pynchon-l-digest V2 #7236

[Robin Landseadel]

On Oct 27, 2009, at 2:57 PM, John Carvill wrote:

> We know Pynchon loves Rock 'n' Roll, yes?

Maybe?

> Was Rock 'n' Roll - whether Chuck Berry or The Beatles - not based  
> primarily on *records*?

Are we witnessing the slow entropic slide from the Big Band era  
celebrated in Vineland or the ukulele ensembles of Against the Day?  
We've definitely moved from the communal to the isolate as Doc travels  
alone with his Vibrasonic tuned to, KHJ, KRLA & KQAS.

> 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.

. . . say "rich chocolaty goodness."

> Was live rock music ever free, anyway?

Woodstock wasn't a "free" concert until the gates were mobbed, then  
trampled. We've been paying for anything attached to that aggressively  
overhyped event ever since. And can one imagine a costlier "free"  
concert than Altamont?

> Is Pynchon making some point about the irony of Rock 'n' Roll - the
> People's Music - alienating people from one another?

"Turn that crap off and get off my lawn you long-haired degenerate!"

> Is he, as has
> been suggested, making a sly reference to iPods?

He is making a sly reference to anything digital in 2009 in as many  
places as he possibly can.

> Mostly what it reminded me of was Steppenwolf . . .

I Like Smoke & Lightning . . .

> . . . and the bemoaning of
> the 'degrading' of (classical) music, from live performance to
> 'inferior' phonographs.

"Listen to those basses stride. . ."

> 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.

Guess it all depends on your playback gear. "Beatles For Sale" sounds  
better from my 2009 CD remaster than on my 30 year old Parlophone vinyl.

> From live music to records to CDs to MP3s: entropy in action?

"You Betcha!"