Retro Curious Rebellious: The Revival

The recent premier of the televised “Hairspray Live” with its star-studded cast has me pondering. Across the country, people were thrilled about this particular show- so much that viewing parties were established and ornate, authentic vintage costumes were prepared. Questions are beckoned to be answered.

What is it about ‘Hairspray’ specifically that the entire country of fans went absolutely nuts? We have some theories. As a little background, both of us watched the show from start to end and loved it. First of all, there is a not-so-subtle desire that a great fraction of America shares to bring back the iconic aesthetic and ‘vibe’ of midcentury and postwar American pop culture. Second, our political climate has reflected this, but in a unique way. Third, people long for unity, compassion, understanding, and love. Interracial (or intersecting denominations of any sort, really) relationships, friendships, and interactions shouldn’t be taboo after all we have been through in this land of ours or anywhere across the world. Finally, everyone has a perspective of ‘the good old days’ that they long for… But here’s the catch: The good old days were different experiences for people. So here we are, going into 2017, and collectively, there needs to be some serious dialogue going on what good old days look like without compromising the integrity of any one group. Cue in ‘revivalism’: we bring back the good traits without the lingering negativity. So let’s dive into ‘Hairspray Live’.

Let’s finally say it together: Vintage is IN! Retro is hip! Classic is the way to go! While there is so much resistance out there, I thoroughly affirm that there is something about the yesteryears that is appealing to the general public. Keep your eyes open for the blatant and obvious signs: like Forever21 and Macy’s selling circle skirts, vinyl records of your modern favorites popping up, or the evidence of happiness in the small moments of life with younger people. But let’s dig more. The biggest theme of ‘Hairspray’ is integration and unity. Aren’t we dealing with the same fight for equality today as we were before? Usually we could say that the difference now is that we are civil and don’t sic dogs or use fire hoses against peaceful protesters, but Standing Rock voided that statement. It is all the same fight for love and peace on Earth. This is nothing new, and unity is timeless, people! So yes, be a checkerboard chick- and dance with everyone of every color and denomination. This is also part of the third reason. There is a longing for unity and for retro. What a swell, nifty, neato concept!

Moving right along… The political climate (which we both look at each other and cringe about) reflects the desire people have to go back to another time, which ties into the final point as well. People voted for a president this year in America, and as the world knows, Donald Trump is slated to begin his term. Why did people vote for him? He promised change and to reinstate ‘greatness’ again. When people hear the word ‘great’ they think of the good times rolling, just like Sam Cooke always sang about. The word ‘again’ denotes that there was a greatness before. The conflict occurs when everyone has a different sense of what ‘great’ was and if it applies to them. So let’s go to the textbook example of the early 1960s. Its getting hippie-ish but still retains the poise and clean-cut domestic expectation of the 50s. Racial tensions are rampant and the number of peaceful protests grows routinely. These are the good old days for a middle class homeowner in a Caucasian neighborhood. I can’t ever morally attest to these being such good old days for the gentleman who is middle class, African American, and is getting ripped to pieces by a German Shephard police dog for sitting on a curb outside an all-white bowling alley. When we say ‘great again’ what I think people really mean is bring back (or Retro Revive) the aesthetic; the drive for positive change; peace, unity, and dance; and the neighborliness that I guarantee we all secretly (or openly) want from one another. That’s all anyone could ever want, no?

So with this in mind, a live musical set in the early 1960s was an inevitable success on national television. It was everything we all wanted packaged, tied with a ribbon, and delivered by your preference of cable provider. Thank you ‘Hairspray’ for being the latest staple of Retro Living. Cheers, darlings!

Is the world moving too rapidly to stop and smell the gingerbread? NO! We dictate how quickly the world moves. This time of year, it’s especially important to slow down and make the moments count. Christmas is one of the greatest opportunities to celebrate all that we have: family, friends, good will, joy, and the best things in the world that money just can’t buy. Even for those who celebrate differently through Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Diwali or anything else, its about spreading the spirit of humility, life, and good fortune. Back in the day, the elaborate Christmas parties, ornate dishes of jellos and cookies that piled to the ceiling were standard to the host and hostess. Christmas cards and season greetings were sure to fill mailboxes for days!

Times have changed for better and worse since the days of Burl Ives, but there are so many ways to harness the warmth of the season from ages past. Last year’s Pledge Commercial (click on it!) was precious in highlighting what attributes of a holiday people want to keep close. Family and traditions are a brilliant source of spirit lifting- no matter how small or large.

The real question is how can we spread the spirit? Well, the greatest way to give others a lasting sense of love and community is subjective. For us, cookies and cards are the seasonal sentiments. There’s something incomparable about coming home to the sweet scent of ginger-raisin cookies and a stack of cards on the table. Money can buy ingredients, envelopes, and postage. What we sometimes forget in the rise of prices is that coins and paper can’t tell us what sentiments belong inside a card. Money can’t decide who needs a warm cookie from your oven or what families could use company on a cold winter’s night. While it seems to commercialize the season, the best gifts are the ones that have heart.

It is so important in this political climate to spread the goodness in who we are, be us Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Rastafarian…. you can be a turkey sandwich if you’d like… so this means that political correctness isn’t always right. Saying ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Happy Hanukkah’ isn’t wrong. It is offering your sentiments of happiness or ‘merrriness’ to a person on a given celebration. This doesn’t obligate the person to celebrate your holiday. So this year, spread the love and human spirit in whatever way you feel can help another.

The most vintage December, regardless of what you celebrate, is one that your heart is devoted to. So this year, go the extra mile!  Learn a new recipe and share your creations, ship out some cards to people you haven’t talked to in a while, invite over friends, decorate to your heart’s content- but most importantly, make those around you feel the love. After all, the retro postcards of wintertime funzies all centralize around the same idea: celebration. Have a very Merry December, darlings!

Perhaps the most controversial topic I can raise in this era of American history is on education. Every day, en route to my place of higher education, I got stuck at a stoplight that happens to be at the intersection of a run-down, likely-abandoned vocational school that looks like it hasn’t been used since 1986. I volunteered at my grandmothers once-high school and there’s something haunting about being inside. I can almost clearly envision her walking the halls, the scent of motor oil wafting from the mechanical classroom several doors down. Today, however, the door to the garage is likely permanently shut, locked, and ignored. Within the classroom, all things are oriented toward performance and efficiency, with little or no care to curiosity, creativity, or learning from mistakes. And yet we are the first to complain about autotuned music styles and the disappearance of fine art and artists with every passing year.

My friend Trisha and I rekindled following the passing of our mutual angel girl Jojo, and I’ve never heard a more adorably sad remark. She told me that while she was away at college, her parents decided it was time to dispose of their piano. Trisha was rather disappointed and felt that she had been ‘robbed of her creativity’. I couldn’t help but consider the similar feelings that so many others probably have while they also attend school. In years since the budget deficits in 2009-2010, the United States has seen a sharp decrease in most academic programs not directly relative to the STEM curriculum. English, science, technology, and math dominate the lives of children nationwide to a point where kids as young as 5 and 6 years of age enjoy yoga during recess because it helps them ‘de-stress’. I’d go out on a limb to say that there’s probably something far worse going on here that five year olds have and understand stress.

What is this world doing? Forbidding a child his or her creativity is a waste of a hemisphere of the brain! Everyone has heard that there is more neurological activity in one hemisphere for logical reasoning and another respectively for creativity. So this raises a very challenging question; by removing the music programs from schools and discouraging an excess of art and trade-relative classes, how are we affecting the development of the next generation of brains?

People often discuss the ‘good ‘ol days’ when George Gershwin tickled the ivories with his orchestra and when Andy Warhol graced every museum with the latest trendy art, citing that this generation has nothing like these prodigal artists up and coming. How about the revival of culture, art, architecture, and creativity? The more we promote hand-crafted masterpieces, the more culture we will surround ourselves with, which in turn produces a better, more inspired and positive society. It is not at all a waste of time. A wise Facebook post just recently told me, “Accounting, law, and doctors are the works that keep us alive, but the artists, poets, and musicians are those that make us want to live on”. Revive culture, don’t demolish it, darlings.

Manny’s addition;
Hello all,  considering that both of us as students experienced the joys of music in conjunction with our educations I thought I would add some of my own insights.

A brief history of my initiation into music would explain why music and art programs are so important for me as someone who was fortunate enough to experience these programs in school as I grew up. Some of my fondest musical memories as a child are of sitting on a couch while my older cousins took piano lessons, this was simply exposure, but music planted a seed in my mind that grew over the years in a way no one could have imagined. Once 6th grade came around (I still had a love of listening to music, but hadn’t played much up to that point) I had started taking piano lessons, and once 7th grade came around I had been charged with the responsibilities of being the sole trombone player in my elementary school band. I was awful, I had no practice ethic in relation to how I treat practicing now  14 years into being a guitarist & singer. While I had started learning trombone I had also taken my first guitar  lessons, took vocal lessons as well as piano lessons. Piano lessons quickly got abandoned as that instrument was the least practiced of all for me, I had no time to dedicate to it and guitar had really taken a hold on me musically and creatively. Fast forward to 2016, add a music minor, years of study in the fields of classical, jazz, blues, and rock guitar, and extended study in production and songwriting, with hopefully better vocals from practice and care of my vocal cords, and with a new practice ethic I have been approaching guitar in new and creative ways.

I am for all intensive purposes a Tele style player, but I have been using strat style guitars now as well, learning how to use a tremolo system for increased expression in my playing and writing. I feel that being given the opportunities to explore creative outlets such as the visual and aural arts allowed me as an adult to think more creatively and as a result of that I have been able to think abstractly and I hope that shows in my own music to some degree.  I do not want to know what the future holds without having handed these gift and skills down to the next generation, even Einstein played the violin.