just a little folk music for y'all
January 13, 2014 5:37 AM   Subscribe

December 4th, 1928, in a New Orleans park: two boys dance while another plays a homemade drum kit.
posted by flapjax at midnite (21 comments total) 45 users marked this as a favorite
 
And 81 years later...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:43 AM on January 13, 2014 [2 favorites]


This is not connecting for me.
posted by marienbad at 6:21 AM on January 13, 2014


Not connecting what to what, one wonders.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:24 AM on January 13, 2014 [1 favorite]


Ok, it got there in the end. And oh my christ did it ever get there. That is fantastic. Not only has the guy got amazing rhythm, and neat drumming skills, the design of the kit is very clever and super cool.

Also, loved how the film went funny at the end, with the strange brushing niose over the music - sounded so modern.

And the name of the video cracks me up - its so unrelated to the content.
posted by marienbad at 6:31 AM on January 13, 2014


This is awesome.

"Ready? You Ready?!?"

Also, barbed wire seems to bound the park. Hrm.
posted by allthinky at 6:36 AM on January 13, 2014 [1 favorite]


Wow what a drumkit! And that kid can play. The kick drum mechanism is neat, not something I ever would have considered (side view kicks in around 1:32).
posted by grog at 6:59 AM on January 13, 2014 [1 favorite]


A Delmonte fruit crate, a couple of lids, and a few small cans? Amazing.
posted by francesca too at 7:00 AM on January 13, 2014


This just goes to show, you can't keep a percussionist down.
posted by haunted by Leonard Cohen at 7:22 AM on January 13, 2014


Great stuff, thanks for posting!
posted by carter at 7:25 AM on January 13, 2014


This is so cool. Thanks for sharing it!
posted by brundlefly at 8:24 AM on January 13, 2014


Fantastic. And I love when it turns into a Death Grips video around 4:30.
posted by cashman at 9:08 AM on January 13, 2014 [1 favorite]


Seeing stuff like the homemade drum kit reminds me that everything keeping me from doing something I say I want to do is an utter bullshit excuse. What a great video, what cool kids.
posted by jsturgill at 9:47 AM on January 13, 2014 [5 favorites]


everything keeping me from doing something I say I want to do is an utter bullshit excuse
Thanks for putting words to the thought I had on seeing this. I will post these words to see every day. (At home I mean, not here)
posted by InkaLomax at 12:35 PM on January 13, 2014 [1 favorite]


I love how it cuts to satellite footage of the earth spinning for the last 30 seconds.
posted by umbĂș at 1:00 PM on January 13, 2014 [1 favorite]


What a shame that the performers' names were not captured/recorded; that info is significant in its absence. I want to know the subsequent life story of that drummer, as would his possible descendants.
posted by Morrigan at 3:23 PM on January 13, 2014 [2 favorites]


The video of the African American kids in New Orleans could just have easily been made last week. Including the clothing styles.

Which is to say that New Orleans has a lovely timelessness.
posted by ColdChef at 5:16 PM on January 13, 2014 [3 favorites]


I'm not sure about the wooden fruit crate. That one seems a bit harder to come by nowadays.
posted by asperity at 5:35 PM on January 13, 2014


Not in New Orleans. Antique stores are full of them.
posted by ColdChef at 7:22 PM on January 13, 2014 [2 favorites]


That was so freakin cool. Thanks for sharing!

I wonder where it was filmed in New Orleans?

I am curious about the style of dance - it's a very stylized type of tap. If I had to guess, it's probably the basis of the type of dance you see in the French Quarter a lot - usually young Black kids with bottlecaps (I think?) on the bottom of their shoes, dancing on the sidewalk for tips. It's tap, but not the traditional tap that I learned.

It also makes me sad that you don't see tap dancing in popular culture much anymore. Most kids who take dance class learn it, but if they continue dance when they're older usually focus on ballet, modern, or hip hop. Tap is so cool, and fun as hell. I just found my tap shoes last night, makes me want to take a class!
posted by radioamy at 9:04 PM on January 13, 2014


It also makes me sad that you don't see tap dancing in popular culture much anymore.

I did a gig here in Tokyo, a few years ago, with a New York-based tap dancer named Tamango. He's fantastic, travels all round the world performing his dance. It was really cool, he had his tap floor rigged up with some contact mics and was running the amplified tap rhythms through delays. Here's some of what we did that night. (Unfortunately there was no camera operator, just a stationary camera position, so Tamango is sometimes out of the frame. He is, however, always audible)
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:03 PM on January 13, 2014 [3 favorites]


This is so cool, thanks for posting it. BTW, those kids would be close to 100 years old if they're still alive.
posted by Daddy-O at 1:45 AM on January 14, 2014


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