Saturday, September 21, 2013

The Crisis of Modern Society and the State in the 21st Century and the Necessity of Reinventing the Very Meaning of Politics Itself

 
On Reinventing the Meaning of Politics and What Needs to Be Done
Friday, 20 September 2013
By Henry A Giroux
Truthout | Op-Ed


http://youtu.be/POhQ069ZwHchttp://truth-out.org/public-intellectual-project

On Monday, August 19, 2013 McMaster University Professor Henry Giroux spoke at the Third Ontario Common Front General Assembly. The following are excerpts from his keynote address:


Intolerance of Democratic Protest:

Henry A. Giroux: We live in an era in which there is near-zero tolerance for democratic protest and infinite tolerance for bankers and government embezzlers which effect the lives of millions.

On Student Debt and Generational Warfare:

HG: I can't think of a better way to defuse the possibility among young people of the radical imagination than to place them into so much debt that for the next 20 years all they can basically think about is paying that debt back.

On the Suicidal State:

HG: The power of the megacorporations and financial elite suggests, aggressively promote, failed modes of government and what I want to call a suicidal state. The violence of unnecessary hardship and suffering produced by neoliberal ideology and values are not restricted to the economic realm alone.

Manufactured ignorance is the new reining mode spurred on by a market-driven system that celebrates a passion for consumer goods over a passion for community belonging, the well-being of others and the principles of a democratic society. Ignorance is no longer a liability in neoliberal societies propagating a capitalist imaginary that thrives on the interrelated register of consumption, privatization and depoliticization.

Meanwhile, political illiteracy and religious fundamentalism channel populace waves and racism providing support for an escalating crisis that Axel Honneth has termed the failed sociality characteristic of neoliberal states. Imagine the Rick Santorums of the world standing up in front of public audiences and saying, "The one thing we don't want in the Republican Party," or we can say in Harper's party, "are intellectuals." Of course they don't. They don't want anybody who would possibly make power accountable. Of course they don't. They don't want anybody who believes that learning should be linked to social change. Of course they don't because they believe and understand that people who ask questions are dangerous. Everybody in this room - completely dangerous.

On the Punishing State:

HG: It seems to be that one consequence of this collapse of the public into the private it is not only the undoing of the social bond but also the endless reproduction of the narrow register of individual responsibility as a substitute for any analysis of wider social problems, making it easier to blame the poor, the homeless, the uninsured, the jobless, the disabled and other disadvantaged groups for their problems while reinforcing the merging of a monster society with a punishing state because, don't fool yourself, we all know this. As the social state shrinks, the punishing state grows. They work together. It becomes impossible in my estimation to separate these two. As the state generates more problems by funneling wealth into the hands of fewer people, more devastation by separating economic issues from social costs, it relies on the punishing state.

On the Soft War:

HG: The point that I want to make about the Soft War is this is an educational war. This is a form of public pedagogy on the side of authoritarianism. This is a form of pedagogy that is being waged by corporations because they know that they not only, in a sense, have to extract profits from people, groups and individuals but they also have to stifle the creative impulses of young people.

When I read about the Snowden incident, what caught my eye that was absolutely stunning was there was a general talking about Snowden, and his comment was that the problem with Snowden and his generation is not they they know these new technologies better than we do. The problem is they question authority. I guess the key here is what they get, and what we sometimes don't get, is that the subjects that are going to get produced, the buyers that are going to be mobilized, the notions of agency that are going to be shaped are absolutely essential to neoliberal politics. They're concerned about agents. They want agents who are basically going to do nothing more than mimic the logic of the market. That's what they want. Shut up and buy. Sell and go shopping. We have a major tragedy, for instance, in the United States, and Bush lite says we can deal with this. Go shopping. . . . You can always measure a politician's integrity. What they all say when they are really in trouble is "Go to Disney World." The environment is being polluted, "Go to Disney World." It has become like a mantra for a kind of stupidity which the market takes pride in.

On Aboriginal and Minority Youth Poverty and Incarceration:

HG: In Canada, one child in six lives in poverty, but for aboriginal and immigrant children, the figures rise to 40 and 50 percent, respectively. How else do you respond to that, but that has to be one of the most shameful indexes to mark any society that gives lip service to what we call a democracy.

By all accounts, the rate of incarceration for aboriginal youth, already eight times higher than for non-aboriginal youth, will skyrocket as a result of the Harper government's so-called "Safe Streets and Community Act," which emulates the failed policies of the US system, among other things, strengthening requirements to detain and sentence more youth to custody and juvenile detention centers. Surely, one thing, the ongoing inquest into the tragic suicide of 19-year-old Ashley Smith, who spent 5 years of her life in and out of detention facilities, tells us that incarceration for young people can be equivalent to a death sentence.

On Reinventing the Meaning of Politics and What Needs to Be Done:

HG: I think that one thing that neoliberalism has taught us is that it has a vocabulary, and an infrastructure, and a set of practices that not only do we need to challenge, but we need to reinvent in some very fundamental way the very meaning of politics itself. Something has happened in a neoliberal age. What has happened is that power and politics are now separated. Politics is local. Power is global. The ultrarich, the corporations, they have no allegiance to anyone. They float. But, the political structures that we often find ourselves working in are local and political. While that matters, that's just the beginning. It seems to me that if we are going to make any dent whatsoever, a number of things have got to happen.

One, we have to form alliances with people, not simply on a national level but also on an international level. This war is global. It's global. Until we can guild the global structures that challenge this type of savage cruelty, this type of criminalization, this destruction of all of the basic dignities that matter to allow us to participate in what might be called the promise of a democracy to come, it seems to me we are in big trouble.

Secondly, we need to understand that education is central to the very nature of politics. It seems to me that one of the things we have lost on the left, one of the things that the left, in all of its ideological permutations, seems to have forgotten is that nothing happens until you make something meaningful, in order to make it critical, in order to make it transformative. We have to begin to talk about the alternative public spheres and the formative cultures that are necessary to make that happen. To talk about building platforms immediately, to talk about putting agendas right there up front, to talk about vanguards - to me is a death wish. Until we can raise the consciousness of the people and make them realize that they have an investment in the very struggles that we believe in, we are lost. That is not simply a political project, it is an education project.

It also seems to me that one of the things we have dealt with for a long time - and I'm so proud to be able to be here today and to share in this document that the Ontario Common Front has put together, which I think is a fabulous document. I think to talk about long-term struggles and not immediate satisfaction . . . In my generation, forgive me for this, but we had a saying, "The long march through the institutions." For me that means one thing, one foot in and one foot out, and never two feet in. I'm not going to give up the university to the right-wing, so I have one foot in. I'm not going to give up public schools to the right-wing fundamentalists, so I have one foot in. I'm not going to give up a health care system in which, unlike in the United States, every time I have a treatment for an autoimmune desease I have, which costs $5,000 - in the United States, I'd be bankrupt. I'm not going to let them take that away from you or for me because that is the basis for allowing us to be the kind of agents that we need to be. As soon as they make time a deprivation for us, rather than a luxury, we're screwed.

So it seems to me that we need to fight for the formative cultures and the public spaces in which larger social movements can come together; where rather than deny our differences, we can understand their strengths and their limitations in terms of larger social issues that look at the totality of society, because I'm not just interested in getting rid of racism. I'm interested in getting rid of an authoritarian state as well.

I'm not interested in just getting rid of economic injustices. I'm also interested in creating the kind of life in which people have access to all the goods that they need so that their dignity is intact in ways that allow them to fulfill the promise of what it means to be alive and to live with dignity as truly an agent. I am also concerned as we all are, about not just an economic rationality that is destructive and cruel, but I am also concerned about a culture of cruelty in which all forms of social dependency are not just seen as something to be outlawed but are actually seen as a pathology.

We live at a time when - there is something about this system, unlike any other system that I have seen in my lifetime, which produces a culture that is so cruel, so pathological in its hatred of the other, so, how might you say it, antidemocratic in its disregard for social dependencies that it represents the worst form of authoritarianism. It's authoritarianism with a smile. You know, a happy day. Enjoy yourself. Have a nice day, but you're just going to do it alone. Until we can resurrect the sense of democratic community and responsibility, until we can talk about education being linked to social change, until we talk about education that, in a fundamental way, takes the dreams and the voices of young people seriously, provides the conditions for teachers and those in other cultural spheres - artists and intellectuals - be able to work with dignity, I think we're in trouble.

Thank you.

Copyright, Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.

HENRY A. GIROUX

Henry A. Giroux currently holds the Global TV Network Chair Professorship at McMaster University in the English and Cultural Studies Department and a Distinguished Visiting Professorship at Ryerson University. His most recent books include: On Critical Pedagogy (Continuum, 2011), Twilight of the Social: Resurgent Publics in the Age of Disposability (Paradigm 2012), Disposable Youth: Racialized Memories and the Culture of Cruelty (Routledge 2012), Youth in Revolt: Reclaiming a Democratic Future (Paradigm 2013), and The Educational Deficit and the War on Youth (Monthly Review Press, 2013), America's Disimagination Machine (City Lights) and Higher Education After Neoliberalism (Haymarket) will be published in 2014). Giroux is also a member of Truthout's Board of Directors. His web site is www.henryagiroux.com.

http://truth-out.org/public-intellectual-project

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http://truth-out.org/public-intellectual-project

The Public Intellectual
Truthout | Series


Within the last few decades, the emergence of public intellectuals as important cultural and social critics has raised fundamental questions not only about the social function of academics, but also about the connection between higher education and public life, between academic work and the major issues shaping the broader society. Truthout's Public Intellectual Project will provide progressive academics with an opportunity to address a number of important social issues in a language that is both rigorous and accessible. All too often, academics produce work that is either too abstract for a generally informed public, or they separate their scholarship from the myriad of issues and contemporary problems that shape everyday life in the United States and abroad.

The Public Intellectual Project will solicit and publish work from both younger academics who have not yet ventured into the public realm to address major social concerns, and from those scholars who are already actively involved in speaking to multiple audiences about serious social issues. The project is designed to provide a platform for the general public to think carefully about a range of social problems that affect their lives. It will also allow a generation of scholars to reflect on their own intellectual practices, discourses and understanding of what it might mean to embrace their role as public intellectuals.


Articles by Henry A. Giroux
Henry A. Giroux

Articles by Other Authors in the Public Intellectual Project


Seth Adler
Ian Angus
Stanley Aronowitz
Salvatore Babones
Zygmunt Bauman
Carol Becker
Dr. Cynthia Boaz
Megan Boler
Noam Chomsky
David L. Clark
Simon Dawes
Anthony DiMaggio
Cary Fraser
Rosa-Linda Fregoso
Susan Searls Giroux
Lewis R. Gordon
George Lakoff
Jesse Lemisch
Richard Lichtman
Peter Mayo
Peter McLaren
Joseph Natoli
Tolu Olorunda
David Palumbo-Liu
Michael A. Peters
Grace Pollock
Chronis Polychroniou
Roberto Cintli Rodriguez
Kenneth J. Saltman
Martha Sorren
Leslie Thatcher
Kelley B. Vlahos
Danny Weil
Jan Widacki



http://truth-out.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=4327%3Athe-public-intellectual-henry-a-giroux

2013 Articles by Henry A. Giroux:


On Reinventing the Meaning of Politics and What Needs to Be Done
By Henry A Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Friday, 20 September 2013

Henry A. Giroux: Hope in a Time of Permanent War
By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Opinion
Wednesday, 04 September 2013

Truthout TV Interviews Henry A. Giroux: When Schools Become Dead Zones of the Imagination
By Ted Asregadoo, Truthout | Video Interview
Sunday, 25 August 2013

When Schools Become Dead Zones of the Imagination: A Critical Pedagogy Manifesto
By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout
Tuesday, 13 August 2013

The Violence of Organized Forgetting
By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Monday, 22 July 2013

The Educational Deficit and the War on Youth: An Interview with Henry A. Giroux
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
By Leslie Thatcher, Truthout | Interview

Marching in Chicago: Resisting Rahm Emanuel's Neoliberal Savagery
Monday 20 May 2013
By Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis

Lil Wayne's Lyrical Fascism
By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Friday, 12 April 2013

Angela Davis, Freedom and the Politics of Higher Education
Henry A Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Tuesday, 09 April 2013

Neoliberalism and the Politics of Higher Education: An Interview With Henry A. Giroux
By C.J. Polychroniou, Truthout | Interview
Tuesday, 26 March 2013

Mad Stories and the Politics of Disposability in Paul Ryan's World
By Henry A Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Thursday, 14 March 2013

The Politics of Disimagination and the Pathologies of Power
By Henry A Giroux, Truthout | News Analysis
Wednesday, 27 February 2013

The Shooting Gallery: Obama and the Vanishing Point of Democracy
By Henry A Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Tuesday, 12 February 2013

The Necessity of Critical Pedagogy: An Interview With Henry Giroux
By Jose Maria Barroso Tristan, Global Education Magazine | Interview
Wednesday, 06 February 2013

Criminalizing Dissent and Punishing Occupy Protesters: Introduction to Henry Giroux's "Youth in Revolt"
By Henry A Giroux, Truthout | Book Excerpt
Thursday, 31 January 2013

The New Extremism and Politics of Distraction in the Age of Austerity
By Henry A Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Tuesday, 22 January 2013

Violence is Deeply Rooted in American Culture: An Interview With Henry A. Giroux
Thursday, 17 January 2013
By C.J. Polychroniou, Truthout | Interview

2012 Articles by Henry A. Giroux:

The War Against Teachers as Public Intellectuals in Dark Times
By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Monday, 17 December 2012

Hurricane Sandy in the Age of Disposability and Neoliberal Terror
By Henry A Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Monday, 03 December 2012
Henry A Giroux | War on Youth
By Henry A Giroux, Histories of Violence Project | Interview and Video
Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Henry A. Giroux: Why Don't Americans Care About Democracy at Home?
By Henry A Giroux, Truthout | News Analysis
Tuesday, 02 October 2012

On the Significance of the Chicago Teachers Strike: Bearing Witness to, and Challenging Democracy's Demise
By Henry A Giroux, Truthout | News Analysis
Thursday, 13 September 2012

Days of Rage: The Quebec Student Protest Movement and the New Social Awakening
Tuesday 28 August 2012
By: Henry A Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed

Taking Henry Giroux's Borderless Pedagogy to Our Institutions of Higher Learning
Saturday, 04 August 2012
By Michael Ortiz, Truthout | Op-Ed

Henry A. Giroux: Colorado Shooting Is About More Than Gun Culture
Monday 23 July 2012
By: Henry A Giroux, Truthout | News Analysis

Review of Henry Giroux's Twilight of the Social: Resurgent Publics in the Age of Disposability
Friday, 20 July 2012
By Alexander Means, Truthout | Book Review

From Penn State to JPMorgan Chase and Barclay: Destroying Higher Education, Savaging Children and Extinguishing Democracy
Friday, 13 July 2012
By Henry A Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed

Henry A. Giroux | Beyond the Politics of the Big Lie: The Education Deficit and the New Authoritarianism
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
by: Henry A Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Violence, USA: An Interview with Henry A. Giroux
Monday, 07 May 2012
by: Henry A. Giroux and Michael Slane, Pacific Standard | Interview
Violence, USA: The Warfare State and the Brutalizing of Everyday Life
Wednesday, 02 May 2012
by: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Hoodie Politics: Trayvon Martin and Racist Violence in Post-Racial America
Monday, 02 April 2012
by Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | News Analysis
Gated Intellectuals and Ignorance in Political Life: Toward a Borderless Pedagogy in the Occupy Movement
Monday 19 March 2012
By: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Youth in Revolt: The Plague of State-Sponsored Violence
Tuesday 13 March 2012
by: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
The Scorched-Earth Politics of America's Four Fundamentalisms
Tuesday 6 March 2012
by: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Dangerous Pedagogy in the Age of Casino Capitalism and Religious Fundamentalism
Wednesday 29 February 2012
by: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | News Analysis
Why Teaching People to Think for Themselves Is Repugnant to Religious Zealots and Rick Santorum
Wednesday 22 February 2012
by: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Book Burning in Arizona
Tuesday 7 February 2012
by: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | News Analysis
Remembering Etta James
Saturday 21 January 2012
by: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Universities Gone Wild: Big Money, Big Sports and Scandalous Abuse at Penn State
Thursday 5 January 2011
by: Henry A. Giroux and Susan Searls Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
2011 Articles by Henry A. Giroux
Why Faculty Should Join Occupy Movement Protesters on College Campuses
Monday 19 December 2011
by: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Occupy Wall Street's Battle Against American-Style Authoritarianism
Tuesday 25 October 2011
by: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | News Analysis
Got Class Warfare? Occupy Wall Street Now!
Thursday 6 October 2011
by: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Corporate Media and Larry Summers Team Up to Gut Public Education: Beyond Education for Illiteracy, Vulgarity and a Culture of Cruelty
Tuesday 27 September 2011
by: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Counter-Memory and the Politics of Loss After 9/11
Friday 9 September 2011
by: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Disney, Militarization and the National Security State After 9/11
Tuesday 23 August 2011
by: Henry A. Giroux and Grace Pollock, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. | Book Excerpt
Breivik's Fundamentalist War on Politics, and Ours
Wednesday 3 August 2011
by: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | News Analysis
From Benetton to Murdoch: The Culture of Money, Shock and Schlock
Wednesday 27 July 2011
by: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Reveling in the Pain of Others: Moral Degeneracy and Violence in the "Kill Team" Photos
Monday 20 June 2011
by: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | News Analysis
Zombie Politics: Dangerous Authoritarianism or Shrinking Democracy - Part II
Thursday 2 June 2011
by: Henry A. Giroux, Peter Lang Publishing Group | Book Excerpt
Zombie Politics, Democracy and the Threat of Authoritarianism - Part I
Wednesday 1 June 2012
by: Henry A. Giroux, Peter Lang Publishing Group | Book Excerpt
Henry Giroux | American Democracy Beyond Casino Capitalism and the Torture State
Monday 16 May 2011
by: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout
From "Morning in America" to the Nightmare on Main Street (w/audio interview from Santa Fe Public Radio)
Tuesday 08 March 2011
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
Left Behind? American Youth and the Global Fight for Democracy
Monday 28 February 2011
by: Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
Torturing Democracy
Tuesday 08 February 2011
by: Henry A. Giroux, Paradigm Press | Book Excerpt
Beyond the Swindle of the Corporate University: Higher Education in the Service of Democracy
Tuesday 18 January 2011
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
In the Twilight of the Social State: Rethinking Walter Benjamin's Angel of History
Tuesday 04 January 2011
by Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
Also Listen: Radio Interview With Henry Giroux
2010 Articles by Henry A. Giroux
Lessons to Be Learned From Paulo Freire as Education Is Being Taken Over by the Mega Rich
Tuesday 23 November 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
Living in the Age of Imposed Amnesia: The Eclipse of Democratic Formative Culture
Tuesday 16 November 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
Business Culture and the Death of Public Education: The Triumph of Management Over Leadership
Friday 12 November 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
Farewell Mon Amour: Prospects on Democracy's Electoral Defeat
Tuesday 26 October 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
When Generosity Hurts: Bill Gates, Public School Teachers and the Politics of Humiliation
Tuesday 05 October 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
Memories of Hope in the Age of Disposability
Tuesday 28 September 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
Racialized Memories and Class Identities - Thinking About Glenn Beck's and Rush Limbaugh's America
Tuesday 07 September 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
States of Paralysis: America's Surrender to the Spectacle of Terror
Tuesday 17 August 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
How Disney Magic and the Corporate Media Shape Youth Identity in the Digital Age
Wednesday 04 August 2010
by: Henry Giroux and Grace Pollock | Op-Ed
The Disappearing Intellectual in the Age of Economic Darwinism
Monday 12 July 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
Part III: Chartering Disaster: Why Duncan's Corporate-Based Schools Can't Deliver an Education That Matters
Monday 21 June 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Feature
Part II: Teachers Without Jobs and Education Without Hope: Beyond Bailouts and the Fetish of the Measurement Trap
Tuesday 08 June 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Feature
Revenge of the Zombies: Palin, Beck, Limbaugh and the Return of Dark Times
Wednesday 02 June 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
Part I: Dumbing Down Teachers: Attacking Colleges of Education in the Name of Reform
Tuesday 25 May 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
In Defense of Public School Teachers in a Time of Crisis
Wednesday 14 April 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
A Society Consumed by Locusts: Youth in the Age of Moral and Political Plagues
Monday 05 April 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
On Pop Clarity: Public Intellectuals and the Crisis of Language
Wednesday 24 March 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
Winter in America: Democracy Gone Rogue
Thursday 04 March 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
Interview with Henry A. Giroux on Public Education, Youth and US Society Today
Thursday 04 March 2010
by: Kris Welch | Living Room | KPFA
Henry A. Giroux on His Book "Youth in a Suspect Society: Democracy or Disposability?"
Monday 25 January 2010
by: Henry A. Giroux, rorotoko.com | Interview
Beyond Bailouts: On the Politics of Education After Neoliberalism
Wednesday 31 December 2008
by: Henry A. Giroux and Susan Searls Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Obama's Betrayal of Public Education? Arne Duncan and the Corporate Model of Schooling
Wednesday 17 December 2008
by: Henry A. Giroux and Kenneth Saltman, t r u t h o u t | Perspective
War Talk, the Death of the Social, and Disappearing Children: A Lesson for Obama
Tuesday 16 December 2008
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Disposable Youth in a Suspect Society: A Challenge for the Obama Administration
Tuesday 25 November 2008
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Against the Militarized Academy
Thursday 20 November 2008
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Henry Giroux | Obama and the Promise of Education
Sunday 16 November 2008
by: Henry Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Perspective

HENRY A. GIROUX

Henry A. Giroux currently holds the Global TV Network Chair Professorship at McMaster University in the English and Cultural Studies Department and a Distinguished Visiting Professorship at Ryerson University. His most recent books include: On Critical Pedagogy (Continuum, 2011), Twilight of the Social: Resurgent Publics in the Age of Disposability (Paradigm 2012), Disposable Youth: Racialized Memories and the Culture of Cruelty (Routledge 2012), Youth in Revolt: Reclaiming a Democratic Future (Paradigm 2013), and The Educational Deficit and the War on Youth (Monthly Review Press, 2013), America's Disimagination Machine (City Lights) and Higher Education After Neoliberalism (Haymarket) will be published in 2014). Giroux is also a member of Truthout's Board of Directors. His web site is www.henryagiroux.com.


Monday, September 16, 2013

Julian "Cannonball" Adderley (1928-1975): Legendary Alto Saxophonist, Composer, and Bandleader--A Celebration of His Music, Life, and Legacy On the 85th Anniversary of His Birth



 JULIAN "CANNONBALL" ADDERLEY
(b. September 15, 1928--d. August 8, 1975)

Cannonball Adderley Sextet Live in Tokyo, Japan, 1963
 


"Jive Samba" (Composition by Nat Adderley)

Cannonball Adderley--Alto Saxophone
Nat Adderley--Trumpet
Yusef Lateef--Tenor saxophone & flute
Sam Jones--Bass
Joe Zawinul--Piano
Louis Hayes--Drums


The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in 1959:

"Bohemia After Dark" (Composition by Oscar Pettiford)

Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco,
(Recorded Live at the Jazz Workshop)
October 18 and 20, 1959

Cannonball Adderley--Alto Saxophone
Nat Adderley--Cornet
Bobby Timmons--Piano
Sam Jones--Bass
Louis Hayes- Drums


 

Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago recorded in 1959 (also released as Cannonball & Coltrane in 1964, on Limelight) is an album by jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, his final release on the Mercury label, featuring performances by Adderley with John Coltrane, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. This band would also record the classic album Kind of Blue (1959) with Miles Davis one month following this session:

"Wabash" (Composition by Cannonball Adderley):

 

Cannonball Adderley--Alto Saxophone
John Coltrane --Tenor Saxophone
Paul Chambers--Bass
Wynton Kelly--Piano
Jimmy Cobb--drums


RECORDED FEBRUARY 3, 1959

BEAUTIFUL CLASSIC 1961 RECORDING BY NANCY WILSON AND CANNONBALL ADDERLEY QUINTET
CAPITOL RECORDS







SELECTION: "THE OLD COUNTRY"
 

 
Nancy Wilson / Cannonball Adderley
Year: 1961
Label: Capitol


An excellent collaboration of the Nancy Wilson voice with the Cannonball Adderley alto sax from the early '60s. While this 1961 recording was the first time Wilson was with Adderley in the studio, it was not the first time they had worked together. After singing with Rusty Bryant's band, Wilson had worked with Adderley in Columbus, OH. (It was there that Adderley encouraged her to go to N.Y.C. to do some recording, eventually leading to this session.) Not entirely a vocal album, five of the 12 cuts are instrumentals. A highlight of the album is the gentle cornet playing of Nat Adderley behind Wilson, especially on "Save Your Love for Me" and on "The Old Country." Cannonball Adderley's swinging, boppish sax is heard to excellent effect throughout. Joe Zawinul's work behind Wilson on "The Masquerade Is Over" demonstrates that he is a talented, sensitive accompanist. On the instrumental side, "Teaneck" and "One Man's Dream" are especially good group blowing sessions. On the other end of the spectrum, Adderley's alto offers a lovely slow-tempo treatment of the Vernon Duke-Ira Gershwin masterpiece, "I Can't Get Started." To keep the listeners on their musical toes, the first couple of bars of "Save Your Love for Me" are quotes from "So What" from the Miles Davis Sextet seminal Kind of Blue session. Given the play list and the outstanding artists performing it, why any serious jazz collection would be without this classic album is difficult to comprehend.
 

"Walk Tall" (1967)--Composition by Cannonball Adderley from his recording "74 Miles Away" on Capitol Records

LIVE RECORDING VERSION:


Intro features a young 25 year old Rev. Jesse Jackson. This is a Capital release - recorded live in Hollywood, California on June 12th-24th 1967. You will find this track on the LP 74 Miles Away - The Cannonball Adderley Quintet.


VERSION FROM THE ORIGINAL JUNE, 1967 RECORDING SANS INTRO:





 http://walktall.halleonardbooks.com/

Walk Tall: The Music and Life of Julian "Cannonball" Adderley by Cary Ginell, Hal Leonard Books, 2013


Cannonball Adderley introduces his 1967 recording of "Walk Tall," by saying, "There are times when things don't lay the way they're supposed to lay. But regardless, you're supposed to hold your head up high and walk tall." This sums up the life of Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, a man who used a gargantuan technique on the alto saxophone, pride in heritage, devotion to educating youngsters, and insatiable musical curiosity to bridge gaps between jazz and popular music in the 1960s and '70s. His career began in 1955 with a Cinderella-like cameo in a New York nightclub, resulting in the jazz world's looking to him as "the New Bird," the successor to the late Charlie Parker. But Adderley refused to be typecast. His work with Miles Davis on the landmark Kind of Blue album helped further his reputation as a unique stylist, but Adderley's greatest fame came with his own quintet's breakthrough engagement at San Francisco's Jazz Workshop in 1959, which launched the popularization of soul jazz in the 1960s. With his loyal brother Nat by his side, along with stellar sidemen, such as keyboardist Joe Zawinul, Adderley used an engaging, erudite personality as only Duke Ellington had done before him. All this and more are captured in this engaging read by author Cary Ginell.

 The Adderley brothers in 1966
Left to right:  Julian ("Cannonball") and Nat

The music of Cannonball Adderley:

www.youtube.com/artist/cannonball-adderley

"Autumn Leaves" from: "Somethin' Else" by the Cannonball Adderley Quintet (1958 on Blue Note):

Cannonball Adderley - Alto saxophone
Miles Davis - Trumpet
Hank Jones - Piano
Sam Jones - Bass
Art Blakey - Drums

 


"Work Song" is a Nat Adderley composition.

Cannonball In Europe! was recorded live on August 5, 1962 at the International Jazz Festival in Comblain-La-Tour, a small town in Belgium. The recent addition of legendary reedsman Yusef Lateef pushed Adderleys combo to a powerful sextet. With three horns blazing (Lateef, brother Nat Adderley on trumpet and Cannonball on alto sax), the band charged through a stunning concert in front of the largest audience it had ever played. The five song, 50 minute set blasts off with Lateefs complex "P.Bouk" and never lets up. Favorites "Gemini" and "Work Song" are played with fire and passion.

Cannonball & Nat Adderley Sextet Live in Europe (1962)--"Work Song":



Cannonball Adderly & Nancy Wilson - "Save Your Love For Me" [Live]:



Cannonball Adderley Quintet "Mercy Mercy Mercy" (1966):

All,

A GREAT SPOKEN INTRODUCTION BY THE ALWAYS SOULFUL AND ELOQUENT CANNONBALL ADDERLEY TO A GREAT SONG PLAYED BEAUTIFULLY BY A GREAT, GREAT BAND. THE YEAR IS 1966. LISTEN AND REVEL IN WHAT THIS MUSIC ALWAYS DOES AND EVOKES AT ITS VERY BEST NO MATTER WHAT 'STYLE" OR 'GENRE" IT HAPPENS TO USE OR REFERENCE. YESSSSS...

Kofi


Cannonball Adderley Quintet - "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (1966):

 
"You know, sometimes we're not prepared for adversity. When it happens sometimes, we're caught short. We don't know exactly how to handle it when it comes up. Sometimes, we don't know just what to do when adversity takes over. And I have advice for all of us, I got it from my pianist Joe Zawinul who wrote this tune. And it sounds like what you're supposed to say when you have that kind of problem. It's called Mercy...Mercy...Mercy..."
--Cannonball Adderley "Live at the Club" (Capitol, 1966)





Cannonball Adderley Quintet:

Cannonball Adderley (alto saxophone);
Nat Adderley (cornet)
Joe Zawinul (acoustic & electric pianos);
Victor Gaskin (bass)
Roy McCurdy (drums)

From "The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco" (1959):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2hXEog2d28



Background:

The album was recorded at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco before an appreciative standing room only crowd. The album broke new ground as a live recording taped in noisy club environments, creating a formula which not only the Cannonball Quintet but other jazz ensembles would follow. Producer Keepnews reflected that it "was such a phenomenal success that not only did I do a lot of such recordings afterwards, but I think that virtually all jazz producers felt that it was a good thing to do". Also unusual for the time was Keepnews' decision to retain Adderley's comments to the crowd.

Personnel:

Cannonball Adderley -- alto saxophone
Nat Adderley -- cornet
Bobby Timmons -- piano
Sam Jones -- bass
Louis Hayes -- drums

 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannonball_Adderley

Cannonball Adderley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Background information

Birth name Julian Edwin Adderley
Born September 15, 1928
Tampa, Florida, United States
Died August 8, 1975 (aged 46)
Gary, Indiana, United States
Genres Hard bop, soul jazz, modal jazz, jazz rock[1]
Occupations Teacher, Saxophonist
Instruments Alto saxophone, soprano saxophone
Years active 1955–1975
Labels Blue Note, Fantasy, Capitol, Prestige, Riverside
Associated acts Nat Adderley
Miles Davis
George Duke
Yusef Lateef
Sam Jones
Joe Zawinul
Louis Hayes
Bobby

Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley (September 15, 1928 – August 8, 1975)[2] was a jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s.

Adderley is remembered for his 1966 single "Mercy Mercy Mercy", a crossover hit on the pop charts, and for his work with trumpeter Miles Davis, including on the epochal album Kind of Blue (1959). He was the brother of jazz cornetist Nat Adderley, a longtime member of his band.[3]

Contents

1 Early life and career
2 Band leader
3 Later life
4 Discography
5 References
6 External links

Early life and career


Originally from Tampa, Florida, Adderley moved to New York in the mid-1950s.[3] His nickname derived originally from "cannibal," a title imposed on him by high school colleagues as a tribute to his fast eating capacity.[4]
His educational career was long established prior to teaching applied instrumental music classes at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Cannonball moved to Tallahassee, Florida when his parents obtained teaching positions at Florida A&M University.[5] Both Cannonball and brother Nat played with Ray Charles when Charles lived in Tallahassee during the early 1940s.[6] Cannonball was a local legend in Florida until he moved to New York City in 1955, where he lived in Corona, Queens.[3][7]

It was in New York during this time that Adderley's prolific career began. Adderley visited the Cafe Bohemia, where Oscar Pettiford's group was playing that night. Adderley had brought his saxophone into the club with him, primarily because he feared that it would be stolen, and he was asked to sit in as the saxophone player was late. That performance established his reputation.[3]

Prior to joining the Miles Davis band, Adderley formed his own group with his brother Nat after signing onto the Savoy jazz label in 1957. He was noticed by Miles Davis, and it was because of his blues-rooted alto saxophone that Davis asked him to play with his group.[3]

Adderley joined the Miles Davis sextet in October 1957, three months prior to John Coltrane's return to the group. Adderley played on the seminal Davis records Milestones and Kind of Blue. This period also overlapped with pianist Bill Evans's time with the sextet, an association that led to recording Portrait of Cannonball and Know What I Mean?.[3]
His interest as an educator carried over to his recordings. In 1961, Cannonball narrated The Child's Introduction to Jazz, released on Riverside Records.[3]

Band leader

The Cannonball Adderley Quintet featured Cannonball on alto sax and his brother Nat Adderley on cornet. Adderley's first quintet was not very successful; however, after leaving Davis' group, he formed another, again with his brother, which enjoyed more success.

The new quintet (which later became the Cannonball Adderley Sextet), and Cannonball's other combos and groups, included such noted musicians as:
--pianists Bobby Timmons, Victor Feldman, Joe Zawinul, Hal Galper, Michael Wolff, George Duke, Wynton Kelly, Bill Evans
--bassists Ray Brown, Sam Jones, Walter Booker, Victor Gaskin, Paul Chambers drummers Louis Hayes, Roy McCurdy
saxophonists Charles Lloyd, Yusef Lateef.

Later life

By the end of 1960s, Adderley's playing began to reflect the influence of the electric jazz, avant-garde, and Miles Davis' experiments on the album Bitches Brew.[citation needed] On his albums from this period, such as Accent on Africa (1968) and The Price You Got to Pay to Be Free (1970), he began doubling on soprano saxophone, showing the influence of John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter.[citation needed] In that same year, his quintet appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival in California, and a brief scene of that performance was featured in the 1971 psychological thriller Play Misty for Me, starring Clint Eastwood.[citation needed] In 1975 he also appeared (in an acting role alongside Jose Feliciano and David Carradine) in the episode "Battle Hymn" in the third season of the TV series Kung Fu.[8]

Joe Zawinul's composition "Cannon Ball" (recorded on Weather Report's album Black Market) is a tribute to his former leader.[3] Pepper Adams and George Mraz dedicated the composition "Julian" on the 1975 Pepper Adams album (also called "Julian") days after Cannonball's death.[9]

Songs made famous by Adderley and his bands include "This Here" (written by Bobby Timmons), "The Jive Samba," "Work Song" (written by Nat Adderley), "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (written by Joe Zawinul) and "Walk Tall" (written by Zawinul, Marrow and Rein). A cover version of Pops Staples' "Why (Am I Treated So Bad)?" also entered the charts.

Adderley was initiated as an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity (Gamma Theta chapter, University of North Texas, '60, & Xi Omega chapter, Frostburg State University, '70) and Alpha Phi Alpha (Beta Nu chapter, Florida A&M University).[10]

Adderley died of a stroke in 1975. He was buried in the Southside Cemetery, Tallahassee, Florida. Later that year he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.[3]

Discography

Main article: Cannonball Adderley discography

References

Jump up ^ Ginell, Richard S. "Black Messiah - Cannonball Adderley : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
Jump up ^ Randel, Don Michael (1996). "Adderley, Cannonball". The Harvard biographical dictionary of music. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press. p. 5. ISBN 0-674-37299-9.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Yanow, Scott. "Cannonball Adderley - Music Biography, Credits and Discography". Allmusic. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
Jump up ^ Gilles Miton. "Cannonball Adderley". Cannonball-adderley.com. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
Jump up ^ "Adderley, Nat (Nathaniel) – Jazz.com | Jazz Music – Jazz Artists – Jazz News". Jazz.com. Retrieved 2012-12-13.
Jump up ^ Lydon, Michael, Ray Charles: Man and Music, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-97043-1, Routledge Publishing, January 22, 2004
Jump up ^ Berman, Eleanor. "The jazz of Queens encompasses music royalty", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 1, 2006. Accessed October 1, 2009. "When the trolley tour proceeds, Mr. Knight points out the nearby Dorie Miller Houses, a co-op apartment complex in Corona where Clark Terry and Cannonball and Nat Adderley lived and where saxophonist Jimmy Heath still resides."
Jump up ^ "Julian "Cannonball" Adderley". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2012-12-13.
Jump up ^ "PepperAdams.com". PepperAdams.com. Retrieved 2012-12-13.
Jump up

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Cannonball Adderley
Cannonball Adderley at Find a Grave
The Cannonball Adderley Rendez-vous
Cannonball Adderley Discography at Jazzdisco.org
Podcast with clip of Cannonball Adderley's duet with the Nutty Squirrels

History with link to mp3 of Nutty Squirrels/Cannonball Adderley session

Cannonball Adderley at AllMusic
Cannonball Adderley at NPR Music
[hide] v t e

Cannonball Adderley
Studio albums


Presenting Cannonball Adderley Julian "Cannonball" Adderley Julian Cannonball Adderley and Strings In the Land of Hi-Fi with Julian Cannonball Adderley Sophisticated Swing Cannonball Enroute Cannonball's Sharpshooters Somethin' Else Portrait of Cannonball Jump for Joy Things Are Getting Better Blue Spring Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago Cannonball Takes Charge The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco Them Dirty Blues Cannonball Adderley and the Poll Winners The Cannonball Adderley Quintet at the Lighthouse Know What I Mean? African Waltz Plus Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley The Cannonball Adderley Sextet in New York Cannonball in Europe! Jazz Workshop Revisited Cannonball's Bossa Nova Autumn Leaves Nippon Soul Cannonball Adderley Live! Live Session! Cannonball Adderley's Fiddler on the Roof Domination Money in the Pocket Great Love Themes Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at 'The Club' Cannonball in Japan Radio Nights 74 Miles Away Why Am I Treated So Bad! In Person Accent on Africa Country Preacher The Cannonball Adderley Quintet & Orchestra Love, Sex, and the Zodiac The Price You Got to Pay to Be Free The Happy People The Black Messiah Music You All Inside Straight Pyramid Phenix Lovers

Compilation albums

Discoveries The Japanese Concerts

Songs
"Mercy, Mercy, Mercy"
Related
Discography