(TV) Stuff they don't teach you in Swiss Boarding Schools

["Emilie Hsu" <ehsu@mindspring.com>]

Well, that part of the article is dumb -- and Tom certainly didn't go to
some Swiss finishing school for boys.
What Hammond says is hilarious: "I think it's funny, because some of the
biggest punks back in the day in 1978 went to boarding school. I mean Tom
Verlaine [founding member of legendary NYC post-punk outfit Television] went
to boarding school. " -- He started out by saying "some of the biggest punks
back in the day in 1978 went to boarding school" -- and you are expecting a
litany of names like "Johnny Rotten and Dee Dee went to Andover, and Blondie
went to a Swiss finishing school" -- but no, he then goes on to name one
punk guy, and it's Tom.  The example doesn't even jive with his general
statement.

He continues: "Any art form has always had support from someone, from Van
Gogh to Beethoven to the Beatles."  Hm... I can't think of worst examples if
he wanted to make a statement that artists can come from affluent background
and still be legit.  Van Gogh didn't get great support from anyone -- he's
no painter sponsored by the Medicis, like Michelangelo (I mean before
Michelangelo and his former patrons became enemies).  Van Gogh's brother
helped Vincent out -- but the support was more emotionally than financial
(actually, the financial support was rather bleak).  There is a
heart-breaking sculpture of Vincent Van Gogh and his brother at the Zadkine
museum in Paris -- the sculpture always makes me cry.  Two men holding each
other -- reminds me of the line from W.S. Graham's poem: "Hold on to me and
step / Over the world's thorns."  Beethoven was one of the first to say no
to the patronage system -- he was no Haydn, who was the musician of the
Esterhazys, for example (I mean, I was just in the Esterhazy palais in
Vienna -- these guys knew how to live).  If I were Hammond, the examples of
the top of my head would have to be: Haydn, Gustave Moreau (he sold very few
paintings during his lifetime, since he was independently wealthy -- and
when he sold his paintings, he demanded top prices -- you can visit the
Moreau museum in Paris, great little museum) and James Merrill.

The bracketed comment was from the writer of the article, not the
interviewee, that the writer feels the need to tell his audience who Tom
is... that in itself tells you something about the writer...

Post-punk, don't think so.  Maurice, as always, you're right!  Maybe
proto-punk... and even that.  Though one has to admit that for most people,
when you tell them that Television is the greatest punk band ever, it's a
little misleading.  For most people, when they think of punk music, they
think Clash, Ramones and Sex Pistols.  Musically, when I think of
Television, I think more about chamber music than the Ramones...

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "TV Digest" <tv-owner@brainiac.com>
To: <tv-digest@brainiac.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 24, 2004 6:29 AM
Subject: TV Digest V1 #1101


> Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 14:58:38 -0400
> From: Maurice Rickard <maurice@mac.com>
> Subject: Re: (TV) Brief Verlaine mention...
>
> So Television's "post-punk" now?  So now the punk era's moved back to
> the Dolls, to the Stooges, or back to the Nuggets time period?  I
> guess this makes the Ramones, the Buzzcocks, the Pistols, etc.
> "post-punk," too.
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