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Jon
Kennedy's 'Postcards from
the Nanty Glo in My
Mind'
Lite notes
Jonal
entry 893,
Friday, July 22, 2005
I thought in Wednesday's entry
that I had finished what I had to say about music, for now at least, but some
responses inspired new thoughts and some other news seems to fit, so we'll round
out the week on the lighter side, topically speaking. Rich Dilling wrote, in response
to Judy Rose's thoughts comparing today's hip-hop pop with the kind of Top 40
pop many of us remember back to the '50s: "Judy, you're totally right. I
don't think it is just a generation thing .... I've seen some of the modern music
'videos' and they seem either so angry, or so sad. They are full of despair and
hopelessness. The music that we seem to appreciate has a much more positive theme,
and love was right there on top. Even a sad song back then, like 'Leader of the
Pack,' didn't leave you feeling hollow and empty. I guess, its not so much that
I don't understand the hip-hop, rap, etc., but that I don't share their worldview.
Of course, my favorite music is Southern Gospel."
This suggested to me an insight into why I'm so enamored with easy-rock "love songs" despite my philosophical rejection of "romantic love" as a foundation for living. The "love" in the love songs may be a metaphor for seeing the positive side of life, and in promising a fulfilling love that's usually beyond the ordinary person's reach, at least the subtext of every such song is, "hang in there, there is something to live and wait for." It's a promise of a "blessing" that's not realistic but which does suggest something that is more realistic, because hoping in hope itself is to hope in God and His salvation—for whatever ails us—and His best gift is His love, and all love, truly, metaphorically, comes from Him. Make sense? Maybe.
Moving on...Rich also mentioned that one of his old-time favorites was "Wake Up, Little Susie" (1957), and wondered if it was by the Everly Brothers. Yes, it was, and it was also a "novelty" song which, to me, like "Nobody" ("Your Nobody Called Today"), always struck me as so charming I couldn't help liking it.
And
moving on even farther...on Wednesday night a local PBS station reran the network's
biography of Bob Newhart followed by the program at the Kennedy Center presenting
Newhart the 2002 Mark Twain Prize for Humor. Newhart certainly was one of my favorite
sitcom personalities of all time, in both of his long-running series, "The
Bob Newhart Show," and "Newhart." But my first encounter with him
is a slender thread of a Nanty Glo story worth telling, I hope, in the service
of filling today's word quota. The biography included clips of "The Button-Down
Mind of Bob Newhart," the long-playing record album of Newhart comedy routines
that was Warner Bros. Records' first major money-making album. When it was still
new in 1960, Bill Martin got it and invited me to visit his Lloyd Street home
and listen to it. Hearing major clips from it in the programs on Wednesday brought
back the delight of such original comedy skits via the long-playing record format.
And it was one of the "Nanty Glo moments" that's endured the ravages
of time. On the PBS special, Newhart said the marketing people at Warners came
up with the album title and when he first saw it, he asked, "What's that
mean?" Ah, for the good old days!
—Webmaster Jon Kennedy
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Xnmp, news that signifies
Today's chuckle
Kids' prayers
Dear God, my brother told me about how you are born but it just doesn't sound right. What do you say? Marsha
—Sent by Trudy Myers
Thought for today
Friends are the bacon bits in the salad bowl of life.
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