Just a brief note about what appears to be a new moniker for me, Kevernacular.
It’s actually the byline for my blog Culture Currents (Vernaculars Speak) at www.kevernacular.com , where most of my NoDep blogs originate. You’ll find roundaboutly postings on virtually all the arts at CC (VS).
So I figured I’d shore up a little continuity in my online identity. And a tip of the hat to those of you who may have made a mental note of Kevin Lynch’s blogs, for better or worse (and especially the appreciated ND friends and folks who bother to comment!).
The moniker suggests, as I say on my CC (VS) blog bio, my peculiar hybridity as a cultural observer and sense that meaningful distinctions between fine and vernacular art blur in the cultural currents. I’ve covered both realms plenty as a journalist and categories help identify and clarify – fine vs. folk vs. pop art – but there’s no hierarchy of quality among genres or traditions, in my mind. As Ellington said, “There’s good music and bad music.”
“Vernaculars speak” implicity nags the old culture-class question of, say, who’s better: Bob Dylan or Dylan Thomas? Bob Dylan is taken seriously today by intelligencia, of course — almost to death. But I think that beyond Bob, and because of him, the craft and art of songwriting has spread and grown almost exponentially in many vernacular idioms, often hybrids. And that phenomenon is important and noteworthy.
As I like to say, you may find art under just about any rock.
And NoDepression is one of the best places to go rootin’ around for rocks.
Keep listening, playing, talking and writing,
Kevernacular (a.k.a Kevin Lynch)
photo of Kevernacular at The Blue Plum Music and Arts Festival in Johnson City, Tennessee, June 2012.
Courtesy Sheila Lynch
