Yesterday at work, the break room was getting to be pretty barren (deliveries are on Mondays) so, I grabbed more or less the only thing left: one of those little mini-boxes of cereal, a variety called Trix.
I remember liking Trix when I was, oh, maybe 8 or 9 years old; now, at 46, it was just...yeesh, it was like eating a bowl of candy. Candy that contains no real, actual food, but is instead refined out of petroleum or something. The milk turned an interesting shade of radioactive-looking pink. Hideous stuff.
Showing posts with label Misc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Misc. Show all posts
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Friday, November 07, 2008
Paging Steve McGarrett...
Among my quirks is a fondness for American cars in their heyday - massive, twenty-two-foot-long behemoths that, if you added catapults to the hood, could be mistaken for aircraft carriers. 460 cubic inches (almost 8 liters) under the hood, mush-bucket suspensions, chrome galore; you can't help but be seduced by the sheer, heedless exuberance of these relics of 25-cent-a-gallon gasoline. The heavyweights of this era tipped the scales at over 5500 pounds, and had enough power to burn rubber.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Melismatic Excess
I'm finding that a lot of R&B singing grates on my nerves the last, oh, 15 years or so. Some of that, I'll admit up front, is my middle-aged "these-kids-today..." sort of thing. But a lot has to do with the infuriating overuse of something that, properly used, can be a valuable part of a good singer's toolchest; Melisma.
Melisma is singing more than one note during one syllable of a lyric. For example, the first word of the National Anthem ("Oh...") has two descending notes. The origin of melisma in much of American pop music is due to the forms of music from which it is derived, especially black Gospel music.
Etta James used melisma with devastating effect - she is one of the great singers in the history of American Popular music. Her Chess recordings from the early sixties are particularly legendary: her performance of "All I Could Do Was Cry" is both breathtakingly intimate and vividly expressive: it communicates pain with a plain, harrowing directness that other singers might find too revealing to attempt - but her skillful use of melisma serves the song: showing off is the furthest thing from her mind.
Her delightful "If I Can't Have You" duet with Harvey Fuqua is another gem - it is fun to hear him try to keep up with the colossal talent with which he's singing, and Etta singing rings around him, imparting a sense to the song's story-arc that Fuqua's character is in way over his head, but can't believe his luck just the same.
Her ballads are monuments of their type - Etta's well-known performance of "At Last," in spite of its lush instrumental setting, is both transcendently intimate and heartbreaking; the song of a woman who has suffered much, but finally found a rock in the storm.
Listen to these songs, and then think of, say, Mariah Carey who, like James, uses melisma and other flourishes of Gospel singing, but unlike Etta she uses it to point to her own (undeniable) virtuosity, rather than in humble service to the song. If even half the R&B belters out there had Etta James' ability to express angst or well-earned joy, top-40 radio would be a wonderland.
Melisma is singing more than one note during one syllable of a lyric. For example, the first word of the National Anthem ("Oh...") has two descending notes. The origin of melisma in much of American pop music is due to the forms of music from which it is derived, especially black Gospel music.
Etta James used melisma with devastating effect - she is one of the great singers in the history of American Popular music. Her Chess recordings from the early sixties are particularly legendary: her performance of "All I Could Do Was Cry" is both breathtakingly intimate and vividly expressive: it communicates pain with a plain, harrowing directness that other singers might find too revealing to attempt - but her skillful use of melisma serves the song: showing off is the furthest thing from her mind.
Her delightful "If I Can't Have You" duet with Harvey Fuqua is another gem - it is fun to hear him try to keep up with the colossal talent with which he's singing, and Etta singing rings around him, imparting a sense to the song's story-arc that Fuqua's character is in way over his head, but can't believe his luck just the same.
Her ballads are monuments of their type - Etta's well-known performance of "At Last," in spite of its lush instrumental setting, is both transcendently intimate and heartbreaking; the song of a woman who has suffered much, but finally found a rock in the storm.
Listen to these songs, and then think of, say, Mariah Carey who, like James, uses melisma and other flourishes of Gospel singing, but unlike Etta she uses it to point to her own (undeniable) virtuosity, rather than in humble service to the song. If even half the R&B belters out there had Etta James' ability to express angst or well-earned joy, top-40 radio would be a wonderland.
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