Louise Kyme wrote: Following on from what Don said about the class barriers, this
is true in the
> UK too, but I also think the big problem for the general public is the fact
> that cowboys aren't our history, and nor is country music. You get pockets of
> people who have been brought up on country music (as I have) and have never
> known any different, but the vast majority don't relate to the
> history/geography/accents at all. As you say, there are no doggies/corrals in
> Cheshire.
But there arent any in New Yawk City either. It's always been more myth than
fact, but I wonder why the British are not as caught up in it as the Germans
are. When I was in American Studies at Kansas, we had a steady stream of German
students and the first thing they wanted to study was cowboys and indians (that
and Bruce Springsteen and cars). Can't remember any into country music though.
I do know Kansas tourism is selling hard in Germany for them to come see the real
Dodge City. (Which is a stinking place of feeder lots and gruesome packing houses
worked by low paid exploited Vietnamese and Mexicans, who face the riot police in
full gear when there is the slightest whiff of trouble).
Stuart
rambling on tonight
