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FINALLY…MUSIC THAT MATTERS!
I must admit, the title is a bit deceiving. This article is not necessarily about
music but rather the emotion and action that cause people to act in the name of
music.
For those of you who have followed this column over the past several years you
know that I appreciate music for what it does to people internally and how it compels
certain people to act externally. You should also recognize the name of artist, writer
and filmmaker Antonino D’Ambrosio. I wrote about him a few years ago after
reading his book Let Fury Have the Hour: The Punk Rock Politics of Joe
Strummer. If you do not remember that piece I suggest you find that book and give it
a read, you’ll be better off for having done so.
D’Ambrosio is back again with his latest book, A Heartbeat and a Guitar:
Johnny Cash and the making of Bitter Tears. In the interest of full disclosure I
have not finished the book just yet. What I have read so far I love and just reading half
of it to date has inspired me to write this article. Based on that last sentence you
know this isn’t going to be a review of the book, but something more important, I
think.
Most people know Johnny Cash simply as The Man in Black, or for his live
performance at Folsom Prison. They know him as a very important and influential
character in the story of contemporary music, but he was more than that…much
more. Johnny Cash was a soldier for social justice and a man who followed his heart
in spite of fear, acceptance or fame. D’Ambrosio discovered this soon after listening
to a recording of the Cash record, Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian.
Certainly not one of Cash’s more popular albums but certainly his most daring and
perhaps most important. Recorded in 1964, Bitter Tears spoke about the injustice
faced by native people in the United States during the Civil Rights movement and the
governments’ desire to “civilize these people”. You can imagine the backlash he
faced and the censorship he endured. As I continue to make my way through the
book I am amazed and saddened at the same time. I encourage you all to get a copy
and see for yourselves.
So like I mentioned, this cannot be (nor would I really want it to be) a review of
the book but more like a “Thank You” to Antonino for writing it. I’m amazed that more
people who care deeply about and have so much knowledge of music are not moved
to make their feelings known. When something happens around us or when we
discover a story that so desperately needs telling, why don’t we do it? Do we not
care enough? Are we too lazy, too busy, and too apathetic? I guess so. I guess we
figure that someone else will do it. Someone else will expose and then clean up the
mess they’ve found. It’s because of people like Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer or John
Lennon that people like Antonino can speak up and carry their torch. I applaud him
for that. I thank him for that!
As a society we are in serious need of change…serious need of rebellion and
revolution with few people to follow. We need more music that matters; we need
more art with a positive and revolutionary message. We need to move in a direction
where the human spirit can grow, not a direction which holds us down and keeps us
from reaching our potential. The right art can do this, the right artists can do this…the
right music can do this.
Please learn more about Antonino D’Ambrosio and A Heartbeat and a Guitar:
Johnny Cash and the making of Bitter Tears at:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=547003646#!/antoninopd?
ref=ts
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=547003646#!/pages/A-
Heartbeat-and-a-Guitar-Johnny-Cash-and-the-Making-of-Bitter-
Tears/179809394936?ref=ts
I must admit, the title is a bit deceiving. This article is not necessarily about
music but rather the emotion and action that cause people to act in the name of
music.
For those of you who have followed this column over the past several years you
know that I appreciate music for what it does to people internally and how it compels
certain people to act externally. You should also recognize the name of artist, writer
and filmmaker Antonino D’Ambrosio. I wrote about him a few years ago after
reading his book Let Fury Have the Hour: The Punk Rock Politics of Joe
Strummer. If you do not remember that piece I suggest you find that book and give it
a read, you’ll be better off for having done so.
D’Ambrosio is back again with his latest book, A Heartbeat and a Guitar:
Johnny Cash and the making of Bitter Tears. In the interest of full disclosure I
have not finished the book just yet. What I have read so far I love and just reading half
of it to date has inspired me to write this article. Based on that last sentence you
know this isn’t going to be a review of the book, but something more important, I
think.
Most people know Johnny Cash simply as The Man in Black, or for his live
performance at Folsom Prison. They know him as a very important and influential
character in the story of contemporary music, but he was more than that…much
more. Johnny Cash was a soldier for social justice and a man who followed his heart
in spite of fear, acceptance or fame. D’Ambrosio discovered this soon after listening
to a recording of the Cash record, Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian.
Certainly not one of Cash’s more popular albums but certainly his most daring and
perhaps most important. Recorded in 1964, Bitter Tears spoke about the injustice
faced by native people in the United States during the Civil Rights movement and the
governments’ desire to “civilize these people”. You can imagine the backlash he
faced and the censorship he endured. As I continue to make my way through the
book I am amazed and saddened at the same time. I encourage you all to get a copy
and see for yourselves.
So like I mentioned, this cannot be (nor would I really want it to be) a review of
the book but more like a “Thank You” to Antonino for writing it. I’m amazed that more
people who care deeply about and have so much knowledge of music are not moved
to make their feelings known. When something happens around us or when we
discover a story that so desperately needs telling, why don’t we do it? Do we not
care enough? Are we too lazy, too busy, and too apathetic? I guess so. I guess we
figure that someone else will do it. Someone else will expose and then clean up the
mess they’ve found. It’s because of people like Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer or John
Lennon that people like Antonino can speak up and carry their torch. I applaud him
for that. I thank him for that!
As a society we are in serious need of change…serious need of rebellion and
revolution with few people to follow. We need more music that matters; we need
more art with a positive and revolutionary message. We need to move in a direction
where the human spirit can grow, not a direction which holds us down and keeps us
from reaching our potential. The right art can do this, the right artists can do this…the
right music can do this.
Please learn more about Antonino D’Ambrosio and A Heartbeat and a Guitar:
Johnny Cash and the making of Bitter Tears at:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=547003646#!/antoninopd?
ref=ts
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=547003646#!/pages/A-
Heartbeat-and-a-Guitar-Johnny-Cash-and-the-Making-of-Bitter-
Tears/179809394936?ref=ts
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