Ironic, if true, since there seems to be so much more genuine energy and joy expressed by the jazz musicians and dancers of the Depression era than can be sensed among popular-music performers and fans of this era. I know that nostalgia is a dangerous thing to indulge in when talking about an event as searing as the Depression (and soon-to-arrive WWII); I know that social possibilities offered by contemporary affluence amd technological achievement can't be sneered at; and I know that if I was 30 years younger I probably would be a lot more in tune with whatever is life-affirming in the culture now. But when I look at energetic swing-enjoying throngs of the '30s in the Burns' documentary, I can't but lament what seems to me the tremendous loss of cultural vitality that has happened in this nation in the postwar period -- unquestionably, IMHO, because of the relentless commercialization, regimentation, homogenization and blanding down of popular music and really all arts to different degrees. Much of everyday life itself, these days, has a mummified, museum-like feeling to me for this reason.
Carl _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com