Annotated Bibliography

Erickson, Steve. “Neil Young On a Good Day.” New York Times-Sunday Magazine. July 2000. Web.

This source will help me provide examples of Neil’s character, and I will then relate that to how Neil is hip. The article talks about all the idiosyncrasies Neil has and also how he can be a trickster figure. For example, Neil fired his Buffalo Springfield manager only to ask him to secretly manage his solo career.

 Kent, Nick. “I Will Survive.” MOJO Vol. 1: Issue 4. 96+ Print.

This Mojo article tells of Neil’s journey into older age and how he has had to deal with ambiguity within the music business. The article asks the question, “ Does a 60-year-old still have any place in the wild frontier? Whatever the answer is, Neil will do the opposite.

Leland, John. Hip: The History. New York: HarperCollins, 2004. Print.

I will use Leland as a reference point for hip, mainly using ideas about the trickster figure and identity. Leland claims that there is a mythology built around personal identity and I will use Neil Young as the example. Neil has many pseudonyms that allow him to try on different personas.

McDonough, Jimmy. Shakey; Neil Young’s Biography. New York: Anchor Books, 2002. Print.

Neil Young’s biography will serve as a reference point of Neil’s career and I will highlight the hippest points as well as why he will remain hip in the future. There are countless stories about how Neil likes to provoke his audience, which is a trickster move.

Simmons, Sylvie. “Be there, be there now, be in it.” MOJO Feb. 2011: 74-90. Print.

This article has many examples of Neil’s influence on past and future generations. There is a small interview with Young that gives insight into how Neil works. I plan to reference quotes from people who have been influenced by Young.

 Sweetig, Adam. “Expecting To Fly.” Uncut July 2003: 36-66. Print.

This article has great examples of Neil’s attitude in general. He wasn’t in the business to make money; it was always about the music. The main point I will use is that Neil was environmentally conscious, even in the 70’s, and used his status to raise a bigger awareness.

Women Who Rock!

On the topic of women’s role in the history of ‘hip,’ I believe women are the driving force or momentum behind the scenes. Now I have no claim to feminism by any means, in fact I would consider myself more “one of the guys” type of girl, but it is strange that John Leland omits many important female icons in Hip: The History.

           

            The puzzle piece I’m having trouble with is the way Leland keeps referring to hip as more of a feminine movement, but then goes on to discuss the dominance of males in society.  I guess this is just another contradiction of hip. This idea is leaning more towards misogynistic because it places women in the home as domestic mothers, and men on the road, living their dreams.

            

“ For many women, especially those with children, the price of this adventure is too high. Instead of reinventing themselves on the road, they have reinvented the home and the parameters of hip within it” (Leland 243).

There is not a right or wrong side here; there are just many versions of the truth. Some women may be perfectly happy being a housewife/mother and others may want to live from one adventure to another, I don’t think that makes them less hip than their male counterpart.

Needless to say, (this is where I say it anyways), there are many female faces within the history of pop culture and I think Leland chose to leave them out. Why? Maybe he wasn’t comfortable with the subject, then again maybe his wife made him add the chapter on ladies?  Who Knows?

Hip remains a matter of opinion and it really is up to the researcher on defining what is hip, who is hip, and why it matters. 

Here is just a short list of women who were left out of this book (or didn’t get enough coverage): Emily Dickinson, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth  Hurley, Cyndi Lauper, The Staples Sisters, The Supremes, Tina Turner, Wanda Jackson, Alanis Morissette, Joan Baez, Carole King, Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell, Rosa Parks, and so so many more. 

                    

                                                                   

Vinyl gets its groove back!

      So for the final essay I am collecting information on old trends, one of them being the vinyl record. The invention of vinyl records revolutionized the way people listened to music, as well as made artists popular. Before records, people just listened to live music or the radio, but being able to purchase records gave freedom to the listener. You could walk into a record store and look through rows of vinyl, each album cover was like a work of art.
      Vinyl eventually fell victim to newer technology like cassette tapes and compact discs, but many people argue that the sound of the record was never topped. Recently vinyl societies have popped up all over the place, even here in Blaz`e, Idaho. We have Record Store day, April 15th, and a newly founded Vinyl Society. 
I have to wonder if this falls into the hipster category though?

It's a fine line between hip and just plain foolishness, and if your doing it for the right reasons, than what does it matter?
It takes dedication to listen to vinyl in a world of instant mp3 gratification. A true vinyl lover recognizes the beauty in each tiny groove of the pressed material.
    
Vinyl sales seem to be on the rise again and new records are being released in vinyl box sets! This is music to the ears for collectors and anyone who appreciates the art.

Here's a short article about the recent trend:
http://www.baynews9.com/article/news/2010/august/137521/Vinyl-records-are-coming-back-into-style

Kartoons are for Kids, oK?

           The only thing appropriate for kids in these old cartoons was the distracting music. After watching the old Betty Boop cartoon, I can see why it was banned from television. I’m not sure what year it was made, but really that should be no excuse. Even if the creators thought they were being ‘cute’ or ‘witty’ and trying to poke fun at stereotypes, these are the reasons why racism has lasted for too long. The cartoon’s host Betty Boop is a caricature version of a young, hip, Jewish women who exploits babies for their natural talents.  Russian babies, Chinese babies, White babies, and Black babies, any baby goes. So when the Black babies come out on the stage, they are chained together and crying, and in order to stop their crying, they are given a watermelon. Then in the audience, a Black baby starts to cry and what does the mother give it, you guessed it, a watermelon. These stereotypes and caricatures were maybe meant to be funny, but really they are just reinforcing the fact that racism was popular. There is nothing funny about this, at all!

I sincerely hope that children were not allowed to watch these parades of indignity, but judging by how many people still have racist opinions, I’m sure they were.

            The only love in this cartoon is the love for hatred and spreading racist views. John Leland says, “Without the Africans, there is no hip”(18), so why are African Americans viewed so negatively? If that is hip, then I don’t want to ever be hip. There is just something so disturbing about this cartoon and I’m not sure if it’s the weird babies, the racism, or the fact that Betty Boop doesn’t have a neck? Either way, at least someone had enough sense to ban the horrific nightmare that should have remained a delusion in someone’s head.