Haole on the Steel - new blog

Mike Anderson · Post by **Mike Anderson** » 3 Jun 2011 11:02 am

Thanks Brad and Ron. New post up now as promised.

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 3 Jun 2011 11:49 am

HA, tell it!

Exerpt from Mike's new blog post:
For the last ten years I've had a desire to take up steel guitar - Hawaiian steel guitar to be specific, and for those who don't already know, it's time you did: the steel guitar is a Hawaiian musical instrument, invented and developed and popularized by Hawaiians, in Hawaii. It is not the same thing as "slide guitar", it is played across your lap (or on a stand if you want to stand up and be seen onstage), you do not play it with a "slide" or "bottleneck" but with a steel.

I love it already!

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 3 Jun 2011 11:59 am

Bill C., and others struggling to join the/a blog, this may help http://www.google.com/support/blogger/b ... wer=104226

I gotta cry uncle with, how do you post/reply on the blog?

Mike Anderson · Post by **Mike Anderson** » 3 Jun 2011 12:07 pm

Ron, you should just be able to hit the link at the bottom of each post that says "0 comments" and it should bring up a form for you to fill in. I think I have it set to allow Google members only, but I can make it totally open (gulp!).

Orville Johnson · Post by **Orville Johnson** » 3 Jun 2011 8:25 pm

I went over and looked at your blog post.

"It's my way of saying that I ain't got time in this life for your head-banging, high-distortion, bluesy psychedelic steel or your navel-gazing, pseudo-raga, wandering Windham Hill steel. Go be "creative" somewhere else please."

That's the kind of attitude that makes me think " why would I waste my time reading this guy's narrow minded opinions when I could be listening to music or playing my guitar".

Just me, I guess.

John Bushouse · Post by **John Bushouse** » 3 Jun 2011 10:50 pm

Mike Anderson wrote:
John Bushouse wrote:I'm with Mike Neer on this one.
That's cool! One thing about never trying to be creative, I'll never have to worry about being judged on how good my creations are.

I wasn't saying anything about creativity, just open-mindedness.

Mike Anderson · Post by **Mike Anderson** » 4 Jun 2011 7:08 am

Orville Johnson wrote:I went over and looked at your blog post.

"It's my way of saying that I ain't got time in this life for your head-banging, high-distortion, bluesy psychedelic steel or your navel-gazing, pseudo-raga, wandering Windham Hill steel. Go be "creative" somewhere else please."

That's the kind of attitude that makes me think " why would I waste my time reading this guy's narrow minded opinions when I could be listening to music or playing my guitar".

Just me, I guess.

Why would you indeed? I agree in fact: I don't have time to listen to every kind of steel, especially the kinds that bore me or irritate me.

Thanks for looking though, from a "narrow-minded" guy who has listened to, and played, a very wide range of styles of music from all over this planet.

Mike Anderson · Post by **Mike Anderson** » 4 Jun 2011 7:22 am

John Bushouse wrote:
Mike Anderson wrote:
John Bushouse wrote:I'm with Mike Neer on this one.
That's cool! One thing about never trying to be creative, I'll never have to worry about being judged on how good my creations are.
I wasn't saying anything about creativity, just open-mindedness.

I don't really feel a huge need to defend myself, since I have stated clearly that my blog is personal, that it reflects my feelings about steel guitar, but you've given me a nice opening to talk about open-mindedness.

I think open-mindedness is a curse in our society. Open-mindedness has led to entities like the John Howard Society, who have for example made policy statements to the effect that pedophiles reoffend because they aren't welcomed back into society in an open-minded way. People use open-mindedness as a trophy they award themselves for tolerating, as I said in a previous post, rotten, foul behavior in their fellow humans.

I am not equating tolerance of all forms of music with rotten behavior, but I am equating the mindset. For some people, saying "I can get something out of any piece of music" is a trophy they award themselves, but all I hear is "I'm smarter than you, more musically attuned than you, a nicer guy than you."

Pardon me, but what crap. If you say you can get as much out of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcTtTxg6PKE as you can out of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoRpWEE-E0Q, you're at least a bit weird in my books. Or more likely you're just plain lying, whether to me or to yourself.

Nuff said. Read my blog or not, but if you're going to get on your high horse about how open you are and how narrow I am, maybe use it as an opportunity to examine your own demons and your own prejudices.

Orville Johnson · Post by **Orville Johnson** » 4 Jun 2011 7:53 am

I find it interesting that after calling other people's opinions "crap" and then name-calling "weird" and "lying", you'd then tell people to get off their "high horse" if they disagree with you.

Well,you know what they say about opinions.

Mike Anderson · Post by **Mike Anderson** » 4 Jun 2011 8:00 am

Post deleted because I am Irish and have a temper.

Mike Anderson · Post by **Mike Anderson** » 4 Jun 2011 8:21 am

Orville, maybe all we need is some clarity to try to make some peace here:

1. You took what I wrote completely out of context. Go back and re-read the post please. You're slamming me for "calling other people's opinions crap" (which I didn't really - please re-read the post), which is pretty much the same as saying my opinions are crap. Ironic or what? If this continues we could both end up needing surgery to get our heads out, if you get my drift.

2. I have stated I don't know how many times, here and in the blog, that I am writing my opinions and make no claim to Universal Truth. Yeah, you're right of course: everyone has opinions, including you, and I never claimed otherwise. Your opinions have been stated pretty obliquely (see point 3), but it's very clear you have opinions, and just as strong ones as mine.

3. Are you actually saying you are able to find as much musical value in Skrewdriver as in Braddah IZ? Inquiring minds want to know.

Take care, don't get all balled up over what I write for crying out loud. I am what time and experience and thinking have made me - and no apologies for that.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 4 Jun 2011 8:31 am

Mike Anderson wrote:.....
I think open-mindedness is a curse in our society. Open-mindedness has led to entities like the John Howard Society, who have for example made policy statements to the effect that pedophiles reoffend because they aren't welcomed back into society in an open-minded way. People use open-mindedness as a trophy they award themselves for tolerating, as I said in a previous post, rotten, foul behavior in their fellow humans.
.....

Mike, perhaps this would be better suited for your blog. Pedophilia? Music? I'm not seeing the connection and I don't think I want to.

You couldn't possibly know what goes on in the minds of others, so why make any assumptions about what motivates and drives them?

Most of the younger folks who are getting into Hawaiian music and Exotica and ukulele are coming from backgrounds of punk, heavy metal, etc. We were all young once, right?

My biggest issue was with the gentleman above using the term junk music. Of course, he's free to do so, just as I'm free to tell him how myopic he is.

I think your blog is actually going to be cool, if you get past talking about what you don't like. You stated your position already, I think it's forward on from here.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 4 Jun 2011 8:37 am

Mike, I am not familiar with the group Skrewdriver, so I can't say anything about them, but I will say that Judas Priest is a band that I have gotten a lot more out of than Iz. That is the truth--they were the music of my early adulthood. I do not own a single Iz record, but I own at least 5 or 6 JP records. That is not weird--it is what it is.

I like Black Sabbath a lot, and I can also tell you that I am extremely knowledgable on Jazz from the 20s through the modern day. I also know a lot about Hawaiian music and Impressionist composers and French Melodie. I also know quite a bit about Western Swing and 1960s Country music, not to mention that I would consider myself very knowledgable on the topic of Soul and black Gospel recordings. It is not self-congratulatory--it is just my reality.

Bill Leff · Post by **Bill Leff** » 4 Jun 2011 8:41 am

Hear hear Mike Neer!

Mike Anderson · Post by **Mike Anderson** » 4 Jun 2011 8:59 am

Hi Mike,

well, you're familiar with Skrewdriver now, aren't ya? Or as familiar as anyone who isn't an utter b4st4rd needs to be. They are a White Power group which I guess was obvious. Maybe we can now agree there is such a thing as ugly music?

That's great that you are still cleaving to the music of your young adulthood, but I'm not. As I age I learn that most of what I found engaging in the music of my youth was a need to feel hip and, in the case of rock, a need to express my adolescent frustration and aggression. Now it's all about a need to feel more beauty, witness more beauty, and create more beauty. Often I think that has something to do with accepting that my time here, to play and listen to music, is limited. Braddah IZ makes me weep in awe of his beauty; there was a man who knew every waking moment that his time was limited, and look what he did with that time! At the end of the day I am as always fascinated how different people's perception of music is.

I am equally amazed by how people find it so hard to make the connections I have spelled out (I thought) so clearly in my writing; I have to blame myself for that. Re-read please, and maybe you'll see all I am saying is that "open-mindedness" can be a spiritual and intellectual (and artistic!) pitfall, and that I find no difference in the mindset that is self-congratulatory about its open-mindedness, whether that mindset is reserved for e.g. compassion for dangerous criminals or the kind that is (bizarrely, to me) able to baldly state "no ugly music" or "no music I fail to find value in."

That's all. Anyway if you truly love the music you listen to, you certainly shouldn't need to defend it to me, not even if you loved e.g. Skrewdriver. Nor do I have to defend my feelings about music to you, now or ever.

And yeah - time to move on.

peace,
Mike.

Mike Anderson · Post by **Mike Anderson** » 4 Jun 2011 9:10 am

But first, since you and I both know and love jazz Mike, a quote you might know:

“There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind.”

- Duke Ellington

Guess Duke was a narrow-minded old bugger too, now wasn't he? Just too much of a gentleman to state what I don't mind stating.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 4 Jun 2011 9:16 am

I think you're missing the point of Duke's statement. He meant that music doesn't belong in categories.

Mike, you are not unique in that you have opinions which you are willing to express, but some of your other statements have set off some red flags for me. I am interested in others' opinions on music, but not on the psychological and social commentary attached to it.

Here's another Ellington quote: “What is music to you? What would you be without music? Music is everything. Nature is music (cicadas in the tropical night). The sea is music, the wind is music. The rain drumming on the roof and the storm raging in the sky are music. Music is the oldest entity. The scope of music is immense and infinite. It is the ‘esperanto’ of the world.”

Mike Anderson · Post by **Mike Anderson** » 4 Jun 2011 9:27 am

Mike, with all due respect, we will agree to disagree on Duke's statement. I think, to be frank, that you have warped its meaning completely in order to fit your personal agenda. I absolutely believe, and I think the vast majority of the people who have read this quote have believed, that he meant good music versus crap.

We could talk about Miles Davis instead then, who said a lot of similar things in a far less gentlemanly way. We could talk about a lot of artists of great renown who have said as much.

By all means ignore my blog; there could be a lot more social and psychological commentary coming. It isn't going to be about tunings and string gauges, I can say that much.

Edit: that is by far my favorite Duke quote, and I agree with every word. Practically a whole religion wrapped up in there.

Duke of course never lived to see abominations like Skrewdriver. Or the Pussycat Dolls, or [insert name of crap music here].

Orville Johnson · Post by **Orville Johnson** » 4 Jun 2011 9:31 am

When discussing music, I'm much more interested in what people like than what they don't like. It seems that when expressing dislike, some folks will decorate their opinion with a lot of judgemental un-music-related commentary to rationalize it.

I'm always looking for more music to like. I can easily make up my own mind about what I don't care to listen to but my ears perk up when I hear about something that someone really digs.

PS I'm sure Duke knew a lot more about the abomination of white supremacy than you or I will ever know.

Mike Anderson · Post by **Mike Anderson** » 4 Jun 2011 9:33 am

Orville Johnson wrote:...It seems that when expressing dislike, some folks will decorate their opinion with a lot of judgemental un-music-related commentary to rationalize it.

...when expressing what they like, too. Oh yes.

To address your last point: one of my best friends listens to music that just about makes me vomit. I don't say so to him, because on the real side I love him and I am in fact too much of a gentleman.

But that doesn't change the fact that the music he plays when I am at his place makes me cringe.

P.S. yeah, but AFAIK we're talking about music Orville, not white supremacy. PuhLEEZE stop taking what I say out of context.

Mike Anderson · Post by **Mike Anderson** » 4 Jun 2011 9:45 am

Guys, please - vis-a-vis what Mike said about people's negative opinions revealing a lot about themselves...you are all acting like my blog says

THE MUSIC YOU LOVE IS CRAP.

It doesn't say that. It says

HERE IS SOME MUSIC I REALLY LOVE, AND HERE IS SOME I DON'T LIKE AT ALL.

And it says it once. ONCE, at the bottom of my first post.

Who is revealing what to whom here? WILL YOU PLEASE JUST CHILL, FOR CHRISSAKES?

Damn!

OK - I'm gonna stop watching this thread now because, like the man says, I could be listening or playing, or better still playing with my boy or taking my dog for a walk. Ron, thanks again for promoting my blog.

Orville Johnson · Post by **Orville Johnson** » 4 Jun 2011 9:56 am

Mike, just one more thing and I'm outta here. This is how you described the group whose music you put up

"They are a White Power group"

That's what I was referring to in my Duke comment. I don't believe I've taken anything you said out of context and, in fact, all the context is right here on this page for anyone who cares to read it. You have every right to post your blog and opinions as do I. That's what makes the world go round. I gotta go play a gig on a beautiful day in Seattle and I hope you've got a good day on tap as well. Cheers...oj

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 4 Jun 2011 10:07 am

Mike Anderson wrote:Mike, with all due respect, we will agree to disagree on Duke's statement. I think, to be frank, that you have warped its meaning completely in order to fit your personal agenda. I absolutely believe, and I think the vast majority of the people who have read this quote have believed, that he meant good music versus crap.

Mike, I take exception to this statement. Obviously, your agenda is to push people's buttons.

Duke's statement reflects his belief that there is good and bad music in every genre. To categorize music as classical, Hawaiian, or heavy metal does not automatically render it good or bad.

Later.

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 4 Jun 2011 10:22 am

I guess we know those who probably won't be enjoying MA's new blog

HEAR, HEAR, MIKE ANDERSON!
Hear, hear is an expression used as a short, repeated form of 'hear him, hear him'. It is often incorrectly spelled "here here".

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 4 Jun 2011 11:24 am

Is that your attempt at an insult, Ron? I'll let my musicianship stand on its own; how I arrived there is my business. I don't need to insult anyone else to bolster it.

I will read Mike's blog, I don't see the problem. I'm sure he'll have some interesting things to say.

The Steel Guitar Forum

Haole on the Steel - new blog

Judeth Least over Iz? The OUCH! heard around the world...