to pop or not to pop?

[Dave Hsu <hsu@eneevax.umd.edu>]

Wow, what a hectic week!  You'd probably figured I'd disappeared, or
gotten lost in New Jersey or something, but no, I just couldn't find
enough time to rewire the new abode until this morning.  So there!

I'm really sorry about wrecking your weather, guys.  When I left, it
was 94 degrees and 85% humidity in DC.  When I arrived, it was 90
degrees and 80% humidity in Boston, something which I gather doesn't
happen often.  Oh yeah, I did hop down the street to Tosci's, and then
swung by Herrell's around lunch time, and I'm afraid that the man with
the polar bears wins by a comfortable margin.  'Twas a good afternoon,
spent blissed out on ice cream.

>Really-From: Rob Aitken <aitken%noah.arc.cdn%ubc.csnet@RELAY.CS.NET>
>...
>At any rate, the flak has been centered around the phrase "thinly disguised
>pop". IED's objection was that the term "pop" is vaguely defined, and indeed
>it is. The interpretation I intended was the mechanical, lifeless, nonsense
>that is released for the sole purpose of making money -- music described by
>Woody Guthrie as "music to die to". Clearly, KT's songs are not in this
>category, witness the existence of this newsgroup...

Hmmm...I've fought the terminology for a long time, and decided to call
that sort of mindless drivel you've so aptly described "top-40".
Having finally gotten over my cultural bigotry of "rock" over "pop", I
am willing to grant that the latter category has a great deal more
value than I once thought.  Of course, KaTe had something to do with
it...

>|>oug states that the "Pop" sound is intentional. I have no reason to dispute
>him. However, I listen to music primarily for entertainment -- because I like
>it. If I do not find a given song entertaining I do not listen to it,
>regardless of any other redeeming attributes it may possess. Perhaps IED
>would find this practice "idiotic", but I believe not.

You don't believe that it's idiotic, or you don't believe that IED
would think so?  I, for one, am absolutely certain that he would never
call such practices "idiotic"; at worst, they could be called something
less than open-minded.  Ironic, isn't it, that most of the worthless pap
we strive to avoid is designed to possess one and only one "redeeming
attribute", and that is to entertain without evoking any kind of
meaningful thought.  They'd might as well be anaesthetized.  I find
myself on the opposite end of the spectrum; music _must_ be of brilliant
design as well as craftsmanship for me to enjoy it on an extended basis
and by that definition, Kate's work is supremely entertaining.

>I do not dislike all KT's music, and indeed I enjoy several songs, but in
>general I am indifferent to it...
>The fact remains, though, that I am not a KT fan.

Diff'rnt strokes for diff'rnt folks.  But we'll always KNOW that it's
your loss, won't we?  :-(

And now, a brief encapsulation of What I Know About Delius, that you
may continue your own research into That Which Inspires Our Kate.  I'm
a bit short on resources to properly push my embryonic research any
further; perhaps some of you can pick up the pieces.

Traipsing through Olsson's Books & Records for a last time before
leaving town, I stumbled across several works by Delius in the
classical section, and bought one to see what it was all about.  I then
dredged out the handy Oxford Dictionary of Music, fished through the
liner notes, corroborated what I could and ended up with a somewhat
better view of a few Kate-ian questions.

Frederick Delius, born in Yorkshire in 1862, was a relatively ignored
(during his time) composer who specialized in lyric tone poems,
occasionally based on scenes from the work of Nietzsche, but more often
describing pastoral scenes in various mountainous regions in northern
Europe.  Delius moved to Florida as a young man, and lived for a short
time as an orange grower before moving to Virginia, and eventually back
to Great Britain.  While his performances were generally not well
received, he did have a small but devoted following among late
impressionist musicians.  He eventually moved to the Norwegian fjords
where he spent several enjoyable years, but by the late 1920's he had
lost the use of his legs and soon after, his sight, which turned him
into a recluse in the French countryside.  Here, he was befriended by
Eric Fenby, another Yorkshireman, who helped him write his manuscripts
and became his close confidante.  After Delius' death, Fenby continued
to champion his music, eventually writing a book, "Delius as I knew
him".  Today, Fenby appears as conductor (and often editor) on most
recordings of Delius' work.

I couldn't locate a performance on CD of his "A Song of Summer", but
did notice under one of the listings that a recording of another work
had been done by one Mr. Hickox, whom I presume to be the same gentleman
contracted to work on Kate's "Hello Earth".  Also, I haven't yet found
a videotape of Ken Russell's film "Song of Summer", which I suspect to
be Kate's introduction to Delius, judging from her intense interest in
British filmmakers.  The liner notes to the album I did buy describe
this film as "movingly re-enacted".  Alas, I don't even have a TV at
the moment, so finding this tape would be useless to me right now, so I
invite you out there to find a copy and tell us how meaningful it is.

Unrelated topic: when is the new Marillion album due?  The CD singles
of the first track have been trickling into the East Coast for about 2
weeks now.

-dave
-- 
David T. "DeaTH" Hsu				Technocrat & Newsaholic Emeritus
ARPA: hsu@eneevax.umd.edu			UUCP: seismo!mimsy!eneevax!hsu	
USPS: 10 Magazine St #1006, Cambridge MA 02139	Ma Bell: (617) 876-1847	
"Finally, somebody said it's OK to like things.  This was a great relief."