Aaron Bady
@zunguzungu.bsky.social
Meat blood, bees, things of that nature
www.oaklandreviewofbooks.org
www.oaklandreviewofbooks.org
I am now changing my outrage and objecting to this California band appropriating the culture of British rock musicians
November 10, 2025 at 11:10 PM
I am now changing my outrage and objecting to this California band appropriating the culture of British rock musicians
I will say I finally got around to actually listening to the music they played under that name and it's so not CCR and not Southern Rock and so extremely British invasionally that it makes me 50% less suspicious
November 10, 2025 at 11:08 PM
I will say I finally got around to actually listening to the music they played under that name and it's so not CCR and not Southern Rock and so extremely British invasionally that it makes me 50% less suspicious
Wow, yeah, I just found that reference in that novel. 1969!
November 10, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Wow, yeah, I just found that reference in that novel. 1969!
Reposted by Aaron Bady
(randomly, Lott was my dissertation director's dissertation director, and I have to admit, my dissertation has some of that DNA in it)
November 10, 2025 at 3:10 PM
(randomly, Lott was my dissertation director's dissertation director, and I have to admit, my dissertation has some of that DNA in it)
Love and Theft is very good! but like a lot of books written in 1993, it suffers by comparison to books that were later written by people who had the benefit of having read Lott's Love and Theft
November 10, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Love and Theft is very good! but like a lot of books written in 1993, it suffers by comparison to books that were later written by people who had the benefit of having read Lott's Love and Theft
Immediately ordering that.
November 10, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Immediately ordering that.
and the line about how it's fine to do bayou schtick because "stephen foster wasn't even FROM the south" or whatever it was, is also such an amazing thing to say
November 10, 2025 at 2:35 PM
and the line about how it's fine to do bayou schtick because "stephen foster wasn't even FROM the south" or whatever it was, is also such an amazing thing to say
anyway, I might see if I can dig up this archive: www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco... And I apologize for badgering you about this, but also, I don't apologize, because it's your fault for making a really thought provoking podcast
El Cerrito Events Celebrate Hometown Hitmakers Creedence Clearwater Revival
Before they pushed the Beatles down the charts, Creedence Clearwater Revival performed as the Golliwogs and now two events in their hometown of El Cerrito celebrate 50 years of hitmaking by the band.
www.cbsnews.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:30 PM
anyway, I might see if I can dig up this archive: www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco... And I apologize for badgering you about this, but also, I don't apologize, because it's your fault for making a really thought provoking podcast
Like, it wouldn't be hyperbolic to say that blackface was a huge part of american popular music, possibly one of the most important streams of it, and somewhere around 1960s, we all agreed to completely forget it had ever happened
November 10, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Like, it wouldn't be hyperbolic to say that blackface was a huge part of american popular music, possibly one of the most important streams of it, and somewhere around 1960s, we all agreed to completely forget it had ever happened
yeah, I barely know the term, and I've actually read a lot about blackface (at least for someone that hasn't done thousands of hours of research into rock music). But then, that's a big part of how blackface works, too; we've forgotten so many of the codes and terms that USED to be very current
November 10, 2025 at 2:23 PM
yeah, I barely know the term, and I've actually read a lot about blackface (at least for someone that hasn't done thousands of hours of research into rock music). But then, that's a big part of how blackface works, too; we've forgotten so many of the codes and terms that USED to be very current
But I guess I find it hard to credit that level of continuing obliviousness to a band that would, later, so adeptly traffic in such a variety of cultural codes and signifiers
November 10, 2025 at 2:09 PM
But I guess I find it hard to credit that level of continuing obliviousness to a band that would, later, so adeptly traffic in such a variety of cultural codes and signifiers
And then afterwards, because they had no hate in their hearts (or however one conceptualizes racism) they insist that they never knew anything at all about what they were doing, when probably it was somewhere in between?
November 10, 2025 at 2:08 PM
And then afterwards, because they had no hate in their hearts (or however one conceptualizes racism) they insist that they never knew anything at all about what they were doing, when probably it was somewhere in between?
That IS interesting. And I'm not trying to unveil them as Secret Villainous Racists In Their Hearts or anything, but, you know, there's something in that that feels very familiar about how innocent kids in a racist place find themselves doing and saying racist things, innocently
November 10, 2025 at 2:07 PM
That IS interesting. And I'm not trying to unveil them as Secret Villainous Racists In Their Hearts or anything, but, you know, there's something in that that feels very familiar about how innocent kids in a racist place find themselves doing and saying racist things, innocently
I appreciate the response, btw; your podcast is a genuinely remarkable achievement, one of the best things I've come across in AGES.
November 10, 2025 at 1:50 PM
I appreciate the response, btw; your podcast is a genuinely remarkable achievement, one of the best things I've come across in AGES.
And this feels exactly like that, the way a lot of stuff that used to be VERY OBVIOUSLY a kind of public hate speech gets retroactively coded as "oh no one really thought much about that"
November 10, 2025 at 1:49 PM
And this feels exactly like that, the way a lot of stuff that used to be VERY OBVIOUSLY a kind of public hate speech gets retroactively coded as "oh no one really thought much about that"
Btw, one reason this interests me is that there's a bar just outside of El Cerrito called the Hotsy Totsy that had a confederate flag-themed sign since the 30's; a couple decades ago, under new ownership, they repainted the red and blue of the sign pink and grey, but they also insist it was innocent
November 10, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Btw, one reason this interests me is that there's a bar just outside of El Cerrito called the Hotsy Totsy that had a confederate flag-themed sign since the 30's; a couple decades ago, under new ownership, they repainted the red and blue of the sign pink and grey, but they also insist it was innocent
I need to check that out.
November 10, 2025 at 1:45 PM
I need to check that out.
But those white afros! I guess I find that obliviousness very hard to credit; it feels like the sort of thing you'd say to avoid having to admit "we were dumb kids playing with racial stereotypes." Like with with the cover of willy and the poor boys, CCR seems VERY focused on their racial identity
November 10, 2025 at 1:43 PM
But those white afros! I guess I find that obliviousness very hard to credit; it feels like the sort of thing you'd say to avoid having to admit "we were dumb kids playing with racial stereotypes." Like with with the cover of willy and the poor boys, CCR seems VERY focused on their racial identity
Which is not to deny that the broad outlines of the story are probably true, but just that "we always hated our wildly racist name!" and "also we didn't even know it was racist!" are slightly in tension
November 10, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Which is not to deny that the broad outlines of the story are probably true, but just that "we always hated our wildly racist name!" and "also we didn't even know it was racist!" are slightly in tension
I think I'm doubly suspicious because of how extremely SOUTHERN the east bay was at that time, in terms of both where migrants (white and black) were coming from to work on WWII era industries, and in terms of the racial dynamics they brought with them
November 10, 2025 at 1:30 PM
I think I'm doubly suspicious because of how extremely SOUTHERN the east bay was at that time, in terms of both where migrants (white and black) were coming from to work on WWII era industries, and in terms of the racial dynamics they brought with them