NEW'ed for Public Consumption
My early days were supplemented by steady doses of music. I was told by both my mother and sister that I used to sing "You Are My Sunshine." I don't remember singing that particular song, much less any other song 4, maybe 5 years old. But I do remember the words and the tune. Who amongst us doesn't remember "You Are My Sunshine"? Only takes one listening (or less) to catch on. I recall on occasion enjoying the radio-playing of such songs as "Sixteen Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford and his deep voice and the rhythm I still remember. And "How much is that doggie in the window?" I don't know the name of the artist (or was it a group...), but it, too was memorable enough to remain with me to this day.
What became known as "Rock 'n' Roll" happened for me in 1955. The song was Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" backed up by his group The Comets. That song was arguably the first song 'baptized' rock and roll. The floodgates of rock rolled open due to the attraction of the youth towards the beat and rhythm, the words to the songs, the packaging of the latest number #1 hit.
Rock and roll influenced lots of people - both good and bad. While the groupies screamed, wept, pulled their hair and had uncontrolled orgasms that caused some to faint in the aisles, others... they thought rock and roll was Beelzebub's revenge upon the Lord himself. These folks burned the records in pyres sacrificing the golden calf to the heaven's up above to please their God - "Help us, Jesus, save these strays from your glory. Help us fight this devil 'Rock 'n' Roll' that is leading our youth into darkness." (It got that bad)
But rock and roll it did - it rocked and it rolled. The times during this genre of music was born, youth were also digging writers: Kerouac... the beats - Allen Ginsburg, Gary Snyder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti... writers that had large followings. Jazz had Charlie Mingus, Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, Yusef Latif, Herbie Mann... the list grew as the popularity grew. Even "Country & Western" music grew... Hank Williams was a major musical force from which folks like Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton, George Jones and even early Elvis. The list grew as the acceptance of the music grew.
The fifties brought on a new wave of painting - Abstract Expressionism... the modern art of the times. Modern is in constant flux. It has to to be 'modern'... But this wondrous style of painting was hypnotic to many. Motherwell, Rothko, of course Jackson Pollack and the attraction of Picasso was the major influence embraced by the fifties artists.
The Kinsey Report came out in the early fifties - the revealing statistics of sexuality among the American populace - the frequency, the habits, their experience with experimentation.. so much being publicly revealed. Those used to be closed door experiments ("Psychopathia Sexualis" by Richard Von Krafft-Ebing) were now being disseminated to the world... and the world was attracted. Sex, along with music, writers and artists, was publicly accepted by millions. Hugh "the Hedonist" Hefner came out with Playboy... a nude Marilyn Monroe splashed across the front cover. What healthy, heterosexual man could resist Playboy's invitation to see more under the covers?
The early sixties brought with it R&B, rhythm and blues chiefly thru the efforts of Gordy Berry and his Motown Records. The hit radio stations of the day played a steady diet of R&B - Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Ben E. King, the Supremes... and again the list of popular acts grew... acceptance was open. The door flung open wide.
Early sixties also had the "Folk Music" popularity from which sprung Bab Dylan which in part fed the music of the late sixties - the "Psychedelic Period" sprung from all that transpired for a generation of youth exposed to the fifties and early sixties. It coalesced in a neighborhood of San Francisco, The Haight Ashbury, where from the beats came LSD, the modern day hallucinogenic, along with pot and occasional mescaline. Many of those who saw through these eyes, influenced by the fifties and more, interrupted their old way of seeing into new visions. Writers like Richard Brautigan, Tom Wolff, Alan Watts and Timothy Leary, to name but a few. The concert poster artists became cultural heroes, arguably the best being Rick Griffin. The music experimented with jazz/rock fusions, fold rock, electric blues to higher volumes and pushed the limits of the instruments... acceptance was there... no matter what genre of music it was or had become, new won again.
The arts reveals the soul of man and the soul responds in kind. A match made in heaven. New is the Hero... and has always been. It's just letting go of the New after it becomes familiar. It's said the familiarity breeds contempt, but at the same time New seeks an audience. Public doesn't accept readily (usually), but has to get to know New all over again. Acquainting itself with New by sampling the offerings, tasting, feeling, smelling, listening and seeing what's there. "Am I ready for New?" public asks. There's always a lot to choose from. The fields are filled. To become the next New pays big. There's a lot at stake looking for New. Those that find New find some happiness. It doesn't take much happiness, but as long as New brings any happiness is good. It's a beginning... and an end to familiarity. Public needs both - Familiarity and New. They keep us going. Transforming ourselves through New we become fuller satiated, until the next generation comes along and identifies with what is New for them.
New is not static but transformative. New must always change or it's no longer New. New must do what New must do. Shedding its skin for the next generation, altering its appeal so New can be in constant favor... to everyone that wants or requires New. New is always waiting with great patience in the shadow of Familiarity to bring itself forward in the Wheel of Life.
Even if we become disinterested in the current fads, the current arts whatever they may be, New is always around us just as Familiarity is always present. Just seeing a baby bird just out of its nest, or a new leaf on a plant, a new meal to eat... New is always here, now. Along with Familiarity, New nourishes us with purpose. Public, John and Jane Q., both rely on the balance of these two. It's the J.Q. Public's choice in how they want to surrender Familiarity to New and how long New really is New before change occurs. If Familiarity becomes too stifling, the Public's revolt - standing with banners of protest, demanding New, their voice eventually is heard. New enters and all is balanced once again... however much of New Public needs is dependent upon how long before being New'ed becomes Familiar.
_______
the fickle mind
as New as New is
i knew it wouldn't last
just as New always knew
without Familiarity
there would be no
one who knew
New and Familiarity
shared their happiness
o! fickle mind running to and from
searching for what it does
thinking this
asking that
wondering itself
questioning others
whose minds run
incessantly
for the sake of
re-New-ing a Now
that has No Mind
to know no New
as New cannot
be Now any longer
than Now always is:
never new
never familiar
never old
never stranger
Now forever
forever Now
no mind to ask
the question How?
no need to know
what mind demands
stricken of time
without any hands
time just was
what time allowed
but Now has no limits
to limit it's Now
unlike Familiar
and unlike New
Now is Now
that's all Now do
_______
the fickle mind
as New as New is
i knew it wouldn't last
just as New always knew
without Familiarity
there would be no
one who knew
New and Familiarity
shared their happiness
o! fickle mind running to and from
searching for what it does
thinking this
asking that
wondering itself
questioning others
whose minds run
incessantly
for the sake of
re-New-ing a Now
that has No Mind
to know no New
as New cannot
be Now any longer
than Now always is:
never new
never familiar
never old
never stranger
Now forever
forever Now
no mind to ask
the question How?
no need to know
what mind demands
stricken of time
without any hands
time just was
what time allowed
but Now has no limits
to limit it's Now
unlike Familiar
and unlike New
Now is Now
that's all Now do
_______
Cecil
21 January 2007
statue under a tree
no matter how sculpted and new
it once was
the statue continues re-new-all
re-making it's presence thru
seasonal changes of time's
perpetual insistence to catch
the Now beyond the
New and Familiar we're
accustomed to.
no matter how sculpted and new
it once was
the statue continues re-new-all
re-making it's presence thru
seasonal changes of time's
perpetual insistence to catch
the Now beyond the
New and Familiar we're
accustomed to.
