Simon Weil

Just wanted to see what happens ... Simon Weil So, did you pop out on the other side, or were you reduced to neutrinos? In theory, I was supposed to be falling down into this black hole, only to bounce (boing) at the final moment. Or I could be typing this from across the galaxy. Will the Sunday papers come? I wonder what the news for neutrinos is like. Simon Weil

Just wanted to see what happens ... Simon Weil

And now try to find Chris Marker's "The Last Bolshevik" (uh, oh, it might be "Grin Without a Cat") in which, among other things, he does a brief analysis of that scene, showing how it is false, etc. His interest is how media constructions of the Russian revolution become our memory & knowledge of events, even if they are false. It's bound to be false. No revolution occurs in those wonderful, heroic, black and white terms. It's the archetype of revolution as seen by Eisenstein. I ain't got any view about what the Russian revolution was like except it wasn't very nice (understating violently). It's the filmic construction we're talking about here. Eisenstein presented it the way he did because he believed in the validity of the Revolution, in which he took part. We don't have to, just as we don't have to believe in the validity of Christianity to enjoy the Sistine Chapel. And there are a million other examples including some from Jazz. Simon Weil

Can't compare them, Dan. Marlow barely wrote anything; what was it Dr. Faustus? along with something else. "The Jew of Malta" and "Tamberlaine" are the two that come up. Man, you're pining to do lit crit again... Simon Weil

Scorsese did do The Last Waltz, which is a good film. Simon Weil

Evidence of the vibe thing. Yeah, well, next time I discover how to nail down smoke...But I sure as hell notice when there's a woman instrumentalist in a Jazz (or Rock, come to that) band. But women instrumentals in a classical orchestra or as star soloists - completely unremarkable. All I can do is tell you of my experience on Jazzgrrls (the internet women in Jazz discussion group). My feeling is that women there are kind of are beaten down in respect of hoping for any change in Jazz (for women). I don't feel they want to try, to initiate, because in their own personal, individual experiences, they get kicked to shit if they try. I don't know this, I intuit it - but there you go. If you contrast that with discussions about women in Jazz I've had here and elsewhere, I get the sense of a degree of fear and apprehension - and it is quite a lot of fear and doesn't feel entirely rational. So... I conclude that these things are related. Simon Weil

Right, but what I'm pointing out is that the supposedly ideologically free West, Germans chose not to repeal that law. In the East they were compelled to do a whole bunch of things in line with true socialism . I'm suggesting that the tardiness of the West in repealing that law says something about German society, which may be have been masked by the ideological strictures in the East - and that this may be a possible explanation of why you get the same, low, level of female representation in orchestras from East and West Germany. Or maybe not... Simon Weil

I always thought that the shoot-out scene on the steps in the "Untouchables" was a direct rip-off of the Odessa steps scene from Potemkin, mostly because of the presence of the baby carriage. I remember studying Potemkin in an Intro to Film course in college (a long time ago) and it always stuck w/me as a great film. What some of these early film makers did w/o the technology we have now (like story telling) is really amazing. I'll have to check the Untouchables again; my memory is a bit hazy. Also in my hazy memory are vague recollections of babycarriages in other films - because it is such an archetypal image of innocence. I mean counterpoising that with the relentless advance of the rifle-men ruthlessly shooting everyone down is a great coup, in terms of powerful contrasts. I think that might be a source of the great power of the scene, the abrupt contrasts, coupled with the lightning-fast editing, the move from peace to the chaos rushing down the steps.... Also I think the vigour of the scene comes partly from Eisenstein's ideological position. I suppose he was a true believer in the Revolution (at the time) and wanted to evoke that in scenes of comparable power. I think it does make a difference that, having something to believe in. It doesn't have to be Revolution, just some individual credo that is properly thought out. I think a lot of film-makers today don't have that. Basically just making films from a desire to make big bucks. And also I don't think this is a time of great belief. Simon Weil

The Status of Women In German Orchestras: A Report Based on Practical Experience, by Abbie Conant. http://www.osborne-conant.org/status.htm OK, on German orchestras, the first thing to be said is that Germany is a special case. As is not commonly known, one of the things that the Nazis did was remove women, very largely, from society. Kinde, kirche, kuche [children, church, cooking] was the litany. This was enacted as law and that law was not repealed until the early 60s. This tells you something about Germany, that the institutionalized anti-feminism of the Nazis was not unpalatable to Germans - who even after Hitler was safely dead did not repeal this law. Women in Germany remain disadvantaged in comparison to the rest of Europe (and, presumably, the States). So, basically, you'd expect less women in German orchestras. There is nowhere near 25% women in Major US Jazz groups. Not even 11%..So... Simon Weil

I've been on a minor Russian kick, watching Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev a few nights ago and then Battleship Potemkin, the day after. I'd never seen either (although I am a big Tarkovsky fan) and found both suitably amazing. The Odessa steps scene in Potemkin, which is legendary, is justly legendary, I can report. Last night, I watched Tin Cup (couldn't take any more serious)... Simon Weil

Chuck, Moose, (and now Jim), I think there's more "give" than people realise. If you go there, things happen. Simon Weil

OK, I'll make a sort of political statement. I think there is a particular sort of societal interplay that exists between men and revolves around a structured competition in which everything can get quite aggressive, and indeed is required to do so. People go at it hammer and tongs. But, within that, there is a realisation that this is some sort of game - a testoterone-driven game. And this is particulary suited to men because of the way we are constituted. To me, that is a core element of society. But it's hard for women to join. Not because they are any less tough than men, on the contrary. It's because their toughness does not apply particularly well to this somewhat ritualistic form of game. So, the point is, men can go on playing those sorts of games in Jazz, and block women out. Just as they can in the rest of society. But is it good for Jazz, good for Society? Simon Weil

OK, if it's directed at me, my line was "Jazz needs more women". Because: 1) Jazz playing on a high level has always been dominated by men. If we had more women, we'd have more talent. .... OK... 1- We already have enough "talent". What we need is more, as you called it, "high level" talent, and that's not a function of gender. If the argument is that having more women active in jazz increases the chances of finding that high-level talent, then I agree. But if it's that there's this VAST untapped pool of superior female talent, then I ain't buying it. High level talent is high level precisely because it's rare. Do we need more Geri Allens? Hell yeah. Are we right to assume that more females will display the talent of Geri Allen than will the same number of men? Hell no.... I am on the Jazzgrrls list and I remember this one discussion where a woman teacher mused that there seemed more females playing jazz at the school band level than males - and where did they go? So I drew the conclusion that she felt women were put off. This is before talent even enters into it. Just put off. She talked about "being tough enough", like women were put off by rather testosterone driven hard-nosed competition - so that, implicitly, otherwise talented women got put off by the vibe in Jazz. There are more female instrumentalists, stars, in classical music - where, I suggest, the vibe is quite different. Not a good thing, in my opinion. Simon Weil

OK, if it's directed at me, my line was "Jazz needs more women". Because: 1) Jazz playing on a high level has always been dominated by men. If we had more women, we'd have more talent. 2) The "Jazz fan" is archetypally male. If we had more female fans, we'd have more fans. Ergo Jazz would have more financial etc resources. 3) I am pissed off with testoterone. In general, the more places that women feel at home in within Jazz, the more are liable to commit in a meaningful way. If they do it here, that's part of the way there. 4) Anyway, I just think women get a raw deal in society. Simon Weil

I think Jazz needs more women. Not just here, everywhere. One thing to be said about this place, since we've gotten rid of Greg, the testoterone level (esp in the political forum) has noticeably dropped. The gentleman's club, well yes, with the accent on gentle (at least some of the time and hopefully so). Actually I think this place is rather liable to welcoming to women. IF they can get past the babe thread... Simon Weil

Oh, God...It's like this. In Germany the vocal opposition to Hitler didn't exist after a certain point. Partly because people didn't really have those doubts and second thoughts you refer to - they didn't know, as we do now, where those (Nazi) things led. So that's fine and I accept that. But what we have now is people who know where things lead, protest about it, and then do nothing really. That's a new Liberal approach which I see from the 80s on in the West. The lack of proper liberal response to the slide to semi-fascist stuff in the US since 9/11 is an example. I also think Liberal Jews need to get their act together about Israel. Simon Weil

Yes, and if I do I arrive at the same or similar conclusion as you do. I was trying to address the dichotomy in the reactions that Riefenstahl provokes. The problems or second thoughts the Germans have now were completely absent then. Even outside Germany, it seems, there was hardly any opposition to this glorification. I think we (as in humanity) can learn a lot from that. Yeah, I think that's a valid point at least in theory. The reason I make this rather ungenerous response is that I am kind of sardonic about the range of positions that Post-Nazi liberals can avail themselves of in doing nothing, while yet professing to be against evil. Bitterly yours, Simon Weil

I do not agree with you completely here. As I wrote above, I think her works not only glorify the evil of the nazi ideology, but some deeply ingrained German ideals. Many of those are still held high these days. It is her refusion to separate the two that make many feel uncomfortable with a perfectly healthy sense of beauty the people have. Well I see artistic sensibility as something not divisible. You do a work of art and it incorporates all that's around and within you on some level. That's how it achieves its cohesiveness and integrity as a work of art, because you achieve integrity of self-expression with your own particular circumstances. But if you then have a person creating a work of art fused in an intrinsic way with surrounding evil, that can only imply that that person's sensibility itself achieves integrity in the presence of evil - and for evil. A person's sensibility can also achieve integrity in the presence of evil, but working against it. One might even suggest that Jazz (taken as a whole) was like that, as a form that projected a self-image of blacks that fought the evil of racism and segregation. Couw, I think you need to separate what R did from the problems of Germans now. Simon Weil

You need a very particular sensibility to make a work of art that successfully glorifies evil. In so doing you partake of evil yourself, unconsciously or not. That's it. End Story. Simon Weil

I like "Till we have faces" a lot too. Metheny plays well on this, in a chunky aggressive style - kind of half "out". Simon Weil

Yes indeed, kudos to Joe. It's a fine interview. Simon Weil

Thanks, Lawrence. I have snaffled a copy- instantaneously. It does have "Rebound" track 3 on the CD. For me, the Robertson record which works best is "Falling in Flat Space". That is a quiet, understated sort of record - and quite scary. It has power like that - power in a different way to the thing he achieves in concert (or the gigs we saw, anyway) - but power. Might be thisOne Final Note Interview by Joe Milazzo (who posts here as Joe). The Bud Powell record has that happy/sad sensibility too, but not so charged. Simon Weil

Well I couldn't tell you if Robertson was doing that or some other thing, but the one time I've seen the guy live (with Tim Berne 5 years ago), he was just astounding. He has amazing technical control and a fully worked-out artistic sensibility which produced solos of a happy/sad clown quality. I've got most of his solo records and he never seems to come close to that verve/presence - so, on that, I agree with Lawrence. But, my God, if you could ever get that down on disc... Simon Weil

http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?i...arch&state=Form Slightly different angle. Simon Weil

They do get lots of people visiting. Nils told me it was over 1 million hits a month a few years ago. And the site is much, much bigger now. When the dust has settled, doubtless they'll tell us. Simon Weil