[78-L] "Prohibition" DVD

Cary Ginell soundthink at live.com
Fri Oct 7 11:23:31 PDT 2011


Not in the least surprised.

My own personal story involves Benny Carter. Benny was interviewed by Burns but very little, if anything was used. I met Benny at a function celebrating Snooky Young's 80th birthday. The Burns doc had just come out and after introducing myself I asked him why his interview segments were not used in the show. His exact words were, "I guess I didn't tell him what he wanted to hear." The worse kind of historian is one who has a point of view before he begins researching and uses his work to prove his pre-conceived notion. That's what happened to Burns when he got taken in by Wynton Marsalis and associates like Albert Murray and Stanley Crouch.

Cary Ginell

> Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2011 13:54:46 -0400
> From: jeffsultanof at gmail.com
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Subject: Re: [78-L] "Prohibition" DVD
> 
> There was an article recently (don't remember details now) about the Civil
> War series being shown on PBS, and the author interviewed a professor of
> history on his feelings. The professor said that the series was great in
> that it created interest in the conflict, not so great as it made the whole
> thing very romanticized and not what the conflict really was.
> 
> Burns has a habit of finding one talking head whom he relies on for
> justification of his perspective. As we know, historical events are
> multifaceted prisms that can be looked at any number of ways.
> 
> Cary, you may know this story, but just in case...... Burns attended a
> performance of the Chicago Jazz Ensemble playing at Birdland, conducted by
> Bill Russo, where they played several compositions that Bill wrote for Stan
> Kenton. People who were there said that Burns' reaction was amazement, as in
> "Why didn't I know about this?" Did he think that Wynton was actually going
> to have good words to say about Kenton?
> 
> Jeff Sultanof
> 
> On Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 11:35 AM, Cary Ginell <soundthink at live.com> wrote:
> 
> >
> > I enjoyed "The Civil War" immensely but I have been told by Civil War buffs
> > that the documentary was as rife with errors as was "Jazz." I caught a major
> > one myself when I watched the show for the first time. In the last episode,
> > the narration got Abraham Lincoln's age wrong when he died. They were off by
> > ten years, making him either 65 or 66 (can't remember which they said).
> > Lincoln was 56 when he died. How did they miss that one? I know, I know - I
> > make mistakes, too. But you can bet that I wouldn't have made that one,
> > which involves the central figure of American life in the 19th century.
> >
> > Cary Ginell
> >
> >
> >
> > > Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2011 09:23:56 -0600
> > > From: p.schow at comcast.net
> > > To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> > > Subject: Re: [78-L] "Prohibition" DVD
> > >
> > > On Fri, Oct 07, 2011 at 07:51:44AM -0700, Cary Ginell wrote:
> > > >
> > > > There's plenty to attack Burns on - none intended towards you, Jeff!
> > > >
> > > > Early this year, my son showed me the program iMovie, which he taught
> > me
> > > > how to use so I could put together a photo montage for his Eagle Court
> > > > ceremony. On the effects toolbar, they have something that enables you
> > > > to randomly pan or zoom in on a still photograph. It is called
> > > > the "Ken Burns Effect." Can you believe this? He probably got a royalty
> > > > for licensing something in his name that has been in existence since
> > > > documentaries were first produced. I call that arrogant.
> > >
> > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Burns_effect
> > >
> > > I would not be in a rush to criticize KB over this.  Sounds like it
> > > was Apple who came up with the idea and from the article above, KB
> > > acknowledges his influences.  Remember that his "Civil War" documentary
> > > in 1990 was immensely popular and made the cover of Newsweek despite only
> > > showing photographs and talking heads.  Many thought such a format
> > > would not succeed in the modern age.  And yes, he pretty much stuck
> > > with the same format 21 years later with "Prohibition".
> > >
> > > No idea about royalties but I wouldn't be surprised if Steve Jobs
> > > made a donation to KB's foundation.
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