Rhapsody in Blue

An Artists’ Influence Artists write about what they know; they pull feelings from their heart and their songs relay what the artists’ emotions, whether it be of their hometown, their high school crush, or their experiences. Many artists that came to fame during the twentieth century have a fair share of experiences they share with us in the form of their songs. The twentieth century is comprised of the institution of slavery and its effects, war, gender norms, discrimination based on nationality…

James Baldwin’s “Sonny Blues” and Katie Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” are two short stories showing conflict characters feel as though they have been release free from. Baldwin’s character Sonny conflict with his family not understanding his life struggles and was release by the show of him playing jazz music to help them understand. Jazz music was used to help reveal the stories. The character Louise Mallard from “The Story of an Hour” had the conflict of being not her own person and viewed…

Motley Crue is a heavy metal band, with carefree lifestyle, that they shared with the world through their music. The members of the band were not only memorable on stage, but off stage as well. They lived a lifestyle that most people would not approve of, or deem socially correct. Yet, this lifestyle, similar to the style established by Led Zeppelin, benefited their career. Selling over 100 million albums worldwide, Motley Crue spread the heavy metal brand of music around the world. All of…

Elvis In 1935, a man was born who unknowingly was about to change history. Elvis Presley a man of great dedication, was later on to be known as “The King of Rock and Roll”. He had such an effect on society that he is still very well known today, 41 years after his death. Elvis Presley’s significant effects on Rock and Roll helped to ease racial segregation and created a new youth generation. Elvis Presley first started off his career with pop music, until he moved on to expand Rock and Roll…

Contemporary rock band Imagine Dragons sang the line “It’s a revolution, I suppose…” in their Grammy Award-winning song “Radioactive”. Surprisingly, Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson, the main character in the book The Titan’s Curse, can relate to this line, as well as the rest of the song. Although The Titan’s Curse is a fiction book based on Ancient Greek Mythology, it shares the same theme with Radioactive, a popular rock song. Both pieces of literature show the reader that you can you can…

Compare and Contrast Goldfinger (1964); Musical Score by John Barry vs Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981); Musical Score by John Williams During the 1960s, popular music played an important role in filmmaking, garnering larger audiences due to the appeal of this genre but also due to the fact that psychologically, people tend to associate the music they are hearing with real life events or emotions. From 1960-1967, film scores began to change. No longer would we see the traditions of the 50s, where…

Count Basie was a swing big band leader who began playing piano in the 1920s. He was born in New Jersey, and took stylistic influences from New York musicians such as Fats Waller (Yanow 155). He rose to prominence as a part of the Bennie Moten Orchestra, and then led his own orchestra after Moten’s death in 1935 (Yanow 155). As a bandleader, Count Basie was able to develop his own innovative style that significantly influenced the way jazz developed past the 1940s. His band was one of the top…

The song “Faithfully” from 1983, performed by the band Journey on their album Frontiers is thought to be one of many iconic rock songs from the 1980s that has left a legacy for decades and generations. It mixes many different instrumental parts with the concept of the 1980s rock song, having sounds similar to the well known power ballads and the genre of arena rock. “Faithfully”, tells a story as any other song does, using lyrics and the general progression of the music throughout the song to…

Rene Rosales Literary Heritage Essay 2 November 24, 2017 Sonny’s Blues: Behind the Notes Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin tells the story of brothers and their attempt to make it out of a situation they feel trapped in. The story is told through a narrator that tells the story of his own struggles, but also tells us of his brother Sonny. Sonny is addicted to drugs and is trying to become a better person. Through this story, James Baldwin focuses on the impacts drugs have on poor communities like…

his disastrous performance is the epitome of irony. As Hoodie Allen attempted to rap about “living life without responsibility” and his many tales of lust and loss, I counted the number of people sitting with me on the upper balcony at the House of Blues. There’s 46 of us. 46 more than should actually have to suffer through this performance. Hoodie Allen made a wonderful first impression. I could feel his energy and excitement as he strutted onto the stage. He drew in the thirty or so screaming…