From Your Subculture Soundtrack, the music encyclopedia

"Growing up at our house was music education in progress, with the stereo on all day and the discussion starting when my Dad came home. At the apex of the raging generational battles where three trenches: the 'Lonnie Donegan' question ("larger than the Beatles"), the 'Jimi Hendrix' question ("never heard of him at the time"), and the 'Al Jolson' question. The latter pained and delighted us at the same time as my dad would often get on his knees, ring his hands around his mouth and do an impression of 'the greatest entertainer in the world'. He claimed that the jewish boy who painted his face black and his lips white, as the towering star of his time (the 10s and 20s), and as the star of the first 'talking' movie, represents the Birth of Pop Culture. A statue more massive than Elvis or Dylan or Boy George. To kids between Prince and Led Zep this was as hard to swallow as salt porridge. But here I am, thirty years later, feeding my boy the salty sticky stuff, and soon enough, no doubt, carrying my Dad's musical torch. (Snippet from my autobiography. Ahem.)

I live in the beautiful Pacific Time Zone (Vancouver) and at http://www.ivison.org

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• A Bestiary of Music