That's Kyoto Tachibana HS. I hesitated to add it because it is a private school and so draws a lot of students because of the marching band (as well as the volleyball and soccer clubs) Fun fact, it was originally Kyoto Handicraft Girls' School and changed its name in 1957, going co-ed in 2000 (the band was formed in 1961 with the "original goal of improving girls’ health" according to a fan website)
https://kyototachibanashsbandunofficialfanblog.wordpress.com/tachibana-fact-sheet/
As Gramsci wrote: "The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: Now is the time of monsters." In an ordinary world the likes of Liz Truss would never rise to power, but in an age of monstrosity her her refusal to be deterred could just win her support amongst the political Kaiju fanciers. Scoff at your own peril.
Yes, the summary conveys the import but not the tone of the article, which was in some ways positive about Truss, with obvious reservations. Stears will have chosen his words carefully.
I was prompted to go back and check. In an article written by Stears in the Times on July 30 2022:
Back in our tutorials, Truss demonstrated an unnerving ability to surprise. No other student matched her mischievous ability to read out essays on any number of the main events in British political history which always managed to say something new; not always accurate, but definitely new. These essays were creative and self-consciously unconventional. As we argued over the hour, she almost never backed down, even when I did what all Oxford tutors try to do and present fact after fact to try to change her mind.
Back in our tutorials, Truss demonstrated an unnerving ability to surprise. No other student matched her mischievous ability to read out essays on any number of the main events in British political history which always managed to say something new; not always accurate, but definitely new.
These essays were creative and self-consciously unconventional. As we argued over the hour, she almost never backed down, even when I did what all Oxford tutors try to do and present fact after fact to try to change her mind. It was frustrating at times, but as a young tutor, I really liked how she insisted her judgment mattered just as much as anyone else’s. Older tutors were probably more frustrated by how she was happy to deviate sharply from the textbooks.
There's a lot going on between the lines in this assessment.
Oh, I now see properly what you wrote. So if you are right, that must have been commentary, by journalists or other academics, on what Stears had said.
Pro Bono: that would surprise me, regarding the words in bold. They were exactly what I remembered reading when she became PM. Was AI generating that stuff then?
By the time we get to Dave Lombardo and Slayer’s Reign in Blood, we are in a zone of Darwinian mutation, as Lombardo pulls off feats of speed and dexterity unimaginable—and probably terrifying—to his drumming forebears.
SLAYER!!!
(Sorry, it's kind of mandatory for me to do that.)
The thing about Liz Truss I can never forget is Marc Stears, one of her tutors from Oxford saying that
"once Truss had an idea in her head, she was "unshakeable" and seemed to thrive on going against the prevailing orthodoxy. Stears noted her ability to argue a position fiercely, even when presented with facts that showed she was wrong, only to later drop that belief entirely and adopt a new one with the same fervour."
That's copied from Google's AI, but I distinctly remembered it from when she was leader, and did a quick search to find it. It's (my) bolded part that I find particularly telling.
This podcast appears to be an attempt to monetize the extraordinary political appeal of her spectacularly short premiership. I wouldn't say she's less deserving than all of the people who've got rich out of right-wing politics.
I always think of noise rock, math rock, and post-rock when I think about influential Japanese musicians: MONO, Toe, Boris, Merzbow - all hugely influential far beyond Japan itself. (I'm tempted to throw Sigh into the mix as well, with their avant-garde black metal catching some of that noise and dada influence.)
It seems to me that Japanese rock splits itself into the groups that are coming at things from an Idol influenced direction - having a huge emphasis on visual presentation and fandom - and the more otaku side that is dedicated to exploration of some aspect of music with willful disregard for the Idol ethos.
I would say that I prefer the latter over the former, but I listen to a lot of BABYMETAL, so I am not immune to the charms of the idol aesthetic.
So, she failed to bring prosperity, which Brexit was (in some universe, I suppose) certain to bring. And now the economic mess that Brexit predictably did bring is an existential threat to the nation, and it's all the other guys' fault.
Somehow, to an American, it all sounds so terribly familiar. Except that she isn't bringing billions into her personal account while the country goes down the tubes. Rather irritating for her, one might suspect.
cleek, nous, that's really interesting, at my university and I believe at every other university, there is always a large contingent of students who are in a band, and I think the large majority of them leaning to heavy metal/hard rock. I'm wondering if it can be connected to the love of classical music, it is hard for me to see it as the same, though it could very well spring from the same source.
I have no idea if this is of any interest to anyone, but it is a gift article from the Atlantic by James Parker called The Great Mystery of Drumming, about a book called Backbeats: A History of Rock and Roll in Fifteen Drummers by John Lingan. I've heard of neither of these guys, but maybe some people here have.
when my wife and i were in Japan many years ago we wandered into a club one afternoon, somewhere in Tokyo, and watched a local rock band of young guys playing songs for their not-quite-a-dozen friends - just like local bands everywhere.
last week, YouTube started recommending a bunch of Japanese post-rock / noise bands to me for some reason. i can't even read their titles or band names, so clicking on one is a pure crap shoot.
i like this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7apuNjIRe0
GftNC, thanks for the Stewart Lee piece. He hits similar notes pre Trump here
https://youtu.be/D2DkYHbSxUE?si=GqYxfZTM9PqD4NT5
The transcript is in his book How I Escaped My Certain Fate
And, I was reading this great book of, of trial transcripts, of American soldiers accused of human-rights abuses in, in Abu Ghraib, which was of course closed today. And, um … I don’t know if you remember Charles Graner, he was a fat American soldier but he had a moustache, so you could identify him. And he was the guy that organised the photographing of a naked, hooded, bound Iraqi civilian being dragged out of a cell, er, on his hands and knees, er, on a dog’s lead. And, um, in his defence, er, his lawyer, Charles Graner’s lawyer said that the naked, hooded, bound Iraqi civilian wasn’t being dragged out of the cell but was actually crawling of his own free will. And I just wondered how many other lines of defence they rejected before they settled on that one. And also what the naked, hooded, bound Iraqi civilian might have been crawling of his own free will towards? And I like to think he was crawling towards the notion of Western democracy. But obviously he was having some difficulty knowing which way to crawl, er, because of the hood, er, and because of the fact that he was approaching a palpably abstract concept.
I think Japan does have that Chinese heritage of music education for young people, but the Cultural Revolution destroyed large ensembles of Western music, so you don't have the same ethos as Japan.
The institutions in China have been rebuilt in the intervening 50 years, and music is a required subject for primary and secondary school, but that discontinuity, plus the fact that academic subjects are more highly emphasized means that the situation is a little different from Japan.
You do have the same thing here with students who said that their mother (usually, the father most of the time doesn't deal with this) forced them to play piano, but a number of them say that they hated it at the time, but now appreciate it.
A couple of anecdotes, in Japan, every jhs and hs has a class chorus competition and it always surprised me that there was always at least 1 or 2 students within the class who played piano well enough to accompany. The whole thing is often run by the students, so you get this move away from a teacher centered thing to student led.
Another factoid that always amazed me, when a broadcaster records/televises a concert, they don't have to train the broadcast staff, they can simply give them annotated orchestra scores because they all can read music to a degree that the score acts as a shot list.
In Willie Ruff's autobiography, Call to Assembly, there is a chapter about the Mitchell-Ruff duo (Ruff plays french horn and bass) going to visit China and lecture at the Shanghai conservatory in 1981, which was 5 years after the end of the Cultural Revolution. The whole chapter is interesting, but this is particularly relevant
One [question] came from an older Chinese teacher. "When you created 'Shanghai Blues' just now," he asked, "did you have a form for it, or a logical plan?" I said, "I just started tapping my foot, then a theme suggested itself, which I played on the horn, and Mitchell heard it. And he answered And after that we heard and answered, heard and answered, heard and answered." "But can you play it again?" the professor asked. "We never can. He would not accept my answer. "But that is beyond our imagination. Our students here play a piece a hundred times, or two hundred times, to get it exactly right. You play something once-something that has great value-and then you throw it away." I said that if we played the same music twice in an improvisation, the second time would be no improvisation at all. "We call improvisation the lifeblood of jazz because the performer is challenged to do it better each time." The old teacher as much as threw up his hands. The mystery persisted.
This isn't to suggest that there are no Asian musicians who improvise, on the local level, there are some folks here whose concerts I go to and have great chops. (perhaps the topic of a future music thread), but I think all of them have had a period overseas where they immersed themselves and then have returned.
Band -- both marching band and wind orchestra -- was one of the really positive things for me in high school. Not just the music. Our band director was a retired US Army master sergeant, and by the time I was a senior I realized that if you paid attention, he was also giving you a master class in motivating young adults.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “Weekend music thread #08 How do you get to Carnagie Hall?”
That's Kyoto Tachibana HS. I hesitated to add it because it is a private school and so draws a lot of students because of the marching band (as well as the volleyball and soccer clubs) Fun fact, it was originally Kyoto Handicraft Girls' School and changed its name in 1957, going co-ed in 2000 (the band was formed in 1961 with the "original goal of improving girls’ health" according to a fan website)
https://kyototachibanashsbandunofficialfanblog.wordpress.com/tachibana-fact-sheet/
On ““We’re now poorer than Mississippi. It’s like Huckleberry Finn without the steamboats.””
It's interesting that Truss' Degree classification is not readily available.
"
Yes, positive- ish, but in a very backhanded way.
As Gramsci wrote: "The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: Now is the time of monsters." In an ordinary world the likes of Liz Truss would never rise to power, but in an age of monstrosity her her refusal to be deterred could just win her support amongst the political Kaiju fanciers. Scoff at your own peril.
...or something like that.
"
Yes, the summary conveys the import but not the tone of the article, which was in some ways positive about Truss, with obvious reservations. Stears will have chosen his words carefully.
On “Weekend music thread #08 How do you get to Carnagie Hall?”
YouTube knows all.
it just suggested i watch this Kyoto highschool marching band:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qce6Mu5dHzQ
On ““We’re now poorer than Mississippi. It’s like Huckleberry Finn without the steamboats.””
Pipped at the post by nous! I agree, a novel between the lines.
"
I was prompted to go back and check. In an article written by Stears in the Times on July 30 2022:
Back in our tutorials, Truss demonstrated an unnerving ability to surprise. No other student matched her mischievous ability to read out essays on any number of the main events in British political history which always managed to say something new; not always accurate, but definitely new.
These essays were creative and self-consciously unconventional. As we argued over the hour, she almost never backed down, even when I did what all Oxford tutors try to do and present fact after fact to try to change her mind.
"
Here's a bit of what Stears wrote in The Times:
There's a lot going on between the lines in this assessment.
"
Oh, I now see properly what you wrote. So if you are right, that must have been commentary, by journalists or other academics, on what Stears had said.
"
Pro Bono: that would surprise me, regarding the words in bold. They were exactly what I remembered reading when she became PM. Was AI generating that stuff then?
"
I think that's an AI summary of commentary on what Stears wrote, which was phrased more academically than that.
On “Weekend music thread #08 How do you get to Carnagie Hall?”
SLAYER!!!
(Sorry, it's kind of mandatory for me to do that.)
On ““We’re now poorer than Mississippi. It’s like Huckleberry Finn without the steamboats.””
"often wrong, never in doubt", it's called.
"
The thing about Liz Truss I can never forget is Marc Stears, one of her tutors from Oxford saying that
"once Truss had an idea in her head, she was "unshakeable" and seemed to thrive on going against the prevailing orthodoxy. Stears noted her ability to argue a position fiercely, even when presented with facts that showed she was wrong, only to later drop that belief entirely and adopt a new one with the same fervour."
That's copied from Google's AI, but I distinctly remembered it from when she was leader, and did a quick search to find it. It's (my) bolded part that I find particularly telling.
"
Truss was against Brexit before she was for it.
This podcast appears to be an attempt to monetize the extraordinary political appeal of her spectacularly short premiership. I wouldn't say she's less deserving than all of the people who've got rich out of right-wing politics.
On “Weekend music thread #08 How do you get to Carnagie Hall?”
I always think of noise rock, math rock, and post-rock when I think about influential Japanese musicians: MONO, Toe, Boris, Merzbow - all hugely influential far beyond Japan itself. (I'm tempted to throw Sigh into the mix as well, with their avant-garde black metal catching some of that noise and dada influence.)
It seems to me that Japanese rock splits itself into the groups that are coming at things from an Idol influenced direction - having a huge emphasis on visual presentation and fandom - and the more otaku side that is dedicated to exploration of some aspect of music with willful disregard for the Idol ethos.
I would say that I prefer the latter over the former, but I listen to a lot of BABYMETAL, so I am not immune to the charms of the idol aesthetic.
On ““We’re now poorer than Mississippi. It’s like Huckleberry Finn without the steamboats.””
So, she failed to bring prosperity, which Brexit was (in some universe, I suppose) certain to bring. And now the economic mess that Brexit predictably did bring is an existential threat to the nation, and it's all the other guys' fault.
Somehow, to an American, it all sounds so terribly familiar. Except that she isn't bringing billions into her personal account while the country goes down the tubes. Rather irritating for her, one might suspect.
On “Weekend music thread #08 How do you get to Carnagie Hall?”
cleek, nous, that's really interesting, at my university and I believe at every other university, there is always a large contingent of students who are in a band, and I think the large majority of them leaning to heavy metal/hard rock. I'm wondering if it can be connected to the love of classical music, it is hard for me to see it as the same, though it could very well spring from the same source.
"
cleek - that one is fun. For Japanese post-rock I think the grandmasters are probably MONO.
https://youtu.be/hlh6-M04pt0?si=IcY6ROkql4hsqP7P
"
I have no idea if this is of any interest to anyone, but it is a gift article from the Atlantic by James Parker called The Great Mystery of Drumming, about a book called Backbeats: A History of Rock and Roll in Fifteen Drummers by John Lingan. I've heard of neither of these guys, but maybe some people here have.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/01/rock-music-history-drummers/684955/?gift=cx0iluuWx4Cg7JjlT8ugCfu6mZ7op8KFvj2oLcbyLWg&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
"
when my wife and i were in Japan many years ago we wandered into a club one afternoon, somewhere in Tokyo, and watched a local rock band of young guys playing songs for their not-quite-a-dozen friends - just like local bands everywhere.
last week, YouTube started recommending a bunch of Japanese post-rock / noise bands to me for some reason. i can't even read their titles or band names, so clicking on one is a pure crap shoot.
i like this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7apuNjIRe0
On “Open Thread”
We shouldn't forget or forgive what was done by our side at Abu Ghraib.
But now I'm triggered by "palpably abstract".
"
GftNC, thanks for the Stewart Lee piece. He hits similar notes pre Trump here
https://youtu.be/D2DkYHbSxUE?si=GqYxfZTM9PqD4NT5
The transcript is in his book How I Escaped My Certain Fate
And, I was reading this great book of, of trial transcripts, of American soldiers accused of human-rights abuses in, in Abu Ghraib, which was of course closed today. And, um … I don’t know if you remember Charles Graner, he was a fat American soldier but he had a moustache, so you could identify him. And he was the guy that organised the photographing of a naked, hooded, bound Iraqi civilian being dragged out of a cell, er, on his hands and knees, er, on a dog’s lead. And, um, in his defence, er, his lawyer, Charles Graner’s lawyer said that the naked, hooded, bound Iraqi civilian wasn’t being dragged out of the cell but was actually crawling of his own free will. And I just wondered how many other lines of defence they rejected before they settled on that one. And also what the naked, hooded, bound Iraqi civilian might have been crawling of his own free will towards? And I like to think he was crawling towards the notion of Western democracy. But obviously he was having some difficulty knowing which way to crawl, er, because of the hood, er, and because of the fact that he was approaching a palpably abstract concept.
On “Weekend music thread #08 How do you get to Carnagie Hall?”
I think Japan does have that Chinese heritage of music education for young people, but the Cultural Revolution destroyed large ensembles of Western music, so you don't have the same ethos as Japan.
The institutions in China have been rebuilt in the intervening 50 years, and music is a required subject for primary and secondary school, but that discontinuity, plus the fact that academic subjects are more highly emphasized means that the situation is a little different from Japan.
You do have the same thing here with students who said that their mother (usually, the father most of the time doesn't deal with this) forced them to play piano, but a number of them say that they hated it at the time, but now appreciate it.
A couple of anecdotes, in Japan, every jhs and hs has a class chorus competition and it always surprised me that there was always at least 1 or 2 students within the class who played piano well enough to accompany. The whole thing is often run by the students, so you get this move away from a teacher centered thing to student led.
Another factoid that always amazed me, when a broadcaster records/televises a concert, they don't have to train the broadcast staff, they can simply give them annotated orchestra scores because they all can read music to a degree that the score acts as a shot list.
In Willie Ruff's autobiography, Call to Assembly, there is a chapter about the Mitchell-Ruff duo (Ruff plays french horn and bass) going to visit China and lecture at the Shanghai conservatory in 1981, which was 5 years after the end of the Cultural Revolution. The whole chapter is interesting, but this is particularly relevant
One [question] came from an older Chinese teacher. "When you created 'Shanghai Blues' just now," he asked, "did you have a form for it, or a logical plan?"
I said, "I just started tapping my foot, then a theme suggested itself, which I played on the horn, and Mitchell heard it. And he answered And after that we heard and answered, heard and answered, heard and answered."
"But can you play it again?" the professor asked.
"We never can.
He would not accept my answer. "But that is beyond our imagination. Our students here play a piece a hundred times, or two hundred times, to get it exactly right. You play something once-something that has great value-and then you throw it away."
I said that if we played the same music twice in an improvisation, the second time would be no improvisation at all. "We call improvisation the lifeblood of jazz because the performer is challenged to do it better each time."
The old teacher as much as threw up his hands. The mystery persisted.
This isn't to suggest that there are no Asian musicians who improvise, on the local level, there are some folks here whose concerts I go to and have great chops. (perhaps the topic of a future music thread), but I think all of them have had a period overseas where they immersed themselves and then have returned.
"
Band -- both marching band and wind orchestra -- was one of the really positive things for me in high school. Not just the music. Our band director was a retired US Army master sergeant, and by the time I was a senior I realized that if you paid attention, he was also giving you a master class in motivating young adults.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.