tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064731800879731174.post2971510845751532832..comments2023-07-15T10:04:34.844-04:00Comments on all the trees of the field will clap their hands: review: Megafaun/Fight the Big Bull/Sharon van Etten/Justin Vernon live @ Hayti Heritage CenterChris Breslinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01917891637198620147noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064731800879731174.post-57364352306189721462010-09-27T12:33:43.871-04:002010-09-27T12:33:43.871-04:00Agreed. There were times when I felt like the ban...Agreed. There were times when I felt like the band knew exactly what was going on, but the majority of the crowd was not privy to.<br /><br />I think you've some valid reservations, but I might argue that some of the skew was a function of the organization (or lack thereof)of the show rather than the performance itself. We brought some friends who, the day of, attempted to find something out about the show through the (seemingly appropriate) channel of Hayti's website, only to find a poorly updated site with no mention of the event. I know Central tickets were $5 as well, but I don't know how much the show was promoted there or even how appealing it would have been. I can't measure but only speculate that, but what I can measure is that the "cool kids" (you and me included) knew about the show.<br /><br />I would have appreciated a bit more of a primer in the cultural and social history behind these beautiful tunes (though DP's blog did give some of them: http://thethread.dukeperformances.duke.edu/2010/09/laurent-dubois-on-sounds-of-the-south/).Chris Breslinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01917891637198620147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064731800879731174.post-15031569441679523332010-09-27T12:19:23.409-04:002010-09-27T12:19:23.409-04:00Thanks for this Chris. I was going to write up my ...Thanks for this Chris. I was going to write up my own review of the show but you put it far better than I could have. Yet one thought kept gnawing at me the entire night, though, which you didn't address. That the performance happened in an old AME Zion church is a perfect metaphor for what I felt occurred in the performance as well. There was an exuberant graciousness by the performers throughout the show for the crowd, and one another, and the space. But what about the mention of the cultures and racial underpinnings from which many of the songs emerged? Whenever Brad Cook said, 'this is our interpretation of it' I felt more than a tinge of guilt that I was sitting in this 'sacred' space of an AME Zion church, listening to interpretations of many African-American songs, with only one black man in the band (and from what I saw none in the audience). Was the music we heard a tool of cultural and racial appropriation? Or did the music help transcend these lines? One things for sure, if Pentecost did fall upon Durham that night, I am surprised at how white and 'hip' the Holy Spirit appeared.Bryan Poolenoreply@blogger.com