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Humor and combined with jazz: Man on the Street , Mal Sharpe, wanders around America with his tape recorder looking for The Meaning of life. From Seattle to Little Rock--from a professor in Cedar Rapids to a pimp in Tiajuana he records moments with titles such as DEATH AND BASEBALL, THE DIAPER PEOPLE, GARBAGE AT GUCCI'S AND THE NATIONAL FLY CEMETERY. This is combined musical commentary from the likes of Billie Holiday "Why Was I Born." James Taylor "The Secret of Life." Jack Teagarden "A Hundred Years from Today" The Who, "Who Am I?" The Jim Kewskin Jug Band, "Never Swat a Fly." Dinah Washington, Louis Armstrong, King Pleasure, Bing Crosby and many more. Mal does a weekly jazz show on KCSM, the Bay Area's Jazz Station and he's also a jazz trombonist, so the music is chosen to lyrically add to the philosophical nature of his "quest." Does he ever discover the meaning of life? Yes and from a most surprising individual.
4 Comments
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Review of What is The Meaning of Life?I couldn't get very far past the adults in diapers, the dead guy in the baseball stadium, and the pimp. I guess this is just not my type of humor. Of course, I was silly enough to expect that somebody was REALLY interested in exploring the meanings that various people place on human life. It didn't seem to me that the interviewer had a lot of respect for the interviewees. I'm probably too sensitive about that. I feel bad knocking this piece. Let me again emphasize that it just doesn't fit MY sense of humor. |
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Review of What is The Meaning of Life?This album has always been one of my favorite eBay finds. No one's ever had a better way with folks on the street than Mal Sharpe. This segment should be aired as a special episode of This American Life or some other NPR show. It's simply brilliant. |
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Toby Whitty
Posted on August 24, 2008 at 07:45 AM | Permalink
Review of What is The Meaning of Life?
Having come across the groundbreaking 60s audio pranksters Coyle and Sharpe some 20 years ago, I've always been surprised and saddened at the limited availability of their material.
This solo piece by Mal Sharpe is given a different edge by having an overall theme and by having the "Man on the Street" interviews linked by music, however, this works extremely well and creates what for me was a very engaging piece. Despite the often surreal suggestions that Sharpe proposes to his interviewees there's never the sense that he's out to make them look foolish or to humiliate them. Bizarre but gentle humour.