shown in the music video for it (shown below). I recommend looking up the lyrics, too. They're all relevant to this post, though it would be overkill for me to analyze the entire song here. This website is pretty accurate.
This song, "Hurts Like Heaven," is the first full song on the album, about the empowerment that comes with the graffiti. "On a concrete canvas under cover of dark/ On a concrete canvas I'll go making my mark/ Armed with a spray can soul." Graffiti is a form of expression. It's a magical feeling, like you're making an impact somehow. As one of the artists in the movie said, "I did something to make your eyes open up, right?" It's about the expression. It's about being seen.
As we've seen in the the books we've been reading, it's easy to place a mask on a person by not looking deep enough into them. We walk past people all the time, not bothering to go deeper. Seeing phrases pass by on a train, or even poetic lines scrawled out on desks, it's a whole lot harder to pass it by without some of it sticking. It's because we identify with it. We have no one to place a mask of insanity on. There is no choice but to think about it in the context of yourself. "When you use your heart as a weapon, then it hurts like heaven." Pouring something out for all to see, without a face associated, causes more hurt, thought, and impact, than anything else can.
(retrieved from http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=88316)
Michaels, Sean. "New Coldplay Album Inspired by Graffiti." The Guardian.
Guardian News and Media, 26 Nov. 2010. Web. 14 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/nov/26/
new-coldplay-album-inspired-graffiti>.
This song, "Hurts Like Heaven," is the first full song on the album, about the empowerment that comes with the graffiti. "On a concrete canvas under cover of dark/ On a concrete canvas I'll go making my mark/ Armed with a spray can soul." Graffiti is a form of expression. It's a magical feeling, like you're making an impact somehow. As one of the artists in the movie said, "I did something to make your eyes open up, right?" It's about the expression. It's about being seen.
As we've seen in the the books we've been reading, it's easy to place a mask on a person by not looking deep enough into them. We walk past people all the time, not bothering to go deeper. Seeing phrases pass by on a train, or even poetic lines scrawled out on desks, it's a whole lot harder to pass it by without some of it sticking. It's because we identify with it. We have no one to place a mask of insanity on. There is no choice but to think about it in the context of yourself. "When you use your heart as a weapon, then it hurts like heaven." Pouring something out for all to see, without a face associated, causes more hurt, thought, and impact, than anything else can.
Michaels, Sean. "New Coldplay Album Inspired by Graffiti." The Guardian.
Guardian News and Media, 26 Nov. 2010. Web. 14 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/nov/26/
new-coldplay-album-inspired-graffiti>.
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