Why meet the rare artists?

[wow27]

I often wonder why some people go out of the way to track down,meet and interview artists from many years ago?
I think the worst culprits for this are the northern soul obsessives! For example, they hear a rare soul track - discover who's singing the track and then proceed to scour the world to track down that artist and get an interview off them!
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it and at the end of the day if it makes them happy & and they are passionate about their interest then good on them!
But i'll give you an example of an unfortunate incident i heard recently (without naming any names etc..)
Someone i know who has a passion for soul music, tracked down and interviewed an obscure soul artist from many years ago only to discover that the artist they were about to interview was in jail serving many years for murder & child offences! :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:
Maybe that case was a rare one off, but it just makes you wonder what cans of worms you may be opening when you proceed to embark on such missions!

[wow27]

Following on from the above thread - tracking down artists and interviewing them, either by phone or in person is not my cup of tea and i've got far better things to be getting on with! however, as much as the above incident was perhaps an unfortunate one-off, if that was me who had tracked down and interviewed that rare soul artist in question and discovered what was mentioned above,then assuming they truely were 100% guilty for the crimes they were in jail for! I would be absolutely stunned/disgusted and would be sorry i bothered!
I would'nt even consider them to be a human being let alone a rare talented music artist!

[BrunoRepublic]

Why wouldn't you consider them an artist?

Why do so many people expect that their musical "heroes" would be ideal role models as well? An artist is only a human being, just as likely to be either decent or malicious as anyone else. A lot of famous and talented people are known to be assholes. That doesn't change the fact that they made something wonderful. I'm sure there are a lot of really nice people who have made mediocre records -- does their pleasant personality make you want to hear their music any more often? Of course not... so why would the opposite be true?

I don't see the point in judging a piece of music by the person(s) who created it.

To (sort-of) quote Berkeley Breathed, "If you're trying to find out the realities behind life's great legends... you probably shouldn't."

[wow27]

I hear what you are saying/understand your point - but as far as i'm concerned if i was keen to do an interview with a music artist and found out via my enquiries that the person in question was in jail for child offences, then i for one would be dismayed and if i had any of their records would burn them out of sheer disgust, no matter how good the song is! :evil:
They would simply no longer be a human being in my eyes! :evil:

[BrunoRepublic]

I hear what you are saying/understand your point - but as far as i'm concerned if i was keen to do an interview with a music artist and found out via my enquiries that the person in question was in jail for child offences, then i for one would be dismayed and if i had any of their records would burn them out of sheer disgust, no matter how good the song is! :evil:
They would simply no longer be a human being in my eyes! :evil:

Then you might want to consider torching your entire record collection. I'm sure there's a lot of tunes in there done by people that you'd be absolutely disgusted with if you knew what they'd been up to.

[wow27]

Well the phrase that i think is appropiate here is 'innocent until proven guilty'! :o
In the case of the artist in my opening page - the person was found guilty, so that would be good enough for me to burn any record i had by such a person! :evil:
You cant just say 'oh well you may as well burn your entire collection etc...' because then the phrase from above would'nt mean anything! :-?
If i may, i would like to reverse the question onto you!
If you had a record that you really loved by, for example-Joe Bloggs and you had found out that Joe Bloggs was found guilty of what i've mentioned, then would you still keep that record?

[BrunoRepublic]

If i may, i would like to reverse the question onto you!
If you had a record that you really loved by, for example-Joe Bloggs and you had found out that Joe Bloggs was found guilty of what i've mentioned, then would you still keep that record?

Yes. Because it is the record that I would love, not Joe Bloggs.

I would certainly think twice about buying a new copy though.

Enjoying a work of art does not mean you have to like anything about the person that created it. The two are seperate entities. Wagner was, by all accounts, an absolutely rotten bastard, but there is no disputing the power of his music. Outside of Israel, I don't think there's been any discussion of burning his works just because he was such an *******.

[wow27]

Ok then let me put this far fetched senario to you then just as an example and i would be interested in your response!
If (heaven forbid) you had a son/daughter who had been abused by Joe Bloggs and you happened to have a record by Joe Bloggs in your collection, would you still keep the record?

[BrunoRepublic]

Ok then let me put this far fetched senario to you then just as an example and i would be interested in your response!
If (heaven forbid) you had a son/daughter who had been abused by Joe Bloggs and you happened to have a record by Joe Bloggs in your collection, would you still keep the record?

Most likely not. But that's a rather different scenario.

[markydefad]

OK, moral issues aside...WHO WAS THE ARTIST????!!!!

Inquiring minds want to know. Hey, the person is in prison--it must be a matter of public knowledge.

[NickNack]

Dionne Warwick has long been a favorite artist of mine, probably since the late 60's. In more recent years she has become a psychic fool :o as well as being accused and/or convicted on fraud charges regarding her AIDS benefits.

Did I throw out my entire Dionne collection? Hell no. Did I think about it? For a short time, yes, because her actions angered me. :evil: And for many years I didn't spend a penny on the woman. That was my statement --- I'll no longer support you. But, as Graham said, her actions had nothing to do with the music she created with Bacharach and others. Great artist 8) --- foolish woman :roll: .

Forgot to answer your initial question:

Why seek out old artists? Simple: 1) For the love of it and, 2) For the history of it. Many of us find it fascinating and insightful to, you know, gain a little knowledge. Either about the artist, their music, how they felt about the times they were living in. It clears up a lot of misconceptions we gained through the rumor mills and the media. And --- it's just plain FUN!

One of my favorite illuminations about a great artist concerns the late Phyllis Hyman. In an interview (the very thing you find so time-wasteful) she said the one song she absolutely hated doing and wished she hadn't was Exile's Kiss You All Over. Now, what is the one Phyllis Hyman song I'm most crazy about? You guessed it. Did her revelation bring about world peace :roll: ? I think not, but it made me appreciate her a hell of a lot more than I already did. It showed what she was, a TRUE artist, not a wannabe diva. She put her all into a song she really didn't care about and in doing that she left many of us with a sweet, sweet gift to remember her. :)

[DISCODISK]

[quote="wow27"]I often wonder why some people go out of the way to track down,meet and interview artists from many years ago?
I think the worst culprits for this are the northern soul obsessives! For example, they hear a rare soul track - discover who's singing the track and then proceed to scour the world to track down that artist and get an interview off them![quote]

i dont think its quite the way you put it WOW!sure people do this if an artist has given great pleasure to a lot of people over time of course people want to know about them with many artists a picture of them has not even been seen.i personally love those stories i could read them day and night,i love it when people are found and what became of them after they recorded.people look for these artists for many reasons to interview,to pursuade them to come here to perform or the shits that are just trying to blag a rare record.and because of this in england over the last 5 years weve seen some FANTASTIC singers perform here i agree with graham i also wouldnt judge an artist,its estimated that around 150,000 northern soul type records were cut in the states out of this by the laws of average theres gonna be a few murderers,pimps and hookers in there, there have been many artists murdered too.a lot of soul /disco artists were naughty boys but its the music that counts to me.
i watched again recently a video interview with pat lewis a detroit singer from the late 60s talking about how she was found and brought here to perform she was so exited as she told how she was treated like a queen and a star [which she is]
then her smile stopped as she told of her return home she said "i put my key in the door turned and had one last look towards england,and said to myself now im back to being plain old pat lewis again"! just because she only cut a handful of records for golden world and solid hit dosnt make her less interesting to me than gloria gaynor,i would love to find one of these artists and tell them your records are so loved and when they play that one theres 500 people on the dancefloor every time!
i would also like to know who is this mystery artist is too??

NICKNACK get the phone book out im lookin for dianne jenkins last heard of in albany ,big tall girl you MUST have seen her..... :lol: :lol:

[markydefad]

I've always suspected the English have more affection for musical artists than Americans do. In the movie "Standing In The Shadows Of Motown", one of the Funk Brothers recalls when he first knew that Motown was really a big thing. After a lengthy 1965 tour of America, they got off a plane in London only to be met by the James Jamerson Appreciation Fan Club--Jamerson was a bass player with the group. Jamerson wasn't even on this tour--BUT somehow these English folk had come to the airport to support their hero!!!

That people in England would know any of their names sorta dumbfounded this Funk Brother telling the tale. He jokingly says he said HE was Jamerson--cause he wanted a fan club for a day or so. Now I think he was kidding about pretending to be Jamerson...but apparently no one in America had ever gone to the lengths that the Brits did to get to know who the session players were on the Motown Records. He said that was when they (Funk Brothers) realized the impact their music was having on the world.

[wow27]

To whoever it was who wanted me to identify the artist, with due respect - it's best all round if i did'nt!
Anyhow who it was is irrelevant, i used the example of this individual just to make a point!

[wow27]

To whoever it was who said the English have more affection for music stars than the Americans do, i think the English have far more affection than the Americans full stop!!
That Jerry Springer show in America certainly does not do the Americans any favours at all in the eyes of the outside world, and portrays the yanks in the worst possible light! :roll:

[NickNack]

To whoever it was who said the English have more affection for music stars than the Americans do, i think the English have far more affection than the Americans full stop!!
That Jerry Springer show in America certainly does not do the Americans any favours at all in the eyes of the outside world, and portrays the yanks in the worst possible light! :roll:

Another politicized comment. You just don't quit, do you?

[markydefad]

wow,

The "whoever asked" or "whoever said" is me. My name is Mark (markydefad to the board). Believe me, I'll think twice before asking again. :roll:

[wow27]

Forgive me, but were is the politics in the above comment coz i dont see any! :o
Just telling it how it is! :roll:
and i'll defo think twice about asking in future! :roll: :lol:

[sfbeary]

it's true — every american is *exactly* like the folks on jerry springer.

if it weren't for those benny hill reruns we'd all be complete savages!

[wow27]

sfBeary

(and this is not politics)

Are they all like that in America the way they are on the Jerry Springer show, surely they cant all be that nasty and cold hearted?????
If so i fear for humanity!

[BrunoRepublic]

Well, of course they are! Everything you see on TV is true, isn't it?

Yeah, America's a pretty crazy place... I hop across the border once in a while just for the entertainment value. The border guards don't usually pay attention to me; they're to busy throwing chairs at each other because they were caught in an incestuous three-way with a trans-gendered 12 year-old crack addict. The roads are insane, everyone's driving drunk and stoned, and speeding all over the place to have hot trysts with their mother's lover's brother's cross-dressing hairdresser. And I almost never have to pay for anything at the Target or Wal-Mart stores, because there's usually a riot going on because the clerks were trying to pick up somebody's Man, and everyone else stands around and cheers them on. And yet, there's always one person trying to calm things down, who shows up with a bouquet of flowers... I'm always saddened when the flowers get crushed in the melee. I can never stay overnight, for the motels get torched at midnight because someone's vindictive ex has caught them with their latest -- as opposed to having them inform them about it on national television -- and is burning the place down.

What did you think Americans were like?

[DISCODISK]

WOW what about some of the 'MISFITS' dragged on to THE TRISHA SHOW so what does that say about the english.... :o

[Funky Dude]

sfBeary

(and this is not politics)

Are they all like that in America the way they are on the Jerry Springer show, surely they cant all be that nasty and cold hearted?????
If so i fear for humanity!

The Jerry Springer Show to me is a show where a bunch whackos have the rawhide to come in an make complete dickheads of themselves in front of X-million people not just in USA but in Australia and other countries that air Jerry Springer Show. Fair crack of the whip :lol: ! If you live a totally K-NACKERED life like those whackos, why would you want to go get a huge-arse megaphone and yell "HEY EVERYBODY I'M CHEATING ON MY GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND..... HEY EVERYBODY I'M MARRIED AND I'M A PROSTITUTE..... HEY EVERYBODY I'M HAVING A THREESOME..... HEY EVERYBODY I WANNA BREAK UP WITH MY GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND.... etc..." :lol: :lol: :lol: , all they are doing is making complete dickheads of themselves, have a blue with each other and getting the whole world to think of them as complete scumbags.

I watch the show sometimes as it's good for a laugh.
Maybe Jerry should pass these whackos onto Dr Phil for counselling after they've been on the Jerry Springer Show hehehe :lol: :lol: :lol: .

[markydefad]

Funky Dude,

Low-life American trash agree to make fools of themselves by appearing on the "Jerry Springer Show" because it's a chance to get out of the trailer park, ride in a big silver skybird, stay in a third-rate Chicago hotel with room service, and be on that there TV!!!! :roll:

This is like winning the lottery for some of these folks. They will humiliate themselves by revealing all the disgusting crap they've done or else pretend to have done (some of it's fake) cause dadgummit, they're gonna be famous back in the sad little trailer park they live in. "Fame" has no pride.

Sad but true. It's considered a joke by most Americans--a tacky reminder of how desperate for a little attention some people are. Springer rolls his eyes, washes his hands and cashes his checks. :oops:

[jazz_pilgrim]

I would'nt even consider them to be a human being let alone a rare talented music artist!

I think you are missing a vital point about soul music, here, Wow! As others have said, not all of our music heroes are squeaky clean, as you would like them to be.

But I would go further than that and say that it is because of their flawed backgrounds, not despite it, that they are able to produce such tortured soulful music. I mean, you can hear the pain in their voices when they sing!! That is what soul music is all about - singing from the soul!!

And as for all this politics crap - I am happy to say that every time I've been in America/Canada (twice) I've had a great time!!! I will be out there again, one day soon!! Roll out the red carpet!! :lol: