tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/frank-sinatra-23295/articlesFrank Sinatra – The Conversation2023-09-01T12:43:51Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2125792023-09-01T12:43:51Z2023-09-01T12:43:51ZTrump’s mug shot is now a means of entertainment and fundraising − but it will go down in history as an important cultural artifact<p>One of the most anticipated events in the summer of 2023 was former President Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/trump-report-atlanta-jail-face-charges-election-subversion-case-2023-08-24/">mug shot</a>. </p>
<p>The Fulton County Sheriff’s office released Trump’s mug shot on Aug. 24, 2023, a little more than one week after a grand jury in Georgia indicted the former president and 18 associates for alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.</p>
<p>Trump’s photo instantly generated a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2023/08/28/trump-mug-shot-merchandise-arrest-contd-orig-jg.cnn">significant amount of media</a> coverage and attracted <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/841064/the-trump-mug-shot-memes-are-here/">public attention</a>. Trump’s election campaign is now marketing the photo as a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/25/trump-jail-heigh-weight-fundraising">way to raise money</a>. It’s also been used to ridicule and criticize him. </p>
<p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-atlanta-indictment-republican-primary-7f4e9860859fbb71221b6a5163aaa42f">In the mug shot</a>, Trump wears one of his classic dark suits with a red tie and a familiar, petulant scowl, with his brow furrowed and mouth turned down. </p>
<p>Save for the gold seal of the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, there is nothing particularly noteworthy or interesting about the image. </p>
<p>But Trump’s mug shot’s ultimate importance is yet to be realized.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=nGHR5S0AAAAJ&hl=en">I have been interested</a> in and researching mug shots and other forms of identification for more than 20 years. I did my Ph.D. thesis on the uses of photography in criminal identification and in 2009 wrote my first book,
<a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/capturing-the-criminal-image">“Capturing the Criminal Image: From Mug Shot to Surveillance Society,”</a> on the same topic. </p>
<p>It will likely be at least a decade or two before Trump’s mug shot’s significance truly registers with people. For now, it is a form of entertainment – a salacious piece of visual culture that Trump’s supporters and opponents have been waiting for and are now putting to use. </p>
<p>But as a historical artifact, the Trump mug shot will be truly unique – it will represent the first time a former president had a public, photographic record of criminal charges. </p>
<p>Long after the various trials come to conclusion, the mug shot will serve as a reminder of a particularly troubling time in American history.</p>
<h2>From the 1840s to now</h2>
<p>French police <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mug-shot-history-180981922/">were the first to produce mug shots</a> using a daguerreotype camera as early as the 1840s.</p>
<p>In order to avoid increased penalties for repeat offenses, criminals could try to change their appearance or give different names if arrested. </p>
<p>The mug shot was a way to combat this deception. Other police departments around the world quickly recognized mug shots’ useful nature.</p>
<p>By the end of the 19th century, police departments amassed photographs of criminals into bound collections called rogues galleries, many of which <a href="https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e1-2722-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99">housed thousands of criminals’ images</a>.</p>
<p>Given its use over more than 150 years, the mug shot has an established association with criminality or, at the very least, suspicion of criminality.</p>
<p>While a mug shot does not mean the person pictured has committed a crime, it does mean that police had reason to bring a person into custody and formally book them. </p>
<p>The typically stern faces of those subject to the camera, as well as the inclusion of accouterments such as identification or prisoner numbers or a height chart in the background, add to this association of criminality. </p>
<h2>Variations of mug shots</h2>
<p>Trump’s mug shot, along with that of his attorney Rudy Giuliani, closely follows the standard mug shot format from the 19th century – with people facing the camera head on, often with a grimace or a solemn face. By contrast, the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/mugshot-rudy-giuliani-jenna-ellis-trump-georgia-surrender-rcna101670">mug shots of former Trump associates</a> David Shafer and Jenna Ellis look more like family photos, with their wide eyes and toothy grins.</p>
<p>Shafer’s and Ellis’ mug shots follow in the recent practice of others – typically celebrities or politicians – who have pushed back against traditional ideas of how mug shots should look.</p>
<p>In 2014, <a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a10042325/justin-bieber-mug-shot-instagram/">musician Justin Bieber was arrested</a> for drag-racing in Miami Beach and bore an innocent looking, boyish smile in his mug shot. </p>
<p>Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rick-perry-turns-himself-in-for-mug-shot/">was indicted for abuse of power</a> in 2014 and gave a full-faced, closed-mouth smile for his mug shot, which looked fit for a political campaign advertisement. </p>
<p>Socialite Paris Hilton also <a href="https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/celebrity-mugshots/paris-hilton/">struck highly stylized poses for the camera</a> during all three times she took mug shots following her arrests for drug possession and driving under the influence in the mid-2000s. </p>
<h2>Mug shots influence culture</h2>
<p>Mug shots primarily serve as an official police identification record. </p>
<p>But when mug shots are released publicly, they become part of a broader conversation about culture and society and can take on different meanings over time. </p>
<p>Former football player O.J. Simpson, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/O-J-Simpson-trial">who was charged with the death </a> of his former wife and her friend in 1994 – and of which he was later acquitted – offers one the most famous examples of how a mug shot can have an enduring legacy. </p>
<p><a href="https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19940627,00.html">Both Time</a> and <a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/204318184897">Newsweek magazines</a> published Simpson’s mug shot on their covers in June 1994. </p>
<p>But Time darkened Simpson’s skin tone, reflecting false, racist stereotypes about dark skin color and the connection to crime. It later <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/oj-fact-check-read-time-magazines-apology-for-making-simpson-blacker/">apologized for doing so</a>.</p>
<p>Now, along with being available for purchase as a poster, print or other commercial product, the Simpson mug shot serves as a <a href="https://people.southwestern.edu/%7Ebednarb/su_netWorks/projects/enyioha/O.J.Simpson.html">case study in college</a> courses on criminology and media and communication studies.</p>
<p>Mug shots tap into a cultural fascination with crime and criminal justice, so it is no surprise that mug shots find their way into popular culture – especially when the subjects are famous people. </p>
<p>The mug shots of mobster Al Capone and singer Frank Sinatra from the 1930s are still available on a wide range of commercial products, like shirts and hats. </p>
<p>The actress Jane Fonda <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/11/22/jane-fonda-spent-night-jail-her-mugshot-defined-feminist-rebellion/">famously raised her fist</a> in a 1970 mug shot after she was arrested for drug smuggling. That photo provides evidence of her career as an antiwar and feminist activist. Her charges were ultimately dropped. </p>
<h2>Trump’s mug shot and its legacy</h2>
<p>Trump’s mug shot will likely continue to be used in a wide range of political, commercial and public contexts, in different ways and to different ends.</p>
<p>Some – including Trump’s legal team – have said that <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-arraignment-wasnt-arrested-no-mugshot/">Trump does not need</a> to have a mug shot. No mug shots were required or produced during his other three arrests in 2023. </p>
<p>The argument is that Trump is readily recognized by the police. But the Fulton County sheriff said that Trump <a href="https://www.dispatch.com/story/opinion/cartoons/2023/08/24/donald-trumps-mug-shot-mugshot-atlanta-arrest-rudy-giuliani-fulton-county-jail-sheriff-pat-labat/70671237007/">would be treated the same</a> as any other person the agency arrests. </p>
<p>I think that Trump’s mug shot is unlikely to sway the hardened views of his most ardent proponents and detractors. There has been a nearly endless stream of information across all forms of media about the former president for nearly a decade. A mug shot won’t make Trump’s supporters think he’s a criminal, but it might encourage future generations to come to that conclusion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212579/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Finn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Former President Donald Trump’s mug shot is in line with the traditional mug shots that arrested people first took in the mid-1800s and early 1900s, a police photography expert explains.Jonathan Finn, Professor of Communication Studies, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2102442023-07-22T00:01:26Z2023-07-22T00:01:26ZTony Bennett: the timeless visionary who, with a nod to America’s musical heritage, embraced the future<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538796/original/file-20230721-6292-8kcivc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C13%2C2991%2C1980&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga in 2015. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ObitTonyBennett/d2da02e3d0754ead95520651844ef2a6/photo?Query=tony%20bennett&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=3377&currentItemNo=6">Charles Sykes/Invision/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the history of American popular music, there have been few luminaries as enduring and innovative as Tony Bennett.</p>
<p>With a career that spanned almost 80 years, Bennett’s smooth tones, unique phrasing and visionary musical collaborations left an indelible mark on vocal jazz and the recording industry as a whole. </p>
<p>That his <a href="https://apnews.com/article/tony-bennett-dies-c3b3a7e2360449fb936a38794c7c3266">death at the age of 96</a> on July 21, 2023, was mourned by artists as varied as <a href="https://twitter.com/KeithUrban/status/1682395658395824133">Keith Urban</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/OzzyOsbourne/status/1682411338340126720">Ozzy Osbourne</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/HarryConnickJR?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1682411086656557056%7Ctwgr%5E04a78435a793b5246d7bc19e09529f2b2f0bcfab%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fvariety.com%2F2023%2Fmusic%2Fnews%2Ftony-bennett-elton-john-reaction-tribute-1235676405%2F">Harry Connick Jr.</a> should come as no surprise. Yes, Bennett was a jazz crooner. But if his voice was always a constant – even late into his 80s, way past an age when most other singers have seen their vocal abilities diminish – then his embrace of the contemporary was every bit a facet of Bennett’s appeal.</p>
<h2>Vocal innovator</h2>
<p>Bennett’s journey is a testament to the power of daring innovation. </p>
<p>From the early days of his career in the 1950s to his final recordings in the early 2020s, he fearlessly explored new musical territories, revolutionizing vocal jazz and captivating audiences across generations.</p>
<p>His vocal style and phrasing were distinctive and set him apart from other artists of his time. He utilized a delayed or “laid-back” approach to falling on the note, a technique known as “<a href="https://www.musictheoryacademy.com/how-to-read-sheet-music/rubato/">rubato</a>.” This created a sense of anticipation in his phrasing, adding an element of surprise to his performances. Through Bennett’s skilled use of rubato, he was able to play with the tempo and rhythm of a song, bending and stretching musical phrases to evoke a range of emotions. This subtle manipulation of timing gave his songs a natural and conversational quality, making listeners feel as though he was intimately sharing his stories with them.</p>
<p>Armed with this silky, playful voice, Bennett found fame fairly early on in his career, delivering jazz standards alongside the likes of Mel Tormé and Nat King Cole. By the mid-1960s, he was being touted by Frank Sinatra as “the best singer in the business.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in an open-necked shirt sings" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538797/original/file-20230721-40270-jsbx42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538797/original/file-20230721-40270-jsbx42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538797/original/file-20230721-40270-jsbx42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538797/original/file-20230721-40270-jsbx42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538797/original/file-20230721-40270-jsbx42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538797/original/file-20230721-40270-jsbx42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538797/original/file-20230721-40270-jsbx42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tony Bennett in 1960.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/TonyBennett/f049da09ad994e1fab65b80524c35f7e/photo?Query=tony%20bennett&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:asc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=3377&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But his musical style fell out of fashion in the 1970s – a lean period during which Bennett <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/07/21/tony-bennett-son-life-career-drugs/">almost succumbed to a drug overdose</a>. Then, in the 1990s, Bennett found a new audience and set off a series of collaborations with contemporary musical stars that would become the standard for his later career.</p>
<p>No genre of artistry was deemed off-limits for Bennett. “<a href="https://www.tonybennett.com/music-detail.php?id=11">Duets: An American Classic</a>,” released to coincide with his 80th birthday in 2006, saw collaborations with country stars such as k.d. lang and the Dixie Chicks – now known as the Chicks – and soul legend Stevie Wonder, alongside kindred jazz spirits such as Diana Krall. “Duets II,” a 2011 follow-up, saw further explorations with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Queen Latifah, Willie Nelson and Amy Winehouse, in what would become the <a href="https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/amy-winehouse-final-recording-session/">British singer’s last recording</a>.</p>
<p>But his cross-generational, cross-genre and cross-cultural appeal is perhaps best exemplified by his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/21/arts/music/tony-bennett-lady-gaga.html">collaborations with Lady Gaga</a>, first on the 2014 Grammy-winning album “Cheek to Cheek.” The recording brought together two artists from different generations, genres and backgrounds, uniting them in a harmonious celebration of jazz classics. The collaboration not only showcased each one’s vocal prowess, but also sent a powerful message about the unifying nature of music.</p>
<p>Lady Gaga, a pop artist with avant-garde leanings, might have seemed an unlikely partner for Bennett, the quintessential jazz crooner. Yet their musical chemistry and mutual admiration resulted in an album that mesmerized audiences worldwide. “Cheek to Cheek” effortlessly transcended musical boundaries, while the duo’s magnetic stage presence and undeniable talent enchanted listeners.</p>
<p>The successful fusion of jazz and pop encouraged artists to experiment beyond traditional boundaries, leading to more cross-genre projects across the industry – proving that such projects could go beyond one-off novelties, and be profitable at that.</p>
<h2>Timeless artistry</h2>
<p>Bennett’s embrace of contemporary artists did not mean that he abandoned his own musical self. By blending traditional jazz with contemporary elements, he managed to captivate audiences across generations, appealing to both longtime fans and new listeners.</p>
<p>One key aspect of Bennett’s success was his ability to embody the sentiment of old America, reminiscent of artists like Sinatra, Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong, while infusing contemporary nuances that resonated with the human condition of a more modern era. His approach to music captured both the essence and struggle of America, giving his songs a timeless and universal appeal. Moreover, his voice conveyed familiarity and comfort, akin to listening to a beloved uncle.</p>
<p>Bennett’s albums stood out not only for his soulful voice and impeccable delivery but also for the way he drew others from varied musical backgrounds into his world of jazz sensibilities. As a producer, he recognized the importance of nurturing creativity and bringing out the best in artists.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Bennett’s approach to evolving his own sound while preserving its essence sets him apart as an artist. Fearless in his pursuit of innovation, he delved into contemporary musical elements and collaborated with producers to infuse new sonic dimensions into his later albums. The result drew listeners into an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kNpdLZwetU">intimate and immersive, concert-like acoustic journey</a>.</p>
<h2>Depth of emotion</h2>
<p>The greats in music have an ability to speak to the human experience. And either in collaboration with others or on his own, Bennett was able to achieve this time and time again.</p>
<p>His albums were successful not only due to their technical brilliance and musicality but also because Bennett’s voice conveyed a depth of emotion that transcended barriers of time and culture, touching the hearts of listeners from various backgrounds. There was a universality in his music that made him a beloved and revered artist across the globe. </p>
<p>Bennett’s life spanned decades of societal upheavals in the United States. But in his music, listeners could always find beauty in challenging times. And as the 20th- and 21st-century American music industry went through its own revolutions, Bennett’s artistic evolution mirrored the changes, cementing his place as a music icon who defies the boundaries of time and trends.</p>
<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/2UxxnhUE5YLchYgutxKEbJ?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="380" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210244/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jose Valentino Ruiz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The jazz singer saw renewed success late in life on the back of collaborations with an eclectic array of artists.Jose Valentino Ruiz, Program Director of Music Business & Entrepreneurship, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2024882023-05-30T12:23:18Z2023-05-30T12:23:18ZWhy more cities are hiring ‘night mayors’ and establishing forms of nighttime governance<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528904/original/file-20230529-2741-l211gc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=58%2C25%2C5511%2C3682&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A dancer at 'The Fairy Tale Ball' in Madrid in October 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/participant-performs-on-stage-during-the-fairy-tale-ball-news-photo/1433721531?adppopup=true">Aldara Zarraoa/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Growing up in a small town in Brazil, my daily life was shaped by the rhythms of my family’s working hours. My father has been a night shift worker for over three decades at a local factory. We got used to silent days and busy nights, noticing how our lives weren’t in sync with those of our neighbors.</p>
<p>After all those years, my fascination with the night as a separate, habitable world became a research project as a Mellon Fellow at McGill University. Then it became an opportunity to work with local governments and communities on nightlife policies. </p>
<p>From June 2020 to November 2022, I was a member of the <a href="https://www.mtl2424.ca/en/">MTL 24/24’s first Night Council</a> in Montreal, where I contributed to data research and policies for nighttime governance.</p>
<p>While trying to understand nocturnal life, two main questions emerged: Why should cities govern themselves after dark? How can they responsibly do so?</p>
<p>The recent calls for a “<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03836-2">science of the night</a>” and evidence-based nighttime policymaking are taking place, as over <a href="https://www.nighttime.org/chapter-five-nighttime-governance-in-times-of-covid/">50 cities around the world</a> have developed new forms of nighttime governance.</p>
<h2>A complex ecosystem</h2>
<p>Often, when people think about the nighttime in cities, a core set of impressions come to mind. </p>
<p>There’s fear of the dark, safety concerns and noise disturbances. It’s a period that’s ripe for partying, illicit activities and recklessness. And then there are the traditional notions of night: silence, sleep and rejuvenation. </p>
<p>Much work has gone into figuring out how to alleviate some of these fears and facilitate quietude, such as <a href="https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/4986/American-IlluminationsUrban-Lighting-1800-1920">building out a public lighting infrastructure</a> and passing <a href="https://www.nonoise.org/lawlib/cities/ordinances/Boston,%20Massachusetts.pdf">noise codes</a> with <a href="https://www.cb5.org/cb5m/announcements/noise_code_guide.pdf">special hotlines</a> for noise complaints.</p>
<p>However, the nightlife of any given city is far more complex. </p>
<p>In my research, I mapped people, activities, organizations and communities <a href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7272288">that operate primarily during the night</a>, forming a nightlife ecosystem.</p>
<p>Some cultural spaces and institutions operate at night, like museums, college libraries and cafes. Media outlets don’t stop reporting about the world at night, while some restaurants and convenience stores serve up food, drinks and cigarettes 24/7. If an accident happens at night, people need access to health care. Childbirth doesn’t wait for the sun to rise.</p>
<p>Waste management and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2007.04.001">roadwork</a> often take place after dark to avoid interrupting traffic, and many formal and informal laborers <a href="https://autonomy.work/portfolio/workingnights/">do the work of keeping cities running efficiently</a> while other people sleep. In many cities around the world, public transit runs late or overnight, and various communities make use of the city after dark to congregate, learn and explore, whether it’s at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, night school or open mic nights.</p>
<h2>Governing and studying the night</h2>
<p>Fortunately, policymakers and scholars have recently made a push <a href="http://www.revistascisan.unam.mx/Voices/pdfs/11102.pdf">to prioritize the hours</a> when cities are supposedly asleep.</p>
<p>Amsterdam was the first city to formally recognize the night as a space and time that requires special attention from elected officials, citizens and civil servants.</p>
<p>Following more than 10 years of appointing unofficial night mayors, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098019895224">Amsterdam formally institutionalized the position in 2014</a>, which set the stage for a bureaucracy of councils, departments and commissions dedicated to governing the city after dark.</p>
<p>Perhaps not surprisingly, New York – the largest city in the U.S. – was at the forefront of this movement in the country. </p>
<p>In September 2017, the city established its <a href="https://www.nyc.gov/site/mome/nightlife/nightlife.page">Office of Nightlife</a> with the appointment of Ariel Palitz as its founding director – the equivalent of a night mayor or night czar. With Palitz <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/18/nyregion/ariel-palitz-nyc-nightlife.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes">stepping down from the role in early 2023</a>, the city is looking for a new “nightlife mayor.” This office is tasked with the routine regulation of after-hours businesses and issuing licenses, as well as confronting abstract challenges like the ways in which gentrification leads to rising rent prices, which threaten cultural and community spaces that operate at night.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528711/original/file-20230528-17-tv54m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Man sits on construction scaffolding overlooking New York City skyline." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528711/original/file-20230528-17-tv54m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528711/original/file-20230528-17-tv54m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528711/original/file-20230528-17-tv54m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528711/original/file-20230528-17-tv54m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528711/original/file-20230528-17-tv54m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528711/original/file-20230528-17-tv54m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528711/original/file-20230528-17-tv54m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In 2017, New York established its Office of Nightlife.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-on-the-empire-state-building-and-the-nocturnal-news-photo/56457316">brandstaetter images/Hulton Archives via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Since then, Washington has established <a href="https://communityaffairs.dc.gov/monc">an office for nocturnal governance</a>, Boston recently created <a href="https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/03/17/boston-nightlife-czar-corean-reynolds-st-patricks-day-newsletter-weekender">the position of night czar</a>, and Atlanta <a href="https://atlanta.eater.com/2022/4/7/23015039/atlanta-mayor-andre-dickens-forms-nightlife-division-night-mayor">formed a Nightlife Division</a>.</p>
<p>Night governance is more institutionalized in the higher-income parts of the world, but experiments and studies also exist in lower-income countries. In 2022, Bogotá joined the “24-Hour Cities Network,” following the publication of <a href="https://observatorio.desarrolloeconomico.gov.co/sites/default/files/files_articles/bogotaproductiva24horas_web_final.pdf">an extensive report</a> commissioned by the local government in 2019, to help city leaders understand the nocturnal needs of the Colombian capital. </p>
<p>Other cities in Latin America, such as San Luis Potosí in Mexico, have self-appointed night ambassadors. Cali, the third-largest city in Colombia, launched an initiative that <a href="https://www.mtl2424.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/DIAGNOSTIC-SUR-LA-VIE-NOCTURNE-A%CC%80-MONTRE%CC%81AL_2020.pdf">mapped the nighttime priorities of its residents</a>.</p>
<p>In academia, there’s also been a push to better understand the night. As the authors of <a href="https://www.nighttime.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Rise-Up-A-Manifesto-for-Nightlife.pdf">a 2022 nighttime manifesto</a> wrote, “Nightlife inspires individuals, forms communities, and ignites cities. Rather than serving as an escape from the present, nightlife provides us with a window into different realities.”</p>
<p>Encompassing disciplines like <a href="https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00642968/file/La_nuit_derniere_frontiere_de_la_vi.pdf">geography</a> and <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/products/56-nightwalking">history</a>, an <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/j3010001">interdisciplinary field called “night studies”</a> has emerged, bringing together scholars from various backgrounds to better understand the urban night from a range of perspectives. There have been studies on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1289%2Fehp.117-a20">light pollution</a> and its effects on humans and wildlife, <a href="https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/soundings/vol-2018-issue-70/abstract-7590/">how the shuttering of LGBTQ nightclubs has weakened communities</a> and how late-night venues and businesses <a href="https://www.creative-footprint.org/new-york/">spur higher rents</a>.</p>
<h2>Responsible tech adoption</h2>
<p>As cities formally adopt systems to govern the night, one of my key concerns centers on the rise of surveillance technology and the deployment of big data. </p>
<p>Even if technology isn’t one of the main pillars of nighttime governance just yet, municipal governments have already been investing in <a href="https://rosalux.nyc/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/RLS-NYC_smart_cities_EN.pdf">smart technologies</a>, often without proper frameworks in place to safeguard human rights. One of the most controversial examples is the deployment of <a href="https://www.ajl.org/federal-office-call">facial recognition technologies in public spaces</a>, which has happened in cities such as New York, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. <a href="https://www.banfacialrecognition.com/festivals/">The use of facial recognition at music festivals</a> in 2019 led to campaigns for its ban.</p>
<p>In my view, the urge to make the night safer should not simply mean more surveillance. </p>
<p>The use of surveillance technologies has also been shown to increase <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/147/Dark-MattersOn-the-Surveillance-of-Blackness">racial</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517211053712">gender</a> discrimination because they often incorporate biased data sets and disregard historical inequalities. There’s a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098014552934">long history of night regulations and policing</a> that has <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/urban-nightlife/9780813569390">disproportionately targeted minorities</a>. </p>
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<img alt="Person rides bike in front of hanging lights." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528713/original/file-20230528-158323-ui1pvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528713/original/file-20230528-158323-ui1pvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528713/original/file-20230528-158323-ui1pvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528713/original/file-20230528-158323-ui1pvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528713/original/file-20230528-158323-ui1pvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528713/original/file-20230528-158323-ui1pvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528713/original/file-20230528-158323-ui1pvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Thousands of bikers take to the streets during an annual event called ‘Ciclovia Nocturna’ in Bogotá, Colombia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/thousands-of-people-took-to-the-streets-on-their-bicycles-news-photo/1237135190?adppopup=true">Juan David Moreno Gallego/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>With responsible, careful deployment, however, certain data can be a <a href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7272288">useful tool for night governance</a>. For example, responsibly tracking movement at night can help cities understand where more nighttime public transit might be useful.</p>
<p>Expanding safety and a sense of belonging is essential. While <a href="https://www.mtl2424.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/MTL2424_RapportConsultations_fe%CC%81vrier2021.pdf">consulting with residents of Montreal</a>, I learned about the ways in which they wanted <a href="https://seloppgcomufmg.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Arte-Comunicacao-e-transpolitica-Selo-PPGCOM-UFMG.pdf">the night to be safer</a> for LGBTQ communities and free from racial and ethnic discrimination. The city’s nightlife was also entangled with the fight against gentrification and more reasonable noise mitigation policies – issues that affect many places in North America.</p>
<p>As more American cities adopt nighttime governance mechanisms, lessons learned from cities like Montreal are valuable – and can help families like my own, who don’t operate on the traditional 9-to-5 clock, <a href="https://hal.science/halshs-01700806">thrive</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202488/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jess Reia received funding from the Mellon Foundation. They are currently a member of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research and a former member of MTL 24/24's first Night Council in Montreal, Canada.</span></em></p>Nighttime is much more than a source of danger or an occasion to party – it’s a portal into a different world, with rhythms, challenges and lifestyles of its own.Jess Reia, Assistant Professor of Data Science, University of VirginiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/887152017-12-19T11:15:21Z2017-12-19T11:15:21ZPlundering dead artists for Christmas sales is more than creepy<p>Christmas. High time for re-releasing classic recordings from famous singers from the past. It’s that time of year when TV, radio, newspapers and websites advertise music from much-loved “legends” like <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wonder-You-Christmas-Philharmonic-Orchestra/dp/B076BFCL78/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1512645021&sr=1-1&refinements=p_32%3AElvis+Presley">Elvis Presley</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Christmas-Hits-Martin-Frank-Sinatra/dp/B009R0ZQBC">Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin</a>. </p>
<p>When it does this, the music industry is well aware of three things: this is the season when consumers’ appetite for any old song that will feed that nostalgic mood peaks; artists and repertoire from the remote 1950s and 1960s are more suitable for romanticised family gatherings; and everyone has a hard time deciding which Christmas present they should buy for that very particular uncle whose musical curiosity gave up on him 30 years ago. </p>
<p>This year there is a “new” album by <a href="http://www.ellafitzgerald.com/">Ella Fitzgerald</a> “with” the London Symphony Orchestra featuring a “duet” with contemporary jazz singer <a href="http://www.gregoryporter.com/">Gregory Porter</a>. The reason I’ve just put some words in quotation marks is simple – they’re not true. Fitzgerald died in 1996 and Porter started his career in 2004 doubling as chef and singer at the now defunct Bread-Stuy restaurant, in Brooklyn. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.udiscovermusic.com/new-releases/ella-fitzgerald-sings-with-london-symphony-orchestra/">Someone to Watch Over Me</a> is being advertised as new. And, to some extent, it is. Using a couple of albums made in the early 1950s where Fitzgerald sings Gershwin and various songs from the <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-American-Songbook-Composers-Standards/dp/1423419545">Great American Songbook</a>, technicians were able to isolate her voice, record the orchestra separately and then blend it all together. A remarkable new product, made possible by state-of-the-art audio technology. </p>
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<p>But is this ethically acceptable? Is it okay to manipulate the recorded work of dead artists to our own preference? Where do we draw the line between paying tribute to popular artists and exploiting their legacy? One thing is certain when it comes to Someone to Watch Over Me: no one asked Fitzgerald.</p>
<p>Every Christmas, artists seem blindly drawn to sing a duet with dead people they admire. Susan Boyle’s 2013 Christmas holiday album features her rendition of O Come, All Ye Faithful in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD1XuOiLCpc">posthumous duet with Elvis Presley</a>. Rod Stewart’s 2012 Merry Christmas, Baby album includes another duet with Ella Fitzgerald on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUHFd_vGtU0">What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?</a>. And the promotional single for Dean Martin’s 2011 retrospective collection of Christmas songs, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Kind-Christmas-Dean-Martin/dp/B002JNYM8M">My Kind of Christmas</a>, was a duet with Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QESEUv9k2p0">I’ll be Home for Christmas</a>. </p>
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<p>Although this is more common at Christmas, it happens all year round. The music world was <a href="https://www.spin.com/2014/01/25-most-inexplicable-wins-in-grammy-history/140121-natalie-cole/">clearly divided</a> when Natalie Cole decided to make a record with the voice of her dead father, Nat King Cole. <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1a40o">Unforgettable With Love</a> became a huge commercial success and went on to win a Grammy for Best Album the Year in 1991. </p>
<p>Less divided was the audience at the 1997 tribute concert that marked the 20th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death, when his daughter Lisa Marie Presley sang a duet with a video of her father on <a href="http://www.countryliving.com/life/entertainment/a45416/elvis-and-lisa-marie-presley-singing-daddy-dont-cry/">Don’t Cry Daddy</a>. </p>
<p>However, in most cases, what might have started as a very sincere way of paying tribute to past artists, ends up being seen as a pathetic attempt to rub shoulders with timeless music icons. In 2000, saxophonist Kenny G got a taste of how such attempts can backlash in a rather bitter way. </p>
<h2>Musical necrophilia</h2>
<p>When he overdubbed his saxophone on to Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World, the jazz world didn’t show any kind of sympathy – on the contrary, jazz guitarist Pat Metheny called it “<a href="http://www.jazzoasis.com/methenyonkennyg.htm">musical necrophilia</a>”. And, despite receiving his 15th Grammy nomination with the album My Dream Duets in 2015, featuring duets exclusively with dead artists, Barry Manilow was criticised for it and included in the Guardian’s list of “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/mar/24/dead-singers-duets-faith-evans-notorious-big">the creepiest duets with dead singers</a>”. </p>
<p>Dead artists are also being forced back into the business in hologram form. Celine Dion performed a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1HtPG6eMIo">duet on American Idol</a> side by side with the King himself. Elvis was also forced into a duet with country singer Martina McBride who sandwiched herself into his classic rendition of Blue Christmas. However, Christina Aguilera’s planned duet with Whitney Huston was <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/whitney-houston-estate-pulls-hologram-duet-with-christina-aguilera-20160520">pulled before it got to air</a>. </p>
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<p>In one of the original recordings used to rip Fitzgerald’s voice, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBSjLFJBW6M">Ella Sings Gershwin</a>, she is responding to a pianist (the discrete but amazing Ellis Larkins, who was utterly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J94EWJ_sT2o">obliterated from the 2017</a> version). Fitzgerald was known for being able to interpret the same song in an absolutely new and exciting way every time she sang it. It is fair to assume that she would most likely respond differently to an orchestra.</p>
<p>And that response is the actual voice of the artist. Records are more than sound – they document a moment in time of a unique interaction between musicians, producer, technicians and even the recording room. Technology is very useful when it comes to restoring priceless recordings, enabling them to be enjoyed today. That is respecting the past and heritage. Using that technology to sell a Christmas album is a completely different agenda.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88715/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jose Dias does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Using cutting edge technology to construct ham-fisted duets with dead singers to boost sales is sad way to listen to great artists.Jose Dias, Senior Lecturer in Music, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/577442016-04-15T03:46:38Z2016-04-15T03:46:38ZFrom the club to the classroom: all that jazz is good for the kids<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118574/original/image-20160413-22072-8pmail.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jazz in the classroom not only teaches children to play instruments; they may also learn a range of essential life skills.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Carlos Jasso</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The popular belief is that classical music is the best tool for early childhoood education. Jazz fan, music educator and lecturer Mignon van Vreden was convinced jazz would also work. So she launched a pilot project she called “Bejazzled” in a township preschool. She explained to The Conversation Africa’s arts and culture editor, Charles Leonard, that there’s a bright future for jazz in the classroom.</em></p>
<p><strong>Why did you choose jazz?</strong></p>
<p>Researchers have done a lot of work on this. They’ve <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1348/1359107041557020/epdf">compared</a> classical music to rock music to heavy metal to jazz. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Questions-Cultural-Identity-Stuart-Hall/dp/0803978839">Some researchers</a> came to the conclusion that it’s not really about the style of the music but the type of music, type of instruments, the tempo of the music and the different timbres. So I thought jazz could also work as well, if not better.</p>
<p>All over <a href="http://www.classicsforkids.com/music/jazz.asp">the world</a> people are <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/jazz-for-kids-by-aaj-staff.php">using jazz</a> for <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/3344435?_seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">early childhood education</a>. I really think it is evolving but it needs to be expanded in South Africa – people need to be introduced to jazz more.</p>
<p><strong>How did the project come about and how did it work?</strong></p>
<p>I did my PhD on music integration in Grade R [the South African school year in which learners turn five], so I’ve done a lot of research and a lot of work in the field – and I’ve been inspired by generalist educators in the field who already teach a lot of music with or without training.</p>
<p>From my research, a conceptual model evolved on ways to integrate music – so it’s not so much about the type of music, any music could be integrated into the curriculum. Because I’m a jazz lover I thought I could just as well combine the two and see if it works. One of the questions of this research is: can jazz as a genre be applied in preschool education?</p>
<p>I know the organiser of a programme funded by the <a href="http://www.bafenyi.org.za/">Bafenyi Trust</a> – it is involved in about 60 schools in the local African township of Ikageng in <a href="http://www.potch.co.za/">Potchefstroom</a> [a university town 120km west of Johannesburg]. I spoke to her about this vision – to incorporate music into the schools. It includes training the teachers too, so that they can apply the training even if they don’t have any musical background. I planned a six-week cycle including different elements of jazz that I wanted to integrate.</p>
<p><strong>Take us into the class.</strong></p>
<p>It was wonderful; it was inspiring. I got there and the children were really excited – they wanted to do this. At first I asked them to sing some songs they know and like – they sang English songs with the teacher, then they sang <a href="http://www.unisa.ac.za/free_online_course/setswana/setswana.html">Setswana</a> songs. I then introduced myself, the teacher introduced herself and the kids introduced themselves, and I started to sing the song <em><a href="http://www.steynonline.com/7180/fly-me-to-the-moon">Fly Me to the Moon</a></em>.</p>
<p>I used my own version – just singing it to them so that they could get a better idea of what it sounds like. </p>
<p>The kids obviously know the moon. They know what it does and how it works. We spoke about the people who landed on the moon – the <a href="http://www.allaboutjazz.com/frank-sinatra-frank-sinatra-by-chris-m-slawecki.php">Frank Sinatra</a> version of the song was also played for the <a href="http://www.lesaviezvous.net/society/celebrities/fly-me-to-the-moon-by-frank-sinatra-was-played-on-the-moon.html">Apollo</a> astronauts. Then they started to learn the song.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Frank Sinatra’s version of ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ was played on the moon.</span></figcaption>
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<p>I spoke in English and the teacher translated each sentence into Setswana. We started with the singing, finger snapping, hand clapping, stamping their feet, body percussion. After that dance steps – simplified versions of jazz dance moves.</p>
<p>Later we made our own instruments – we had containers that we filled with three different things: rice, stones and sugar. So we had three different tone colours. And the kids played different jazz rhythms on these “instruments” and combined that with the singing. </p>
<p><strong>What are the benefits for the children?</strong></p>
<p>Early childhood learning should always focus on play – that is the main job of a preschooler. The best learning takes place when kids are <a href="http://cie.sagepub.com/content/4/3/286.short">playing</a>. Music is a very playful aspect that they can use. It helps with musical development and with coordination, especially the dancing. Singing in tune develops their inner ear. Rhythms help them to count. Music enriches their lives in many ways.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Herbie Hancock with ‘Watermelon Man’ – a candidate for the classroom?</span></figcaption>
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<p><strong>Jazz is also about improvisation – could you apply it in your project?</strong></p>
<p>In the last lesson we had a concert – the kids did all they wanted to do on the song <em>Fly Me to the Moon</em> in their own ways. So the improvisation came out not in the way I suspected it would, but it came out in their own way. So it was proper improvisation.</p>
<p><strong>What did you want to achieve with it?</strong></p>
<p>Seeing that it was a pilot study, I wanted to see if the project could work. It was also to equip teachers without musical training with musical knowledge and skills that they can use in their classrooms, to enrich the learners’ lives with jazz music and to introduce them to jazz.</p>
<p>I can say the pilot study was successful in that I can go further with this project.</p>
<p><strong>What next?</strong></p>
<p>I want to build on the pilot study and find out from the teacher what worked for her, how she experienced it, what she wants to apply – then work together with her and see where that goes. Then hopefully we can expand the project and get more teachers on board. </p>
<p><strong>What other jazz tunes will work when the pilot continues?</strong></p>
<p><em>Pennies from Heaven</em> by Frank Sinatra, <a href="http://www.herbiehancock.com/home.php#aboutherbie.php">Herbie Hancock</a>’s <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/08d1543e-3211-11e5-91ac-a5e17d9b4cff.html"><em>Watermelon Man</em></a> and <a href="http://www.elenacobb.com/shop/higgledy-piggledy-jazz-for-piano/"><em>Super Duck</em></a> by <a href="http://www.elenacobb.com/">Elena Cobb</a>. Their lyrics, simpler melodies, singable rhythms and correct duration for toddlers’ attention span make these songs toddler friendly.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57744/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mignon van Vreden does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many middle-class parents buy classical CDs because it is supposed to make their kids clever. But a jazz-loving academic has started using her favourite genre in early childhood learning.Mignon van Vreden, Lecturer, Music, North-West UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/472402015-12-11T19:23:53Z2015-12-11T19:23:53ZHow Frank Sinatra staged his great second act – on the silver screen<p>Frank Sinatra would have been 100 this December 12. He was a working-class Italian American kid from New Jersey who couldn’t read music, but from the moment he started singing as a member of the Hoboken Four to his rise to the top of the charts, Frank Sinatra was “The Voice” who defined the sound of 20th century popular music. His versions of the work of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Sammy Cahn, and Jimmy Van Heusen are the standards that all other artists (from Harry Connick Jr to Lady Gaga) can only imitate.</p>
<p>But he was not always the multimillion-dollar success who made thousands of bobby soxers swoon and determined men’s fashion, taste in whisky and high-flying, jet-setting attitude. In 1951, Sinatra’s career as America’s top pop singer seemed over. </p>
<p>A decade before, he was working with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey before moving toward a lucrative solo career. Thousands of women and teenaged girls mobbed his concerts; some managed to rip off his signature bow tie. Columnists buzzed about the Sinatra effect. Hollywood hired him.</p>
<p>But then his vocal chords haemorrhaged; he was dropped by Columbia records; his marriage to star Ava Gardner was over almost as soon as it had begun. As screenwriter Daniel Taradash remembered, he “was really flat on his rear”. </p>
<p>But in 1951, James Jones published <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/18/john-patterson-from-here-to-eternity">From Here to Eternity</a>, the year’s number-one bestseller – and Sinatra, who had been in musical films with Gene Kelly since the mid-1940s, found his future (acting) self. Columbia Pictures snapped up the controversial novel about the pre-Pearl Harbor US army and, in spite of industry and government pressures to censor it, planned to make the film the biggest blockbuster of 1953.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105514/original/image-20151211-8335-zas5oe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105514/original/image-20151211-8335-zas5oe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105514/original/image-20151211-8335-zas5oe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105514/original/image-20151211-8335-zas5oe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105514/original/image-20151211-8335-zas5oe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105514/original/image-20151211-8335-zas5oe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105514/original/image-20151211-8335-zas5oe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Arriving in London, 1958.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">PA/PA Archive</span></span>
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<h2>Angelo Maggio</h2>
<p>The fallen star’s fight to play the loud-mouthed, working-class Italian American army private, Angelo Maggio, is one of the best-known underdog stories of Hollywood casting. So much so that it was famously <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/frank-sinatra-the-godfather-and-from-here-to-eternity-true">parodied</a> by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola in The Godfather (1969, 1972). Although the Mafia did not put a horse’s head in studio mogul Harry Cohn’s bed after he initially refused to cast Sinatra as Maggio, it is true that Cohn didn’t fancy Sinatra for the part. He wanted theatre star Eli Wallach, who allegedly made a riveting screen test before withdrawing to work with friend Elia Kazan in a new Broadway production of Tennessee Williams’s Camino Real.</p>
<p>Hollywood lore alleges that Gardner, whose stormy relationship with Sinatra was to last until 1957, got her husband the part by going to Joan Cohn and talking woman-to-woman about the need to regenerate his career. Whatever the reason, he took the part and ran with it. Angelo Maggio changed Sinatra’s luck. His voice recovered, he started the famous recording sessions with Nelson Riddle, and soon, in theatres and on the airwaves, he had the world “on a string”.</p>
<p>Maggio was, like Sinatra himself, the ultimate outsider: an articulate rebel who broke rules, from the working-class and an ethnic minority – and a committed Democrat, even when it was no longer fashionable. In the 1930s and 1940s, Sinatra had worked for Franklin D Roosevelt, made speeches with Orson Welles supporting FDR’s re-election, and had been accused of being a communist by Red baiters.</p>
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<p>But that was another era, to play a character like Maggio in the height of the McCarthy era was dangerous – particularly if you were in the middle of a career slump in a generally conservative industry. But Sinatra thrived on controversy and fighting with the deck stacked against him. While his co-stars Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift got impressive salaries, Sinatra played the part for a pittance ($8,000). But he was utterly professional on the set, and better able than Clift to hold his liquor during their after-hours drinking bouts with author James Jones.</p>
<p>Director Fred Zinnemann felt Maggio’s comic façade and sense of injustice would remind audiences of Charlie Chaplin, who had recently been expelled from the US on a trumped-up immigration charge. He let Sinatra loose in rehearsals and pushed him to improvise and sharpen Maggio’s hatred of army corruption and the bullies who made his and his friends’ lives hell. Off the set, Sinatra became a close friend of Harry Cohn’s and later did him the occasional favour in his famous Las Vegas shows by advertising new Columbia films. </p>
<p>But by then, Sinatra’s career as a cultural icon was set: he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1954 for his performance as Maggio. He then went from strength to strength in his career as both “The Voice” and one of Hollywood’s most riveting performers in films about political assassination (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047542/">Suddenly</a>, 1954), drug addiction (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048347/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Man with the Golden Arm</a>, 1955), and McCarthyism (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056218/?ref_=nv_sr_2">The Manchurian Candidate</a>, 1962). </p>
<p>We may remember him as the swinging, stylish “Voice”, but what he had to say off stage and on screen was just as memorable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47240/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>J. E. Smyth does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>His vocal chords haemorrhaged, he was dropped by Columbia records: in 1951, Sinatra’s career as America’s top pop singer seemed over.J. E. Smyth, Reader in History, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/516392015-12-11T09:26:27Z2015-12-11T09:26:27ZSinatra’s films shattered the postwar myth of the white American male<p>Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday on December 12 is being celebrated with all the requisite fanfare: Alex Gibney’s HBO documentary <a href="http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/sinatra-all-or-nothing-at-all">Sinatra: All or Nothing at All</a>, CBS’ <a href="http://www.cbs.com/shows/grammys/frank-sinatra-100/">Sinatra 100 All-Star Grammy Concert</a>, exhibits at the Lincoln Center and Grammy Museum, a <a href="http://sinatraonstage.com">London Palladium show</a> and a number of book publications. </p>
<p>But while Sinatra was an extraordinary creative force in American popular music, his film career is often an afterthought, damned by the inconsistencies of a dual-career artist. </p>
<p>Yet it’s on the screen where Sinatra’s wider cultural significance lies. </p>
<p>If the 20th century was, as Time publisher Henry Luce <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=I0kEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA61&vq=henry%20luce&pg=PA61#v=onepage&q&f=true">termed it</a>, “The American Century,” then Hollywood told the story of a nation reveling in its economic and cultural rise. </p>
<p>And if Hollywood provided the narrative, then its protagonist was the white American male, frequently depicted as a middle-class, married suburbanite. </p>
<p>Sinatra, in his films, explored the main tenets of this identity. But unlike many of his contemporaries, he <a href="http://www.amazon.com/When-Frankie-Went-Hollywood-American-ebook/dp/B00XQI0PUI/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1449659498&sr=1-1">offered a striking, alternative idea</a> of masculinity. </p>
<h2>Masculinity, redefined</h2>
<p>In the 1940s, few would have thought that Frank Sinatra’s screen career would have any sort of lasting influence. Sinatra was often limited to playing implausibly naive characters in RKO and MGM musicals, and both studios attempted to suppress the potent sexuality that Sinatra had harnessed as a musician to induce hysteria among his teenaged fan base (known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_soxer">bobby soxers</a>).</p>
<p>But even in these musicals, we see the roots of his unconventional screen persona. While military triumph and notions of male bravery were fresh on everyone’s minds, Sinatra played sailors on shore leave whose greatest fear was the opposite sex (Anchors Aweigh and On the Town). In Take Me Out to the Ball Game, he portrayed a singing baseball player lit for audience consumption like a fully fledged glamour girl.</p>
<p>Sinatra’s screen image constantly challenged the period’s norms, disrupting the postwar obsession with the middle-class white male so incisively laid out in the first seasons of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804503/">Mad Men</a>. He was the antithesis of Gregory Peck’s Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, a character who symbolized both the trappings – and trap – of the American Dream.</p>
<p>In truth, the country was a mix of classes, races and ethnicities, despite minorities and the poor being relegated to a cultural hinterland. Sinatra, as a high-profile Italian-American, embodied this outsider, the man excluded from America’s postwar suburban success story. </p>
<p>He starred in 1955’s The Man with the Golden Arm, which tested the limits of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Production_Code">Motion Picture Production Code</a> censorship through its groundbreaking portrayal of heroin addiction. Playing a poker-dealing junkie named Frankie Machine, Sinatra presented a darker image of America, a world of urban losers who used drugs, alcohol and emotional blackmail as a means of escape, a place where – as one character puts it – “Everybody’s a habitual something.”</p>
<p>America’s postwar masculine ideal was always more myth than reality, and Sinatra reminds us of this in surprising places. Take the 1954 Warner Bros musical Young at Heart. For the first 30 minutes, it’s packed with optimistic self-assurance, as Doris Day and Gig Young court one another in an idyllic Connecticut setting. But the arrival of Sinatra’s working-class musical arranger – with a name changed from something “a little more Italian” – transforms the film into a feast of noir melodrama.</p>
<h2>Vulnerable loners on the margins</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, Sinatra’s portrayals of postwar outsiders are often tied to the war veteran’s vulnerability. Emotionally expressive male stardom in the 1950s is frequently connected to James Dean’s teenage angst or Marlon Brando’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjU-XGQHUJI">“Hey Stella” yell</a>, which depicted male vulnerability through a boyish intensity. </p>
<p>Sinatra instead has a more mature take, conveying a world-weariness borne of the veteran’s experience. In Some Came Running (1958) he plays a war hero author who, in desperation, marries Shirley MacLaine’s sweet floozy (“I’m just tired of being lonely, that’s all”). And in The Manchurian Candidate he skillfully portrays a Korean war veteran in the midst of a breakdown.</p>
<p>Even Sinatra’s playboy characters were a direct challenge to the middle-class male ideal that Playboy started promoting in its first issue in 1953. While the magazine repeatedly expressed its admiration for Sinatra’s sexually liberated male lifestyle, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/When-Frankie-Went-Hollywood-American-ebook/dp/B00XQI0PUI/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1449659498&sr=1-1">describing him as</a> “surely the hippest of the hip,” it balked at the kind of working-class persona Sinatra exuded in a film like Pal Joey (1957). </p>
<p>For Playboy, a man’s refinement was marked by his education and an understated Ivy League style, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hearts-Men-American-Dreams-Commitment/dp/0385176155/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449752741&sr=8-1&keywords=the+hearts+of+men">alongside ownership of</a> “the hi-fi set in mahogany console” and “the <a href="https://img0.etsystatic.com/058/1/7814748/il_570xN.762669962_7ofu.jpg">racy little Triumph</a>.” Sinatra’s Joey Evans, on the other hand, is an MC who trades sex with Rita Hayworth’s wealthy widow for a share in a nightclub. But Joey’s attempt at sophistication – donning a smoking jacket and monogrammed slippers – ensures he remains no more than a gigolo. </p>
<p>Significantly, in a nod to America’s ultimate outsiders, Sinatra didn’t hesitate to tie his films to the burning issue of the time: civil rights. </p>
<p>While the US Army remained segregated, Sinatra’s 1945 short <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037792/">The House I Live In</a> aimed to teach racial tolerance to a younger generation. And only months after news cameras captured angry white southerners protesting the desegregation of a school in Little Rock, Arkansas, Sinatra’s Kings Go Forth suggested that racism and inequality weren’t just Southern problems – they were nationwide afflictions.</p>
<p>So as you celebrate Sinatra’s 100th birthday by popping in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Songs-Swingin-Lovers-Frank-Sinatra/dp/B00000AEVA">Songs for Swingin’ Lovers</a> or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/In-The-Wee-Small-Hours/dp/B000006OHD">In the Wee Small Hours</a>, it’s important to remember that his films and on-screen characters also form an essential part of his cultural legacy. </p>
<p>In peeling away the sanitized sheen of postwar, middle-class America, Sinatra largely succeeded in exposing (to borrow from Frankie Machine) a “down and dirty” side of masculinity that Hollywood largely ignored.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51639/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen McNally does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In his roles, Frank Sinatra often embodied the outsider, the man excluded from America’s suburban success story.Karen McNally, Senior Lecturer in Film and Television Studies, London Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.