Footage of Django with archtop.

plexi69

WOW!! Speaking of hitting a nerve!

Buco

Umm what plexi said sounded like a bit of sarcasm to me. But don't let that stop it from snowballing.

Joshl-m

I just wanted to talk about django.....

Bones

Haha, yeah given the orange "effing moron" (Tillerson's words not mine) that we "elected" to be the cream of the proverbial crop I'd say at this point that "we" now specialize in telling it how it isn't. No sarcasm intended. I'd say Wim's point is well taken. If 'it' is the best we can do we aught to shut the eff up.

But back to the idea that Django struggled with any guitar. I'm sure that anyone here would not even imagine such a scenario. The whole idea is really laughable. Except maybe it would take him a couple choruses to adjust to an unfamiliar neck shape or setup. Does anyone really think that you could have handed him a decently playable and sounding electric guitar and he couldn't figure out how to get around on it?

wim

It's like you give Usain Bolt a shoe half-size different and he's struggling to run, or you give Michael Jordan a slightly different shaped basketball and he becomes completely confused... what??

Well, you know, it's just like a figure of speech that doesn't translate well onto the written page (you really need the tone of voice and to see the facial cues to know what to take literally and what's just hyperbole). The English have the opposite problem and understate everything - Django could fall off the stage and break the guitar to pieces and they'd say he got into "a small spot of trouble" on the gig last night ..

Teddy Dupont

A quote from Gerard Leveque about Django:-

"He believed himself to be the greatest, and it was true."

NylonDave

Buco wrote: »

Umm what plexi said sounded like a bit of sarcasm to me. But don't let that stop it from snowballing.

When the ridiculous and the consensus are indistinguishable irony has little to commend it.

D.

NylonDave

plexi69 wrote: »

"is likely a bit of hyperbole and exaggeration that North Americans are so fond of using in casual speech"

We tell it like it is. Having saved the free world from tyranny gives us that right.

Is the grammar above illiterate or sarcastic ?

I'm not hip enough to tell.

Maybe fashionable is the best description, yup. Fashionable.

D.

plexi69

indistinguishable

NylonDave wrote: »

Buco wrote: »

Umm what plexi said sounded like a bit of sarcasm to me. But don't let that stop it from snowballing.

When the ridiculous and the consensus are indistinguishable irony has little to commend it.

D.

There should be an comma after, indistinguishable. Just saying.

Buco

By the way Dave, my comment wasn't aimed at you specifically, it just seemed derailment was imminent.
Not that our friend plexi didn't do anything to speed up that train. But after all with a user name celebrating one of the most celebrated tube amp circuits in history, originating from England, something had to be suspect with that comment.

All these negligible details aside and regarding this dustup that arose about Django and Les Paul, thing to think about is the clear historical perspective we have, versus those who's statements were made back in the day about either, including both Django and Les.
Back in the day Django wasn't this towering music legend we know now. And Les was certainly a very respectable guitar player. So two of them, as much as it may seem different today, were just two of the cats from the current scene. Of course, Django always had that pompous personality but my feeling is that some of it came from the place of insecurity than that of certainty. And Les had enough of admiration around him to place him in his mind as the rival if not the competition. At least he was candid enough to admit that everybody else is copying Django. Les was never shy to name Django as his greatest influence. He admired him doubtlessly.
Django asking Les "you think I'm good?", I can see that. If nothing else than because of his limited English, but more so I think he needed a constant reminder of how great he is.
And the critics? There is and have always always been plenty of naysayers around. Those who enjoy convincing their audience that the accepted view is not all that valid. Whenever you have a large group of people raving about something or someone, you automatically have somebody saying "meh, it's not all that great". It happens with Beatles, Led Zeppelin etc...
I distinctly remember a part from the Dregni book where it says how Django was glowing with happiness when he got his hands on a Selmer after playing American archtops. So I don't think he struggled with them but perhaps was complaining enough that it got misinterpreted.
Both Django and Les have changed the history and the course of music in their own way.