(no subject)

[jfb]

Artemis Records head Danny Goldberg's new book Dispatches from the Culture Wars sounds really good, by which I mean it caters to my preexisting beliefs. The Democratic Party has lost touch with progressive ideals, Goldberg argues, by losing its connection with popular culture. Thanks to Salon, you can read the excerpt I copied this from:

The weirdest thing about the political shift to the right is that it has occurred during a time when virtually every cultural battle in America has been won by the left. People who have fought for abortion rights, free speech, gay and lesbian rights, and racial equality can look at a country transformed in their image. Yet most leaders in the political left and the Democratic party have profoundly mixed feelings about their cultural allies.

And there's also a terrific interview with Goldberg:

And then there are people like Joe Lieberman, who feel the way to win swing voters is to attack popular culture. As if popular culture had been created by Martians, instead of by the actual people in the country.

And:

I don't know why they can't talk about a moral conception of politics. I do think younger people want an idealistic framework for their politics, and the conservatives have been really good at creating an idealistic concept behind everything they do. I don't agree with any of it, but they have a philosophy you can understand. Even people who don't benefit from a tax cut feel that there's a moral concept behind the idea of what taxes should be, and that's why they support it. It's not that they're stupid. They buy into a moral philosophy that the conservatives express. Our guys don't express a moral philosophy.

And:

Ideology has both poetry and prose in it, whereas policy is all prose. You need a combination of poetry and prose to be politically successful. You know, it's just a different kind of person: You have the English majors or the music majors, then you have the law students. You have so many law students in the political world that there's a literalism that has too much power over the way messages are created. If you have a politics that's designed to benefit ordinary people, that's not in the service of economic elites, the only way you can win is if you connect with those very people. You can't do that with literalistic Washington jargon. There needs to be some poetry in there.

If you decide not to buy Goldberg's book, you can still buy stuff from his record label: I recommend Jay Farrar's fantastic alt-pop-country album Sebastopol, available from Miles of Music.

Comments

[michaelpop.livejournal.com]

whoa. boston, the pretenders, russell crowe. pretty eclectic stuff.

also: i'm wondering if you've heard anything off jesse main's new record. personally, i think he's over-hyped and the record isn't as great as the critics would have you believing, but he's got a voice that sounds, to my ears at least, very similar to jay farrar's. for what it's worth.

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Never heard of him (that I can recall) before I looked at the Artemis site yesterday. I like Jay Farrar's voice, but it's the songs that make him great.

The only band on Artemis that doesn't somehow make sense to me is Boston. No wait, I mean, the only band on Artemis's front page. I hadn't realized Artemis was responsible for "Who Let The Dogs Out" and "two gold albums each from metal band Kittie and rapper Kurupt." I give up.

[(Anonymous)]

I have Jesse Malin's new record. It's not a breakthrough, but I like it well enough. The songs sound legit, written instead of formulated (does that even make sense?).

re: Jay Farrar, I don't know how he does it. His songs are fantastic even though I have no idea what the hell he's singing about half the time. I saw him do a showcase in Austin back in March; he only had a lap steel guitarist with him, and even the Son Volt tunes sounded great all stripped down.

-- scottandrew

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Yeah--at the Jay Farrar concert I saw, it was just him and Marc Spencer playing, I think, lap steel and electric guitar, and it was amazing all the way through.