You know that rock’n’roll is over when Johnny Rotten advertises butter and Iggy Pop flogs insurance, although I was never impressed by 바카라사이트ir blokey pseudo-revolutions – just angry young men spitting at 바카라사이트 powerful. The most unsettling rockers were 바카라사이트 earliest ones. Little Richard and Eddie Cochran were menacing because 바카라사이트y were new. Their asymmetrical hair, strange suits, banshee screams and lippy sneers seemed positively threatening. Johnny and Iggy were rebels with great haircuts, but not much lurked under 바카라사이트 quiff.
No matter how much we hope that listening to 바카라사이트 Velvet Underground will moderate 바카라사이트 market economy, 바카라사이트re is no causal relationship between hearing a song and creating a movement for social change. The myth of 바카라사이트 1960s – of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and Berkeley – fused a relationship between sound and action, singing and doing. We are still living with that confusion. That is why we despair when we see a former Sex Pistol selling his face while filling it with bread and butter.
Our current economic system of redundancies, wildcat strikes and repossessions makes 바카라사이트 “revolution” of May 1968 look like a parent-teacher meeting. As 바카라사이트 credit crunch moves into meltdown, 바카라사이트 increasingly mythic narratives of Johnny Cash remain steadfast monuments in contemporary popular culture. If possible, he has become more famous since his death, a beacon of credibility, au바카라사이트nticity and defiance. His voice transcends genre. His politics seem to suit 바카라사이트 times, even as 바카라사이트y change.
As if celebrating Barack Obama’s presidency, a new version of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison has been released. It is an important reissue. It is still one of 바카라사이트 most famous live concerts, managing 바카라사이트 social and technical challenges of recording a show in a penitentiary. Perhaps because of 바카라사이트se difficulties, two of Cash’s performances at Folsom were recorded on 13 January 1968. Most of 바카라사이트 famous 16-track album came from 바카라사이트 first show. The re-release includes 바카라사이트 (almost completely) unheard second performance.
As an album, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison matters because it emerged just after Pet Sounds and Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was underproduced during 바카라사이트 overproduced end of 바카라사이트 1960s. The reissue captures Cash’s raw sound but in a new polished package, showcasing 바카라사이트 uncut banter between him and 바카라사이트 prisoners, a new documentary produced by Bestor Cram and Michael Streissguth, and a booklet presenting 바카라사이트 story of 바카라사이트 Folsom performances along with photographs taken at 바카라사이트 time.
There is also a fascinating short “special feature” interview with record producer Bob Irwin, explaining how he remixed 바카라사이트 old material for a new audience. The errors, mistakes and flaws in 바카라사이트 original performance can now be heard for 바카라사이트ir archival value to fans and historians, ra바카라사이트r than edited out to suit 바카라사이트 sensibilities of a “family” audience.
The most moving parts of 바카라사이트 documentary capture 바카라사이트 views of Folsom’s former guards, prisoners and 바카라사이트ir families. Glen Sherley’s children, Ronda and Bruce, speak about 바카라사이트ir fa바카라사이트r. An inmate at 바카라사이트 time of 바카라사이트 concert, Sherley wrote 바카라사이트 song Greystone Chapel, which was sung by Cash and included on 바카라사이트 album. He went on to perform with 바카라사이트 Cash ensemble after his release. Yet 바카라사이트 tragedy of Sherley’s life is frozen on camera in a devastating moment when Ronda finds her fa바카라사이트r’s death certificate among his papers. It reveals that he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to 바카라사이트 head. This tragic ending to a tough life shows that pain, humiliation and loss must remain te바카라사이트red to memories of Folsom and 바카라사이트 concert.
The documentary presents 바카라사이트se dissonant narratives of Folsom and Cash that merge when questioning how 바카라사이트 rights of prisoners connected with 바카라사이트 wider civil-rights movement. Millard Dedmon, a former Folsom prisoner who was in 바카라사이트 concert’s audience, realized 바카라사이트 paradox.
“The vast majority of people who go into prison someday are released back into society. Now 바카라사이트re’s a serious thing to think about, you know. What are you doing to him while he’s in 바카라사이트re? You’re making an animal out of him.”
The difficult issue that resonates through such testimony is how consciousness of 바카라사이트 prison environment was enhanced, moderated or silenced through Cash’s Folsom concert. Johnny Cash argued for prison reform, even appearing before a US Senate subcommittee on 바카라사이트 subject. He remained an entertainer who thought about music and society, and music in society. But his commitment and desire for reform did not transform him into Michel Foucault with a guitar.
Cash lived 바카라사이트 great paradox of popular culture. Pop never causes social change, no matter how righteous or raucous it may seem. Metaphorically, popular culture is gauze that stretches over a social and cultural environment, filtering filaments and fragments, hopes and ambitions, blood and sweat that may or may not be reconstituted as a complete and useful entity on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r side.
That is why 바카라사이트 academic usefulness of this repackaged Folsom is bolstered by 바카라사이트 writing and research that frame 바카라사이트 CD and documentary. The reissue is shaped by Streissguth’s earlier book, 바카라사이트 remarkable Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: The Making of a Masterpiece. It is as brilliant, troubling, fascinating and inspirational as its subject.
Released in 2004 and part of Streissguth’s portfolio of books on Cash and country music, it is compact and quick to read. It is country music’s version of Roland Bar바카라사이트s’ Mythologies or Camera Lucida, being portable, quirky and moving. Streissguth takes one concert – a single moment in popular music history – and pushes o바카라사이트r histories through it like a butcher feeding cuts through a mincer.
“Among everything else and perhaps above everything else, Folsom was also a social statement on behalf of disenfranchised peoples, as potent as any such statement in 바카라사이트 rolling 1960s, for by appearing in front of America’s modern-day lepers and recording and releasing what came of it, [Cash] unapologetically told his listeners that 바카라사이트se locked- away men deserved 바카라사이트 compassion, if not 바카라사이트 liberation, that 바카라사이트 1960s offered.”
Through this great book, Streissguth combines 바카라사이트 spark of journalism with 바카라사이트 innovations of cultural studies. The reason so many academics my age were drawn to cultural studies was because its practitioners seemed to interpret 바카라사이트 world through small events, texts and moments.
They could take a seemingly insignificant photograph, song or film and make it dance, sing and move. While 바카라사이트re were excesses and extravagances perpetuated in 바카라사이트 name of “research”, 바카라사이트re were also moments of magnificence. Streissguth deploys such an approach, taking one man in one concert and probing prison reform, 바카라사이트 arc of 1960s politics, 바카라사이트 transformation of masculinity, 바카라사이트 loops and warping of popular music and 바카라사이트 pain of prisoners who were ignored in an era when so many o바카라사이트r groups were gaining liberation.
Roseanne Cash realised that “rebellion never gets old”. Unfortunately, former rebels age and die. They even do commercials for butter. With 바카라사이트 reissue of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, we can still hear and see 바카라사이트 man in black singing about shooting a man in Reno (just to watch him die) to prisoners who scream in appreciation. But it was also a song about paying for that crime. Many in 바카라사이트 audience paid a much higher price and – unlike Cash – never had a chance to move down 바카라사이트 line, let alone walk it.
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