[Dixielandjazz] Secretary of Arts

[BillSargentDrums at aol.com]

<<It's exactly the LACK of Government which led to the big corporate  blocks 
to bleach out all traces of good music from  commercial FM and AM  radio.>>
 
I have to disagree. It's a lack of market. This nation was built on  
Capitalism, Free Enterprise and a Free Market, and it's only been when  government 
interfered that things get screwed up. If there was a market for it,  and a 
profit to be made, it would be provided.
 
My band has existed solely on market for 26 years. Never accepted of sought  
a grant or subsidy . . . not once. On the other hand, the symphonies haven't  
learned how to even exist based on market and exists solely on grants and  
donations. In other words, you & I pay so some else can enjoy music that I  don't 
listen to.
 
<<We've been drifting away from intelligent and enjoyable music for  decades, 
and, Bill, it ain't gonna get any better as long as the inmates are  running 
the asylum.>>
 
Why do some folks (and I do love you Harold, truly, I do) have to blame  
everything on what government does or does not do. You have to remember, that  
every musical style that exists, displaced something that preceded. Once again,  
it's the dumbing down of the market and our culture. I could even go so far,  
justifiably so, to say that a HUGE source of the problem lies in Hollywood. 
TV,  movies, computerization, pro-tools, media giants, lack of parental 
direction,  and quite frankly, a whole bunch of you are currently reading this, that 
are at  fault.
 
YEA, YOU BLUE HAIRS! When was the last time you took your kids, or grand  
kids, or some neighbor's kids, to a real GOOD jazz concert? Eh? Did I strike a  
nerve? I did a concert recently, with a wonderful, lively, happening trad jazz  
band where kids under 18 were free. Did any of the older folks care enough 
about  the continuance of the music to put some kid in the car and bring them 
along?  NO. Not one!
 
One of the few things I remember from my early Sunday School classes was:  
"Don't criticize or complain about that which you permit, and if you criticize,  
the provide a solution.
 
Government is NOT the solution, it is the problem. I just gave you a  
solution. Create a market. Markets are NOT government's job. Government does NOT  
create jobs, it creates welfare.
 
<<Bring on a Secretary of Arts, and Jazz back in the White House, and  ask 
yourself if the Government can do any worse than  what we're lving  through 
right now, musically speaking.>>
 
Absolutely it can. With any handout and regulation, comes control, and more  
regulation and interference with personal liberty. There is ALWAYS a string  
attached.
 
Imagine this, Imagine the government telling you, that you had to have  
certain racial ratios and quotas in your band or you couldn't work? How about  
having to hire people simply because of their economic status rather than their  
musical ability? How about having to give a preference to single parents? How  
about governing what you could or could not say from the stage at a  
governmentally sponsored gig? How about having to hire a certain number of  
homosexuals, simply because of who they have sex with, rather than if they can  cut High 
Society?
 
There are a lot of songs that you guys currently play that would be totally  
forbidden due to the fact that they're totally not politically correct, or  
sexist, or racist, or not fairly balanced.
 
BTW, I can back all my arguments with facts and logic. Not simply stuff  that 
sounds and feels good.
 
Some folks ask, "What were they thinking?" One of my best friends would  
answer, "They weren't."
 
Bill
 
 
 
In a message dated 1/11/2009 10:37:39 A.M. Central Standard Time,  
s3856lpa at webtv.net writes:

Hi  Listmates,

I'm afraid my friend Bill Sargent's inherent loathing of  Government has 
allowed it (to quote The Shadow) cloud his mind.

It's  exactly the LACK of Government which led to the big corporate blocks to 
bleach  out all traces of good music from  commercial FM and AM radio.   
Check your FM dial, for example, and all you can hear, save for NPR, is either  
country, rock, rap, Christian Gospel, and other forms of like  "entertainment".  
Independent stations which would program jazz of all  types, but especially 
OKOM.  As for classical, or even light classical  ditties,  I'd qualify for 
asylum treatment if I thought you could hear it  anywhere (again, except on NPR).

Gee, Bill, you're a young man.   Likely before you where born, network radio 
gave us The Metropolitan Opera,  the NBC Symphony, TLhe NY Philharmonic, The 
Chamber Music Society of Lower  Basin Street, all sorts of Sunday afternoon 
light stuff, and on and on.   All of this has been eradicated in pursuit of a 
fast buck.  People who  care are being violated and forced into
retreat.

We've been drifting  away from intelligent and enjoyable music for decades, 
and, Bill, it ain't  gonna get any better as long as the inmates are running 
the  asylum.

Bring on a Secretary of Arts, and Jazz back in the White House,  and ask 
yourself if the Government can do any worse than  what we're  lving through right 
now, musically  speaking.

Regards.
Harold

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