Censorship vs. sense; Guy Davis; Radio Beat
(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Sept. 24, 2000) -
Censorship vs. good sense
Some well-meaning civil libertarian types have gone overboard in
accusing Al Gore and Joe Lieberman of favoring censorship of the
entertainment industry. It’s a far cry from chiding industry moguls to
exercise more taste and responsibility when it comes to marketing sleaze and
violence to youngsters to recommending that the government prohibit the
distribution of such materials, which is how my dictionary defines
censorship.
Who are these free-speech extremists coming to the defense of, other
than self-appointed oligarchs of “culture” who, far from being avatars of
creative, artistic expression are peddlers of puerility employing
state-of-the-art advertising and marketing techniques to sell product to
teens, pre-teens, schoolchildren and even toddlers.
These are not Andre Serranos and Karen Finleys and 2 Live Crews creating
political art or music. These are global corporate bigwigs responsible for
such execrable trash as Pokemon, Mutant Ninja Turtles and Britney Spears,
corporately-crafted works of violence and soft-core porn disguised as
“culture.”
With TV and the Internet penetrating all aspects of our lives, never
in the history of the world have marketers had an easier time bypassing
parents and directly marketing their products to their target audience of
impressionable and vulnerable young consumers. What with
government-sanctioned advertising, product-placement and commercial TV now
an officially accepted part of many school curricula, and with unprecedented
access to youngsters above and beyond anything imaginable just a few years
ago, parents should welcome any and all efforts that appeal to the moral
consciences of those who would sell cigarettes to three-year-olds if they
could get away with it.
What we need is not less moral suasion, but more. Even better, we need to
counteract the incredible power of the marketing through education, starting
at the youngest ages, to teach children how to “read” advertising and to be
critically aware, and critical, of what they’re being sold. To do anything
less is to condemn an entire generation to a life of blindly dull and
uncritical consumerism.
Guy Davis
“I love the storytelling quality of the blues,” Guy Davis, who
performs at the Guthrie Center in Great Barrington (528-1955) tomorrow night
at 8, told the Eagle last fall.
“I love the preaching quality of the blues. In the blues you’ll hear the
same sort of repetition, like when the preacher will say something and he’ll
repeat himself and look around the room to make sure people understand him.
“In the blues you always get that repeat. You hear the repeat of the
first line, or if not the first line, like with John Lee Hooker, he might
just repeat certain words.”
Davis is a singer, songwriter and performer whose work is steeped in
traditional blues, yet who updates the genre to give it his personal stamp.
His latest album, “Butt Naked Free,” consists of 13 original songs and one
classic by Blind Willie McTell. The album, Davis’s fourth and best, ranges
from intimate, solo numbers like “High Flying Rocket” to full-band
selections like “Writing Paper Blues,” featuring drummer Levon Helm and
bassist T-Bone Wolk.
The son of actors, directors, writers and social activist team of Ruby Dee
and Ossie Davis, Davis grew up immersed in black art and culture in a home
whose guests included Malcolm X, Paul Robeson and Huey Newton.
Although he is perhaps best known as a blues performer, Davis has
also enjoyed a successful career on the stage, particularly in efforts that
have combined his love of acting and the blues. He made his Broadway debut
in 1991 in the Zora Neale Hurston/Langston Hughes collaboration, “Mulebone,”
which featured the music of Taj Mahal, whom Davis credits with pointing him
toward the blues.
Subsequent theatrical efforts included the role of the legendary
bluesman in an
Off-Broadway run of “Robert Johnson: Trick the Devil,” for which he won the
Blues Foundation’s W.C. Handy “Keeping the Blues Alive Award.” Davis’s
self-penned, one-man show, “In Bed with the Blues: The Adventures of Fishy
Waters,” garnered raves when it opened in New York in 1994, as did his
appearance on stage with his parents the next year in “Two Hah Hahs and a
Homeboy.”
Also at the Guthrie Center this weekend is RIG, the third-generation
folk trio featuring Tao Rodriguez-Seeger and Sarah Lee Guthrie,
grandchildren of folk icons Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, who peformed
together in the Almanac Singers. RIG will perform on Saturday at 8.
Radio Beat
Another in our series of periodic tallies of the most-played
recordings -- most new, some old - on our imaginary radio station:
1. Luna, The Days of Our Nights (Jericho)
Seth Rogovoy rogovoy@berkshire.net music news, interviews, reviews, et al.
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