For more information on the history of Capitol Records, visit http://popculturefanboy.blogspot.com Thank you, Mark Heimback-Nielsen

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Glenn Wallichs middle name was Everett. Clyde Wallichs was his brother who took over Wallichs Music City after Glenn started Capitol Records with Mercer and DeSylva. The company's first offices where not across the street from Music City, but on the other side of Sunset Blvd on the same side of Vine Street. The executive offices were moved to above Music City approx 1946 with other parts of the company in small offices in a couple of locations on Hollywood Blvd. In 1956. The Capitol Tower was opened and for the first time all the domestic divisions of Capitol were under the same roof.

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I have thought often about that question "Does what you own end up owning you?" and I think in some cases it may. When you think about physical possessions, there are some which might necessitate the purchase of high cost insurance, security systems, storage spaces, etc. to maintain. To earn money for these extra costs, one might have to work more hours to earn the money for such upkeep, thus becoming enslaved to you possessions. Perhaps some possessions are so nice one might even hesitate actually using it for fear of somehow damaging it, therefore negating the intended pleasure of purchasing such items. You ask another question “Is this good or bad?” Again, I would look at author Chuck Palahniuk who delves deep into this question in the novel Fight Club. He would definitely see this as a negative. His portrait of the main character is one of an upper-middle class working stiff who has purchased everything he thinks he needs from catalogs and still finds himself unhappy. “Then you’re trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you.”[1] Thus begins the characters existential quest for meaning through a Zen-like friend/alter-ego who points him towards enlightenment, albeit on a self-destructive path. The novel, and probably more importantly the film adaptation (dir. David Fincher), “has been compared to The Graduate as a work of popular art that speaks of the frustration and resentment that at least a large segment of this generation harbors toward their predecessors for the world they have been handed.” [2]

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Thank you for including his website in your posting! I also was unfortunately unable to attend this lecture, but I did pick up his book and read some excerpts from it. Gonzales-Day's attitude about the lynchings is whas strikes me most; he seems non-judgemental about what happened and I appreciated his straightforward, non-abrasive approach. I also liked his description of looking at the past through its voids, rather than looking to fill them. I appreciated how he views the gaps in documented history regarding lynchings as concrete, rather than as mistakes or inaccuracies. 

All in all, I'm very sorry I missed this lecture, but I am glad that I have been able to read some of his writing and study pieces of photography. I hope he schedules another walking tour of Los Angeles Lynching Sites - I would love to go!! 

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Comment on Wanda Coleman.

Let me start with a quotation from Pamuk (Turkish Nobel Prize winner in literature):  

"It isn't enough even to be a poet... that's why politics still casts such a shadow over our lives.... It's because we failed to find happiness in poetry that we find ourselves longing for the shadow of politics."  Snow page 52. 

I admit that I was surprised by how open Coleman was about her political views--but only after being asked a question from the audience.  True, her politics was probably clear early on in her reading.  Maybe Pamuk's character is correct to note that poetry cannot necesarily bring total happiness.  We want praxis or social change or something to change, words to actions.  Maybe poetry is not enough after all.  To tell how the laundry basket squeaked is not enough.  Maybe we need to be on O'reilly and yell at the no spin zone.

Personally, I found myself in a trance while she was reading. Yes, even though she started with the word "vagina" and included the "f" word. I only came out of it (the trance not that) during the question and answer part.  Is it more artistic to hide our politics?  Maybe we have become accustomed to it and when someone blatantly shares her frustrations with us, we are a little uncomfortable. 

Well thank goodness, Pamuk is at Columbia.... But his friend, the Turkish-Armenian journalist, was murdered last week, supposedly for criticizing the government and challenging its official history which denied the Armenian purge. So maybe words are dangerous after all. 

 

 

 

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I'm with you...I agree...

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I agree about the communication possibilities that this site offers, and yes, there is much about "Day of the Locust" that still holds true.  I came to SoCal for the opportunity to start up a new non-profit business.  The sense of promise that the area offered wasn't apparent to the same degree in other places I considered.  I wonder how many of our class also came here for similar reasons.

Victoria

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