Friday Night Music

---------- 

[Facebook] [Twitter] [Podcast] [Support]

Blogging Day Off

Over 19 million views in less than a week. This video is everywhere. It also has nothing to do with disability. But I’m taking a day off from blogging, and it is the happiest YouTube video I have ever seen. So, enjoy:

For the record, the second happiest video I have ever seen is one of the first YouTube videos I ever saw:

Vacation

I’m going to take a couple of days off from blogging. I’ll be back Sunday, July 26, 2015 with a collection of my favorite articles about the 25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

----------

[Facebook] [Twitter] [Podcast] [Support]

Music For A Monday Evening

Somehow, the day got away from me, and the plans I had to post something of substance fell through. Maybe tomorrow. Also, look for a new episode of the Disability.TV Podcast on Wednesday. My guest will be Christina Stephens, a.k.a. AmputeeOT, who spoke with me about last fall’s Fox TV show, Red Band Society.

Meanwhile, check out this Beatles video. I watched the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony last night, and one of the highlights was inductee Ringo Starr performing “Boys” with fellow inductees, Green Day. It was pretty great.

Spring Cleaning ... Time For A Musical Digression

So, in lieu of the usual disability blogging, here’s a video I’ve been watching daily for over a week now, of Kim Gordon and the surviving members of Nirvana performing at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction:

Sonic Youth has been one of my favorite bands since Goo came out in 1990. From there I went back and checked out the epic Daydream Nation, and I was hooked. Kim Gordon was always my favorite member of the group, partly for the usual hetrosexual male reasons, but also because she seemed so enigmatic. She recently published an autobiography, and is making the rounds of various culture shows and podcasts. I listened to her interview on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, and now I want to hear more from her. For now, I’ll just say that I hope I have half of Kim Gordon’s energy and creativity when I am 62, though there’s no way I have ever been a 16th as cool as she is.

And here is my favorite Sonic Youth performance video:

Music For A Friday Afternoon

I’m working on this week’s podcast episode, so I don’t have anything disability-related to blog. Anyway, it’s been awhile since we had a musical interlude.

Normal People Sick

Not feeling up to snuff today, so this is all the blogging you’re going to get until tomorrow at the soonest.

Light Blogging Day / Video

Lots of real life activities today, so don't expect much blogging from me. Here is a somewhat appropriate video to fill the void.

Music For A Thursday Afternoon

This is another of those disability songs that isn’t really a disability song, but it feels like one to me.

Oh, Weird Al ...

Weird Al Apologizes For Offensive ‘Spastic’ Comment

Inquisitr - July 20, 2014

I have never been a “fan” of Weird Al Yankovic, but I've always liked him and his style of song parody. He seems like a “good guy” who’s schtick is to poke fun at popular music and pop culture trends that most everyone can agree on. His satire is usually easy to take because although he sort of takes stands on things, he rarely chooses anything that’s very controversial. He would probably never make an anti-Obama video, but during just about any Presidency, he might well make a video saying, essentially, “Wow, Presidents and their silly politics. Amirite?” Truly offending people isn't part of Weird Al's formula.

That’s why it did bug me that his “Word Crimes” video includes several insults that rely on equating stupidity with actual disabled people. He doesn’t use the R-word, because as I say, Weird Al is basically a decent and slightly more progressive sort of guy than most “insult comics”. But in the video, he talks about people being “spastic” and “drooling” as if it signifies ignorance and lack of intelligence. 

I think this is further proof that people who in general don’t engage in cruel or bullying humor (the advantaged “hitting down” to make fun of the less-advanteged), still think it’s okay to make fun of mental impairment, lower intelligence, and visible disability. More precisely, they don’t think about it at all. When they do finally think about it … as Weird Al seems to have, prompted by criticism … they tend to realize that it’s no more acceptable or tasteful than racial, ethnic, or gender slurs they would never consider using. I think it says more about the status of disabled people in society today than it does about Weird Al.

What distinguishes Weird Al at the moment is how quickly he apologized, and without weasel words. Maybe it’s because he really does care about language that he is willing to acknowledge his mistake, and own up to it without hemming and hawing. Also, because his humor has always had a Middle School flavor to it … on purpose … I believe Weird Al when he says he didn’t know “spastic” would be insulting to disabled people. Most of all, I am massively grateful that he didn’t go on a tiresome rant about “political correctness” and “freedom of speech”, as so many comedians do nowadays, even some that I enjoy.

The thing is, it’s not just offense that is at issue with this kind of thing.

Comedy doesn’t have to be tasteful or respectful to be funny, but lazy comedy is pretty deadly. And calling less informed people “stupid”, “spastic”, and “drooling” is lazy. “Old school” comedians should be on alert for this, if they don’t want to date themselves. Trouble with the progressive Twitterverse might be the least of their problems. Irrelevancy is much, much worse for business. Weird Al is mainly another generation’s comic. Maybe that’s another reason he was so quick to apologize and without undue angst. Maybe he realizes that he risks dropping off the cultural map altogether if he doesn’t make an effort to keep up with the times.

Music For A Saturday Evening: "The Thunder God"

I write a lot on this blog about life-long disabilities, mostly because that’s my personal experience. Of course, millions of disabled people experience disability as a sudden intrusion that can derail the lives they thought were ahead of them. Then there are the relatively few who have the perseverance, creativity, and support they need to take a brief detour, but ultimately get back on their original track.

I wasn’t a huge heavy metal fan in the summer of 1987 when I listened to a special radio introduction of Def Leppard’s long-awaited album Hysteria, while unpacking for my "Sophomore Summer" semester in college. So, I was only vaguely aware of what the band’s real fans knew was special about the album. Not only was it way overdue, it was overdue in large part because the band’s drummer, Rick Allen, had lost his left arm in a car accident, and the band had, basically, waited while Allen re-learned drumming on an adapted kit. Even after I heard the story, I just sort of noted it. I wasn’t really tuned in to disability as an “issue” then.

It wasn’t until just after the Americans with Disabilities Act passed that I realized that Def Leppard had, essentially, provided Allen with a pretty massive “reasonable accommodation” to an sudden disability. They could easily have parted ways with him … offering prayers of support and sad farewells, and debuting a new drummer. They weren’t stuck with Rick. They chose to stick with him, and he to the band. And a key to that was ingenuity, adaptability, and an understanding of teamwork that doesn’t see people as simply interchangeable cogs.

Def Leppard is decidedly classic “Dad Rock” at this point. I don’t think they were ever the best band in the world, or inherently better than “the bands kids listen to today”. But they were very good, and very successful, and certainly never paid a discernible price for not leaving Rick behind, in an incredibly competitive and fast-moving industry. Heavy Metal and Pop Metal are very emotional, almost sentimental genres, and a story like Rick Allen’s still to this day provokes what one YouTube commenter calls “man tears” … a.k.a. “Inspiration Porn”. It’s hard to sustain the sentimentality, though, when the product is this particular music.

I still love it, once in awhile.

Music For A Saturday Evening

Music For A Summer Sunday

Kelly Hogan covers The Hold Steady - The A.V. Club Undercover Summer Break.

Music For A Travel Day

I’m on the road today, so no posting, except for this, one of may all-time favorite songs, by Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers.

Music For A Friday Evening: 25 Years Ago ...

I’ll try to keep my comments from sounding too much like an old fart on YouTube.

It’s hard to describe the mixture of feelings watching old video clips from the 1989 Moscow Music and Peace Festival. First of all, it happened in that really short few years when the Russia was still the Soviet Union, a nominally Communist superpower, but in the process of more or less voluntarily loosening up and generally saying “fuck it” to the whole world domination thing. Then of course there are the hair bands. On of them was Bon Jovi, which is still a going concern, but one of my favorites for a little less than a year was, oddly, Cinderella. Let’s just say I think their music aged a lot better than their look. Two years later, the likes of Nirvana took over everything, and I’m not sorry … but I still sort of get a kick out of these guys once in awhile. And it really does look like those Soviet kids are having a great time. I wish things could have gone smoother for them.

Another Great Disability Song

The Song That Helps Me Appreciate the Wonder in My Son’s Spina Bifida

Sarah Watts, The Mighty

The search for popular music songs on disability themes continues with this excellent reminder from blogger Sarah Watts of “Wonder”, one of Natalie Merchant’s most successful songs from her 1995 solo album Tigerlily.

It has been years since I thought of this song, but as soon as I read a few of the words the tune came right back to me. I also vaguely remember relating to the song a bit because it seemed to be in the voice of a disabled chid. Reading the lyrics, it sure sounds like a deliberate song about disability, though it is broad enough to connect with anyone who feels odd or different. I like that the song is rather vague about the “wonder” of the child in question. We don’t really know exactly what’s different about her (or him?). Also, “this child will be able”, but we don’t get wish-fulfillment specifics. It doesn’t say she will be fixed or cured, but that she will be valuable and capable regardless of whatever makes her unique, whatever has brought doctors “from distant cities”.

For what it’s worth, I found an explanation of the song, which includes some second-hand information from Natalie Merchant who tries to broaden the message, while acknowledging that the song is indeed about a woman with disabilities.

Late Night / Early Morning Music

Music For A Friday Evening

A real treasure from one of my favorite bands.

In Lieu Of Actual Blogging ...

No blogging today. Spring is really here, and I’m planning to enjoy it.

I’m not usually a fan of band reunions, and the last one I would have expected is The Stone Roses, but this is pretty impressive.

Disability Song ... Followup

Cat Smith, who maintains the Disability Fashion Project and Stylishly Impaired blogs responded to my hunt for a good disability song with this Ian Dury video:

"Rock & roll has always been populated by fringe figures, cult artists who managed to develop a fanatical following because of their outsized quirks, but few cult rockers have ever been quite as weird, or beloved, as Ian Dury. As the leader of the underappreciated and ill-fated pub rockers Kilburn & the High Roads, Dury cut a striking figure -- he remained handicapped from a childhood bout with polio, yet stalked the stage with dynamic charisma, spitting out music hall numbers and rockers in his thick Cockney accent." -- AllMusic.com

I had heard of Ian Dury by name, but knew nothing about him. I certainly had no idea he was disabled in any way. He does seem to check all the boxes of what I was looking for. And the song isn't in the least bit weepy or sentimental.

I'm not sure it works for me though. For one thing, I'm not wild about the tune. For another, I think the satire might be just a bit too subtle. Apparently the song was banned by the BBC for being offensive to disabled people. Back in the day, the BBC banned songs all the time, so that doesn't mean much. However, even now I'll bet most disabled people would take offense at this song, at least initially, rather than get behind its more empowering messages. I get what Dury trying do do here, and I approve, but I don't think he entirely succeeds.

Maybe I'll warm to it over time. I should probably look up the complete lyrics, too. If nothing else, it's on the right track. Thanks Cat!