Final Exam

Identify all of the artists and get an A.
(not really, but give it a try and see how many you can get)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VskbxuehP3I

Have a wonderful Christmas and break! I enjoyed our semester together very much.

Barry

Authenticity and the 'Definitive'

After listening to either the posted versions of 'All Along the Watchtower' or 'Try a Little Tenderness', post your opinion of which one can be considered the 'definitive' version upon which all others are compared. This is not necessarily a value judgement, but rather thinking about which is more likely to (or has already) become the standard.

More importantly, why do you think the way you do? What evidence in each version supports your opinion?

Fun weekend pop music discussion

"The Foo Fighters are to Nirvana as ______ is to _______."

Discuss who and why.

Go.

Race in current political campaigns

Michael Steele, an African American, is running for US Senate for the state of Maryland. He is running for the Republican party, which is interesting because usually we generally think of Republicans as rich, white men.

Fables of Faubus

Following our discussion of the Little Rock incident and Governor Faubus' role, what are your reactions to Charles Mingus' music? Feel free to comment on either the music or the text specifically. What meaning do you think the marriage of both conveys?

Interesting Reading

Here's a link to a great article that appeared in yesterday's Washington Post. It addresses many of the issues we discussed back before break and is definitely thought-provoking even if you disagree. Thanks to Kate for forwarding me the link.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/13/AR2006101301426.html

Dylan and Meaning

Since we're looking at Dylan this week, I thought the following quote from a recent interview was worth reading and considering.

"Words go by awfully quick," he says. "Maybe it's hard for a listener to comprehend them all. Maybe they don't want to. I couldn't say what these songs add up to, any more than I can say what the rest of my songs add up to. They mean what they say they mean. They strike you where you can feel it, and you can feel what they mean. With this kind of music, you want to move somebody, and you have to move yourself first."