Your title says it all. For reasons I don't understand (probably because I'm a native and cannot be objective), Jacksonville seems to have always had a problem marketing itself or acknowledging that there's anything here people would want to see or learn about. It's like at some point, a pall was spread over the city and people try and crawl out from under it in spurts and waves but can never quite manage.
Let’s hope your excellent diatribe and dissection of this dot placing event will result in a more profound look at our musical history.
I am a landscape architect and recently attended a similar event concerning the Metropolitan Park redesign. Instead of a serious discussion about the park design, the attendees were given the same stupid multicolored dots and asked to stick them on the plans. This dumb down approach seems to be our new way of reaching consensus.
I'm sorry to hear it, Lad. It must be the trendy new process. I'm sure all the dot stickers you've studied over the years helped you take on the task masterfully.
Taken together, unaware, uninterested and incapable pretty well sum it up: one doesn't know, one doesn't want to know, and lacks the brainpower to figure anything out, much less appreciate whatever it is. That mindset is hardly limited to Jacksonville but it does seem more highly concentrated and deeply ingrained there. I grew up there, long enough ago to remember shaking LBJ's hand when he was campaigning in Hemming Park, only 4 years after that same public space - now James Weldon Johnson Park - was where ax handles were being handed out to crackers all too eager to bust some black heads on what became known as Ax Handle Saturday. Since all that was before Lester Maddox got famous for his Pickrick drumsticks, does that put Jacksonville in the vanguard of bigotry?
You shook LBJ's hand -- well that's something. (I'm glad he didn't pee on your shoes, as I read he once did to one of the Secret Service guys. Or did he?) Hope you enjoyed some of the jazz references in this screed!
I remember Johnson's right hand was covered with band-aids, rubbed raw from pressing so much flesh. No stray micturation was observed. I hadn't heard that story, but I am familiar with the lore of his seeing members of congress with whom he was having disagreements while he was ensconced on the porcelain throne. And yes, indeed I did enjoy the musical references. I would not classify your piece as a screed, for the indignations expressed are far too righteous. Or maybe they just match my own...
Perfect first photo and caption🙃. When I recover from finding out that someone has never heard of Ray Charles, I’ll let you know.
Is this supposed to eventually become an actual “garden”? I don’t get it. Little gardens where the stickers went? I’m stuck on the instructions to put the stickers on the places you LISTEN to music. Like music venues? Or places you personally listen? I don’t get it. Did everyone put a sticker on their own house?
About 1963, Ray Charles had several hits that got a lot of airplay on WPDQ and WAPE. I devoted many hours of piano practice to What'd I Say, Unchain My Heart and I Can't Stop Loving You because a boy i liked was a fan. By 1964 I was totally immersed in the Beatles and left ol Ray behind
Dr. John, aka Malcolm John Rebennack, lost the tip of a finger while performing at a Jax club, which is the reason he switched to playing keyboards. Apparently there was some sort of gunplay, etc.
From Wiki: "Rebennack's career as a guitarist was stunted around 1960,[13] when the ring finger on his left (guitar fretting) hand was injured by a gunshot during an incident at a Jacksonville, Florida gig.[14][15] After the injury, Rebennack concentrated on bass guitar before making piano his main instrument, developing a style influenced by Professor Longhair.[16] "
13 Fletcher, Kenneth R. "Dr. John's Prognosis". Smithsonian. Smithsonian. Archived from the original on June 7, 2019. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
14 Morris, Chris (June 6, 2019). "Dr. John, New Orleans Music Icon, Dies at 77". Variety. Archived from the original on June 7, 2019. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
15 "DR. JOHN: ON AND ON THE LIGHT GOES". Larecord.com. Archived from the original on June 10, 2018. Retrieved June 7, 2019. Greene, Andy; Browne, David (June 6, 2019).
16 "Dr. John, Hall of Fame Singer Who Brought New Orleans to the World, Dead at 77". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 7, 2019. Retrieved June 7, 2019. 'He created a unique blend of music which carried his hometown, New Orleans, at its heart, as it was always in his heart' family says of Grammy-winning musician born Malcolm John Rebennack
Your title says it all. For reasons I don't understand (probably because I'm a native and cannot be objective), Jacksonville seems to have always had a problem marketing itself or acknowledging that there's anything here people would want to see or learn about. It's like at some point, a pall was spread over the city and people try and crawl out from under it in spurts and waves but can never quite manage.
Perfectly said, Charlie.
When the history one lives is not their own.
Let’s hope your excellent diatribe and dissection of this dot placing event will result in a more profound look at our musical history.
I am a landscape architect and recently attended a similar event concerning the Metropolitan Park redesign. Instead of a serious discussion about the park design, the attendees were given the same stupid multicolored dots and asked to stick them on the plans. This dumb down approach seems to be our new way of reaching consensus.
I'm sorry to hear it, Lad. It must be the trendy new process. I'm sure all the dot stickers you've studied over the years helped you take on the task masterfully.
Taken together, unaware, uninterested and incapable pretty well sum it up: one doesn't know, one doesn't want to know, and lacks the brainpower to figure anything out, much less appreciate whatever it is. That mindset is hardly limited to Jacksonville but it does seem more highly concentrated and deeply ingrained there. I grew up there, long enough ago to remember shaking LBJ's hand when he was campaigning in Hemming Park, only 4 years after that same public space - now James Weldon Johnson Park - was where ax handles were being handed out to crackers all too eager to bust some black heads on what became known as Ax Handle Saturday. Since all that was before Lester Maddox got famous for his Pickrick drumsticks, does that put Jacksonville in the vanguard of bigotry?
You shook LBJ's hand -- well that's something. (I'm glad he didn't pee on your shoes, as I read he once did to one of the Secret Service guys. Or did he?) Hope you enjoyed some of the jazz references in this screed!
I remember Johnson's right hand was covered with band-aids, rubbed raw from pressing so much flesh. No stray micturation was observed. I hadn't heard that story, but I am familiar with the lore of his seeing members of congress with whom he was having disagreements while he was ensconced on the porcelain throne. And yes, indeed I did enjoy the musical references. I would not classify your piece as a screed, for the indignations expressed are far too righteous. Or maybe they just match my own...
Perfect first photo and caption🙃. When I recover from finding out that someone has never heard of Ray Charles, I’ll let you know.
Is this supposed to eventually become an actual “garden”? I don’t get it. Little gardens where the stickers went? I’m stuck on the instructions to put the stickers on the places you LISTEN to music. Like music venues? Or places you personally listen? I don’t get it. Did everyone put a sticker on their own house?
…but bigger picture — the idea to do this does seem to work as an effort to correct the problem of Jax not knowing itself…..
It certainly could work that way. And should. But so far?
I share your disappointment 😞
Side story
About 1963, Ray Charles had several hits that got a lot of airplay on WPDQ and WAPE. I devoted many hours of piano practice to What'd I Say, Unchain My Heart and I Can't Stop Loving You because a boy i liked was a fan. By 1964 I was totally immersed in the Beatles and left ol Ray behind
Oh no! You unchained Ray's heart! Is there room for both the Beatles and Brother Ray? ;-)
Dr. John, aka Malcolm John Rebennack, lost the tip of a finger while performing at a Jax club, which is the reason he switched to playing keyboards. Apparently there was some sort of gunplay, etc.
From Wiki: "Rebennack's career as a guitarist was stunted around 1960,[13] when the ring finger on his left (guitar fretting) hand was injured by a gunshot during an incident at a Jacksonville, Florida gig.[14][15] After the injury, Rebennack concentrated on bass guitar before making piano his main instrument, developing a style influenced by Professor Longhair.[16] "
13 Fletcher, Kenneth R. "Dr. John's Prognosis". Smithsonian. Smithsonian. Archived from the original on June 7, 2019. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
14 Morris, Chris (June 6, 2019). "Dr. John, New Orleans Music Icon, Dies at 77". Variety. Archived from the original on June 7, 2019. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
15 "DR. JOHN: ON AND ON THE LIGHT GOES". Larecord.com. Archived from the original on June 10, 2018. Retrieved June 7, 2019. Greene, Andy; Browne, David (June 6, 2019).
16 "Dr. John, Hall of Fame Singer Who Brought New Orleans to the World, Dead at 77". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 7, 2019. Retrieved June 7, 2019. 'He created a unique blend of music which carried his hometown, New Orleans, at its heart, as it was always in his heart' family says of Grammy-winning musician born Malcolm John Rebennack