I became intersted in ice
cream truck music right before I took my "comprehensive exams" (which
are the exams one takes at NYU to qualify for the Masters Degree).
After passing, I
loafed around the house for a few weeks. Living in a basement
apartment in Brooklyn with Gail and the cat, we were subject to the
music played by the ice
cream trucks as they drove by. Annoyed by the constant jingling,
I felt that researching the music would take away its power over me so
I began looking into its history. Much to my surprise, I
discovered that there was quite a bit to learn - this music had a
background that wasn't adequately represented by the literature, which
essentially
consists of 1) nostalgic feel good articles with patriotic American
themes; and 2) nasty diatribes attacking it preaching noise abatement
laws. None of these sources ever say anything of substance about
the music and ultimately leave its background obscured.
I then wrote a paper entitled Ice Cream Truck Music, The Sound of Frozen Novelties
and presented it a couple of times, most notably at the
Society for Ethnomusicology's annual meeting in 2000. It
attracted a large crowd of curious people, several of whom
approached me afterwards to say they enjoyed my work. Based on
this paper, NYU professors Gage Averill and Mercedes Dujunco asked me
to present my research on ice cream truck music in their undergraduate
classes. Because someone who would later become an intern at an arts magazine called Esopus happened to be a student in the class, I was later approached by Esopus's editor, who
asked me if I would be interested in publishing my work.
Excitedly, I said yes and shortly thereafter my research was
published in Esopus's Spring 2005 issue. Today, ice cream music doesn't nearly bother me as much as it used to.
You can download a low-res scan of the article here. (Special thanks to Tod at Esopus for permission.)
An aside: Although they have nothing to do with my
own research (but because they elide two thing I'm interested in) I am
compelled to point out Aurelito and Shakespeare, a pair of Los Angeles-based reggae DJs who converted a 1969 ice cream truck into their own mobile sound system called I&I Sound. Clicking here will take you to an NPR program about them produced by Xeni Jardin. Jardin's photos of Aurelito, Shakespeare and their truck can be seen by clicking here.
Banner photo: A truck lurking in the Kool Man ice cream company garage, Williamsburg Brooklyn. July 2004.
Photo on referring page: A Mister Softee truck somewhere in midtown Manhattan. Summer 2003.
All images taken by Daniel Neely. Permission not granted for use.
