Usher, Brass Bands, Belly Dancing, It's All Short Steps...

 I went to a kids event. One of those drop by and trick or treat things with my grandkids. As I walked across the parking lot I passed someone's Pop-Pop sitting in his car, either too scared or too selfish to come in. I think maybe it was the latter as he was blasting the rock band Led Zeppelin from the tiny speakers in the family grandkid transporter. Have you heard this band? Some of the songs are "Whole Lot of Love" and "Dazed and Confused." I felt like saying "Hey man, there's kids here!" To be fair I do own one Led Zeppelin album. It's one that came out that summer when my wife, Cathy was a teenager and she spent every free moment at the beach cultivating future skin cancers so it's like a nostalgic favorite. These days she plays it while getting ready for appointments with her skin specialists. Yeah, Led Zeppelin equals trouble all these years later. 

Usher, a rap/R&B/neo soul singer who was born after that favorite Led Zeppelin album came out and recorded his first record in 1994 played the Super Bowl halftime show this year. I watched it. I thought it was good. Some comments I saw were "crappy" "ungodly" and "terrible." Since Usher has sold about 60 million albums worldwide and no telling how many streams on Spotify I'd guess there was a lot of people who enjoyed the show.

Just as Led Zeppelin has some musical roots in American blues music Usher showed some cultural roots to his music by having the Jackson State Marching Band, the Sonic Boom of the South on the field. I'm only an amateur musicologist but I will put forth the theory that the hip hop/R&B style dancing has some of it's roots in the drum majors and twirler routines and the half time shows of the Historically Black Colleges and University Bands. HBCU bands have a long history of appearances at Super Bowls. Usher was paying his dues and bringing culture, one you may not be familiar with to your living room. 

         

Once on a visit to New Orleans, our first one since Katrina, we had dinner at an Asian restaurant downstairs from the Dragon's Den club. It's no longer there but I had the best fish soup ever and afterwards we went upstairs to the club for the show. The opening act was belly dancers. Belly dancing if you are not a fan is the oldest form of dance, has been incorporated into some R&B dance routines and is considered a healthy weight bearing and strengthening exercise for all ages and abilities. Probably doesn't matter what sex you identify as either. After the belly dancers the Soul Rebels Brass Band performed. The Soul Rebels at the time were one of the modern New Orleans Brass Bands blending soul, funk, jazz, rock and the New Orleans tradition all into one blend. It was a good show and someone told me that night that all the band members had been drum majors at HBCUs. Band nerds. At break time during rehearsals they probably stand around and tell funny stories about what their music theory professor said during class when they were in college.  

   When you see a show like Usher's Super Bowl performance go a bit deeper. After all sometimes you see New Orleans Bands Performing rock covers including Led Zeppelin tunes. 

Don't be afraid, don't be selfish. Let everybody have their music. They are going to no matter what you think.