美国有线新闻 CNN 音乐制作人哈尔·维尔纳(2)

 

In 1974, just as his father was thinking of selling Hymie's to become a stockbroker¹, the 18-year-old record fiend started college in New York. He got a part-time job as assistant to Joel Dorn, who had produced popular albums for Bette Midler and Roberta Flack. The city then was bubbling with experimental comedy and the beginnings of punk.

1974年，就在哈尔父亲在考虑卖掉Hymie熟食店，要做一个股票经纪人时，这位18岁的唱片发烧友开始在纽约上大学。维尔纳找到了一份兼职工作，担任乔尔·多恩的助理。乔尔曾为贝特·米德勒和罗伯塔·弗莱克制作过流行专辑。当时，这座城市充满了实验喜剧和早期朋克。

This was just as it was heading towards financial crisis and before the beautiful people with their shiny teeth were being photographed every night at Studio 54. New York was rough, he liked to say. It had a smell about it. The block he lived on had a gay bathhouse and the small midtown recording² studio he rented soon filled up with posters of Laurel and Hardy³, Pop-Eye puppets, Holocaust⁴ memories and a music box that played Karlheinz Stockhausen, a gift from Frank Zappa.

同时，时代也正朝着金融危机发展，而在那个时候，还没有人每天晚上在54号摄影棚里给长着闪亮牙齿的美女拍照。维尔纳总是说，纽约很艰难。这里有一种特别的氛围。维尔纳住的街区有一个同性恋浴室，他在市中心区租的小录音棚很快就充满了劳莱与哈代的海报，人偶，大屠杀记忆，还有一个播放卡尔海因茨·斯托克豪森的音乐盒，那是弗兰克·扎帕送的礼物。

Mr Willner, who had a mind like a reliquary, revered⁵ the music of T Rex as much as he favoured Kurt Weill, Lou Reed and Thelonious Monk⁶. Since the mid-20th century the music producer has become an iconic figure in the cultural world, as much impresario⁷ as director, bringing together singer and songwriter and conjuring⁸ up the character of an album as a living entity⁹. The producer is the ship's captain, magician and masterchef all rolled into one. As one friend of his liked to say: "The producer is in charge of everything."

维尔纳先生的头脑就像圣骨盒，他对TRex乐队的音乐就像对库尔特·威尔、卢·里德和特洛尼斯·蒙克一样崇敬。自20世纪中期以来，这位音乐制作人已成为文化界的标志性人物，他既是导演又是经理人，把歌手和词曲作者集合在一起，把一张专辑的角色想象成一个活生生的实体。在这艘船上，制作人维尔纳集船长、魔术师和主厨于一身。就像他的一个朋友喜欢说的：“这个制作人负责一切。”

1 stockbroker   

n.股票（或证券），经纪人（或机构）

参考例句：

• The main business of stockbroker is to help clients buy and sell shares.股票经纪人的主要业务是帮客户买卖股票。
• My stockbroker manages my portfolio for me.我的证券经纪人替我管理投资组合。

2 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

3 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。

4 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

5 revered   

v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of institutions revered and respected in earlier times have become Aunt Sally for the present generation. 一些早年受到尊崇的惯例，现在已经成了这代人嘲弄的对象了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven. 中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。 来自辞典例句

6 monk   

n.和尚，僧侣，修道士

参考例句：

• The man was a monk from Emei Mountain.那人是峨眉山下来的和尚。
• Buddhist monk sat with folded palms.和尚合掌打坐。

7 impresario   

n.歌剧团的经理人；乐团指挥

参考例句：

• The impresario will present an expanded series of concerts next season.下个季节将举办一次大型的系列音乐会。
• The impresario had buttoned his astrakhan coat.乐团经理扣好了羔皮外套。

8 conjuring   

n.魔术

参考例句：

• Paul's very good at conjuring. 保罗很会变戏法。
• The entertainer didn't fool us with his conjuring. 那个艺人变的戏法没有骗到我们。

9 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。