Re: Carroll O'Connor and John Lee Hooker pass on

["Dan Billings" <dib9@gwi.net>]

----- Original Message -----
From: <Jibguy@aol.com>
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2001 11:51 PM
Subject: Re: Carroll O'Connor and John Lee Hooker pass on


> To quote THE Republican on our list: "Let The Market Decide". ...

Agreed.  But I've never suggested that people shouldn't complain about the
media, as I did in my post.  My problem is that people are too quick to
suggest that we need government regulation to address their complaints,
something I did not suggest in my post.

> and since there's probably one person who would recognize Hooker's music
or face
> to 10,000 people who would recognize Carroll O'Connor's character(s) or
face, if
> O'Connor got most of the press, then that makes sense.

I think your numbers are off.  You've been playing boring white people music
too long.  ;--)  That said, you point is correct.  My point was that the
media should try to provide some perspective on the news, but you may be
right that there is no market for that.

> While Hooker's music was apparently influential (I still can't detect
such), so was the
> groundbreaking-on-TV character of Archie Bunker.

Most of the great rock musicians of the 60's and 70's point to the blues as
a major influence on their music and Hooker is often mentioned specifically.

No arguments about Archie Bunker, or O'Connor deserving coverage, but
O'Connor was just the actor that played Bunker.  Norman Lear and his writers
deserve more credit for the groundbreaking character than O'Connor.

-- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine