Doctor! Doctor! You say there's a sexual rhythm embedded in rock'n'roll?

Really?

Say it ain't so.

From Dr. Peter Kwasniewski at Views From the Choir Loft:

THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM with rock music, many of its antecedents, and nearly all of its offshoots, can be summed up quite simply: its rhythm is unnatural and morally tainted. There are other intellectual and moral problems with it ...

It is hardly surprising that “rock n’ roll” and “jazz” were both euphemisms for sexual intercourse, or, more accurately in their historical context, fornication: the rhythm is suggestive of the pelvic thrust. People who dance (if it can be called that) to rock music often perform this kind of motion instinctively — think of Elvis Presley, one of the first to gyrate his hips in an explicitly sexual way, in accord with the rhythm of his music.

There is just no escaping from the sensuality and sexual innuendos intended by the pioneers and protagonists of rock music.

ROCK MUSIC WAS THE MUSIC of youthful rebellion in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s: it gave expression to the desire for erotic liberation, which more often than not took the form of “rocking and rolling” in the backseat of the Chevy. - Read more here.

I get the pelvic thrust of the essay... but.

It's insightful to some degree - but I have to think most people already know that.  Dr. Kwasniewski's essay is part one of a two part series, so I hope he sources the real origins of rock'n'roll and jazz ... because so far, he's missing the fact that the music itself is based upon African American music, blended with American folk/country.  Black music influenced all of it - rock'n'roll merged with rhythm and blues and jazz and country, but it's roots developed from African American slaves, their spirituals and work songs, etc..  It's a very complex mix and has always been been highly charged with sensuality, as well echoing the social divide over race and class.  The sexual undertones often reflected the suffering of slaves whose families were broken apart, whose women and children were used to satisfy the lusts of slave owners, and so on.

BTW, Swing music actually foreshadowed and prepared the culture for rock'n'roll, which was in turn, introduced by white singers who played black artists' music for white, lower to middle class, youth.




You gots ta know whachya talkin' 'bout ...

I'm not here to trace the origins of rock'n'roll - but it is a genre which is a clear departure from European classical music - despite the fact that over time many groups incorporated classical orchestrations into their repertoire.

The fact that rock, R&B, jazz, hip hop, and even Country is steeped in sexuality and 'is defiantly carnal' as the Dr. says,  isn't much of  a surprise.  Who didn't know that?  Evangelicals have been preaching against it for decades, pretty much blaming the devil for all of it... and of course, some Catholic converts have brought that idea along with them.  Nevertheless, the music is based upon human experience - it's a form of expression peculiar to modern times, often rooted in pain and suffering.





Song for this post here.

Let's see if they connect it to Freemasons next.

What?

The Evil? of Abstract Impressionism.

How it has led 'degenerate moderns' to identify images of Mary... every where.
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The Salon.  Under the over-pass.  On your toasted cheese sandwich.  On the stain in your bath tub.  On the shower tile...
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The latest is the shower tile apparition (shown above).   Here's the story:
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"Cayol!  Cayol honeee!  The Blaessed Vergin is appearin' in our butifull new shawer stall!  Quick! Call the newspaper!"
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"Oh Gayree!  You always seein' stuff where it ain't!"  Carol said while she was walking into the lovely new bathroom Gary installed with tiles from Lowes.
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To Carol's surprise she saw the image (shown in this article!) - "I dropped to my knees - it was definitely the Blessed Virgin!"  Carol, a fine arts major in college told reporters that "anyone who has ever loved abstract expressionism - like most Americans do - would recognize it immediately!"  Read the entire article here:  Oklahoma couple find image of Virgin Mary on bathroom tile.
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An eidolon.
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I use that term for such images as the bath tile madonna - it does resemble images of the Virgin, in a caveman sort of style.  Eidolon means 'an unsubstantial image: phantom'.  popular culture has trademarked the term for other purposes, while Carl Sagan employed another similar term for imaginary images - but I can't remember what it was.  Doh!  But the reader knows what I mean.
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UPDATE:  Thanks to Eve, the word I was looking for is Pareidolia:

Carl Sagan hypothesized that as a survival technique, human beings are "hard-wired" from birth to identify the human face. This allows people to use only minimal details to recognize faces from a distance and in poor visibility but can also lead them to interpret random images or patterns of light and shade as being faces.  The evolutionary advantages of being able to identify friend from foe with split-second accuracy are numerous; prehistoric (and even modern) men and women who accidentally identify an enemy as a friend could face deadly consequences for this mistake. This is only one among many evolutionary pressures responsible for the development of the modern facial recognition capability of modern humans. - Wiki (Again, thanks to Eve.)

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Artists and creative people see images everywhere, in the formation of clouds, in the patterns of marble, in the smoke from their - and so on.  In my opinion I think most of the 'miraculous' and abstract images one sees are really eidolons or rather, pareidolia.  One can look at a photo of space and see in the patterns of gases and galaxies images similar to what one might see in nature for instance; or in the pattern of wood grain, one can maybe see a resemblance to waves on a shoreline, even landscapes and rock formations - stare at a pew during a boring homily and it can be like watching tv - if you're creative - or a little bit nuts.
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Abstract expressionism.
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I also think abstract expressionism can play a role in what people see.  I came across a piece on how abstract expressionism was supported by the CIA and more or less foisted upon the art world in reaction to Soviet realism - or something like that - I'll get to it latter.  But it got me to thinking...  Oh, oh - a little knowledge is dangerous.  I know.
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Anyway.  I think most people have desperately tried all of their lives to make sense of art works promoted as 'abstract impressionism'.  Hence they stare and stare trying to see something, anything.  For instance, I had to fight off the temptation to see something representational in Rothko's blackened canvas - I know I saw something - but what?  So was it better for me to just experience it?  See how that works though?  There is a human need to recognize, to discern, to identify.  It is especially important for Catholics, accustomed to churches stripped of ornament and recognizable art - they are starved for something representational and edifying - they need visual, tangible, recognizable images of faith.  They need sign posts and aids - otherwise they begin to invent them and see them where they are not. 
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The CIA, art, and life as one big conspiracy theory.
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So.  What's the deal with abstract expressionism and the CIA?  Who knew?
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... the triumph of American art during the early Cold War years over stodgy Moscow-approved socialist realism as fashion.
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After WWII, the U.S. government attempted to win European intellectuals away from the Communist Party by sponsoring avant-garde art, such as the New York School of abstract expressionist painting. But, American politicians, such as President Truman, objected to the taxpayers dollars being wasted on ugly stuff that their kids could do.
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So, funding moved to the black budget of the CIA.
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Frances Stonor Saunders' 1995 article in The Independent, Modern art was CIA 'weapon,' revealed some details of CIA sponsorship of the New York School. Her method of research was basically to call up old CIA men (or their kids) and get them talking about their triumphs during the good old days. This is not a particularly reliable method (it invites old-timers to exaggerate their importance), but it's certainly better than nothing. - Finish reading  Abstract Expressionism and the CIA
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???
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Obviously realism - in every sphere of life - needs to make a come back for many.
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Hottentot.

H/T to Western Confucian
and Spirit Daily for the bath tile story.