The focus today is on Beauty, at least for a bit. The beautiful snowfall outside. Tree branches over the suburban landscape outside my window draped with white, The grey of a drifting storm system providing a hopeful backdrop as we know the sun will soon appear. The beautiful Vivaldi violin concertos I listened to yesterday, my beautiful daughters, beautiful as is, as children.
And so on any given day it's not that hard to dismiss the Sleaze infiltrating the society at large from the Sleaze Monger Media Machine and embrace the Beauty around us. Just tune it out, don't go any where where there's media blasting vile and vulgar images and sounds your way (Does limit our options for going about our business on any given day.) Like the old discussion about simply turning off the television, the Idiot Box. But the Idiot Box had some great non-sleazy shows back in the day, the day being, I don't know, we'll try and get a date during our research for Sleaze Nation. I Love Lucy, good clean fun, my kids, generations removed, love I love Lucy, and of course we have no issues letting them to watch it. The raciest think I've seen was an episode when Lucy's kids were doing some hip shaking as they sang and danced to the pop hit, Papa Ohh-Mow-Mow, compare to today's mainstream TV content. Even 25 years ago with Sleazy Married with Children--still a staple re-run today. The Middlle-American family as stupid, lusting, selfish, materialists--did I miss anything?
But we leave the Beauty to explore the Sleaze, and in the process maybe discover some Beauty in the Sleaze? Who knows. (Devil's advocates may ask, What about finding Sleaze in the Beauty? Tell us who you are, give us an example, a sleazy I Love Lucy episode?)
The idea of I've Got to Boogy, the short we're doing as part of the Sleaze Nation documentary, is to talk with those responsible for Disco Sleaze when the phenomenon was in its infacny, to try and understand its appeal, other than the obvious: It felt good! It's out into the trenches of the Sleaze Machine, past and present, examining how we got the way we are. And I can't help but think that we'll find some Beauty within the Sleaze. Beauty under the glittering Disco ball as clubgoers bumped and ground, maybe snorted a few lines of cocaine in a dark corner, engaged in intercourse in back rooms. Heck, maybe some people thought the darn disco ball itself was beautiful. The Beautiful Glittering Disco Ball, rotating gently over everyone's heads as the spirit of having to boogy descended upon the dancers. That's really what it was about--having to boogy, as Alicia sang. Having to boogy, having to get a peice of the Night Life that had taken the country by storm. What you'd be missing if you didn't experience the Disco Scene! All the Beautiful People dressed in sexy polyester, with sex on their minds and a green light to engage in it, and maybe even do some drugs--heck, it was almost a directive to do what felt good. Sex and drugs (we'll not call Disco rock and roll) felt really good, as everyone surely knew.
But there I go again. Let the Disco People speak. Thosein the vanguard of the movement, now near or over 60 years old. Looking back, any regrets? Lessons learned? You think Disco was a positive cultural legacy we left for our kids, the country, the world in general? Did they send any Disco paraphanalia to ouster space in the Time Capsule thing? Maybe John Travolta in his famous Saturday Night Fever pose?
And so, it's on to the Disco People of lore, stay tuned for interviews.
0 comments:
Post a Comment