Jazz Is Not Fun?

[Hot Ptah]

Here is a column in the Kansas City Star newspaper which equates jazz with a lack of fun:

JENEÉ OSTERHELDT JOSTERHELDT@KCSTAR.COM

Office party is a real party

I usually associate corporate holiday festivities with finger food, jazz music and co-workers mingling over drinks and office gossip.

But maybe I have it all wrong.

It’s clear that some people, even at company parties, like to get a little wild.

I found that out last weekend when I crashed a downtown advertising firm’s holiday party.

We could hear the music bump from a block away. And when we pressed the button to get in the secured building, all we had to say was hello and the door buzzed open.

We went up the stairs half expecting a lame office shindig, but what we got was more of a frat party.

First, there were the two elves gone wild. They welcomed us into the loft with bright smiles and bare midriffs. One posed next to us, and the other snapped a Polaroid before they added it to the collection on the wall.

Next stop: DJ room.

My friend knew the guy spinning records, so we went over to say hello, and he directed us to the drinks. We walked through the mingling room to the kitchen, where the refrigerator was stocked with Red Bull, and a keg stood at the entrance. And forget about name tags; that’s what your cup was for. A note over the keg reminded drinkers to sign their cup. My can of Red Bull protected my anonymity.

The crowd, all late 20s and early 30s, was dressed more for the club than the office. A lot of the men sported blazers and T-shirts, and the ladies favored stilettos and leggings.

It started to feel like we were at a hip-hop house party when we went back over to the DJ room and sat on the couch.

Snoop Dogg’s “Gin and Juice” played, and everyone rushed the floor singing all the words. Then came a slew of bad boy songs, from Biggie to Mase, and by the time the seventh person told us to get off the couch and dance, we finally did.

Forget the polite side-to-side two-step. These people were partying like it was a sport. One cute couple — at least we hoped they were a couple — were a modern-day Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. They kept the dance floor exciting with moves straight out of “Dirty Dancing.”

And then, there was that guy. You know that guy at every dance party who goes crazy on the floor, pumping wild like MC Hammer and jumping around. He burst into the crowd at least three times, and people gathered around him, ushering it on.

Two hours later we were still dancing. We met a small circle of girls we traded dance moves with. The DJ kept playing the soundtrack of our adolescence, songs from high school and college that were bringing out the wild child in us all — Jay-Z, Tupac, A Tribe Called Quest.

Had it not been for the few Christmas sweaters we saw sprinkled throughout the crowd, I would have forgotten it was a holiday party. As we left, a few of the girls asked us to stay. We were no longer party crashers. We were a part of the party. And if that’s how they get down at your office party, maybe we’ll see you next year.

[Dan Gould]

I don't think it equates jazz with anything.

It says what we already knew: 20-30 somethings couldn't give two shits about jazz, just as you couldn't pay me enough to party while musical crap like that is playing.

[Harold_Z]

WELLLLL..........

Fun is in the eye of the beholder for one thing.

The other thing is we don't really even know what the writer means by jazz.

Let's face...we're an island unto ourselves.

We got our own thing goin'.

[Randy Twizzle]

She sounds like a 16 year old girl breathlessly telling all her friends about the college party she snuck into. She should have saved it for her myspace page.

[Hot Ptah]

She sounds like a 16 year old girl breathlessly telling all her friends about the college party she snuck into. She should have saved it for her myspace page.

She is a 30s-something African American journalist. She is a regular columnist for the Kansas City daily newspaper. She writes a column on cultural matters.

Edited December 10, 2007 by Hot Ptah

[Randy Twizzle]

She sounds like a 16 year old girl breathlessly telling all her friends about the college party she snuck into. She should have saved it for her myspace page.

She is a 30s-something African American journalist. She is a regular columnist for the Kansas City daily newspaper. She writes a column on cultural matters.

I realize she's a grown woman (or what passes for one nowadays) but in that column she writes like a 16 year old girl.

Edited December 11, 2007 by Randy Twizzle

[BruceH]

In the universe of this article "jazz"= lame, but by jazz she probably means stuff like Kenny G.

[J Larsen]

Hmmm... I've never been to a corporate holiday party where they played Kenny G. I have been to a couple with a live jazz band, though. But I've been to many more along the lines of the event she described in the article. I generally find corporate parties to be painful regardless of the music being played.

[Chuck Nessa]

She is a 30s-something African American journalist. She is a regular columnist for the Kansas City daily newspaper. She writes a column on cultural matters.

You gotta problem in the press.

[Chuck Nessa]

You want fun, go to an amusement park or chuckie cheeze

[Alexander]

She sounds like a 16 year old girl breathlessly telling all her friends about the college party she snuck into. She should have saved it for her myspace page.

She is a 30s-something African American journalist. She is a regular columnist for the Kansas City daily newspaper. She writes a column on cultural matters.

I realize she's a grown woman (or what passes for one nowadays) but in that column she writes like a 16 year old girl.

There's a woman here in Albany who writes on similar matters for the Times Union. She's in her late 20s/early 30s and she has the same writing style.

[Guest Bill Barton]

She sounds like a 16 year old girl breathlessly telling all her friends about the college party she snuck into. She should have saved it for her myspace page.

She is a 30s-something African American journalist. She is a regular columnist for the Kansas City daily newspaper. She writes a column on cultural matters.

I realize she's a grown woman (or what passes for one nowadays) but in that column she writes like a 16 year old girl.

There's a woman here in Albany who writes on similar matters for the Times Union. She's in her late 20s/early 30s and she has the same writing style.

It's a "trend" boys and girls... The Seattle Times also has a breathless Valley Girl regular columnist. Like, I mean, totally air between the ears, do you hear what I'm saying?

[porcy62]

You want fun, go to an amusement park or chuckie cheeze

...or get a fair amount of beers, register to Organissimo Forum and start an argument with one of the members...it doesn't really matter the specific subject: baseball, C. Parker, Israel, free speech, hot dogs, turkey's recipe or Turkey' request to enter in UE...we are a strictly constitutional forum, we can argue with everybody on every subject without distinctions of sex, race, religion or sexual orientation

Edited December 11, 2007 by porcy62

[JSngry]

I play plenty of corporate parties where they say they want "jazz" but they really want "pseduo-hip unintrusive background music" So you give them what they're paying for. Just as boring to play as it is to listen to, possibly moreso.

I got no problem with the woman's writing style myself. If that's her age, she's of a demographic that came of age in the era when the "cultural model" for jazz was the Marsaillisian suits and seriousness in the service of Legacy And Tradition. "Partying to jazz", something that a lot of us had done before (and still do!) was considered gauche and undignified.

So between the corporations wanting a sanitized version of the real thing for their parties and jazz itself wanting nothing to do with partying and everything to do with concert hall$ and other dignitie$, I fully understand what she's saying.

And I wish I could have taken her to the old Recovery Room back in the day to hear Red, Heavy, & Marchel. Now, THAT was a jazz party!

(and btw - there's soming a time not too far off when the type of hip-hop refernced here is gonna take over from "Motown" as the cross-cultural "Hip Black Music Of Our Youth". My folks had the Swing Era, I had The 60s, these folk got The Golden Age Of Hip Hop (and it did have its moments...). So be ready for a lot more of this type "nostalgia".)

[Chuck Nessa]

(and btw - there's soming a time not too far off when the type of hip-hop refernced here is gonna take over from "Motown" as the cross-cultural "Hip Black Music Of Our Youth". My folks had the Swing Era, I had The 60s, these folk got The Golden Age Of Hip Hop (and it did have its moments...). So be ready for a lot more of this type "nostalgia".)

Indeed. Almost there.

[Dan Gould]

[Randy Twizzle]

One year during my firm's holiday party a female co-worker had too much to drink and vomited in front of the tight-assed head of HR. That was pretty edgy and it didn't even need a hip hop soundtrack.

[JSngry]

Yeah, but imagine how much hipper it would have been if the DJ had been jammin' "Don't Believe The Hype" at the time!

[Jazzmoose]

In the universe of this article "jazz"= lame, but by jazz she probably means stuff like Kenny G.

So we all agree. Next thread...

[sidewinder]

One year during my firm's holiday party a female co-worker had too much to drink and vomited in front of the tight-assed head of HR. That was pretty edgy and it didn't even need a hip hop soundtrack.

Did she get promoted next year?

Office parties aint what they were. I can remember whole spaces being vacated, beer kegs being set up on the re-ordered desks and staff pulling the pints. With the management doing the first shift on the pumps . These days, even a whiff of the stuff over the bounds would be a dismisable offence and any event done in office space has the ambience of a Soviet-era state reception. How times change !

Edited December 11, 2007 by sidewinder

[BruceH]

I play plenty of corporate parties where they say they want "jazz" but they really want "pseduo-hip unintrusive background music" So you give them what they're paying for. Just as boring to play as it is to listen to, possibly moreso.

I got no problem with the woman's writing style myself. If that's her age, she's of a demographic that came of age in the era when the "cultural model" for jazz was the Marsaillisian suits and seriousness in the service of Legacy And Tradition. "Partying to jazz", something that a lot of us had done before (and still do!) was considered gauche and undignified.

So between the corporations wanting a sanitized version of the real thing for their parties and jazz itself wanting nothing to do with partying and everything to do with concert hall$ and other dignitie$, I fully understand what she's saying.

And I wish I could have taken her to the old Recovery Room back in the day to hear Red, Heavy, & Marchel. Now, THAT was a jazz party!

(and btw - there's soming a time not too far off when the type of hip-hop refernced here is gonna take over from "Motown" as the cross-cultural "Hip Black Music Of Our Youth". My folks had the Swing Era, I had The 60s, these folk got The Golden Age Of Hip Hop...

...And I guess I got punk.

[Jazzmoose]

and btw - there's soming a time not too far off when the type of hip-hop refernced here is gonna take over from "Motown" as the cross-cultural "Hip Black Music Of Our Youth". My folks had the Swing Era, I had The 60s, these folk got The Golden Age Of Hip Hop...

...And I guess I got punk.

Judging by Jim's prediction, I'd say a lot of people got punked...

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

One year during my firm's holiday party a female co-worker had too much to drink and vomited in front of the tight-assed head of HR. That was pretty edgy and it didn't even need a hip hop soundtrack.

Did she get promoted next year?

First office party I went to - I was 17 - was in Harrods (just the travel bureau staff) and I got completely ratted and threw up all over the place.

I got promoted the following January - but since that meant I went to another office, maybe...

MG

[Hot Ptah]

What I find interesting about the column is the premise that adults under 35 could not have fun if jazz is playing.

Perhaps we are beyond the point of even wondering "Why Jazz Is Not More Popular", but I suggest that if it has become "a given" that jazz will not appeal to anyone under 35, there is not much possibility of it becoming more popular.

[Niko]

It says what we already knew: 20-30 somethings couldn't give two shits about jazz,

don't like to tell you but as far as i can see this is true for any age group you pick