I was pleased to learn a few weeks ago that Calvin's Student Activities Office had booked the wonderful indie collaborative band The New Pornographers to perform on-campus this fall. Then dismayed (not entirely surprised) to see the show suddenly cancelled yesterday, hardly a month before the scheduled October 15th appearance. Speculation about donor politics aside, this is an embarrassing fiasco of reactionary ignorance. Turdburgers.
The sad story: Calvin College, Pitchfork, Grand Rapids Press
I have to admit, the irony of the name is still lost on me...thoughts?
ReplyDeleteA.C. Newman says the name comes from a combination of a Japanese movie called “The Pornographers” and British pop group “The New Seekers.” And Dan Bejar had a song called "The Pornographers" in 1996.
ReplyDeleteNewman said that he came up with the name before (1996) learning that televangelist Jimmy Swaggart had called rock music "new pornography" (1986).
My source: the internet. Tough call. Hard to resist the Jimmy Swaggart reference to rock n' roll.
from his own mouth (on WYCE): http://www.grcmc.org/index.php?page=radio&s=audio_video&embed_id=824
ReplyDeleteI still like "The New Calvinists."