Pablo Massa wrote in response to me: >>That's what I properly call intolerance. There is a big difference between >>saying "I don't like Ricky Martin and don't want to listen to the guy, he >>is a plague and his records should be banned and burnt" and between saying >>"I don't like Ricky Martin but there is a place for ALL kinds of music in >>the world - thank God, I am not forced to listen to all kinds of music at >>home". > >Hmm. Have you noticed that it's very difficult *not to hear* Ricky Martin >nowadays?. Mass media will do everything legal (or even illegal) in order >to make you buy a record of RM. Well, classical music companies will do everything legal (or even illegal, who knows) in order to make us buy records by Cecilia Bartoli (who I love) or Neville Marriner. So what? They want to earn money, that's their job. >They will spread it all over the world, and you will not be safe anywhere: >watching TV, listening radio, browsing at Internet, going to a party, >talking to your friends... When someone tells me about Ricky Martin, I >would like to be able to answer honestly "I don't know who is that guy". >But unfortunately, mass media have stolen us our right to ignore who is >that guy. So, is there really a place for all kinds of music in the >world?. Perhaps, but one could also say that certain kinds of music >have bigger places than others. To complain about this is like complaining about rain: it is a waste a time and energy. And by the way: Ricky Martin's music is pop music, cleverly and well made and produced, and sometimes I am in the mood to listen to a pop song. >That's a legitimate reason for a reaction, I believe (no matter how >good/bad may one judge the music of RM to be) Legitimate? I don't know. Is this important? I think it is a fruitless thing to complain about Ricky Martin's music being so dominant. Would you like to live in a world where there is Bach playing all the time: in TV commercials, in the radio, at the Internet, on parties, in elevators? A nightmare. >Just as your understanding of my statement. For "opposite" I meant the >following: I prefer sometimes that musical beauty finds me, instead of >finding it by myself. Whatever "musical beauty" may be... For some people it is Ricky Martin. >>For me real beauty covers ugly and disturbing things, too. > >I suppose you mean that you find beauty *at* some ugly or disturbing (but >supportable) things. I'm sure you would not find anything beauty at a >complete hearing (840 times!!) of Satie's "Vexations". Well, I wouldn't bet on that. For me "beauty" is a term completely without meaning because it is so subjective. Let us just say that we are able now to enjoy art that is not "beautiful" at all. I find some pleasure, depth, comfort and intellectual satisfaction in listening to music other list members call a "plague" and utterly ugly. Or the Taoist would just write a little poem: Every song of every bird, every music of every composer is alright with me. >>>My granny used to say: "don't trust someone who is friend of everybody". >> >>You misinterpret my poem because your reading and thinking is very >>non-Taoist. > >Agree. However, misinterpretations of poems don't exist. Every >interpretation is necessary and beautiful in its own way. Simply not true. As a teacher of German and English literature I assure you: misinterpretations of poems do exist. Some interpretations are sheer nonsense since their findings can't be proved by the text. But that's off-topic. >>I am not friend of everybody: I just don't have enemies and >>do not need some > >Well, you are my friend. Don't you remember that proverb of Blake?: "true >friendship is opposition". ;-) So I have deepened our friendship with this reply ;-) >>and I see use and necessity in every kind of music but do >>not have to listen to it at home. > >I think different. I don't see any use in music, and I just see the >necessity (my necessity, of course) only of the music that I enjoy now. >But these are only opinions. They may change tomorrow, as myself. Hey, you are a Taoist after all! This was a statement that would make Lao-Tse smile! Robert