Dilution of the Core

Posted: March 28th, 2009 | Author: CazzyDog | Filed under: Label Life | No Comments »

Let’s take a break from the story for a moment, so I can hypothesize and ramble, and in this ramble, oddly enough, connect it to India. I have tremendous passion and devotion to animals, in particular dogs.

Over the past few decades, I have been deeply involved in the perpetuation of a few breeds, namely the Fila Brasileiro (Brazilian Mastiff). The Fila is not a dog for everyone and requires a huge amount of time and especially understanding. This animal will show the greatest love and devotion to its family, unlike anything you can imagine.

It is also extremely suspicious of strangers and is not a dog you can come up to and pet on the street. It will attack, and this is not a learned trait, but a genetic predisposition. I have learned to understand that it is their reaction to thinking those they love most may be threatened.

At well over 150 lbs. it takes a very responsible owner to deal with this dog. When I first became involved with the breed, I was shocked at how strict and rigid the proper breeders were before they would allow you to purchase one. Videos of your home and yard were required. Something akin to a background check was the norm as well.

When I got into breeding, further shocks, when I was made to sign a document, which amongst other things, made me promise that I would euthanize a puppy if it didn’t meet standard. I was appalled. Then I understood. It was to protect the dog, keep the line pure.

So many breeds have been diluted and in that dilution, the dogs are afflicted with terrible health problems that lead to a short life of suffering. That was reason one. Reason two was again about dilution, and you can’t have a Fila with crossed wiring, a dog who becomes a threat to everyone and itself.

This dog is capable of extreme power and action, so one that is unstable is very dangerous and could lead to great harm, and ultimately the poor dog being put down, not to mention harm to others.

I am constantly searching for new breeds that are as pure as can be. I have fallen in love with the Caucasian Ovtcharka, a dog so primitive that it requires even more care than the Fila. There is a grand majesty and beauty in these animals. You need to be as devoted an owner as the dog is a companion.

It breaks my heart to see puppy mill and back yard breeding that dilutes the genetics and allows for poor, helpless animals to be born sick and on course for pain. How does this relate to music? The creative gene pool, its dilution, and how influence shapes everyone as a musician and particularly, as a songwriter.

When I first began playing guitar as a kid, I was influenced by Ritchie Blackmore, Johnny Winter, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and others of that ilk. They were influenced by the great blues players, Ritchie by classical music and a bit of Django. My playing reflected those influences. By the time I became a producer, everyone played like G.I.T and was using scales and runs, far beyond our beloved pentatonic.

They were influenced by Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Randy Rhodes. I couldn’t play anywhere near their technical proficiency, but many couldn’t bend a note and make it cry like B.B. King. This new generation of gun slingers were far removed from the influences that shaped the playing of say, Jimmy Page, and therefore sounded nothing like him. Good and bad, I suppose.

They could dazzle you with mastery but not really move you to cry. That is only my opinion. Django could do both, but he was much closer to the source, or perhaps even the source himself for many.

The Beatles were influenced by the great songs and writing of Motown, the Brill Building, Stax, Chess, Buddy Holly, etc. The Stones, even more so by Stax and Chess, but the point is, their influence shaped their style and what they were drawing from was closer to the core.

That core was of course was the blues, gospel, etc. You have to wonder if Lennon and McCartney’s extraordinary sense of melody would have been the same if not exposed closer to the core. You can see how their lyrical depth altered after being exposed to Bob Dylan, who of course was influenced by so many greats, closer to the source.

Nothing is original; everything is a result of synthesis and interpretation, shaped directly by our influences and exposure.

Our ears and familiarity is shaped very early on in America, by virtue of the lullabies we are sung as babies, further permeated by the first scale we learn in school as kids; the major scale. In Europe that is very different in terms of exposure and explains why there is sometimes a lack of music translating from country to country.

Analyze most “hit” songs, and I am sure you will find a very familiar intervallic distance and core scale that the melody is built from. Instant familiarity and it doesn’t “grate” against our senses. You’ll find this in the beauty of Buddy Holly, Brill Building, Motown, etc. and certainly in the genius melodies of the Beatles.

India’s influences were not of the standard for a “kid her age”. She was highly influenced by exposure to the greats, such as Donnie Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye etc. The music her parents surrounded her with influenced her, and set her on the course to find her own interpretations of that influence.

You can hear name check them on the intro and outro of Acoustic Soul. Her influences shaped her music, as it does to all of us. Her exposure was deeper than someone of her generations and her music hit a nerve, because it was a beautiful interpretation of a core that was deeply imbedded in the psyche of the public.

There was very little dilution from the source. Just a beautiful majesty.

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