pynchon-l-digest V2 #7236

[Mark Kohut]

Free, doing something for nothing, love not 'being kept', a natural no makeup look, NOT acting, but being, is a leitmotif of Inherent Vice......

--- On Tue, 10/27/09, John Carvill <johncarvill at gmail.com> wrote:

> > On 10/27/09, Clément Lévy <clemlevy@> wrote:
> >
> >> - more important here is the fact that rock 'n'
> roll is not going to
> >> be free anymore. It is as if Doc only knew music
> through open-air
> >> free concerts. The "glimpse at the other side"
> shows how Doc realizes
> >> that "everybody" is going to prefer private
> ownership of records
> >> bought in stores after a cautious listening via
> headphones.
> > ___________
> > I'm not sure this is a black and white issue--music is
> like God (or is
> > God) in that some enjoy worship in groups or alone
> > beyond that is another reminder of the unrealistic
> nature of
> > hippiedom--nothing is free in life; not that I don't
> sympathize with
> > those who want to believe such things are possible
> but...
> >
> > and also, the glimpse of the other other side, not
> private ownership
> > but mediated group musical encounters for those
> worshipping with
> > others--someone was making a killing
> >
> > and finally, considering Altamont, can u blame folks
> for being a bit
> > wary of the free music happening
> >
> > just saying
> >
> > rich
> >
> 
> All good stuff. I found the passage about people being
> alienated, and
> the transition from free (?) live music to records (i.e.
> private
> property), very puzzling. We know Pynchon loves Rock 'n'
> Roll, yes?
> Was Rock 'n' Roll - whether Chuck Berry or The Beatles -
> not based
> primarily on *records*? Certainly that was what was
> important to the
> Beatles, even before they stopped touring. Hence their lack
> of lyrical
> finesse in the early days: what mattered was the sound of
> the record.
> 
> Was live rock music ever free, anyway? Well, as Rich notes,
> maybe it
> was sometimes but there were always hidden costs.
> 
> Is Pynchon making some point about the irony of Rock 'n'
> Roll - the
> People's Music - alienating people from one another? Is he,
> as has
> been suggested, making a sly reference to iPods?
> 
> It's odd, because in the context of 'you kids today...' I
> always heard
> slightly older people than me talking about the days when
> all music
> shops had listening booths, with fondness, something they
> regretted
> the passing of. A-and, couldn't more than one person
> squeeze into one
> of those booths? Couldn't a guy maybe squeeze in there with
> a girl (or
> two)?
> 
> Mostly what it reminded me of was Steppenwolf, and the
> bemoaning of
> the 'degrading' of (classical) music, from live performance
> to
> 'inferior' phonographs. I'm just now getting back into
> vinyl, having
> compared the Beatles remasters to some old vinyl and
> realised that the
> new CDs cannot possibly compete. Not exactly news, of
> course, but the
> extent of the disparity is striking.
> 
> From live music to records to CDs to MP3s: entropy in
> action?
> 
>