Shane Dwight Blues Report

It was Friday, November 20, 2009 and Shane Dwight was the headliner at Mojo’s Blues Kitchen in Jacksonville Beach. To be frank, I had no idea who this Shane Dwight Guy was. On his website I found that he is an American Roots Music artist, and he’s white, and about 35. Great, I was supposed to find a blues concert and I went to watch a white Gen X guy play guitar at a cougar bar. There was no other option, it had to be done this weekend, and the options were slim around Jacksonville, so there I was, in front of Mojo’s Blues Kitchen, walking in as the only person under the age of 30 to go watch a white guy play the blues or something similar to it. I was skeptical to say the least.

Alright, poor attitude aside, I was looking forward to this. I rarely go to concerts and this gave me a reason to relax, experience some fresh music, and have a few beers. All three are great reasons to go to a blues concert.

I was late. The concert started at 10:00 p.m. and it is 10:30 p.m. when I walked into the venue. Mojo’s was packed! It was standing room only in the large rectangular restaurant and Shane Dwight was on stage on the opposite end of the wide open room shredding on his guitar and the audience was devouring every electrified note pulsating from the speakers. I was thoroughly surprised at the energy resonating in the bar, everyone was there for one purpose: to have a great time.

I stood at the bar leaning while waiting for my drink for a few moments to take in the scene. The booths lining the walls all had been taken. In fact all the tables filling in the floor space were taken also. Even the high-tops close to the bar against the dividing wall, which separated the high-tops from the rest of the eatery, were full. There must have been 175 people at this concert. Shane and his band are about 90 feet away from where I was standing, a distance long enough to allow me to see the stage in context of the restaurant and patrons surrounding it. The stage was situated in the front left corner with a small dance floor in front where the uncaged cougars wearing mom-jeans were resurrecting dances from twenty years ago.

The audience was what struck me the most. I expected a certain demographic, but it was nothing like I had thought. Most of the attendees were middle-aged white couples who look like they are enjoying their empty-nest years. This seemed so off. I felt like the entire African-American element of the blues was missing from this concert. How authentic was this experience if there were only middle class, middle-aged white people at the concert? Is blues confined to certain demographics, or is it a state achieved through common experience like your husband losing a job or coming home early one afternoon to find that your wife is in your bed with another man? Blues music is about celebration of life through commonly understood emotions expressed through familiar situations, even though life at times may be unpleasant. Blues allows for an escape, even if it is for just a few short moments.

As Shane played, it became apparent what was meant when he was described as an American Roots musician on his website. His music is a composite that may be truncated to countrified blues rock. Elements of rock, country, and blues braid themselves into his music. The small three-piece band is a familiar site in all three types of music with a drum-kit, bass guitar, and lead guitar. These elements are the eggs, flour, and sugar of American music. They make the foundation for any group. Shane’s guitar solos were the most telling points of the songs. This is when I could hear the various influences, Muddy Waters,ZZ Top, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Hank Williams, Robert Johnson, and even some Rage Against the Machine ( check out the guitar solo in "Bulls on Parade"). He used his electric guitar without preconceived limitations of how it should sound so what came out was a mixture of distorted blues picking transitioning into almost bizarre scratching that sounded like a DJ on a Friday night hip hop radio station to emotionally draining Southern rock solos (watch the prelude in this performance of "Don't Forget My Name When You Pray" to see the guitar work).

It is easy to tell that Shane Dwight is a product of the times. The self-proclaimed blues man has not ignored the progression in styles of music; rather he has integrated elements to fit his blues-rich roots. While the drums and bass guitars maintained a simple rhythm and harmony, Dwight’s guitar shouted out and was only accentuated reverberating off of the hum-drum of the other instruments. And while it was Dwight’s guitar that expelled the blues, it was his lyrics which invited the musings of country into the mix. The lyrics lacked the improvisational feel of blues with theAAB rhyme scheme allowing the vocalist to conjure a third line while repeating the first line for the second. It was scripted, and it was apparently so following a five minute guitar solo in which Dwight would use his guitar like a decanter to pour out his soul, and there was no questioning the similarities to country artists, though Dwight did lack a substantial twang that often overpowers words sung in country music. This is exemplified in his new single "Gimme Back My Money."

However, it would be a mistake to discount Shane Dwight's blues credentials. It is clear from his array of performances posted on YouTube that he is in fact a blues musician. Here is a video of Shane performing an impromptu cover of a Muddy Waters song. He does a fair job of impersonating the legendary Waters. According to his Myspace page (Yes, I am citing a Myspace page) he won the 2002 Monterey Blues Festival Battle of the Bands he performs regularly at Blues Bars around the country.

Shane Dwight Ms Insider Live

Moondoggie | MySpace Video

The experience as a whole was very enjoyable. With a cold beer and great music, it is hard not to enjoy yourself. Shane Dwight’s American Root music is a conglomerate of classic American musical styles which share similar backgrounds, poor people wanting to enjoy and express themselves. This tradition lives on through Dwight and his contemporaries and does not seem to be going away any time soon.

Literacy Narrative

Literacy Narrative
Brandon Eady
3/9/09
Dr. Donovan

Sorry Jack, Call of the Wild is Mr. Eady’s

In 1995 I was in the third grade with Mrs. Hornsby at Chalkville Elementary School in Chalkville, Alabama just outside the Birmingham City limits. It was this year that I wrote my first piece of prose. Mrs. Hornsby had required each student in the class to write a story on whatever we chose;there were no limitations. I was able to find out about this earlier than other students because my sister, who was a sixth grader, was Mrs. Hornsby’s assistant. We would stay after class and prepare the classroom for the next day while we waited on our bus to take us home. This is a rather exciting task for an imaginative nine year old student who spent his summers watching film adaptations of Jack London novels, and then read the novels barely understanding the details of each character and missing almost every key detail making up fantastical images of what he thought was taking place. Other boys would rather have gone out to play football than write a story. I probably would have too, but my mother would not allow me near a football field. I was so skinny I had been dubbed “Skeletor.” Due to maternal concerns about my well being, I was obsessed with Jack London’s canine centric novels.
I was drawn to London because his novels took place in an exotic, yet familiar setting – the wilderness. My home in Chalkville was on top of an Alabama mountain, which is an old mountain which at a time was covered with trees, but since has been developed into a suburban community. Still, some of the forest was untouched, and where my property ended the woods began. I spent much of my time playing in the woods, running up and down the mountainside, exploring the small patch of wilderness and eventually making it to the entrance road to our neighborhood. While venturing through the woods, I would pretend I was a dog. It was a fantasy driven by my relationship with my two dogs. When I would read London’s novels, I would envision the dogs that I knew running in the forest that I ran through in his stories. It was a way of relating that which was familiar to me to what was present on the pages. It was this experience that caused me to become obsessed with Jack London.
So when Mrs. Hornsby asked that I write a story, I wrote my own nine-year-old version of Call of the Wild. Really I plagiarized the story, but did not know what plagiarism was or that it was even wrong to copy a piece of literature from another author. What I actually did was a disservice to Jack London because I could not remember any of the characters’ names except for the dog protagonist, Buck. So, I solved the problem of names by completely omitting them except for Buck. It was a choppy, plagiarized story without proper names. “The man saved Buck from the other man. Then the second man rode the sled on the ice with the third man and sank. Buck was happy with the man.” I must have had at least four “other men.” I wrote a very short plot summary of Call of the Wild. I crammed in all I could remember about London’s story, Buck being stolen from his home, his voyage north, how he was saved from the inexperienced travelers, and how he pulled the 1,000 pound sled. I was focused more on Buck and what happened to the dog than any human character. It was far from Hemmingway, even a nine year old Hemingway. Although I had plagiarized, my pre-pubescent literary crime, I had taken a complex story and put at least a portion down on paper in my own words. I do not believe Mrs. Hornsby was a Jack London aficionado from her lack of recognition of the plot.
This was a significant moment for me because this was the first time I had put pen to paper and wrote a narrative, not just simple sentences to practice grammar, but a full page of handwritten narrative with a protagonist, supporting characters, antagonist (sans names), conflict, rising action, dénouement, and the whole schebang! And I did not even realize what I was doing! This is a landmark in my life because this is the first time I expressed myself creatively with words. It is like the leap in coloring, the first time a child colors and stays completely inside the lines, it marks a level of craftsmanship, expertise, of mastery. Now, at the age of nine, I was able to not only string together words to make a sentence, not only was I able to string together sentences to make paragraphs, I was able to tie together paragraphs to make a story. This marked transcendence into the world of adults, what every child wants to be – adult. I had surpassed some adults in the United States, I was fully literate. Literacy, a skill that marks a person as possessing great potential, was mine.
I recall when Mrs. Hornsby returned my story. She was impressed at the story marked with several positive comments. I was used to this as I was always cocky about my academic ability in elementary school since I had straight A’s all the way through 5th grade. I remember the only time I hadn’t gotten a perfect score on a spelling quiz in 1st grade. I misspelled “money.” I was shocked when my quiz was not posted on the board where all my 100, A+, smiley face quizzes were. I was certain it was an error on her part. So when I was returned my story I took it calmly and knew I would have a comment about the lack of names. I was glad to have succeeded, though.
Since my forgery of Jack London’s Call of the Wild I have done some creative prose writing, most significantly one short screenplay and another full length screenplay. It is a tremendous feeling to know that I am capable of writing a fictive narrative, with intricate details, and it is quite an accomplishment. Maybe one day it will lead to my own publishing. Or maybe I just keep stealing from Jack London and enjoy his work.

Subject: The United States’ position on recent Israel/Gaza situation

Issue for Decision
Israel has withdrawn its troops from the Gaza territory concluding a 22 day military offensive against Hamas. The withdrawal marks the beginning of a unilateral, one week ceasefire. Hamas, however, has declared that it will continue to fire rockets from Gaza into Israel, and fired 20 rockets over the Israel-Gaza border immediately after Israel announced the ceasefire.
Since the ceasefire, Israel has responded to the attacks with targeted bombings. In the 22 day campaign called Operation Cast Lead 1300 Palestinians are dead and 13 Israelis are dead. The total damage of the attacks is estimated to be at least $15 million. It is in the United States interest to have the conflict resolved as thoroughly and quickly as possible as continued violence will force the Arab State to side with either Israel or Hamas. Historically, Arabs will choose to side with Arabs. This will negatively affect U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the U.A.E., and Egypt.

Background
Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, is a militant political party in the Palestinian Territories of Israel. Hamas currently holds 76 seats out of the 136 seat parliament of the Palestinian Territories, and unlike Fatah, the militant party refuses to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a state. Thus the main goal of Hamas is to ensure the destruction of modern Israel and return the territory to Palestinian control in an Islamic Republic.
As one of its election platforms, Hamas declared it does not believe that Israel has the right to exist. President Jimmy Carter negotiated with Hamas in 2007 and had them agree to stop violence if the Palestinian people were given a completely autonomous Palestinian state separate from Israel and if Israel were to recede to its pre-1967 territories. However, this treaty was not ratified in the Hamas controlled parliament.
With Egypt acting as mediator, Israel and the autonomous government of Palestine, led by Hamas, were able to negotiate a six month peace treaty from June 19, 2008. The peace treaty was never really kept by Hamas as the militant organization fired roughly 50 rockets from Gaza into Israeli territory.
Options
We are currently developing policy options to address the situation. We are looking at possible humanitarian aid given directly to the Gazan people, not filtered through Hamas. This could be done through direct foreign aid from our coffers, or more strategically through non-governmental organizations such as the Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders, as this would achieve our objectives without us directly being involved, letting those who would like to help to help.
We may want to send UN peacekeeping force to act as deterrents from any further violence from either side as it is quite possible that future violence will occur due to Hamas’ unrelenting position of utter opposition to Israel. Also, since Israel is our strongest ally in the Middle East, we should consider boosting military aid to Israel as this would allow Israel to replenish exhausted military resources allowing a continuance of a strong relationship which we may need in the future.


Next Steps
We will need the CIA to form a report on the political and military dynamics of the current situation so we may confirm our information that we have based our reports upon and to allow the surest decision making. The Department of Defense ought to come up with possible ways of addressing the status of the Israeli military forces and tactics used to fight Hamas and possible ways of addressing threats in a more ethical manner. The Department of State should meet with the leadership of Israel, Fatah, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan to ensure that outside rabble rousing stays at a minimum.