Digitopia Blues
Description
A lyrical analysis of the intersections between poetic speech and music, intertwined with the history of black/white relations in America. Digitopia Blues is a fluid narrative about orality and literacy -- their individual histories, and their blended futures. Musician and poet John Sobol pinpoints the African American struggle to find a language of revolutionary power through orality and music, as well as the literate poet's impulse to transcend the printed page. Then he locates literacy and orality in the new digital media, in rap, in rave and even in Napster. Sobol's book is intertwined with the stories of the blues, jazz and rock 'n' roll, the powerful world of the printed word and the potential dangers and advantages that digital communications technologies offer people of colour.
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Person
John Sobol has published hundreds of articles and was co-writer of The Genius of Lenny Breau, which won the 1999 Gemini Award for best Canadian TV arts documentary. As a saxophonist and oral poet he has given over 1,000 performances in 11 countries since 1979. His CD label, Word of Mouth, has released eight CDs including Blue History by his own John Sobol Poetry Band. In 1997, his poet-trio, AWOL Love Vibe, released a book/CD titled The Ecstatic Almanac. He was the co-founder of Globalhood, a digital playground in Toronto for at-risk youth. He is about to release his fifth book You Are Your Media.