Well, Buffy Sainte-Marie has two careers ... her more famous adult career ... well ... original, striking, I think it injected the voice of First Peoples into popular and folk music that was entirely absent or marginalized before and after her. And once you hear her instrument, you never confuse it with anyone else's, it's unique and distinctive. I'm very lucky to get a weekly college radio show of Native American music; but to this day Buffy Sainte-Marie is probably just about the only name I can recognize in the field. Surely most of this is attributable to our abysmal ignorance of and absence of preparation for this body of culture and music; it's much easier to love GG and Bach and Mozart because we get so much preparation for and exposure to this sort of music, even in public school music-appreciation classes.
But I have a very soft spot for the many years she spent as a regular on Sesame Street. Devoting a lot of your life and career to children on a show like that, which has only the gentlest and best things to give to kids, is deserving of very special mention. It's a great shame that we so commonly ignore and dismiss big achievements in the field of entertaining children. It's a bit of an insult to children, who, after all, are in the process of becoming adults -- so, without having given it very much thought, it's a bit of an insult to ourselves. We count now, but we didn't count very much then; we expect the best entertainment and education now, but we don't think very much about standards of art and entertainment for kids.
I am in awe of Mister Rogers, a Protestant minister whose television program is his ministry. What wonderful things he tells all children -- you have value, you're important, don't be ashamed by your feelings, whether of love or anger. An hour a day for kids without an instant of fear or alarm or insult. Or of even being talked down to. Or of being suckered for their allowance to buy crap.
And to bring us back (close) to GG -- my favorite episode was Mister Rogers' interview with Andre Watts, who had such a fantastically rich memory of himself as a child, and was so revealing of his frustrations when he'd make a mistake ("but I found that when you work hard enough to fix the mistake, you learn so much more about the piece ..."), and when asked what his favorite pieces from childhood were, the hugest smile broke out over his face, as if he'd been transported directly back to his childhood, and he played one of Schubert's "Moments Musicaux," which he said "always made me think of majestic horses trotting down a boulevard."
So back to Buffy and her First Peoples music and Sesame Street -- 10 stars, sez Bob. Nice, talented, dedicated woman with all the right instincts. (And I think Canadian, too, n'est-ce pas?)
B/E
Bradley Lehman wrote:
At 05:02 PM 11/29/00 -0500, Elmer Elevator wrote:
> > Anybody remember Dory Previn, who made a cabaret cult act out of her ugly
>little > songs about her nasty divorce from Andre Previn? In fact I
>insist: If you OWN Dory Previn records, raise your hand.I'm fairly sure I have one of her LP's somewhere: I think it was a
collaboration with Andre where she did lyrics for something. But my search
this evening didn't reveal it...that part of the collection's not sorted
yet. He sure has done a lot of good piano records, and is still doing so.Too bad that _No Minor Chords: My Days in Hollywood_ has no index. I don't
remember how much he says about Dory in there. Maybe I should read it again.Is Dory's stuff better than Patty Duke's "Don't Just Stand There" ? Please
tell me it is true. Her version of "Downtown" would undoubtedly make
Petula hurl, and then it goes into "Danke schoen." Patty made this album
when she was 18, but sounds 9. It's OK to hate it...she did, too,
according to her autobiography. She points out that she hardly ever got
out three consecutive notes in tune; they had her do each tune a bunch of
times, and then they assembled it from tiny bits.>> "DON'T JUST STAND THERE" is PATTY DUKE's first album ever, and just
like everything she touches, it is pure gold. It is certain to find a huge
throng of eager fans waiting to purchase it and catapault (sic) it quickly
high on the nation's best-seller lists. In addition to the title tune, it
contains a wonderful selection of the great songs of the day--all eminently
youthful and all hand-picked for our star of stars. As can be readily
ascertained in these selections, Patty is a singer with tremendous charm
and appeal. She is also always an actress, putting a meaning into the
lyrics that has seldom been equalled by one of such tender years. She is
indeed a lyricist's delight, in addition to being a delight to hear. <<Elmer, what are your feelings about Buffy Sainte-Marie? (If I can be so
bold to ask.)