Being Bad Blues!

After seeing the Harlem Globetrotters on Midlands Today I started thinking about oppression and how in a twisted way it creates some of the best things in life. The blues, for example, came from African slave music but it is one of the greatest forms of self-expression known to man. (In my opinion!)

If mankind had no "hard times" then could we have art? In my opinion most art, or art that is worth something, comes from a deep part of the human psyche that makes us express our inner emotions, even the best comedy comes from the pain of life. If it was possible to replace all of the oppression and evil in the world for art then I would do it, but would we still have an artistically literate world like we do now? On the other hand, as an individual, I would seriously consider exchanging a painful childhood to sing with the amount of soul that Billie Holiday did. (She was raised in a brothel, see... http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/artist_id_holiday_billie.htm)

In conclusion, I obviously have spent a long time considering why I can’t play the blues with the intensity of Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and BB King, (!) but if they can do then can’t we all? I think there is an essential ingredient missing from most our lives.

Thanks for listening. (Sort Of!)