Many people may know Hugh Laurie from the popular American TV show "House M.D.." In the show "House M.D.", Laurie plays a sarcastic doctor that treats patients who have difficult health problems which have not been able to be treated by other doctors. The TV show "House M.D." was at one time the most popular TV show in the world (Green 2). Despite Laurie’s enormous fame in the area of his acting career, there is another area in which Laurie has made a great contribution to that is not as widely known. Hugh Laurie has made immense contributions to the Blues genre with his the release of his two blues albums, therefore, the House of Blues should credit Hugh Laurie's contribution by erecting a monument in his honor.
Hugh Laurie was raised in England with his three siblings. As a young boy around age seven, Hugh Laurie began learning how to play piano from a teacher, Mrs. Hare, whom he did not favor because of her style of teaching him how to play. Hugh Laurie had his first encounter when he was ten, when he was listening to his family's car radio(Green 3). Laurie was captivated by the notes of this music, and it was instantly his favorite genre (Karlovits 2). Even after he had this encounter, with the blues, he did not desire a musical career yet. Instead, he started his working life with a comedy TV show on BBC with his friend Stephen Fry. This show, which was called "A Bit of Fry and Laurie", brought Hugh Laurie fame throughout the United Kingdom. However, this success would not last for long. Later, when Hugh Laurie began his acting career with the performance "Botham: The Musical." The audience did not like the play, and Hugh Laurie was doubtful about recovering from this downfall as an actor. As most people know though, he d...
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...mprove on what he has already done. Hugh Laurie has many talents, and has not yet reached his full potential. One Elvis Costello, when asked in an interview about Hugh Laurie, said "This guy is a musician before he's anything else. He's probably a better musician than an actor." (Green 3). It is not only the fact that Hugh Laurie made exquisite blues music, but also what he did for the new artists that makes him worthy to deserve this monument to be built in his honor.
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Composer-lyricist-librettist of RENT, a rock opera inspired by "La Bohème", Jonathan Larson was born in Mt. Vernon, New York, and raised in suburban White Plains, the second child of Allan and Nanette Larson. Both Jonathan's parents loved music and theatre, and show tunes and folk music were always playing in their home. Jon and his sister Julie took piano lessons during elementary school. He could play by ear, and his teacher encouraged him to experiment with rhythm, harmony, and setting words. By high school, he was called the "Piano Man" after the enormously popular song of that title by Billy Joel; he also played tuba in the school marching band. Active in school and community theatre, Jonathan had major roles in several musicals.
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A specific aspect of the production that stood out to me in Trevor Biship’s production, Assassins, is the musical number The Ballad of Guiteau. The Ballad of Guiteau stood out to me because of the music, Rob Murray’s delivery and the connection I made with the character Charles Guiteau.
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Chuck Berry is one of the founders of rock and roll. He is the only one living today. He has performed for millions of people with his famous “Duck Walk.” He still has what Corliss & Bland describe as a slim, toned body, wavy hair drenched in Valvoline oil, and a sharply cut masculine chin and cheeks etched with pain and promise. Even today he only wants a Lincoln Town Car, his Fender Bassman amp, and his guitar. Chuck Berry has had for decades one of the shortest and most ironclad contracts in the music business (Jacobson 6).
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When first reading “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, it may initially seem that the relationship between musicians and drugs is synonymous. Public opinion suggests that musicians and drugs go hand and hand. The possibility lies that Sonny’s passion for jazz music is the underlying reason for his drug use, or even the world of jazz music itself brought drugs into Sonny’s life. The last statement is what the narrator believes to be true. However, by delving deeper and examining the theme of music in the story, it is nothing but beneficial for Sonny and the other figures involved. Sonny’s drug use and his music are completely free of one another. Sonny views his jazz playing as a ray of light to lead him away from the dim and dismal future that Harlem has to offer.
At first glance, "Sonny's Blues" seems ambiguous about the relationship between music and drugs. After all, the worlds of jazz and drug addiction are historically intertwined; it could be possible that Sonny's passion for jazz is merely an excuse for his lifestyle and addiction, as the narrator believes for a time. Or perhaps the world that Sonny has entered by becoming involved in jazz is the danger- if he had not encountered jazz he wouldn't have encountered drugs either. But the clues given by the portrayals of music and what it does for other figures in the story demonstrate music's beneficial nature; music and drugs are not interdependent for Sonny. By studying the moments of music interwoven throughout the story, it can be determined that the author portrays music as a good thing, the preserver and sustainer of hope and life, and Sonny's only way out of the "deep and funky hole" of his life in Harlem, with its attendant peril of drugs (414).
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