Category: Politics

We’ve sold “Make tea not war” stuff!

Make Tea Not War
About a week ago we had the happy surprise of an e-mail saying that someone had bought some “Make Tea Not War” shirts from our CafePress shop. Very cool, eh?

I was mildly surprised to discover that we get told the name (but no other info) of people that purchase from our shop. On the one hand this isn’t too weird – if they purchased from us directly we’d know a whole lot more than that. On the other hand it’s totally unnecessary for us to know anything about them, so I was a bit surprised that they told us the name.

This initial purchase was by some friends of ours here in Morris that had already expressed some interest, so no huge surprise there. Last night, however, I got an e-mail saying there had a been another purchase, and this is by a stranger! Lord knows how they found us, but we’re thrilled to know that they or someone they know will be wearing our sentiment. Hope you enjoy the shirt!

We’ve ordered a bunch of our own “Make tea not war” stuff as Xmas prezzies, and I really like the large mug that we bought for ourselves while we were ordering. It’s quite large, and nice and heavy – it feels like it’ll really last. The fridge magnets are also pretty cool and make nifty stocking stuffers, and the tote bag turned out all spiffy as well.

No tag for this post.

Related posts

  • No related posts.

Simply how one lives

Abandoned turntable by ShutterSam
Yesterday I ran across this great bit from LeRoi Jones‘ (later known as Amiri Baraka) book Blues people (here he’s talking about the 1950’s and early 1960’s in the U.S.):

…because the black middle class confused legitimate political and economic desires with their shame at not already having attained these goals, they thought this meant they had to abandon history and the accreted cultural significance of the black man’s three hundred years in America. For the poor, however, “culture” is simply how one lives, and is connected to history by habit. (p. 180-1)

Blues People : Negro Music in White America
Wow – great stuff. I really love that last line, and since poverty isn’t limited to people of color, one could presumably make a similar statement about, for example, the “hillbillies” in the Appalachians. Or poor urban kids and hip-hop culture in its many colors.

I suspect this is a key part of why people like John and Alan Lomax worked so hard to find and capture this sort of culture, and it’s certainly a key part of why I find the early commercial and field recordings so powerful. It’s important to realize that these aren’t entirely transparent reflections of the culture, since these are creative, intelligent, and often at least mildly ambitious people who obviously bring a lot to the table. Still, though, this typically is the music they grew up with, and the music of their community gatherings and ceremony. It’s the music of the porch more than the music of the parlor, and as such is a crucial document of a piece of our country’s life and history (and contribution to the music of the world).

No tag for this post.

Related posts

  • No related posts.