New Pornographers not welcomed at Calvin College

[IATTBYB]

The show was cancelled because of the band's name. Yet they let Tweedy sing "The Ruling Class" in the chapel.

[Scalzunfield]

I'd go on a rant about retarded right wing Christians here, but I'll just suggest a good listen through Todd Snider's "Conservative Christian..." tune instead.

 

Either that or put on the entire New Pornographers discography and keep smiling.

[tinnitus photography]

i guess the triple bill of Fucked Up/Fuck Buttons/Holy Fuck is off the table...

[bleedorange]

It does beg the question of how they were booked there to begin with. Unless the college overestimated the intelligence of people or didn't realize so many would be offended.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Yet they let Tweedy sing "The Ruling Class" in the chapel.

 

Totally not the same thing, unless posters for The Ruling Class, lyrics and all, were bannered all over campus and town publications before the show. You don't "let" someone sing a song you don't know they're going to sing - it was only debuted days before that show.

 

didn't realize so many would be offended.

 

I went to a small, reasonably-Christian college, and the campus organizations did lots of seemingly innoccuous things that wound up making rounds among alumni and came back in a stink. Hell, every week the sex column was published in the newspaper, if it talked about more than holding hands the alums were threatening to pull their funding. The town the college was in was fairly progressive and home to a much more "morally loose" college - if it had been just us and the town were more conservative, I'll bet things would have been more like the Calvin situation.

[IATTBYB]

Totally not the same thing, unless posters for The Ruling Class, lyrics and all, were bannered all over campus and town publications before the show. You don't "let" someone sing a song you don't know they're going to sing - it was only debuted days before that show.

In the immortal words of Sgt. Hulka, "Lighten' up, Francis." And as an aside, I am still looking for a recording of that Tweedy show in the Chapel. . . it still might be the best concert I ever attended.

[KevinG]

The question is, would they be welcomed by Calvin Coolidge?

 

 

Methinks yes

[Guest Speed Racer]

And as an aside, I am still looking for a recording of that Tweedy show in the Chapel. . . it still might be the best concert I ever attended.

 

The Calvin show? It's right here.

[Analogman]

I think he means this one: Jeff Tweedy (2005-11-10).

[Guest Speed Racer]

Very tricky of Jeff to have two uniquely similar venue names within a week of each other!

[cryptique]

Story picked up by Huffington Post

[IATTBYB]

I think he means this one: Jeff Tweedy (2005-11-10).

Yep, it's a shame a recording never surfaced. I recall seeing at least one mic stand in the crowd that night.

[Ghost of Electricity]

This is humorous. Sex Nap, the small, faith-based liberal arts college (i think) you attended is not as conservative as the one I attended, which is in turn not as conservative as Calvin. When I first got wind of the Tweedy show there, quite frankly I was shocked, and I seem to remember several other decent shows having been put on there.

 

I was involved in the radio station in college, and we were looking for a motto: "1000 watts of (adjective) college radio." I suggested "orgasmic," which was at first greeted with enthusiasm by the student-staff. Come next meeting, they had self-censored themselves, however and settled on the bland and inoffensive "burstin'."

 

Anyway, I thought the New Pornographers name was based on the off-hand comment of some evangelist (Jerry Fallwell? Pat Robertson?) that rock and roll was the new pornography. The article said something about a Japanese film.

[augurus]

What this is about is more or less how the funders of the college threatened to pull funding from Calvin College. The real question, as suggested by someone else on MeFi, is "who are actually the customers of universities, students or their parents?"

 

If you look at the press release from Calvin College, these parents have embarrassed the faculty/administration and left them dumbfounded.

[Sir Stewart]

 

 

If you look at the press release from Calvin College, these parents have embarrassed the faculty/administration and left them dumbfounded.

 

"Neither the college nor the band endorses pornography"

 

Did they check with the band on that?

[DueReflection]

they don't understand, these are NEW Pornographers.

nobody's gonna burn in hell far as they know.

[Moss]

I think the college is just making a statement about new pornography. They are totally down with old school porn.

[Ghost of Electricity]

What this is about is more or less how the funders of the college threatened to pull funding from Calvin College. The real question, as suggested by someone else on MeFi, is "who are actually the customers of universities, students or their parents?"

 

 

The answer, really, is neither. Small colleges like these, though pretty darn expensive, are funded largely through endowments. The endowments come from rich alumni and usually with strings attached. Boards live in a constant state of fear that they will upset their donors, and funding will dry up.

 

As wealth (and often philanthropy) come to people in their older years, and as the older generation (especially among Dutch West-Michiganians) tends to be more conservative, this means conservatism can have a hold on colleges that is not necessarily indicative of the students or teaching faculty. Administrations tend to try to strike a balance, but when push comes to shove (as it is now doing) they will lean towards the conservative donors.

[tinnitus photography]

I think the college is just making a statement about new pornography. They are totally down with old school porn.

 

you should see the campus landscaping...it's like a jungle out there.

[Wild Frank]

In the immortal words of Sgt. Hulka, "Lighten' up, Francis." And as an aside, I am still looking for a recording of that Tweedy show in the Chapel. . . it still might be the best concert I ever attended.

I'll second that. The gig that is not the need to lighten up!! That Chapel show was a thing of beauty. If I recall Jeff mentioned the inappropriateness of the Ruling class in the Union Chapel during the show.

[Wild Frank]

I'll second that. The gig that is not the need to lighten up!! That Chapel show was a thing of beauty. If I recall Jeff mentioned the inappropriateness of the Ruling class in the Union Chapel during the show.

....that is the Chapel Show you are referring to right? The Union Chapel, London, about three months ago?

[cryptique]

The result: nationwide mockery.

 

I love it when a bad decision backfires.

 

 

 

 

(Unless it was mine.)

[IATTBYB]

....that is the Chapel Show you are referring to right? The Union Chapel, London, about three months ago?

As A-man said earlier

I think he means this one: Jeff Tweedy (2005-11-10).

Calvin College Chapel show back in '05, when Glen opened.

[marino13]

My six year old loves this band. However, we call them the New P's in my house because I'm not ready to explain to her what a pornographer is.