In a message dated Tue, 29 Feb 2000 2:26:42 PM Eastern Standard Time, Martin_Wisckol@link.freedom.com writes:
> Zornlist question of the day:
>
> Why is it predominantly guys that are so fascinated by this avant music
> we listen to?
>
> -
This same question pops up on RMP every other month. I continue to say that it's because 99.99% of the music is non-danceable, but I've been told that was wrong. Yet I've still not heard a better reason...
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=dg=
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Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 17:39:09 -0500
From: "Joslyn Layne" <joslay@allmusic.com>
Subject: re: how'd it happen / no girls allowed?
How did it start for me? i grew up in a musical home [albeit a bluegrass
gospel one!], and always dug music. perhaps having the devil's music [ie,
all secular music] forbidden helped accustom me to working harder at finding
out new music.
The avant turning point happened by accident at a one day mini-festival.
this kind of music being the.. incestuous world that it is helped me check
out countless more recordings, although i was starting out with just a few
names: "i like rova," etc.
As to 'why no girls?' (and i've only met two, besides myself, who actively
seeks it out, although i know other women who do enjoy the concerts they've
attended)
Being a music geek and having sex appeal appear to be exclusionary states...
signed,
a girl who has sat in many an audience surrounded by mullet haircuts and
pomposity.
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Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 18:00:48 -0500
From: "Jeni Dahmus" <jdahmus@juilliard.edu>
Subject: RE: No girls allowed
> Why is it predominantly guys that are so fascinated by this
> avant music we listen to?
People ask me this all the time, and I've never come up with a good answer.
Female avant fans may be wired differently for various reasons--past
experiences or biological--which allow them to be more open to music outside
the mainstream. I suspect many have an independent, nonconformist streak
and don't care if others approve of their music tastes or if they are seen
alone at a concert. Like Ajda, most of my close friends are male.
As an example of the stereotyping female avant fans face, I'd like to
describe one of my experiences when purchasing "out" music. A few months
ago I placed a phone order with Laser's Edge. Because of my gender, the guy
on the phone thought I was ordering the CD as a gift (in this case Devil
Doll, which was recommended by a male Zorn lister). He seemed to think I
was joking when I claimed the order was for myself. I felt like saying,
"No, I am *not* a lesbian" (not that there's anything wrong with that,
really). Despite the guy's initial shock, he was pleased that a woman would
place such an order for her own listening pleasure.
Jeni,
who loves Painkiller but dislikes Taboo and Exile's album art
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Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 17:57:39 EST
From: Orangejazz@aol.com
Subject: Re: How It Happened
Well, I guess this topic is interesting enough, and I think I have a
different story to tell. I'm 17 now. I can't stand prog-rock, last time a
friend played Marillion for me, I was ready to cut my ears off. I started
listening to "alternative" music when I was 10, various CMJ Music Monthly
catalogues eventually followed...and I think that more so than specific
bands, it was an aesthetic that led me to Zorn...staying up until 1 on Sunday
Nights to hear Ken Nordine's Word Jazz, or Joe Frank's radio program..there
was always something very special about hearing something "weird." I can't
explain the rapture..It was before I understood any of the method, technique,
goals...it was something unreviewed, unheard..It's like being directly spoken
to. I can't explain it. But there were, of course, those key albums that I
can't listen to anymore because they make me vomit..things like Bitches Brew
(christ, you should see the poems i wrote)...
about females and zorn, you know..um..i'm pretty lonely. (personal ads on
zorn list?)
from,
matt
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Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 18:45:37 -0500
From: "Jeni Dahmus" <jdahmus@juilliard.edu>
Subject: RE: No girls allowed
> This same question pops up on RMP every other month. I
> continue to say that it's because 99.99% of the music is
> non-danceable, but I've been told that was wrong. Yet I've
> still not heard a better reason...
The music is danceable. Go to any modern dance concert and you are bound to
see a piece choreographed to avant music. It is true that the movement will
probably differ from typical club style. Dance improv is included in the
