On a brighter note, here is a little piece of Americana by Dave Brubeck.
Welcome to this month's reading group selection. David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908. At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades. Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society. I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran. Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, not...
I'm a huge fan of the album "Time Out" but don't recall seeing this clip (based on music from his subsequent album) before. I like the strong baseline leading to the unusual piano notes. But then, Brubeck's music was rather unconventional and so it doesn't surprise me that he uses that as his theme for something as conventional as square dancing.
ReplyDeleteEat your heart out Aaron Copland.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't stop watching it! Had to share.
ReplyDeleteSounds magnificent on album
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