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Re: [none]
> Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 06:17:13 -0800 (PST)
> From: Tina Ladner <unbornbuddha at yahoo_com>
> Subject: [none]
>
> >Are you saying that black people have soul but white
> people don't.
>
> no, no, no, i was trying to make the point that some
> music has more soul than other music regardless of who
> plays it. it's an attitude and a vibe and a groove.
> not dependent at all on race.
>
> thanks for asking,
>
> tina
Then please don't use "black" and "white" as musical definitions for what's good and bad to your taste, especially not in the context of your larger point about black and white musicians (replete with references to
black musicians "taking a lot of crap" from whites, and white people "keeping the black man down"). It strikes me that you either didn't really think your original point through before typing, or that you're rather
furiously backpedalling at this point.
What seems to bother you the most is that a white guy (Ric) is performing under a musical moniker normally associated with a black man (Thelonious Monk). It wasn't that a name was being reused or referenced so much as
it was that the "black" name was being reused or referenced by a white man. You're the one that brought "black" and "white" into the picture here. I agree that many of the responses have been over the top, but they
were in response to what I see as a disturbing subtext to your original posts.
Assuming for a second that Ric's main point in choosing the name "Monk" was to reference Thelonious (which it wasn't), it wouldn't have been without precendent in the music industry. Thelonious' son had a group in (I
believe) the '70s/'80s called "T.S. Monk". There was an experimental alternative group in the '80s called "Thelonious Monster".
I guess my feelings about the name issue (removing the "black and white" context) is that, of course, someone using "Monk" for a musical name has to be aware that it would in some way reference the great jazzman. So,
if it were me, I would be loathe to choose it unless I had the chops to back it up. Ric does, whether you personally care for his music or not. That, combined with the other connotations of the name (and the evolution
of his band's name from "Art Monke Trio") render your objections, at least to me, as misplaced, misguided, and somewhat strident.
I also wonder if the "length of solo/length of penis" argument postulated by another poster applies in the same way to the great black jazz musicians of the past as it does to the white guitarist in question. I'd wager
not. But it's that same smug, politically-correct, reverse racism that permeates your posts on the subject that I find so troubling and objectionable.
Race is a very, very sensitive issue in this country (as it should be). All I'm saying is that sweeping racial generalities are dangerous and ill-advised, regardless of what "side" they originate from. You opened the
box, and now it seems like you're sitting on top of it, saying, "Box? What box?"
Peace,
Mark
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