{"id":22,"date":"2008-05-20T22:49:33","date_gmt":"2008-05-20T22:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp\/?p=22"},"modified":"2008-05-20T22:49:33","modified_gmt":"2008-05-20T22:49:33","slug":"youve_got_to_pick_a_pocket_or","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/2008\/05\/youve_got_to_pick_a_pocket_or\/","title":{"rendered":"You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

I also have marveled at James Fallows’ word count<\/a>, particularly when I’m looking for the inspiration to generate both the\u00c2\u00a0quality and the quantity of typing that blogging seems to demand. So\u00c2\u00a0tonight I will play the “picture equals” card and cheat by drawing your\u00c2\u00a0attention to a video clip:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n



<\/span><\/center><\/p>\n

Yes, yes, silly, ha-ha, but you might be willing to admit that there’s a
\nlittle bit of parity in here related to the broader implications of
\nmuseum culture in the performing arts–and how audiences stop by to gawk
\na bit and wander around and then go home and watch another episode of
\n“Law & Order.” We come, we look and listen (at least a little), but in the end do
\nwe take away or do we cross off as “accomplished,” in the dental cleaning or “20 years since my last confession” sense?<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

I had the chance to hear the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra play not one
\nbut two Beethoven symphonies last week, with a fantastic violin concerto
\nby Thomas Ad\u00c3\u00a8s sandwiched in between. I give Baltimore mad props for an
\nentire season stuffed with the names and faces of living composers, and
\nin this case, Ad\u00c3\u00a8s actually served as conductor for the entire evening’s
\nprogram as well. Though it wasn’t a flawless performance, it was
\nsomething more–awake. The hall was very full and vocally
\nappreciative.<\/p>\n

Still, it was a gluttony of Beethoven. I confess I was quite distracted
\ntowards the end and I found myself looking around and wondering if I
\nwould catch the wandering eyes of any other similarly stuffed patrons.
\n(As it turns out, a few rows back Anne Midgette<\/a> was asking herself the same questions I was, but on
\na deeper level than I could muster.) It’s been almost a week, and I
\nhaven’t figured out why we were listening to so much Beethoven yet either. I
\nwasn’t sure that anyone else in the crowd could have told me, but I was
\nwrong<\/a>. I’m not any less uncomfortable now that I have an answer,
\nhowever. I mean, if a big name on the marque is what it takes to get ’em in the door, can I at least get a backbeat<\/a> for
\na little something unexpected?<\/p>\n

And then this morning I stumbled on Mark Swed’s piece<\/a> in the L.A.
\nTimes<\/i> which, to be honest, only takes “dummy consumption” as its
\njumping off point. Still, it got me with a line. He writes, “The Atlanta
\norchestra takes pride in sending its listeners home happy, having been
\ngiven a big sonic hug and assured everything will be all right.”<\/p>\n

I don’t always know what I want out of performances when I go
\nthese days, but I don’t arrive looking to be cuddled. If I think it over
\nnow, I want it to push me around a little, just like that professor in
\nundergrad who never followed the syllabus and gave us extra books to
\nread at the last minute–and we read them, too, and hung around after class, even though we were already overwhelmed by how much we had to do, just like those cheesy movie plots. Teacher shows delinquent children the path to brilliance and self-actualization!<\/p>\n

But then again, the BSO’s performance wasn’t about me or my self-actualization, it was about us in the city of
\nBaltimore. I got the chance to hear Ad\u00c3\u00a8s in my new hometown. While complaining about gluttony, perhaps I was the one getting greedy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I also have marveled at James Fallows’ word count, particularly when I’m looking for the inspiration to generate both the\u00c2\u00a0quality and the quantity of typing that blogging seems to demand. So\u00c2\u00a0tonight I will play the “picture equals” card and cheat by drawing your\u00c2\u00a0attention to a video clip: Yes, yes, silly, ha-ha, but you might be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/gap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}