Some Chicago Boyz know each other from student days at the University of Chicago. Others are Chicago boys in spirit. The blog name is also intended as a good-humored gesture of admiration for distinguished Chicago School economists and fellow travelers.
I don’t think many people at this site are in need of an explanation as to what was wrong with Alexandria Occasio-Cortez’s objection to the statue of Father Damien. So I’ll just link a couple of songs about Damien, from Tom Russell’s album The Rose of Roscrae.
A Crust of Bread, a Slice of Fish, a Cup of Water
The protagonist of the album, which is set in the American West, is an Irish immigrant and outlaw named Johnny: when he hears Damien’s story, it inspires him to seek his own redemption.
There is a lovely little classical piece by Maurice Ravel Le Tombeau de Couperin, composed shortly after the end of the war, five of the six movements dedicated to the memory of an individual, and one for a pair of brothers, all close friends of the composer, every one of them fallen in a war of such ghastliness that it not only put paid to a century of optimistic progress, but barely twenty years later it birthed another and hardly less ghastly war. Maurice Ravel himself was over-age, under-tall and not in the most robust of health, but such was the sense of national emergency that he volunteered for the military anyway, eventually serving as a driver frequently under fire and in danger. Not the usual place to find one of France’s contemporarily-famous composers, but they did things differently at the end of the 19th Century and heading all wide-eyed and optimistic into the 20th. Citizens of the intellectual and artistic ilk were not ashamed of their country, or feel obliged to apologize for a patriotic attachment, or make a show of sullen ingratitude for having been favored by the public in displaying their talents.
The Smashing Pumpkins came to Portland on Saturday, August 25th at the Moda Center (the arena where the Portland Trail Blazers play). It was a good show and the sound was excellent (we recently saw a show at the Veterans Arena adjacent to the Moda Center and the sound was so terrible we walked out half-way through the show).
They played the hits – most of the show was based on their first few albums – Gish, Siamese Dream, and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and a bit of their next two. There wasn’t a lot of their most recent work – the local paper described the show as “Give the Gen X’ers What They Want”.
The whole band was there except for original bassist D’Arcy. Like (nearly) everyone else, I had my story of when I ran into the Smashing Pumpkins back in Chicago – James Iha and D’Arcy were behind me in line at Best Buy purchasing CD’s a long time ago.
While I love the Smashing Pumpkins unconditionally, I can see how Billy Corgan’s “woe is me” routine would be grating. He had a bad childhood and it was highlighted from the very first song “Disarm” where he had pictures of himself as a child with annotations and they weren’t happy, for sure.
There are a lot of good songs about the criminal way of life…
Emmylou Harris, Ain’t Living Long Like This
Tom Russell, Doin’ Hard Time in Texas
Ian Tyson, Claude Dallas
Emmylou Harris, Pancho and Lefty
Roy Drusky, Down in the Valley (Birmingham Jail)
Jimmie Rodgers, another version of the above, called Moonlight and Skies
Johnny Cash, Folsom Prison Blues
Sam Cooke, Frankie and Johnny
Mississippi John Hurt, Stagger Lee
Wilson Pickett, another version of Stagger Lee
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott (with Tom Russell), The Sky Above, The Mud Below
Two other great Tom Russell songs, Hong Kong Boy and He Wasn’t a Bad Kid When He Was Sober
What else?
…from the 1960s.
P F Sloan, When the Wind Changes