Re: Seinfeld

[TC Cheever <tc@chaostheory.com>]

'A. Joseph Ross' wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 15 May 1998, Dib9 wrote:
>> Frank Sinatra's death is not a big story for 
>> most people under 50, but I bet it will get major
>> coverage on all the news shows tonight and through
>> the weekend.
> 
> Curiously enough, it's had heavy coverage on MTV News.

I disagree that Sinatra's death is not a big story for most people under 50,
for the same reason I fully see why MTV News would give it heavy coverage. 

In the past few years, Sinatra's style of music has made a fairly major
comeback in the 'gen x' set. Tony Bennett has appeared on a few major MTV
broadcasts (Video Music Awards, etc.) and has appeared onstage with
'alterna-bands' like the Red Hot Chili Peppers. As the movie "Swingers" shows,
there's an entire Gen-X subset that lives to emulate Sinatra's Rat Pack era lifestyle.

In the search for new and 'alternative' types of music, the irony is that many
artists have gone back to the kind of music their listeners' parents and
grandparents listened to. Bands like Combustible Edison ('lounge/cocktail'
music), Squirrel Nut Zippers ('20's style jazz) and Cherry Poppin' Daddies
(swing) are great examples of very popular artists whose music is very much
based on the musical stylings of other eras- and all of whom can be heard on
any given day on stations like WFNX or WBCN. I have a great CD titled
"Lounge-A-Palooza"- it features Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme covering a
Soundgarden song!

Despite whatever else might have been going on in the news recently, Sinatra's
death is a large a cultural event, though admittedly 'popular culture', as the
deaths of Elvis Presley or John Lennon. That he lived a long and full life,
unlike those two artists, or that he didn't perform in recent years, doesn't
lessen the impact of his death. If J.D. Salinger died tomorrow, would the fact
that he's been a recluse for decades lessen the impact of his death? 
- -- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   TC Cheever * Deputy Minister of Chaos
 Chaos Theory * http://www.chaostheory.com  
  Original Sketch Comedy    ...and Stuff.
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