Two nations divided by a common beverage!!

We on HotTraxRadio don't disagree about much. In fact we have a degree of synergy that borders on the miraculous, (I got 'synergy' from an American boss I once had when no one in Britain even knew the word) but if there is one issue that stirs debate and division, particularly among the male contingent and ESPECIALLY DJ Jazzy, it's BEER!

Now DJ Jazzy's judgment is generally pretty good (well he employed me , didn't he? ) but I'm afraid on the issue of beer, I shall continue to claim a certain vindication of my own good taste. It's a shame, I suppose, that Americans are exposed to the frozen polar-bear temperature stuff provided, primarily, by Anheuser-Busch, thus they think all our beer is warm and outlandish. I shake my head in sorrow at such a misrepresentation.

For example, only yesterday, I visited my local hostelry and took away the regular brochure of cask ale delights (another delight most Americans never sample unless they taste the products of micro breweries). Cask Ale, for the uninitiated, is living beer where the yeast is still active, unlike the pasteurised, pressurised carbon dioxide filled stuff that keeps for ever and tastes like gassy water.

Now just sample some of the delights of the cask catalogue and salivate. These are just some of the names and descriptions:-

Stonehenge Eye Opener - A beautiful, dry and smooth premium bitter with a hint of toffee, complementing the citrus and spicy flavours

Harviestoun 666 - The Number of the Beast - A tasty ale light in colour but strong on flavour.

Mystic Libra - A hoppy beer with a light citrus orangey aroma


Drunken Monkey - Burnt toffee and light custard hints permeate from this flavour packed best bitter.


See what I mean? And that's just a few. I suppose now I have retired from a 'proper job' the quality of ale has become an even higher priority than it used to be but even when I was working in computer systems I once turned down a job in New York, the horrible worry racing through my mind of where on earth I would get a decent drink at night. I saw the prospect of endless glasses of freezing cold....nothing.

Seriously, I love the United States and its people. I have literally dozens of friends there..and now hopefully even more on this station (until they read this ) but live there? Not until you import a British brewery!!!

Cheers

DJ Alex

..and music says so much about our society too

Tatianna has written a beautifully expressive piece on the power of music in all its moods and how it affects the listener. But music in all its forms can also take the temperature of our society too.This has been recognised by historians over the years and, over the past few years, by NASA who have blasted pop hits into space as a kind of audio introduction to the human race at the point in time the mission blasted off, for any extra-terrestrials who might happen to own an Ipod.

But, seriously, popular music (and in the past that could include works by Beethoven and Tchaikovsky) is a sounding board for the moods and attitudes of our society and is thus worthily packaged, along with newspapers and video tapes, as part of the record of an era and how society is thinking. Music is reactive and if we look at the post second world war history, very briefly, you may see what I mean.

In the late 40s, there was swing, bebob and tuneful but, message free, music for those tired of war and conflict who just wanted something to let their hair down by. It was the mid fifties before the youth culture born during WW2 and not burdened by their parents experiences began to seek new outlets. They adopted a mix of black rhythm and blues music and white country music, doctored and manipulated to some extent, and called rock n'roll. Their parents hated it, thought it alien and hostile - just in fact what the kids wanted. A voice of their own. In Britain the 60s produced a new phenomenon with the Beatles - urban rock with a lot of pertinent social comment about their lives and their environment. In America the Vietnam War produced Flower Power - and music to complement it. Out of that era came some of the finest poets and musicians popular music has ever produced.

I guess you could say the early 70s went soft, both musically and socially, with and that, in turn, produced a backlash in both America and Britain with punk music, designed for the disadvantaged working class.

I suppose the point I've tried to make is that music doesn't always 'soothe the savage breast' but often reflects and focuses discontent and anger too. The 60s spawned a revolution in singer/songwriters which has since flourished and new Dylans have sprung up with the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan , Todd Snider being an excellent example, and of course the Flobots and others do highly political material.

In conclusion, and to go back to Tatianna's point about music being such a powerful force, it most certainly is and has the power, not merely to entertain, soothe and satisfy, but to hold people in its thrall. A powerful song with powerful lyrics can sometimes undo in three minutes all the obsequious justifications our politicians have spent months in preparing. Its a power not to be underestimated and can be such an accurate reflection of the mood of the world we inhabit.

DJ Alex