Klarinet Archive - Posting 000526.txt from 1999/01

From: James.P.Reed@-----.net (James P Reed)
Subj: Re: [kl] Kenny G Concert Review
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 13:09:50 -0500

Earlier today, Lelia wrote about the lack of quality jazz stations in
the DC area, among other things.

In my years in New York City, Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago and
Portland (OR), I've seen these kinds of things happen repeatedly. It
seems that same problem is happening with losing good classical music
stations in major cities around the country.

I just wonder (wild quessing here on my part) if we aren't fundamentally
a Mickey D nation at heart. Every city now seems to look alike,
particularly in their suburbs, where the majority of the population now
resides.

People shop at the same stores, coast-to-coast, eat at the same
restuarants, listen to the same bland, packaged music, etc.

Just as I know one of the critical problems with fine art photography is
that most of the viewing public is not visually literate, I think the
same phenomena is fairly common with all of the arts. Particularly
since music and arts are not emphasized in most schools, national
funding has dramatically declined and most people just follow along
where others go when they consume arts.

For instance, I encounter countless students, friends and colleagues who
are totally enamoured of music forms that I find to be dull and
uninteresting. These folks seem fairly contented with their lot in life
and don't appear to want to put in any more effort to learn about what
they're consuming. They just want the same stuff their other friends
consume.

It keeps striking me that the struggle for visibility in the arts and
music has grown harder in the '80s & '90s than it was for a couple of
decade prior. I suspect, based on my own opinions, that this is
somewhat of a cyclical phenomena which we may be in the down side of for
awhile. At the same time, I don't think most folks give a whoot about
fine art and good music, no more than they care about good beer or wine
nor gourmet cuisine. I may be wrong here but when I look at what folks
consume, it's very disappointing. For instance, we used to have
something over 50 varieties of tomatoes and potatoes, respectively,
marketed around the country. Now, we have probably five of each that
appear in stores, coast-to-coast. Yuk.

I don't have any solution to this other than maintaining the struggle to
keep quality art and music around, in spite of corporate profits
margins.

Jim

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