All The Young Dudes

Music & Sign Singing

I love music. I am song and dance man, not so much a fan of instrumentals. As is the lot of Deafies and deafies, some of us may well be able to speak, but when it comes to singing, we probably sound like Pierre and his choir of felines in heat.

Still, there is sign singing, which art form in itself. The point of this post is not to analyse the artistry, creativity and techniques of sign singing, but to ask the question, why do Deafies congregate around the crappiest pop songs?

I’m listening to music now, and reading the lyrics at the same time [I always do], and that question cropped up again. I really love good lyrics. I love songs that play on many levels. I love poetic and literate lyrics. Sure, every now and then I give in to my baser instincts and listen to crass, commercial pop.

What prompted this question? My experiences in sign singing always seem to involve vomit inducing song choices [not saying what, but GOD knows!], revolving around themes of love, overcoming adversity, and emotions; or when used for marketing/ PR purposes, “Money, ****ing, Money!” I’ve had the pleasure of an interpreter who sign sung, Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix and Piece of My Heart by Janis Joplin for me, so all is not lost.

I do wonder if here are any Deafies out there who are translating stuff like:

Ways To Be Wicked [Lone Justice]

Yeah I can take a little pain
I could hold it pretty well
I can watch
your little eyes light up
When you’re walkin’ me through hell
Well I’ve
been your fool before, babe
And I probably will again
You ain’t afraid
to let me have it
You ain’t afraid to stick it in

Yeah you know so
many ways to be wicked
But you don’t know one little thing about love

Yeah those cobra eyes
Light with a smile
You take pride
In
that devil down inside

And G.O.D’s own favourite song [in fact, her theme song]:

Devil Gate Drive [Suzi Quatro]

When they reach their teens, that’s when they all get mean
Down in Devil Gate Drive
When I was sweet sixteen I was the jukebox queen
Down in Devil Gate Drive
I lead the angel pack on the road to sin
Knock down the gates!
Let me in. Let me in
Don’t mess me ’round, cause you know where I’ve been
To ‘The Dive’ down in Devil Gate Drive

So come alive. Come alive
Down in Devil Gate Drive
So come alive. Come alive
Down in Devil Gate…down in Devil Gate
Down in Devil Gate Drive
Down in Devil Gate…down in Devil Gate
Down in Devil Gate Drive

I do wonder too, if any Deafie has sign sung The Rocky Horror Picture Show.This would be one hell of a show done in sign. As Rocky Horror is a homage to all the B Grade Sci-Fi movies of the mid 20 Century, with its satire on boy meets girls, and good vs evil. Though, the major challenge lays in its references to movies, singers, actors, and movie plots. I do prefer the Australian Cast recording with Reg Livermore.

Why don’t you stay for the night (night)
Or maybe a bite (bite)
I could show you my favourite obsession
I’ve been making a man
With blond hair and a tan
And he’s good for relieving my . . . tension

Well I was walking down the street just a having a think
When a snake of a
guy gave me an evil wink
He shook-a me up, he took me by surprise
He had a pick-up truck and the devil’s eyes
He
stared at me and I felt a change
Time meant nothing, never would again

Another show that would be great translated into sign, would be Return To The Forbidden Planet, a show I have seen when I was living in the UK nearly 10 years ago.

Yes! I am a rebel, and I do love my freedom and thumbing my nose at society songs! Meanwhile you can watch someone who has brought sexy into sign singing, Zombie Coterie!

Further Reading:

On Being Me: No Matter Where You Go, There You Are P3
The Crossroads

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The Idol-Maker: David Lodge - Deaf Sentence

I have heard of the writer David Lodge, but I have not read and of his books. Yet! I do have a second hand copy of A David Lodge Trilogy: Changing Places - Small World - Nice Work, but it remains unread. G.O.D. is always waxing lyrical about David Lodge, but for some reason I remain unmoved. But that’s more to do with the amount of reading that I would like to do, and with the limited time that us human beings have, some authors are going to fall by the wayside.

His new book, Deaf Sentence, has been published in the UK. Having read some of the media articles about the book and David’s experience of becoming deafened, I’m not sure that I will be rushing out to buy a copy of the book, for its thematic exposition.

Well, as a Deaf person, I’ve read, heard and discussed plenty of becoming Deaf/deaf/deafened/ et al, to know that there’s nothing new in the latest version [David Lodge's] of the experience of losing one’s hearing. If David Lodge wasn’t a well known and well regarded author, would his story be newsworthy at all? After all, the hearing world doesn’t really give a shit about us.

The becoming Deaf/deaf/deafened/ et al stories, are a lot like the coming out stories told by Gays and Lesbians. For all the ethnic, racial, religious, gender differences, they are all similar, so much so that at some point you are forced to ask, “yes but, do we have anything else to say?”

There’s two aspects to the media write up of David Lodge’s experience of becoming deafened, and reviews of his book, Deaf Sentence. The first, is the rather depressingly common expression of sadness of a man losing his hearing, with seemingly no hope for the continuation of a good life. [Cue: bring out the hankies.] David’s descriptions of becoming deafened are for the benefit of hearing people, so that they may be entertained, while learning next to nothing about deafness, save for the tried and trusty cliches of things that happen when you can’t hear.

“…..with a deadly mix of felt experience and fertile humorous invention, makes us giggle, laugh and even roar at the misadventures of his fictional hero…” Ho! Ho! Ho!

As always, the media analysis ventures no further than a curiosity look at the problems caused by hearing loss, and neglects to examine wider ramifications the hearing worlds’ own role in the problems encountered by Deaf/deaf people. I would be very surprised if the hearing media [let alone hearing people], in a sudden rush of equanimity, actually did examine deafness beyond the safe confines of eccentricity, madness and sadness, and saw that, maybe, just maybe, there is life after hearing. And when they do, the answer is always technological:

Still, there has never been a better time in human history than now to be deaf. Recent advances in electronics, computer science and medicine have combined to make a whole range of remedial and enabling devices available to the deaf and hearing-impaired, from miniaturised hearing aids and loop systems to surgical implants and vibrotactile aids (not a sex toy, but a device for alerting the profoundly deaf person to the presence and source of sound) - Living Under A Deaf Sentence.

Yes! I know! Hi World, welcome to it!

The second point? What was it? Ah yes, what happens to our idolatry of our idols, when they say or do something that is anathema to the values we hold dear. As G.O.D. points out,

“What if he stops being one of my favourite authors, because he won’t be able to find any humour in this?!”

I know exactly what she means. I have dropped respect for artists of any genre and medium, if they betray any of the values I hold dear. I have stopped admiring Mel Gibson’s work, once he become famous for his homophobia views. One friend tried to countenance this by explaining that he is a troubled man, trying to work out some familial indoctrination. Tough! Dropped! Respect nil!

Yes, they are human beings, just like you and I, and yes, they are given to human foibles, just like you and I. But by virtue of their work, and being in the public eye, they become gods [spokespeople] for their worshippers [adoring fans], and can do an awful lot of good, should the mood strike them.

In this case, this is not going to happen. The media write up of David Lodge, his hearing loss, and his exposition of this experience, is just the latest whistle stop tour on the entertainment trail. Where you can read a little, cry a little, laugh a little and learn nowt much!

Reading To Pass The Time:
David Lodge: Deaf Sentence (contains linx galore for your reading delectation)

Update:
The Tree Of Knowledge

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Cartoon For The Deaf

ALERT: YOUTUBE FLIK: COMING OUT

Alison just alerted me to a fantastic short flik on Youtube, called COMING OUT.

COMING OUT is about a  son comes to his mother with a compelling secret. Will she understand? It is a quirky comedy written by Charlie Swinbourne and directed by Louis Neethling (who also directed BBC2’s ‘Switch’). The film was made for the London Deaf Film Festival and premiered in January 2007. It stars David Hay, Debbie Norman and Ilan Dwek.

Without giving away the storyline [and spoiling your viewing pleasure], it uses the coming out process, that Gays and Lesbians  only know too well, and posits it as a coming out as a Deaf Person. It’s fucking fantastic, and if you remember your first forays into dirty videos and dirty magazines, you are in for a treat here. The parallels between being Deaf and being Gay/ Lesbian are so similar. The ending took me by surprise and is a stark reminder of how well we don’t know a person, and how our worse fears can come true. That the people we know and love, is not the person we thought they were.

There are some issues I have with the film, a concern that I have been aware of for some time.
In exploring Deafness, it unfortunately reinforces the male view of the world:
Man = Active, Initiator, Makes Things Happens and Woman = Passive, Wallflower.
Not only that, it also a white male [people] world.

This particular world view, informs much of the films that are produced. Which goes along way to explaining why Deafies, Gays/ Lesbians, Blacks, different ethnicities, et al, are not given enduring treatments, and tend to be issue or flavour of the month. Even within other cultures, the male view is the dominant one.

But for the subject explored, the film still deserves a “Fuck! Go and watch it! COMING OUT”

See also:

Coming Out
Four Deaf Yorkshiremen, A Trailer
BBC Access 2.0: Interview with Charlie Swinbourne

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Anders.se - TV-Series For Deaf and Sign Language Users

Courtesy of THOUGHTS OF MINE blog comes news of another long forgotten website [on my behalf] ANDERS.SE - TV Series For Deaf And Sign Language Users. With a link tot he trailer, which you can all watch to whet your appetites.

And the official website is here ANDERS.SE.

Blogged with Flock

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