[Dixielandjazz] politically correct?

Thu Jul 14 12:18:56 PDT 2005

In this age of political correctness I get really tired about hearing it.
There are limits to everything.  I do not go out of my way to either offend
or to be offended however, there are people that have a perpetual chip on
their shoulder.  The rage is always near the surface.  You can see this
almost every day in traffic and every so often in the newspapers when
someone goes over the line with road rage and kills someone.  This is not a
unique phenomenon with any race but it often takes race as it's outlet.
Someone who is frustrated with life in general is an accident waiting to
happen and that person may just be looking for a podium to vent his self
righteous spleen at someone over real or imagined wrongs to him, his family,
his race or religion or his ancestors.

Guess who is in center stage but the band leader who has committed this
terrible injustice to the same people I just named.  In his self righteous
indignation he has a cause so it's only natural that he may come after you.

Would I play Dixie?  It depends.  If I were asked to play at the dedication
of a Confederate Memorial I would. ( There is a new confederate memorial in
St. Louis and they might have had a band at it.  If it were my band and if I
were asked I would play it because it would be appropriate.)  As Abraham
Lincoln said when he requested his favorite song "Dixie" that it was a
"spoil of war" and that we now all own it.  By the same token if I were
playing for almost anything else I wouldn't, again because I would just
prefer to not become a target for someone's problem and there's just so many
better things to play..  Now about the other tunes "Black and blue",
"Darktown Strutters Ball" which I play all the time, I will continue playing
them and if someone decides that I'm a racist over it then I'm OK with that
and feel sorry for him because he has a problem.

Personally I am offended by educated people who slump into the lowest common
denominator of language where MF, F* and N*****(**) are almost every other
word to say nothing of Rap music where the content and language are highly
charged with racial hate and raunchy language just to sell records.  Bill
Cosby was right in his condemnation of this behavior..  We shouldn't
tolerate it but we do because to not do so is in itself politically
incorrect.  Blacks tolerate it because to not tolerate it will make them
targets by appearing too "White" or "Oreo" and in some odd way educated
black people want to seem to be more "Ghetto" to avoid their friends
thinking that they are too good or uppity.  How someone with a Master's or
PHD can suddenly talk like someone with a third grade education is beyond
me.

(**)is it politically correct to use the N since everyone knows the word and
unconsciously says the forbidden word in their head when the big N is used?

I have a simple guideline.  If you don't go out of your way to offend or to
be offended you will usually be OK.  If you feel that you want to play those
tunes just don't introduce them with their titles and just play the tune.

My advice is that if you do offend someone with a tune then I wouldn't play
that tune the next time I played there again provided they ask you back.
Would I take the tune off my play list? - no way.  Another tack that you
might try is to patiently listen to the person and ask him why the piece of
music is offensive, let him vent and then plead ignorance, apologize and go
on about your business.  Is that selling out?  Well maybe so but I
personally am not up there to make political statements either correct  or
not.

We should be entertainers first. We are not in the business to offend people
but to entertain them. To do otherwise is just bad business practice.

Larry Walton
St. Louis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <tcashwigg at aol.com>
To: <Cebuisle2 at aol.com>; <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 11:07 AM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] politically correct?

> Having played professionally for forty plus years I pride myself as a
> bandleader in being able to program any given gig with the appropriate
> songs suitable for all audiences and if there is some Johnny come
> lately wannabe politically correct twit in the audience who is too
> ignorant to understand the historical and Traditional values of a great
> song then as far as I am concerned they can just be offended.  As they
> are obviously politically incorrect in being at the event in the first
> place.
>
>   I also have an almost all Black ( not African) American Band and I
> have never had a problem form one of them regarding not wanting to play
> a song.    However I have not asked them to play DIXIE yet, :))   That
> one might raise a stink.   To not play a beautiful tune like Black and
> Blue would be a great disservice to the songwriter, and the same with
> Darktown Strutters Ball which I believe was written for Hookers, and
> not racial at all.  If one Black person in the audience complained
> about us playing Black and Blue I would follow it up with "We Shall
> Overcome" and dedicate it to my new found offended fan, and save
> "Mammy" for the encore.  :))
>
> As I said it is only a twit that has to try and be politically correct,
> people of all races are funny and the cultural differences make it that
> way, I have often been in the company of some so called high brow
> highly educated politically correct affirmative action PHDs at Black
> social events, and witnessed them slip right into the Ghetto
> communication mode calling each other MF and using  the N word freely
> amongst themselves.   Political correctness is mainly trotted out when
> someone wants to call extra attention to themselves and play the RACE
> CARD.  Happens all the time, and quite often these same folks are
> irritating to the others in the room who do not subscribe to such
> nonsense.    "Nigger is not a Color"   it is an attitude, and disease
> which can and does afflict all manner of folks.  :))   African is not a
> color, but "Black" is and so is White, Yellow, and Red, Pink and Brown,
> and people come in all colors, I have even seen Blue Men on television.
> :))
>
> Now the ugliest word know is "Politician"
>
> Musical content:  "Don't Scandalize my Name"  and, "Play that Funky
> Music White Boy"
>
> cheers,
>
> Tom Wiggins
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Cebuisle2 at aol.com
> To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
> Sent: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 22:23:17 EDT
> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] politically correct?
>
>    Hello I
>
> How does one keep political correctness out of jazz performances today?
> I
> enjoyed Rick Knittel's description of a jazz funeral he played. The
> deceased had
>
>   a special fondness for the "Darktown Strutters Ball"  which is one of
> my
> favorites also. Our occasion was a "freebie" for the United Way
> banquet.  (more
> on "freebies" later)   I suggested playing the "Strutters"  (heck, I
> had put
> the group together a year earlier) and the clarinetist  immediately
> objected as
> there was an African-American in the room. We weren't  planning to sing
> it-just play it. I scratched the song from the set.
>
> How do you active musicians handle this? Do you toss all tunes that
> have any
> racial connotation "Black and Blue": comes to mind - along with a whole
>  host
> of jazz standards used by Bessie Smith et.al.
>
> Just wondering------
>
>
>
> Tradjazz
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