Subject: RE: 13 Gen'ers<-----the creative bunch
From: Sasha Stone (sstone@primenet.com)
Date: Fri Mar 07 1997 - 11:20:34 GMT
Jesus - being double teamed by stereo-xers.
On Fri, 7 Mar 1997, Malcolm Lawrence wrote:
> Yeah, I admit my list wasn't as subversive as it should have been. I didn't
> really have the time or inclination to put down a whole shopping list and
> only really wanted to emphasize how Ani Defranco in particular....I mean,
> not only is she a performer but she started her own record label at 19. Not
> too shabby, and here's hoping she has another 60 or 70 years LEFT. Yeah,
> Liz Phair is hot, so are the Indigo Girls. PJ Harvey naturally.
>
PJ Harvey is wonderful. Ani Defranco is fabulous. Again, I wouldn't
necssarily lump these guys in with gen-x - they aren't singing da blues
about a world that doesn't want them anymore. They sing about love.
I use to be a superhero
no one could hurt me
not even myself
you were like a phone
that I somehow stumbled into
and now look at me
I am just like everybody else.
That''s good stuff. And like I said - women in music is a whole new
ballgame since women weren't really encouraged to do this early in the
century - still I see that as a positive thing about a generation - not a
negative one.
> Even though I only just posted this a couple of weeks ago I thought I'd
> remind Sasha of Pete Townshend's words about the fallacy of separating
> things into generations:
>
Christ, what the hell ? Am I in a twilight zone? I started this whole
thread by saying Gen x was a big marketing scam, then I got cornered into
an argument about it with Andrew and now I'm suddenly Bret Easton Ellis.
[yeah, I love Pete Townsend - agree with him 100 %]
>
> Back to Sasha:
>
> "I think it is an interesting but decidedly whiney generation with nothing
> real to fight against but feels the need to feel tortured anyway simply
> because there is nothing to fight again - whose biggest claim to faim (sic)
[cute buddy, real cute]
> Do you hang out with any artists Sasha, or do you just believe what the
> media tells you about this generation?
>
Oh my god. Where is Rod Serling? Can someone please tell Rod Serling to
come out from behind the black curtain and make himself known? I won't
even answer this moronic question - I'd rather die.
> So you've just contradicted yourself. The only artist that to you nears
> genius is someone whom you wouldn't include in her own peer group, and it
> is this particular peer group which you rail at for not producing a genius
> that you can be proud of. Gordian knot now, innit? Nail on the head, eh
> wot? One doesn't go to school and get a degree that says "I'm a great
> artist," they evolve over time and every generation since the dawn of time
> has had them.
>
This is the strangest argument I've ever had online, I must say. Okay,
you got me - you got me. "Do I contradict myself? Very well then I
contradict myself." - Walt Whitman. My point was that I didn't agree with
Sir Andrew that our generation was putting out the most creative minds of
the century, of the last hunded years, even the last twenty years - keep
in mind that I don't really believe that there is a generation x since I
never understood the concept, etc., I said here are a bunch of people I
could never imagine my generation topping (Emily Dickinson, et al.) you
listed a bunch of people, made some good points helped change my mind.
But here I am twisted up in the middle of god knows what. Help me Obe Wan
Kanobe, you're my only hope.
> I think the thing that disturbs me most about your post Sasha is your
> solipsistic tone, as if the great artists are here for your edification and
> perusal and no one seems to turn your crank anymore. As an artist myself I
> get furious when people say "Where are OUR giants?" I picture them holding
> a TV remote control pushing buttons. "Come on, GIANTS! Give me idols and
> heroes and gods and goddesses, damnit!"
>
You know what? I don't normally say this but: fuck you. First of all -
what the hell does solipsistic mean? Secondly, what the hell do you know
about what I think or what I believe about anything? And you are wrong
anyway. I disagree with Andrew Kennis that our generation is the most
creative generation ever. That is all I was saying.
> Find a dearth of giants and idols and heroes and gods and goddesses? Fine.
> What's so important about your current situation that you can't be one
> yourself? As Billy Bragg once sang: "Start your own revolution and cut out
> the middle man."
>
Ugh.
Going to take some sleeping pills now.
Sasha
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