Dale Chapman
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decmusicology.bsky.social
Dale Chapman
@decmusicology.bsky.social
1.3K followers 380 following 6.8K posts
Professor of Music, Bates College

*The Jazz Bubble: Neoclassical Jazz in Neoliberal Culture* (University of California Press, 2018)

Doomscrolling glumly with Elbows Up

he/him
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decmusicology.bsky.social
No! No.

JFC lol

Reminds me when Time made its person of the year.... You!
On right, Time magazine cover in mid-aughts, telling us that the Time person of the year is.... You. The image shows a PC with a big YouTube-type window with the word "You" in bold font in the middle. At the bottom, the script, somewhat cut off, reads, "Yes, you. You control the Information Age. Welcome to your world. On the left: A version of the cover has a glossy mirror in place of the big "You." A guy holds up the cover in such a way as to show his face in the mirror.
November 30, 2025 at 9:01 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
"Strong floor, no ceiling"
St. Luke's church in Liverpool, rubble created by incendiary bomb leaves spires intact but ceiling gone and main chamber open to the elements
November 30, 2025 at 6:26 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
Columbia is doing great?

....Are you sure about that?

knightcolumbia.org/blog/what-th...
We also have serious concerns about many of the settlement’s terms, as we discuss below. The settlement narrows Columbia’s autonomy with respect to admissions, the hiring and promotion of faculty, and curriculum—all aspects of what the Supreme Court has called the “essential freedoms” of the university. It imposes new rules relating to protest on campus and student discipline that should be entirely the province of the university to decide. It also supplies the Trump administration with ongoing leverage by requiring the university to satisfy nebulous contractual terms and burdensome reporting requirements under the threat of litigation if its compliance is deemed to be less than satisfactory. In addition, the settlement creates a monitoring and surveillance regime that is certain to chill the exercise of freedoms that are central to the university’s mission.
November 29, 2025 at 7:51 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
I back what I said about "not draconian": this is considerably worse than "symbolism." This is an unacceptable imposition that imposes Trump admin prejudices with materially negative effects for trans people.

www.northwestern.edu/president/do...
From text of agreement: 29. Northwestern and its Feinberg School of Medicine shall not perform hormonal interventions and transgender surgeries, including but not limited to mastectomies, phalloplasties, vaginoplasties, and/or any other procedure intended to alter an individual’s sex characteristics, on any individual under the age of 18 years old, effective immediately upon the Effective Date of this Agreement. a. Northwestern shall revise all policies, protocols, and public-facing materials at Feinberg School of Medicine to reflect the commitment set forth in this paragraph on hormonal interventions and transgender surgeries to individuals under the age of 18 years old and ensure compliance with federal laws. b. Northwestern shall notify all faculty and administrators of the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern’s commitments set forth above regarding transgender surgeries on minors within thirty (30) days of the Effective Date.
November 29, 2025 at 6:55 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
[Sigh]

These clowns always think they're proposing something utterly groundbreaking, and then they proceed to post the most hackneyed derivative-ass "solutions" you could possibly imagine

This could have been in a letter to the editor from anytime in the past thirty years
Paragraph from cited article (bit about market oriented mindset highlighted by me): "Rather than worry about funding cuts or condemning their threat to academic purity, liberal arts institutions should embrace a market-oriented mindset. Some of the most adaptive models can be found in so-called “schools of professional studies” at major universities such as Columbia, which offer real-world, business-relevant programmes with flexible formats. They thrive not because they adhere to tradition but because they respond to market needs."
November 27, 2025 at 5:12 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
Few years old now, but still getting good feedback on it. www.ucpress.edu/books/the-ja...
Dale Chapman, cover of The Jazz Bubble
November 26, 2025 at 10:47 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
We'll know if there emerge anecdotes about Patel pitching his slasher horror script idea to a politely distanced Ben Kingsley
Chris Moltisanti and his friend on either side of Ben Kingsley in the Sopranos, playing himself. Moltisanti is in a black sleeveless t-shirt; Kingsley is in a cushy bathrobe, looking at him sort of neutrally
November 23, 2025 at 3:55 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
For Gen X, my guess is that most references were to the L.A. punk band until Douglas Coupland published this little book in 1991
Cover art for Douglas Coupland's 1991 novel *Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture.* Top half depicts an upside down sky with clouds; bottom half is yellow. The font is generally all-caps, in a very 1990s, very blocky sans-serif font. The subtitle, "Tales for an Accelerated Culture," is made to look like one of those Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics stickers on the cover of hip hop and rock albums from the era. There is one blurb from the LA Times, just below the book's title: "A groundbreaking novel."
November 23, 2025 at 3:18 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
Oh yeah, most definitely
Annie Lennox in the video for Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This), wearing a suit and tie, her close-cropped hair dyed bright red, brandishing a pointer at a screen with footage of people walking, a plaque with an RIAA "gold record" on her wall
November 23, 2025 at 2:39 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
Trump right after Mamdani’s visit
Don Draper in shirt sleeves at his desk in Mad Men, reading Frank O’Hara’s Meditations in an Emergency
November 22, 2025 at 9:24 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
I will say I'm ridiculously easily mollified by professors willing to pose with their cats for a story on AI plagiarism lol
The author with his cat, Persephone "Dots" Teague. The author is wearing a navy t-shirt and blue jeans, and standing next to his degree from the University of Arkansas on his wall. A few tattoos are visible on his bicep. The cat is a longhair with white and light brown fur, and is staring at the camera with a blank face.
November 22, 2025 at 7:54 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
Monty Python animated foot, squishing the words that were there a moment ago -- all to the strains of Liberty Bell March
November 22, 2025 at 6:22 AM
decmusicology.bsky.social
"Anarcho-whateverist?"

Ahh, I see, it all becomes clear

I'm not one to pile on people who have a "vote harder" disposition, but most people don't make it the central plank of their personality
Bio for above poster, with the text: "Voting>Protesting>Posting"
November 20, 2025 at 5:08 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
LOL right. That's why they need one pointy-headed, big-city liberal at the far end of the table, asking them, "name one war! Name just one war that he stopped!!"
Empty template for "angry goose meme." In top frame, angry goose demands to know something from the human just outside of frame. In the second frame, the goose chases a dude in puffy winter coat, its head down, looking furious and un-fuckwithable
November 19, 2025 at 5:46 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
This entry for the “four types of guy online“ is a little niche, but i rather like it
Two superimposed “skeets”: the one at the top is an entry in the thread, “There are four types of guy online, no exceptions,” where James Van Fleet has posted a picture of three goofy looking robots and a nerdy dude with safety goggles The skeet at the bottom is Jeff VanderMeer’s post, captioned, “your moment of calm: four least sandpipers standing on a log,” with a picture of the four least sandpipers in question
November 19, 2025 at 11:59 AM
decmusicology.bsky.social
What perfect album came out the year you turned 16?
Album cover of Lincoln by They Might Be Giants. Weird little podium thing with two church spires, two speaking lecterns with clocks on their face, and portraits of two distant relatives of the duo. The sun shines down on the space with evergreen trees and blue sky in the background
November 17, 2025 at 6:00 AM
decmusicology.bsky.social
Wondered for a sec if founder of Canadian Confederation John A. MacDonald had a side gig as a mystery novelist
John A. MacDonald, the first Canadian prime minister and a "father of Confederation," the effective founding of Canada as a functionally sovereign nation. Here he sports a three piece suit with tie, popped 19th-century starched collar, and that frizzy hairdo he always had. Arms crossed, staring into the middle distance.
November 15, 2025 at 7:48 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
Post your favorite Star Trek character(s). Wrong answers only
Scorpius from Farscape. Pale-ass dude with awful teeth wearing a kind of Catwoman black leather getup over his head and across his body
November 15, 2025 at 7:35 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
this is where I post from if you even care
Little remote hiker's shelter in eastern Iceland. Small, cute building with red siding and white trim and roof, labeled "Stefánsbúd." In the background is a high elevation lake and stunning mountains. The sky is overcast.
November 15, 2025 at 5:22 AM
decmusicology.bsky.social
I will never forgive Aaron Sorkin for making this guy seem witty, erudite, and anything other than a total bag of shit

Then again, there's a lot the media has to answer for with this asshole
Infuriating late 1990s cover of Time magazine, depicting Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan, and Larry Summers as the "Committee to Save the World." The three douchecanoes are depicted smirking confidently, with Greenspan in the middle foreground, sporting a black/charcoal suit jacket, white shirt, and maroon textured tie -- and those massive tortoiseshell glasses he always wore
November 14, 2025 at 8:21 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
Yeah, pretty sure this guy did it
Matthew Rhys as Phillip Jennings in The Americans, brandishing a handgun and staring broodily at something or other. He's sporting a dark coat with the collar popped
November 13, 2025 at 7:24 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
I fucking love late-stage mustachioed 1970s Roger Sterling

Delightfully butchering French with Marie Calvet in a Paris (Montreal?) cafe
Roger Sterling, resplendent with mustache, clinks glasses with Marie Calvet in some coffeeshop somewhere. Calvet is wearing pearls and a nice beige shawl. A copy of Le Monde is sitting on the table, suggesting we're in Paris (or maybe Montreal)
November 12, 2025 at 4:48 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
“They're sitting in a burning house and commissioning polls on how popular the fire is”
Chef’s kiss emoji
November 10, 2025 at 5:37 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
North New England did not acquit itself well during this imbroglio www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/rc...
Still, the deal was good enough for eight Senate Democrats: Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., John Fetterman, D-Pa., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Angus King, I-Maine, Jackie Rosen, D-Nev., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H
November 10, 2025 at 12:51 PM
decmusicology.bsky.social
"The fedora, angled just so, is his homage to French Resistance hero Jean Moulin"

King.
Photo from article, showing Pedro Delvaux in the same ensemble he appeared in in the media photo, with blue striped tie, dark beige vest, lighter-toned beige blazer, and a black overcoat. He is sporting a fedora cocked slightly to one side, and is holding a framed print of the photo that made him famous. All of this is set on a patio outside an idyllic Parisian window frame with green shutters.
November 9, 2025 at 9:02 PM