February 10, 2004 - 4:17 PM

I Am Tolerant, I Am Intolerant

There's a Museum of Tolerance in L.A. If you're driving on the 10 Freeway, you can see signs for it, somewhere west of the La Brea exit. According to their website, the museum's reason for being is to examine the Holocaust as well as to educate visitors about racism and prejudice in the U.S. So I'm guessing this probably is not the same museum that was featured on South Park.

I remember visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. when I was in High School. We'd just read Night by Elie Wiesel in our A.P. English class and Schindler's List had come out recently, so we had some sense of how unthinkably horrifying the Holocaust was. Yet, for some reason, I wasn't terribly moved by the experience of walking through the exhibits, seeing the actual artifacts, reading the descriptions, hearing the accounts. We had a discussion after the trip in our class, and I silently berated myself for not having profound feelings during the tour while everyone else shared how moved they were. I knew that the reasons why I didn't weep openly in anger, in shock, and in sadness, as some people did, were rooted in my inability to fully empathize without having experienced something for myself. The museum, the information, it was too abstract for me. While the objects and displays were concrete and real, there was no emotional connection for me with the relics. There's something detached and sterile about exhibits in museums that I've always found difficult to overcome when I feel like I should be making a connection with what I'm seeing.

Watching the Band of Brothers episode that dealt with the Holocaust, on the other hand, had me all choked up and simmering. Perhaps my more visceral response can be attributed to my having grown up in the intervening years, but I think it's more the fact that tv/movies do a better job of manipulating my emotions. You see the devastation, you experience it through the characters who you've been following; the music nudges (or shoves) you in the right direction, and the job is done.

Speaking of music and intolerance, I must admit to being a musical bigot. I am resistant to accepting music beyond what I already like. Yes, I am a music snob. But slowly, I've found myself opening up. A little. For quite some time, I've declared to anyone who cared (and some who didn't) that I was not a fan of Top 40 Pop, R&B, Hip-hop, and Rap music. What's perhaps of interest is that, back around 1991, my first batch of CDs that I ever bought included the impeccable selections of Michael Bolton's Time, Love, and Tenderness; Mariah Carey's Emotions; and Boyz II Men's Cooleyhighharmony. Hoo boy.

So, yeah, I was into the dance-pop/R&B of the time, but then alternative rock exploded and that's where my listening tastes went (much of that thanks to my sister, who was big into Morrissey and the Smiths, my brother who was all about grunge and U2 and the Gin Blossoms, and his friend Rob, who introduced me to the Housemartins and Big Audio Dynamite). I steered towards indie rock for a while, latching on to quirky "new" stuff while keeping an ear out for folksy, acoustic singer-songwriters. Eventually, I settled into the almost 90% female singer-songwriter mode where I find myself ensconced. And I've held fast to my guns, except for when the artists I like go too pop (sad to see you go, Jewel; sorry that you're so vanilla now, Sarah). No urban music for me, thanks. I'd rather not get into nu-metal, if that's ok with you. And please keep your teen-pop sensations to yourself.

As I've worked at a studio where Hip-Hop and R&B make up more than 3/4 of the clientele, and I've gone to a gym several times a week where all they play is Urban music, I've grumbled about how much I dislike those songs. But my defenses have been slowly crumbling. Seeing how much work and talent went into certain projects, especially ones that I've been a part of, has helped increase my appreciation of some songs/albums/artists. If I hadn't spent so much time assisting on the sessions for Mya's single "Fallen", I doubt that I would have given the song a second thought, much less fallen (no pun) in love with it as much as I did. Talking to other people who work at the studio also exposed me to more intelligent, inventive, and conscientious artists such as Blackalicious, DJ Shadow, DJ Qbert, and Burning Star. The Black-Eyed Peas would have been just another overplayed group to be dismissed if not for the effusive praise from my coworkers, some of whom are friends with the group, and the experience of working with the guy who exec produced their album, which I ended up asking for for Christmas.

I'm still accepting new music on a case-by-case basis, and more often than not, I'm giving a thumbs-down to the majority of it, but my intolerance has been softened. That being said, I assisted on a session for the Backstreet Boys for an hour today. I was helping out a friend who originally couldn't do Day Two of the two-day session, but then was able to wrangle his schedule to make it work, so I just filled in for him until he showed up. I only met one of the Backstreet Boys. Which one, I do not know, but, really, at this point, does it even matter? I mean, they are so far off the radar, you couldn't even identify them if they were in a police lineup, whereas, with N'Sync, you could easily point out Justin Timberlake, and JC Charade, and the sorta chubby one, and the other chubby one who acts and has blonde hair, and the rolly polly one. *sigh* that stuff is too blech for me.

Now Listening To : Magnapop-Hot Boxing
Random Thought : I drove through Inglewood to get to the session today, and it wasn't scary at all. It was actually kinda nice.

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