Gadfly's Muse

Raw Exuberance: The Early Louis Armstrong

{Public Domain, Louis Armstrong]
At the height of his powers, Satchmo never rose to the heights of purely technical competence of, say, Wynton Marsalis, yet when it comes to the legends of Jazz, it is Louis who will remembered as "the greatest!" 

In random rotation this morning, Armstrong's "Indiana" surfaced on my IPOD being routed through the BOSE speakers in my car.  I couldn't help it... the volume had to come up.  As the sheer joy of the music shakes away the morning blah's, that weary ennui that ordinarily requires a caffeine high to finally sever its bonds, it was impossible to keep back a smile and a tear.

Nostalgia can be a near fatal disease in men of advancing age and I am certainly not exempt from its infection, but it is hard not to slip into a bitter sweet longing for a time when a young man of dubious roots could rise out of the raging cauldron of Old New Orleans and become a legend in his own time.

I don't think Armstrong's appeal and popularity are hard to explain.  It certainly isn't rooted in his exemplary personal life.  He was a black jazz musician in an age of Jim Crow.  He had money and a musical place in the Depression.  He lived in a constant tension of competing desires and was, as was necessary, a man of passions.  His world was entirely different than that of Glenn Miller and he lived entirely differently.  That is not where his greatness lies.

What sums up Armstrong, in my mind, is the title of this piece:  raw exuberance.  The message of his music is a commentary on his own world view:  life is to be lived, gulped in great quantities, and without too many backward glances at "what might have been."  Perhaps Satchmo was truly most alive on the stage for it was there that he read his audience like a well worn novel.  He played the talents of his musicians on stage with him the same way he wheezed his vocals or strained his trumpet.  He freely gave them their head and the lead, adding his own trumpet as a commentary and conclusion. In execution, lyrics were something that went along with the melodies and were never allowed to get in the way.  Mixing up verses or simply resorting to vocalizing the jazz riffs kept attention where he wanted it, on the energy of the music itself and the life of living that it proclaimed.  Louis was Jazz...

With all its failures and hypocrisy, still it is hard not to be nostalgic for a time when men clung to joy in the face of a world that proclaimed the ultimacy of sorrow and despair.  Armstrong never let go of joy and firmly believed that though hidden, yet it would not remain so forever.  Only pure simplicity can hold that for long, and in Armstrong's raw exuberance, pure simplicty is always dominant.  There is something to be said for that... and though falling far short of Christian fullness, as a worldly philosophy it has more to commend it than many others. 

As I listen my heart responds... "Thanks Louis.  May you rest in peace."

Let Your Mind Dwell On These Things- Christians and Art

[Christmas Wreath, 2008, JAVanDevender]

Philippians 4:8  whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy -- meditate on these things.

One of the more unhealthy aspects of our modern culture is an warped view of "realism."  I suppose a lot of it stems from the residue overflowing out of the academic sphere, where the conscious attempt to "de-mythologize" cultural issues is so smugly present.  Those infected with this predisposition take it upon themselves to make certain that nothing and no individual is ever presented as fundamentally 'noble'. 

Thus "realism" is understood as emphasizing that individuals, life, history, etc. are all essentially comprised of an essential sordidness.  Great heroes, especially Dead European/White Males are always presented as "flawed" men, people of their time, who may have stumbled into greatness but at root do not possess any special qualities which might raise them above the herd.  From this last statement, you can readily see that, from my perspective, the great attempt at "leveling" is always an attempt at reductionism, lowering the bar of striving.  If everyone is sordid then there is no reason to emulate anyone else and certainly no reason to try to achieve heroic status ourselves. 

The first thing that is lost in this perspective is "hope" because "hope does not disappoint" (Rom. 5:5) and this rooted and foundational cynicism is essentially "hopeless" and therefore "disappointed."  The proof of this last statement is self-evident.

However it is our Christian duty to not fall into this trap.  And no where is it more important for us to avoid this than in the arts.  Yes, I know that the presence of evil in this world requires Christian art as true art, to reflect the reality of misery.  But reflecting misery and portraying it as sordid and hopeless are not identical propositions.  Misery does not dominate this life unless we are hopeless.  In the presence of even the greatest difficulty, Paul enjoins us to let our mind dwell on noble things.  Contemplating great art is an exercise in renewing hope for it is the communication of beauty, even in the presence of pain.  The best artists never lost hope though they lived in terrible times.  It is a feature of modern cynicism that such a basic idea is now viewed as sentimental rather than "real."

 Let your mind dwell on this - there is beauty and it is possible for human beings to be noble.  Jesus was a man, a true man, as well as God.  It was not His divinity that made Him noble - it was He that made His humanity noble - and through Him, though sinner we may be, nobility of heart and mind are attainable in this life and guaranteed in the next.

Perhaps our art ought to thus express itself.

[Jacob van Ruisdale_Windmill & Town]

The Fruits of Lawlessness Abounding

2 Thessalonians 2:7-8  7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.  8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.

1 John 3:4   Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

There is a disturbing survey posted at BREITBART.COM (thanks Shane for the link).

There it is reported that the degree of lawlessness among American teens is truly "alarming."  They polled 30,000 young folks and discovered that lying, cheating and stealing is part of the lifestyle of about 30% of the teen age population.  Most disturbing is that those youngsters in religious private school demonstrate the same behavior patterns.  The only group that shows a better record are those in non-religious private schools, an interesting and perplexing data point.

We might begin to wring our hands at this and wonder how this circumstance has arisen.  We might point to the cynical nature of much modern music and cultural influences (video games that make lawless behavior the means of "winning").  I don't think we need go that far.  We only need look at the trees from which these young folks are the fruit.  When we do it is not quite so much a problem "out there" anymore.

A single, seemingly trivial example might suffice.  It is no longer unusual, when I am at a particular intersection I often cross, to have the first car in the oncoming lane to accelerate quickly and with tires squealing make an illegal left turn in front of me.  It is irritating to the max but my irritation is not the worst consequence.  What this behavior reveals, in the adult driving the other car, is a fundamental conviction that "it's OK if I can get away with it."  The driver most like is not at the intersection for the first time.  He/she could have gone another, slightly more circuitous route and avoided this intersection, but they chose not to.  This is conditioned behavior stemming from past experience.  It is lawlessness.

When Jesus speaks of those who have been faithful "in little" being given much in the way of responsibility in privilege, His words are directed at the little things in life.  The ordinary circumstance when someone is not looking, that opportunity for self-gratification or enhancement in some form is possible, but which is illegal, immoral or both, is in view.  Being faithful then requires an idea that virtue is its own reward, that integrity is more important than convenience, that breaking the least of the commandments and teaching others to do the same, by example or precept, is specifically condemned by Christ Himself.

Christians today need to awaken to the call for personal holiness in detail.  To be sanctified unto the Lord is to turn away from lawlessness in all its wickedness at every level.  How can we expect our teens to honor Christ with their lives as well as their lips when they see the wicked prospering at every turn and people, even their own role models, not taking notice nor speaking against it.

We have a problem.... a generation of vipers is not born from parents who are sheep.  We need to fix it... now.

Save The Republic - Stop Buying Stuff....

(Garden Spider, JAVanDevender, 2008)

Proverbs 21:17  17 He who loves pleasure will be a poor man; He who loves wine and oil will not be rich.

(Our Founding Fathers)..were certain that if we should decline in piety and public virtue we would meet the inexorable fate of the nations, which are as but dust in the hands of God.

The Broken Covenant, by Robert N. Bellah

In proportion as luxury gains ground in a republic, the minds of the people are turned towards their particular interests. Those who are allowed only what is necessary have nothing but their own reputation and their country's glory in view. But a soul depraved by luxury has many other desires, and soon becomes an enemy to the laws that confine it.

The Spirit of Laws, by Charles de Montesquieu

I'm only a few pages into Bellah's book but so far I am impressed.  The degree to which an author stimulates my thinking is readily measured by the amount of red underlining and the notations I make in the margins.  So far this book looks like it is bleeding all over the place.

Bellah is famous for raising the idea of "Civil Religion" in the discussion of cultural norms and imperatives.  In the particular chapter I am reading now he talks about how our forefathers readily understood that a life of luxury was deadly to democracy.  As opposed to Monarchies and other forms of government, they understood Democracies to be absolutely dependent on the kind of self-discipline, the idea of self-denial, which produces a frugal though not stingy lifestyle.  In their thinking, frugality predisposes a person to the kind of civic consciousness that promotes what is, in the long term, best for the group even when it requires the immediate subordination of our own desires.

What struck me was how much this entire way of thinking is alien to our modern culture.  Our entire political/economic/cultural landscape is absolutely enslaved to consumerism, which revolves around the twin poles of self-gratification and rapid turn-overs.

I recently "upgraded" my cell phones.  It seems like the thing you are supposed to do every two years when your contract is finished.  On reflection, now, it is absurd.  It's a cell phone.  It's used for talking to folks.  Why should I need a new one every two years?  Why are they so designed such that they either start having problems (battery life or key pads) or they are obsolescent just about at the two year mark?  Because a quality product would cut down on consumer repurchases.  Duh!

I wonder what kind of "revolution" would take place if Christians in this country undertook to reacquire the virtue of "frugality."  I wonder what new capacities for good could be obtained if a diminished life-style resulted in excess funds which could then be turned to "good works."  I wonder if God might even have a plan for just that type of thing? 

The only means by which a pervasive cultural component like consumerism can be changed is for sufficient awareness of its deadly potential be made known.  A focus on luxury leads to a sense of entitlement to luxury. It undermines the attractiveness of personal satisfaction in other areas. Like the spider's web it can be a trap for any insect that isn't paying attention what lies in its path.     Frugality as a virtue might bear some thinking when it comes to "value promotion" in our homes, culture and churches.

Arrogance & Effects -

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.
(Bob Dylan, 1964, The Times They Are A-Changin'!)

("This design contains artwork that is © 2006-2008 FunDraw.Com.")

The times certainly did change....  apart from the earthquakes which were the American Revolution and the War Between The States, I think the decade starting mid-60's witnessed the greatest cultural shift in our nation's history.  There were two distinct elements within it - the mass hysteria which was unique to the youth rebellion and the civil rights movement which was mostly comprised of mature adults.  It is the youth rebellion, in my opinion, which had the most far reaching impact, though that is not to minimize the civil rights progress at all.  It's an observation of scopel

At the heart of the youth rebellion was a fundamental arrogance,  a considered self-supremacy through enlightened (perhaps drug induced) penetration into the condition of the world.  Youth sat in judgment on their elders and found them wanting in discernment, trapped into programmed complacency, and willing servants of "the Man."  Jesus once said that a man's enemies will be members of his own household.  The Baby Boomer youth took that to mean their own parents.  As Dylan said - parents "don't criticize what you don't understand!"

Drunk with the realization of their own social power, their ability en masse to move the nation and its institutions, fed by the subversive exhortation of radical academics, they proclaimed themselves beyond their parents' "command." 

The great enigma of this movement is that this rebellion was immediately directed toward that which has been called "the greatest generation."  The parents of the rebellious youth were the ones who came of age and transcended the Great Depression, who had marched off to war in every corner of the globe and paid with their blood the price of that freedom in which the youth movement reveled and which it abused.  If ever there was a generation that deserved the respect of their children... it was this one.   But to a generation that proudly exhorted each other to "never trust any one over 30" the trials that were endured and the lessons that were learned 20  or more years earlier were irrelevant.  All that mattered was that it was time for youth to prevail... and to be heralded .... and to be indulged... and to be allowed to flit from one pretty flower to the next without responsibility.

It was this generation that shook the foundations and shifted the focus of culture across the entire spectrum of human endeavor.  "Youth Worship" began as a narcissistic self-indulgence but it prevailed even after that generation's youth waned.  From those beginnings came the continuing notion that youthful idealism is a corrective to the inevitable corruption that possesses an older generation.  Sit-Coms with idiot parents and sophisticated teenagers perpetuated the myth.  Having lost respect for elders, distrust of all institutions and cynical pessimism were not far behind.  The sins of this generation were magnified and transmitted to their children who excelled even them in radical rejection of all that has gone before.

There seems to be, now, in the third and fourth generation since, an incipient move back to sanity.  May it be allowed to continue and prosper!  However, it will be a race... for the headlong rush to the cataclysm may not give it enough time.

This Is MY Kind of Navy

Reflections on The Devil & The Fashion Industry

The Devil Wears Pravda is a pretty good movie though the terms "cliched" and "predictable" are pretty apt. The acting is quite good and Meryl Streep is absolutely perfect for her role as the consumed business woman whose ambitious dream has become nightmare for herself as well all who fall under her rule.

There are some genuinely funny moments in the movie, mostly by Stanley Tucci's character. His ascerbic wit and resigned nobility under fire is, perhaps, the best character study in the whole work. Without revealing too much for those who may not have seen it, his short speech when he receives the worst disappointment of his life, is absolutely superb, both in delivery and content. It sums up the whole relationship that a person has to have in order to work with, live with and be consumed by, a high achieving, powerful creature such as Miranda Priestly (Streep). For all those who contemplate the world of power and recognition, whatever the industry, note well from Tucci what such life entails.

There were a couple of instances in the movie which causes one to chuckle about things that the director probably didn't intend.

The Way Of All Flesh

With the passing of Dennis Doherty back in Jan the group is down to only Michelle.  There is a great sadness.

Required Reading For Adults

The Death of Adam, by Marilynne Robinson
Copy of posted review on Amazon.com, 4 Mar 07
(NYT Review is posted here )

"The Death of Adam" is unapologetically written for folks who actually value the activity of thinking.  Robinson's writing style, as with her novels, requires some adjusting.  She actually expects us to hold a thought in our head as she rambles a bit as the muse of reflection gathers her thoughts, but  her penetration is exquisite.

I am a Christian of conservative persuasion, though Robinson is not.  There are points of departure in her thought that run counter to my own inclination.  But Robinson's iron sharpened mine in distinct areas and I greatly profited by her thought.  I have not found a better debunking of Darwinism (in contrast to evolution) written anywhere.  Her insistence that people ought to actually read Calvin and Darwin and others before they ridicule or embrace them is refreshing in the extreme.  Her winsome insistence that intellectual courage begins by standing against the "Petty Coercion" of faddish opinion takes the best thought that could be gleaned from Jean Paul Sartre (though she does not trace her thought there) and firmly takes it captive under a Christian banner.  These essays are a reminder that people can think and a moral admonition that it is an activity we ought to undertake more often.

Warning: Robinson warns you up front that she will not stoop to using simplistic language when nuanced thought demands complex phrasing.  If you are looking for "bumper sticker" philosophy you will not find it here.  If you are up to the challenge of pondering what she says and why she says it as she does, the fruit is well worth the effort.

REVEILLE

                 

Salute to Veterans

This is my first try at this kind of thing.  Take a look and leave a comment.