The GOP, Scooping Up the Money

There has been a recent resurgence in television advertising of Americana. The Lawrence Welk show, although in an exponential state of syndication, recently featured a show with an Americana theme. The question is if Americana is related to the economy. While thoughts of carnival freak shows, boardwalk hawkers, and Appalachian crafts may not bring to mind high dollar, it can be said that the entertainment industry has been a longstanding pillar in American commerce. Hollywood was a dream in the minds of persecuted Jews that made their hopes a reality. After suffering in a gruesome mass genocide in Nazi Germany, a small group of devoted Jewish people felt they deserved something more. The phrase “Plan your work and work you plan” is operative, and not just by Martha Stewart. If life is not giving you what you want or think you deserve, you have to go out and make it yourself. While not an easy task, this could be said is the possibility of the “American Dream.” It is unfortunate fake representations of that dream must be depicted by the television show American Idol. Most people realize no one is ever going to come along and give you something. That is not what Capitalism is based upon, and we are a Capitalist nation. Planting a seed in the minds of naïve, impressionable Americans that they may become the next Britney Spears is manipulative, almost like dropping crickets into the fish tank of diver beetles. It is sadistic. (You can feel the tenets of education here!) It used to be that the educational system was the training ground for “real life.” Our educational system provided schooling in a hypothetical and nurturing environment allowing students to spread their wings without the fear of failing on national television. American Idol, while attempting to preen Simon Cowell’s record label, is doing just the opposite. If taken merely as cheap grass roots entertainment, then maybe this process is not harmful. Expecting untrained, unqualified teenagers to suddenly become recording artists and stars is ridiculous. Shania Twain spent years striving for her career, as most do in the field of popular music. It has always been common there was a protocol for “getting signed” in the recording industry. American history is littered with the success and failures of such cases. The world of immediate gratification can not take the place of history and a highly developed culture of arts. That our media in a few short years has lost sight of her lineage of culture is an abomination. Recently after purchasing Time/Life’s 60’s Gold AM Radio classics, I was reminded that this music was a part of Americana. I for one grew up listening to this particular music. I recognized many of the songs, and even after a few listenings could sing along with the recording. That reiterated to me that the craft of songwriting once was relevant to the American economy. Many say the entertainment industry based in Hollywood and the recording industry were foundations in both our culture and economy. It would be interesting to view IRS records to see what percentage of the total Gross Domestic Product the entertainment industry represented. Certainly if Netflicks is selling movie downloads for a dollar, then the integrity of our system has diminished. Napster was the culprit that set the stage for the demise of the recording industry. It is unfortunate that the free shareware of music on the internet collapsed the traditional protocol of the recording industry. Was the conscious decision by or simple allowing that record executives abandoned the core foundation of our pop music culture from the mere threat of a computer hacker incorrigible? It seems like the GOP record labels were used to resting on their laurels simply scooping in the money. When the money stops it is time to go to work and figure and why and fix it. This is why we can’t respect “Old Money.” It doesn’t take anything to collect a trust fund. It doesn’t take anything to oversee a business that is all ready in progress and making money. To begin making money from the start, that’s the test. Obviously like our formerly Republican led federal government, “Daddy’s Little Girls” are not up to the task. To let the MP3, iTunes, and the iPod usurp the recording industry is insulting. Because the method of buying music is changing can’t mean that the process of making music changes. Because the current age of “immediate gratification” suggests we live in a disposable world doesn’t mean we should. The years of development, maturing, and sheer trying are what make artistic music. Art can’t be had in RenderMan alone like current motion pictures are suggesting. It is people’s “Blood, Sweat, and Tears” that make life. The day and age that republicans sit back and collect the money is coming to an end.