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“Evil has become a product of manufacture, it is built into our whole industrial and political system, it is being manufactured every day, it is rolling off the assembly line, it is being sold in the stores, it pollutes the air… Perhaps the way to cope with the adversary is to confront him [...]
From the deep south of Baltimore, Maryland, I present to you… okay, so Baltimore isn’t DEEP south, nor has Maryland ever seceded from the union, but Red Sammy would have you think otherwise. Listen to them: you’d swear they were a bunch of Nashville boys charred by the Arizona heat or, better, a couple of [...]
In HBO’s new drama, Treme, creator David Simon’s uses music as a bold accompanist to elevate the meaning and atmosphere of a story. A story that becomes increasingly more interesting over nine one-hour episodes as it builds to a bit of closure in the first season’s finale. From the opening credits which feature John Boutte’s “Treme Song” (a tune that sounds a bit like the blues song “Turn On Your Love Light”) it quickly becomes clear that music is the driving force. Significant storylines are developed that focus on the lives of musicians and music-lovers in the birthplace of jazz. Radio DJs and musicians rattle off the names of songs, some obscure, some old standards. New Orleans’s hip-hop in the form of the city’s own Juvenile and Mystikal are in the mix as well. In fact, song inhabits nearly every corner of the show, much like the humid August air of the Gulf region itself, as each episode is packed with a soundtrack of more than two dozen fantastic tunes, most with a New Orleans connection.
The music in Treme comes at the viewer from all directions, whether it is played in some of New Orleans’s finest clubs or on the streets of the French Quarter. Sometimes it is a song coming out of a car radio or a house party. In one scene, an ensemble of down- on- their-luck musicians
Another writer once proclaimed Patti Smith to be the “Godmother of Punk,” and it would be tricky to dispute that she doesn’t deserve the title. Her 1975 debut album, the seminal Horses, uses an effective blend of well-crafted poetry and three chord guitar rock with beautifully placed feedback to set a standard for a generation of rockers. Bands such as R.E.M. and The Smiths, which fielded influential musicians of their own, have remarked on the impact of Smith’s music on their own development.
