Tag Archives: Al Jolson

running from the glare of lights

Pop culture as a religion of poses, mimicking the empty religion that has normatively been disseminated to the common denominator. The counter empty gesture harking back to the pre-religious paganism, the sense of wonder in the grove at Alba and … Continue reading

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stop all that jazz

… It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.A fantastical rigidity and outright antagonism to Jazz and its corresponding swing variant in the Nazi era. The critique tended to flatten out the contradictions of this musical form … Continue reading

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catching a falling knife

Herman Cain. The dandy and the legacy of Amos n’ Andy. The Hermanator experience. The old black minstrel show adjusted for free market ideology. Another figure in a long tradition of American snake oil salesmen rising from the depths of … Continue reading

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a sagging and bagging story

The pull up your pants law. With a recession and lots of people with extra time on their hands. The law is part of a more complex social issue that says more about white culture’s response to hip culture, but … Continue reading

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mailer: writer with a loud hailer

Norman Mailer’s The White Negro from 1957.The search for rebels of his generation led to the hipster.   A prophetic inquiry into violence and rebellion? Or a basic re-packaging of his Harvard education into its logical extension which was a … Continue reading

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vaudeville: american culture is performance

Vaudeville has been dead for over ninety years.The wandering minstrel had been replaced by the electronic age.  The acrobats, the animal acts, the dancers, the singers, and the old-time comedians have all taken their bows and turned stage left into … Continue reading

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SIR FARTSALOT & MRS. IMAVITCH AT THE G8

As the G20 Summit prepares to unfold and our world leaders set to pitch tent in Toronto . Its called ”Toronto the Good” because it may be the world capital of the politically correct. There is some uncertainty whether the … Continue reading

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CONFIDENCE MEN:Masquerade, Myth and Art

For the confidence man to find a comfortable home in the heart of American culture, he needed a mask. And humor has often become an intricate part of the disguise. From the Al Jolson and  Eddie Cantor in blackface which … Continue reading

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No One Knows The Trouble He's Seen

”Very often they do not even suspect that they too are niggers, slaves, ”white niggers”, while racism hides the reality from them by giving them the opportunity to despise an inferior, to crush him mentally or to pity him. But … Continue reading

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