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CAN WHITE GUYS BE HIP?
| Program 05-08-21-A | 
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Can white guys be hip? Many have tried but only a few have achieved true hepcat status - Bob Dylan, Lenny Bruce, maybe Jack Kerouac. But compare them to Miles Davis and you have to wonder if they're really just hipster wannabes. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll dig into the history of hip, and see how it's so often tied into race. We'll also take another look at Bing Crosby. Today the crooner seems anything but hip. But back in the thirties Bing was the epitome of casual cool.
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SEGMENT 1:
New York Times reporter John Leland is the author of "Hip: The History." He tells Jim Fleming that the hipster is an outsider who crosses boundaries and challenges the mainstream. He also talks about the overlap between being hip and using drugs. And we hear music from some modern hipsters. Also, jazz critic Gary Giddins has written a book called "Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams." Giddins tells Steve Paulson that before he was a crooner, Crosby was totally hip and outsold Sinatra. But he couldn't make the jump to rock and roll.
SEGMENT 2:
Damali Ayo runs the website rent-a-negro.com. She's also written a book called "How To Rent A Negro." Ayo is a performance artist and a Black woman who tells Steve Paulson that a lifetime of being the object of white people's curiosity led her to take action. Also, Charles Monroe-Kane profiles one of the ultimate hipsters – musician and cult hero Chuck E. Weiss. With lots of music by him and inspired by him.
SEGMENT 3:
Cultural critic Stanley Crouch calls his latest book "The Artificial White Man: Essays on Authenticity." Crouch told Steve Paulson that Americans have some pretty messed up ideas about what it means to be authentic.
Cassette copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 05-08-21-A.
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Books:
- Damali Ayo, How to Rent a Negro (Lawrence Hill Books)
- Stanley Crouch, The Artificial White Man: essays on authenticity (Basic)
- Gary Giddins, A Pocketful of Dreams - the Early Years, 1903-1940 (Little, Brown)
- John Leland, Hip: the history (HarperCollins)
Links:
Music:
- In Return:
Beastie Boys w/ "Brass Monkey" - In Leland:
Miles Davis w/ "On Green Dolphin Street"
on '58 Sessions
Columbia Jazz - Duke Ellington w/ "The Mooche"
on "Sophisticated Lady"
Creative Sounds - Charlie Parker w/ "K.C. Blues"
on "Bird's Best Bop"
Verve - Bob Dylan w/ "Outlaw Blues"
on "Bringing It All Back Home"
Columbia - Eminem w/ "Yellow Brick Road"
- In Giddins:
Bing Crosby w/ "Your Socks Don't Match"
on "Bing Crosby and Some Jazz Friends"
Decca Jazz - Bing Crosby w/ "Oh, Miss Hannah"
on "Bix'n'Bing"
Academy Sound and Vision - Crosby & Armstrong w/ "Gone
Fishin'"
on "Bing Crosby and Some Jazz Friends" - "Pennies From Heaven"
on "Bing Crosby and Some Jazz Friends" - Crosby w/ "Louisianna"
on "Bix/n/Bing" - After Hornby:
Bill Evans w/ "Blue in Green"
on "Portrait in Jazz"
Riverside - After Ayo:
Bill Evans w/ "Oleo"
on "Everybody Digs Bill Evans"
Riverside - After Marcus:
Tower of Power w/ "What is Hip?" - After Crouch:
Miles Davis w/ "Round Midnight"
on "Round About Midnight"
on Columbia Jazz
Distribution dates:
| week of 08/13/2006
- hour 2 week of 08/21/2005 - hour 1 |
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