{"id":1815,"date":"2010-02-24T11:30:19","date_gmt":"2010-02-24T17:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/?p=1815"},"modified":"2011-03-04T10:34:31","modified_gmt":"2011-03-04T16:34:31","slug":"cultural-indifferences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/02\/cultural-indifferences\/","title":{"rendered":"Cultural Indifferences"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The wonderful thing about having a well-run auditorium in town is opportunities it provides. If you follow Paul Simon or were listening to pop music in the mid-1980s you know of his album <em>Graceland<\/em>, which introduced to the West the South African men&#8217;s chorus that was in Fayetteville last weekend. Its name can seem a mouthful: <a title=\"quite an interesting history here\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ladysmith_Black_Mambazo\" target=\"_blank\">Ladysmith Black Mambazo<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Ladysmith<\/em> &#8212; hometown of the Shabalala family, who comprise most of its nine members.<\/li>\n<li><em>Black<\/em> &#8212; the area&#8217;s favored farm oxen.<\/li>\n<li><em>Mambazo<\/em> &#8212; Zulu for ax, perhaps more in the metaphorical Christian sword sense. (Thanks, program notes.)<\/li>\n<li><em>Dinkelspiel<\/em> &#8212; a smaller auditorium at Stanford University &#8212; or one of the bigger lecture halls, depending on whether it&#8217;s night or day.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So help me, I kept thinking <a title=\"primarily for music concerts\" href=\"http:\/\/www.artsopolis.com\/venue\/detail\/49\" target=\"_blank\">Dinkelspiel<\/a> during Saturday&#8217;s performance of the extraordinary men&#8217;s ensemble. In the late 1970s jazz saxophonist <a title=\"apparently his official Web site\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sonnyrollins.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Sonny Rollins<\/a> played at Dink. In a still-memorable <a title=\"Mentioned briefly in a previous Brick\" href=\"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/12\/05\/take-five-and-five-more\/\" target=\"_blank\">moment<\/a> of my college years, the microphone clipped to his sax went out. Mr. Rollins hesitated for the briefest moment then resumed the piece. He sounded great before but now, astounding. To be heard in the last row of the 700-seat hall, not to mention over his combo, he changed his breath support and his embouchure (how the lips and teeth hold the mouthpiece). It made me realize how artificial amplification is, even when allegedly live and otherwise acoustic. In a couple of minutes though Mr. Rollins&#8217; mike got repatched, and the wall of sound was re-erected.<\/p>\n<p>The Mambazo band is known for dancing during its songs. They had no accompaniment. It was a cappella all the way, not even a hand drum. So when they kick or squat, they move from the microphones on stands.<\/p>\n<p>The group, with few staff changes, has been together for over 40 years. Their words fading in and out must be deliberate. Maybe the fellows were playing their microphones like instruments; pros do that.<\/p>\n<p>We had balcony seats, and I do have hearing problems. I&#8217;d have them hooked into wireless <a title=\"Early models real clunky, better now\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lavalier_microphone\" target=\"_blank\">lavalier<\/a> or headset microphones. Recalling Mr. Rollins, though, you know Mambazo would be more incredible sans amplification.<!--more--> I should&#8217;ve snuck into Walton Saturday afternoon, sat up close, to catch their sound check.<\/p>\n<p>They sang little in English, notably Simon&#8217;s &#8220;Homeless.&#8221; For me as a sometime horn player, this cultural gap provided a deeper appreciation, hear the voices as instruments like flute or bass, without lyrics to distract.<\/p>\n<p>The dancing pointed out another aspect. Mambazo gave a show, not a recital. By the dancing as well as song introductions and clowning, we got to know and understand them more deeply by their interplay.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to a jokey speech about soccer&#8217;s World Cup to be this June in South Africa, delivered at the top of the second set by a Mambazo member, most remarks during the program were made by founder Joseph Shabalala. Otherwise the humor was silent, the international language of slapstick. Dance steps morphed mischievously into play-clumsiness or play-squabbles. Once, the fellows could remark and pantomime about the wife of one being pregnant, and he pulled up his dashiki to show his round belly. Repeatedly a singer would face upstage and jiggle his butt at the audience.<\/p>\n<p>It got laughs, but it was worrisome, too. Slapstick crosses language boundaries, but in these parts, some moves were reminiscent of <a title=\"multimedia backgrounder\" href=\"http:\/\/utc.iath.virginia.edu\/minstrel\/mihp.html\" target=\"_blank\">minstrelsy<\/a>. Or not. Shabalala and his family aren&#8217;t American. If the <a title=\"A good Wiki segment\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Minstrel_show\" target=\"_blank\">genre<\/a> has indigenous roots then I&#8217;m incorrect.<\/p>\n<p>Make no mistake, this was a tremendous performance by outstanding musicians, comfortable with one another. Seeing them in an enthusiastic, nearly sold-out Walton Arts Center with its great sight lines and acoustics added to the thrill.<\/p>\n<p>If it stays. The center&#8217;s board and staff are itching to expand. Its new CEO Peter Lane specified interest in keeping this building but somewhere in the region constructing an <a title=\"Walton Arts Center Expanding\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kfsm.com\/news\/kfsm-news-nwa-walton-arts-center-expanding,0,1814796.story \" target=\"_blank\">auditorium nearly double<\/a> the size of this one (2,100 seats to 1,200). His example was to attract acts like comedian Jerry Seinfeld.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Lane was baiting the hoi polloi of the Ozarks. He should be ashamed of himself. He was selling a Toyota based on its <a title=\"And I love my 2007 Prius!\" href=\"http:\/\/www.businessweek.com\/ap\/financialnews\/D9E2J7280.htm\" target=\"_blank\">acceleration<\/a>. It&#8217;s not just that an additional building has its own costs of land and construction then staffing and maintenance, but sound theater management demands balancing costs with occupancy, to minimize the nights the &#8220;house is dark,&#8221; as my <a title=\"Dad helped run the Ft Smith Municipal Auditorium in its first years.\" href=\"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/02\/08\/man-and-superboy\/\" target=\"_blank\">late father<\/a> would call it.<\/p>\n<p>Fayetteville&#8217;s <a title=\"Offers plenty 24\/7\/12\" href=\"http:\/\/www.waltonartscenter.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Walton Arts Center<\/a> &#8212; with the proscenium main hall, a black-box theater and art gallery, and Nadine Baum Studios a half-block away &#8212; has perhaps two-three shows a week. Could a big auditorium book like that here, citing realistic population projections? What is Mr. Lane&#8217;s estimate, 10 big-tent shows a year?<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Recession Hits Arts Funding Around the Globe\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/culture\/2010\/feb\/19\/arts-funding-global-recession\" target=\"_blank\">Stages worldwide<\/a> began having money troubles before the Good Depression began. Blame the Internet, blame the necessary high tickets (my balcony seat for Mambazo was $38.50.) Sales are <a title=\"Recession Devastates N.J. Nonprofit Arts Scene\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nj.com\/news\/index.ssf\/2010\/02\/recession_devastates_nj_nonpro.html\" target=\"_blank\">only part<\/a> of what keeps such performance facilities going. There are donations or underwriting, then tax support and tax breaks. It doesn&#8217;t work this simply, but why not sign Jer&#8217; to do his standup for two-or three-night run on Dickson Street. Can&#8217;t you hear the <a title=\"One place where &quot;Seinfeld&quot; made the dictionary\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Yada_Yada\" target=\"_blank\">yada yada<\/a> in a glittering Bentonville palace with a huge mortgage, then six weeks later stage <em>The Lion King<\/em> for the kids, with $150 tickets?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The wonderful thing about having a well-run auditorium in town is opportunities it provides. If you follow Paul Simon or were listening to pop music in the mid-1980s you know of his album Graceland, which introduced to the West the South African men&#8217;s chorus that was in Fayetteville last weekend. Its name can seem a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[36],"class_list":["post-1815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-body-home-street","tag-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":397,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2008\/01\/wac-ky-in-fayetteville\/","url_meta":{"origin":1815,"position":0},"title":"WAC-ky in Fayetteville","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"January 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville at age 16 is being called a relic in some (moneyed) quarters. Those quarters know it's not old by civic center standards, and in the last year or so it got reupholstered. The quarrel is its size. The main auditorium has about 1,200 seats,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Body, Home, Street&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2765,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2011\/03\/hail-to-the-chieftains\/","url_meta":{"origin":1815,"position":1},"title":"Hail to The Chieftains","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"March 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Before The Chieftains review -- which it's not, because I lost my Lamy Al-Star pen following a disaster of a restaurant meal so I couldn't take notes -- a roundabout. I try to be a jack of all journalism tricks. I even covered a lecture and poetry reading by ex-NBA\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Brick Bats Reportage&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Brick Bats Reportage","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/brick-bats-reportage\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5001,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2014\/12\/ends-do-not-justify-mean\/","url_meta":{"origin":1815,"position":2},"title":"Ends Do Not Justify Mean","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This \"119\" fight in my hometown could've just offended me like the reasonable person I think I am. But it enrages, rekindling a pair of memories. While I support full nondiscrimination in my community and country, when proposed this summer Fayetteville Ordinance 5703 \/ Chapter 119 Civil Rights Administration fell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Body, Home, Street&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Promotional sticker from the producers of Hair, circa 1971. The Pollock Archive.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hair-sticker-1000x2-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2507,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/12\/belly-up-with-dickson-street\/","url_meta":{"origin":1815,"position":3},"title":"Belly Up with Dickson Street","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2010 Ben S. Pollock DATELINE MIRTHOLOGY -- I grabbed a take-out coffee from Common Grounds and headed across Fayetteville's Dickson Street to the rose garden of the current Walton Arts Center. I sat on the terraced brick wall, waiting for my client-friend Crystal Britches, and shivered. The flower bushes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Chronicles of Crystal Britches&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Chronicles of Crystal Britches","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/chronicles-of-crystal-britches\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":251,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/12\/take-five-and-five-more\/","url_meta":{"origin":1815,"position":4},"title":"Take Five, and Five More","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 5, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"It's not that I see a lot of concerts. I don't. So in the context of relative superlatives let it be henceforth: Sunday's concert of the Dave Brubeck Quartet followed by the Ramsey Lewis Trio was the best jazz concert I have ever seen. This includes seeing Mr. Brubeck in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Brick Bats Reportage&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Brick Bats Reportage","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/brick-bats-reportage\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1908,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/05\/lama-palooza-i-rock-star\/","url_meta":{"origin":1815,"position":5},"title":"Lama-palooza I: Rock star","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2010 Ben S. Pollock CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- I got this close to the Dalai Lama (spread hands about four feet) last week. 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