i wrote a paper on phish.

[dimafleck: the living legend.]

thanks!

ya'll just haters.

"phish is like nothing else man... its like genuine and like everyone just comes together... i'd like bring my children to this enviorment because everyone is like on the same page... you know...its like crazy"

this what most of this community is able to say when asked about PHISH.

i'll let lil j speak and continue my point on my behalf.

--Insert band name and song title here--

--Insert details here--

Edited April 10, 2008 by Guest

[Cully]

For someone who is ALWAYS bashing everything on this board....I have no constructive critism.

Terrible use of words, no flow, pure bullshit.

[phishtaper]

pure bullshit.

now Cully, how can you intelligently say that if you do not know the specific theorists to whom he refers in the paper? is everything you've never seen (presumably) similarly bullshit?

[NewRider]

Isn't that whole scene a spill off of the Dead's scene anyways? Just sayin' is all.

[MarcO]

Like I'm going to read this pile of cuntybollocks.

There's a sun I'd rather stare directly into.

[bokonon]

half the people in here are alcoholics from places like Brantford...thats all i have to say about that.

I am not an alcoholic, I never get the shakes any more! Now if only I could find me some of that workahol.

[NewRider]

Like I'm going to read this pile of cuntybollocks.

There's a sun I'd rather stare directly into.

Wanna party in Brantford sometime?

[Jay Funk Dawg]

I resent the fact that you might consider me a drunk from Brantford.

[jaybone]

I resent the fact that you might consider me from Brantford.

[bokonon]

Why would you resent being called "from Brantford"? It's not like you can choose where you were born.

[bouche]

evidence.

[dimafleck: the living legend.]

right... 250 words per page X 6= 1500.

dima! DIMA! DIMA! DIMA!

[NewRider]

Brantford ain't that bad... it's Collingwood you gotta look out for!

[bokonon]

I really like Collingwood too!

[Hal Johnson]

Wayne Gretzky is from Brantford. How bad can the place really be???

[Schwa.]

Wayne Gretzky is from Brantford. How bad can the place really be???

Don't forget Steve Murphy!

[NewRider]

I live here too now. Don't forget that either.

[Freak By Night]

I liked your paper Dima. Good work.

But I liked your story about the customs officer finding your bag of used condoms even better.

[dimafleck: the living legend.]

or that time i pooped myself at the gallery?

DIMA= gold.

[phishtaper]

hmmmmmmm, perhaps I was too quick to jump to your defense here

[dimafleck: the living legend.]

i think we are all missing the gold in this thread here, and thats LIL J's public calling out of her fellow classmates.

INTERNET GOLD.

[dimafleck: the living legend.]

In “Les Lieux de Memoireâ€, Pierre Nora explores the differences between history and memory. To him, memory, like life, remains in permanent evolution. History on the other hand, is the reconstruction of what is no longer (Nora, 285). Our modern society is not only perpetually accelerating, but also “hopelessly forgetfulâ€. It is for this reason that we use history to organize the past; without the standardization of history, our past would cease to exist. History, according to Nora, does have one disadvantage. It is unable to evoke a memory and feeling that can define a people. History, is merely a selective, factual reconstruction. A reconstruction that is unable to carry any kind of emotional undertone. Nora calls attention to the importance of places or things he refers to as “sites of memoryâ€. These “sites of memory†are able to evoke in a people social understanding. The kind of memory that is instilled in a culture. The work of Romare Bearden evokes that kind of powerful understanding. Through his process and his final product Bearden has created a site of memory.

Using a different medium, August Wilson has also been able to inspire cultural memory. As a poet turned playwright, Wilson was greatly influenced by the art of Bearden. Wilson’s work, much like Bearden, was forged inside him long before his pen was put to paper. By finding inspiration in the black experience, Wilson was also able to create a site of memory in his play writing. By observing Wilson’s Piano Lesson, and two Bearden’s collages, the power of art to evoke shared cultural experience will become apparent.

Romare Bearden grew up much like the blues musicians of his generation(Murray, 120). Coming of age during 1914 and 1935, Bearden was raised during what is now considered to be Harlem’s Renaissance. Being born in the south, and growing up in Harlem, Bearden could relate to a crucial African American right of passage; the migration north. Here, we find that he acquired the ability to relate to both southern agrarian culture, and his urban surroundings. This well rounded understanding of the African American experience is fundamental to his process as an artist.

The Street is a work from Bearden’s many explorations of city life. It is also a clear example of how Bearden uses his art to communicate black experience. His collage is densely packed and contains a wide array of highly detailed textures. The collage also contains another important theme in Bearden’s work; juxtaposition. Instead of using a narrative structure to give this piece meaning, Bearden has combined the past with the present. In this way, this collage, like Nora’s concept of memory, is “collective, plural and yet individual†(Nora, 286). These are two different times, combined to demonstrate one linier similarity.

Furthermore, the medium of collage itself is very intrinsically connected to the black American experience Bearden is trying to communicate. The Street pieces together faces, shapes and various mediums to form one coherent statement spanning multiple generations. In many ways, this is the identical “coming together†of the African peoples to form one singular nation.

His use of color in this piece further demonstrates the lively, celebratory common experience within the black community. The choice to put a red rectangle to draw the eye horizontally across the piece allows this work to tell a story. The placing of the old car, juxtaposed to the new car demonstrates a cultural commonality that is passed on from one generation to the next. This kind of technique allows a first time attentive viewer to instantly call upon memories that are within them. Although not necessarily participating, or living in such environments, the viewer is able to relate culturally. Bearden’s work is powerful because it is able to emphasize a common cultural discourse. He empowers this discourse by giving it a physical form.

Bearden drew much of his inspiration and influence from jazz musicians that were apart of his social surroundings in Harlem. Influenced by their styling, he would focus on a feeling of a certain image, and would then reciprocate a reaction. Much like his fellow artists in the world of jazz, Bearden would play off his images like musicians would play of their accompaniment. It is not until Bearden begins his work that specific reminiscences come to be (Murray, 118). The subject matter is chosen in advance, but it is more about the feeling of memory, rather than the narrative of history.

His prolific involvement in the jazz community also led to his complex study of the players themselves in his artwork. Once again, we see the use of various mediums and the attention to feeling. Uptown Sunday Night Session is not a depiction of any specific group of players or particular hot spot. The painting is more a focus on the moods and sounds of any jazz ensemble playing in any old hot spot. The eye is instantly drawn to the intensity that is exploding out of the horn section. This is downplayed by the smoky, blue tones of the banjo player. The incorporation of a banjo player into a jazz ensemble, is once again another conscious juxtaposing of the agrarian south with the urban north. Bearden fills his work with rich colors that scream off the canvas. A viewer, who has never heard a single note of jazz music is able to hear notes tearing into their ears. This is the kind of memory that Nora describes in his work. Bearden vividly brings to life the music and culture he loves by conveying energy rather than narrative. In jazz, the melody, much like history, is only the beginning. Bearden’s work takes the viewer on an aural journey, much like the musicians he brings to life in his work.

Heavily influenced by the work of Bearden, Wilson too refers to his art as “walking down the landscape of the selfâ€. He tells his stories based on historic foundations, but captures their essence by focusing on the rich cultural memories inside him. He notes that this kind of process is not a light road to take. “You find false trails, roads closed for repairs, impregnable fortresses, scouts, armies of memory and impossible cartography†(Wilson, 563). It was only by overcoming these treacherous journeys that Wilson was able to pen the black experience into his masterwork.

Much like Bearden, he found his inspiration from the black music surrounding his cultural self. In this instance, it was blues music. After hearing Bessie Smith’s “Nobody in Town Can Bake a Sweet Jellyroll like Mineâ€, Wilson found his inspiration by embracing black musical culture. He writes the blues was a coherent cultural response by a people whose history was based in oral tradition(565). The kind of music that required the listener to relate to the experience, not the story.

In Piano Lesson, Wilson focuses on a family conflicted by history and memory. At the heart of the matter, lies a piano. This instrument is Wilson’s physical representation of the black cultural discourse. It is the physical embodiment of the black experience entrenched in him and his black community. At the very core of the Piano Lesson, Wilson asks his viewers if the black experience requires the emphasis of “sites of memoryâ€. The piano is a recollection of the black experience. The kind experience that does not require any kind of factual historical pedagogy. It is a memory that is found in the black experience itself. However, if this memory is in fact entrenched inside the black community, why then does Wilson place such importance on the piano. It is here where Wilson’s family is conflicted. Bernice wants to keep the instrument to keep the heritage and the experience within the family. By selling the piano, Boy Willie would be selling his history. Much like Bearden’s work, it is a “site of memory†where black experience can be witnessed and understood first hand. Wilson’s work educates the viewer as to what the black experience is, but also allows for the viewer to experience it first hand; as does the piano. The carvings and stories that are attached to them paint the family history. More importantly however, the piano carries within it, something that Wilson refers to as “blood memory†(565). This kind of “blood memory†is a theme that Nora and Bearden all touch on. The piano is important for the same reason all sites of memory are important. They perpetuate the shared cultural discourse of one’s heritage. Without these sites of memory, our history would only reside in the black and white text of narrative. Wilson and Bearden turn history into memory by filling them with life, with color and with the essence of the African American experience.

[Cully]

?

Go back to candy raving...

[MarcO]

In Canada, it's spelled c-o-l-o-u-r.

[Uncle Chaos]

it's a decent read.

is the youtube girl in your class or something?

why is she part of this thread, did she help you with the paper?

still, a decent paper. what grade?