Klarinet Archive - Posting 000016.txt from 1997/09

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: you call that music?
Date: Mon, 1 Sep 1997 13:06:51 -0400

Does the success of Lawrence Welk somehow threaten the masculinity of you
people out there? No equivalence between Welk and Mozart can be
established. Mozart was a creator, Welk an interpreter, and second hand at
that, since I sincerely doubt that he wrote his own arrangements. Welk's
was simply one of the longest-lasting and most successful of a long line of
big bands referred to as "Mickey Mouse" by jazz fans. In that group are
Guy Lombardo, Shep Fields, Sammy Kay, Kay Kyser, etc. Jazz lovers have
always hated these groups, but fans have flocked to them. They fulfill a
need for clean, wholesome entertainment, light on the intellectual
stimulation. I am not personally enamored of his musical style, although I
am a fan of big band music generally. But can his millions of fans be all
that wrong? I'd rather listen to Lawrence Welk for 10 hours straight than
Marilyn Manson for 10 seconds.

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.