Robin Carnahan slights Nelly, Berry
Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan ran a straw poll at the Missouri State Fair (hat tip: Political Fix), asking attendees to vote for their favorite kind of "Missouri music." There were only four choices on the ballot: Branson country, Ozarks bluegrass, Kansas City jazz, and St. Louis blues.
Has Robin not heard of hip hop, or how Nelly and a slew of other nationally renowned St. Louis artists have put our town back on the music map?
Or what about rock music fans? I think a Missourian by the name of Chuck Berry had something to do with the popularity of that music genre. (Some might add Ike and Tina Turner, but in fairness, they were from the east side.)
And since when does Kansas City get a higher claim on jazz than St. Louis? Robin, meet Erin Bode.
No classical music on the ballot either. I think the St Louis Symphony won a grammy or two in that genre. Or does Robin regard the predominantly rural attendees of the state fair as hayseeds who aren't sophisticated enough to care much for classical music?
The poll, of course, was designed as a ploy to get some free publicity for Ms. Carnahan. Instead, she seems to have offended pretty much all of the state (except for the ozarks, where they don't vote for her anyway).
Has Robin not heard of hip hop, or how Nelly and a slew of other nationally renowned St. Louis artists have put our town back on the music map?
Or what about rock music fans? I think a Missourian by the name of Chuck Berry had something to do with the popularity of that music genre. (Some might add Ike and Tina Turner, but in fairness, they were from the east side.)
And since when does Kansas City get a higher claim on jazz than St. Louis? Robin, meet Erin Bode.
No classical music on the ballot either. I think the St Louis Symphony won a grammy or two in that genre. Or does Robin regard the predominantly rural attendees of the state fair as hayseeds who aren't sophisticated enough to care much for classical music?
The poll, of course, was designed as a ploy to get some free publicity for Ms. Carnahan. Instead, she seems to have offended pretty much all of the state (except for the ozarks, where they don't vote for her anyway).
posted by St. Louis Oracle | 8/21/2007 09:27:00 PM
5 Comments:
I like Erin Bode, too, but Carnahan was right about jazz. St. Louis has a respectable and important jazz history. Kansas City has an enormous place in jazz. Rock and roll and hip hop are indeed different stories.
Kansas City definitely has the jazz scene locked down.
Have you ever heard of Charlie Parker, Count Basie, or Coleman Hawkins?
Or, more recently, Lee's Summit native Pat Metheny (A multiple Grammy winning jazz guitarist)...
Erin Bode is talented, but is not what I would call a traditional "jazz" singer. And she is certainly no Charlie Parker. You want real jazz? Visit the Gem Theatre or the Blue Room located in KC's 18th and Vine district.
I would also suggest stopping by the Negro Leagues baseball museum too because it is a must see for any true baseball fan, or are you one of those “St. Louis is the center of the universe” people that doesn't recognize there is a western half of the state?
Trust me…the world does not end at wentzville.
Next time use the google to do some research before you make categorically untrue statements:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/24/arts/music/24jazz.html?ex=1188014400&en=8e7f1552c01126ff&ei=5070
Hey, what do you expect from someone whose first name is St Louis?
I am sorry that the jazz commentary acted as a distraction from the main point of the post: Robin Carnahan's narrow selection of music choices for her straw poll on favorite Missouri music glaringly omitted major forms of music with deep Missouri roots, and that in particular, the omission of the emerging hip hop scene is a racially insensitive diss of the African American artists involved.
Good point, but where's the love?
Don't be a playa hater...
Regards from the Ozarks,
Home of Missouri's Favorite Music
Branson Missouri
To quote Rodney King
Can't we all get along?
I think your total disregard for the rich Jazz music tradition in our state (which is often sampled by the hip-hop artists you so affectionately mention) is racially insensitive.
Limiting the scope of African American music tastes to simply "hip-hop" artists is an extremely broad over-generalization typical of old white men.
But hey, to each his own.
Bottom line -- if there was never jazz, Blues, and Soul, there might never have been a Nelly or the St. Lunatics.
Just to give you an example, here are a few Hip-Hop artists that have sampled pieces of songs by one of the greatest jazz trumpeters ever, Miles Davis (By the way, Miles grew up in East St. Louis!):
http://www.the-breaks.com/perl/artist.pl?id=733
Current Score: Anonymous 2, Oracle 0
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