The Composition Blues Band: "You Can's Always Write What You Want"
Linda Tate

One of the highlights of the conference was a performance by the legendary Composition Blues Band. Though the band has included many musicians over the years, the July performance featured Marvin Diogenes (Stanford University) and Keith Rhodes (Grand Valley State University). The 75-minute presentation titled You Cant Always Write What You Want: Dialectics of Rock n Roll Theory and Composition Practice, 1955-1984 recapped the history of rhetoric and composition from its beginnings with Rhetor B. Goode (sung to the tune of Johnny B. Goode) through its current multimodal dimensions in Wired World (a song remarkably similar to Wild World). Other highlights included La Comma (La Bamba), Five Paragraphs (Pink Cadillac), and Three to Five Sources (Wild Horses). Lyrics for these songs and other Composition Blues Band classics can be found at http://www.geocities.com/bobhogue/lyrics.html. Its safe to say that Diogenes and Rhodes had a rapt and attentive audience as they shared their unique approach to the field.

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