Rockin’ with Rocco: More from Our WSJ Conversation

Portrait of Rocco Landesman from my Wall Street Journal article, by Ken Fallin

My Cultural Conversation with the National Endowment for the Arts' new chairman, Rocco Landesman, ran long today (the whole above-the-fold space on P. D7 of the Personal Journal section), but still not long enough to encompass our entire conversation, which lasted only about 25 minutes but was rapid-fire and illuminating.

In the course of our discussion, I didn't just ask what programs Landesman might want to initiate; I also asked what he might want to do away with. In particular, I raised questions about two programs that I had targeted in a previous post: The Big Read and Shakespeare in American Communities.

"We're working on all that," he told me. "Some of these programs consumed massive resources and I think we have to take a hard look and see what's the best use of our limited funds."

"What specific programs do you have in mind?" I inquired.

"You mentioned some," he said, referring to the aforementioned two, in which the NEA prescribed programs from above, rather than being responsive to requests from its constituents. "We're right at the beginning of this process of looking at what we have where, so I don't want to get too definitive. But, as with any new chair, you've got to make some changes. I think you will be pleased with them."

Landesman is getting a reputation for foot-in-mouth disease (with his latest toe-gnawing in this backpedaling post, from NEA's "Art Works" blog). But even veteran journalists are not immune from getting off on the wrong foot: I began my questions about what kinds of people he might appoint to the National Council on the Arts by questioning one of President Bush's last two appointments---country music singer Lee Greenwood, best know for his crossover hit, "God Bless the USA." I already knew that Landesman was a country music fan, so I should have realized what I was getting myself into:

"Lee Greenwood!" he exclaimed. "I love country music! Anybody who writes a song that has a title, "Ring on Her Finger and Time on Her Hands," can't be all bad!

It was clear, from Landesman's online account (in the above-linked "backpedaling post") of his first National Council on the Arts meeting last week, that the chairman who, as I reported, wants to appoint celebrities to the NEA is himself a little starstruck. He singled out Greenwood as the member "with whom I spent a nice amount of time":

Lee told me about some great artists who come out of Paducah [KY]---Jerry Crutchfield, Lee's longtime producer; Jerry's brother Jan, who is the songwriter responsible for three of Lee's early hits; Eric Horner, who used to be Lee's guitarist, but who is now a touring gospel performer; and Doug Carter, Lee's current keyboardist, bandleader, arranger, and all around good guy. Impressive [at least to Greenwood's publicist].

Rocco Landesman with country singer Lee Greenwood
Photo by Kathy Plowitz-Worden

Speaking of celebrities, most of the journalists reporting on President Obama's 25 appointees to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities focused exclusively on the boldface names. Thanks to Blair Kamin of the Chicago Tribune for giving us the entire list.