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Kyle Gann on music after the fact

Notes from Outer Space

In response to criticisms of our Brainless Fearless Leader on my web page, I received an e-mail from some Republican woman out there pleading with me not to criticize the President. I didn’t ask for permission to quote her, and so won’t do so, but I’ll paraphrase. I was interested, because I never talk to people like this and don’t come across any socially – the precinct I vote in, on Election Day 2000, went 243 for Gore, 160 for Nader, and 80 for Bush (that’s right, we’re still looking for the sonuvabitch who managed to vote 80 times). So this lady, who sounded very nice and respectable and religious, told me that unemployment was lower than it had been in years, and that “our” tax burden had been lightened (which can only lead me to assume that she’s in the $200,000-plus bracket). She went on and on about how “the war” (whether against Al Qaeda or Iraq she didn’t specify – they seemed to have fused inside her head) was all Clinton’s fault, because he hid his head in the sand and didn’t have the guts to do anything to protect the country. Then (the interesting part), she told me that God is in control and that He selects who should lead the country, and that I shouldn’t criticize whom God selects.

Well, you’ve already anticipated my response. First I pointed out that the 302,000 jobs recently created were against more than 5,000,000 lost since Bush took office, the largest job loss of any president since Hoover. I mentioned that Clinton bombed an Al Qaeda compound and the Republicans jumped all over him for it. Then I asked the obvious: if God makes sure that the right person becomes President, then God clearly wanted Bill Clinton to be President from 1993 to 2000 – and therefore, shouldn’t she have refrained from criticizing Clinton?

I really wanted an answer to this one, and she sounded fairly reasonable, or at least polite. Disappointingly, in her brief response she only accused me of being driven by hatred of Republicans, and said she didn’t want to argue the matter any more.

The great question remains unanswered.

* * * * * * * *

UPDATE: The lady wrote me back to say she’s involved in a city council race, and has learned “the hard way” how Democrats campaign: when they run out of facts and ideas, they use lies, innuendos, and personal attacks. Really? The Democrats do that? And the Republicans? Ohhhhh, never, never, never.

Could we maybe find out who some of those feisty Democrats are? We could sure use them on the national ticket.

What’s going on here

So classical music is dead, they say. Well, well. This blog will set out to consider that dubious factoid with equanimity, if not downright enthusiasm [More]

Kyle Gann's Home Page More than you ever wanted to know about me at www.kylegann.com

PostClassic Radio The radio station that goes with the blog, all postclassical music, all the time; see the playlist at kylegann.com.

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Sites to See

American Mavericks - the Minnesota Public radio program about American music (scripted by Kyle Gann with Tom Voegeli)

Kalvos & Damian's New Music Bazaar - a cornucopia of music, interviews, information by, with, and on hundreds of intriguing composers who are not the Usual Suspects

Iridian Radio - an intelligently mellow new-music station

New Music Box - the premiere site for keeping up with what American composers are doing and thinking

The Rest Is Noise - The fine blog of critic Alex Ross

William Duckworth's Cathedral - the first interactive web composition and home page of a great postminimalist composer

Mikel Rouse's Home Page - the greatest opera composer of my generation

Eve Beglarian's Home Page- great Downtown composer

David Doty's Just Intonation site

Erling Wold's Web Site - a fine San Francisco composer of deceptively simple-seeming music, and a model web site

The Dane Rudhyar Archive - the complete site for the music, poetry, painting, and ideas of a greatly underrated composer who became America's greatest astrologer

Utopian Turtletop, John Shaw's thoughtful blog about new music and other issues

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