A Disposable Society: America

       American community organizer and writer Saul Alinsky had his own bucket list for the creation of a social state.  While I disagree with the fundamental negative connotation of "social state," what he surmised is interesting.  Here are the eight levels:

1.  Control healthcare and you control the people.
2.  Increase the poverty level as high as possible, because the poor are more easily controlled. 
3.  Increase debt to an unsustainable level.  This way you can 
raise taxes and thus produce more poverty.
4.  Remove the ability to defend one's self.  (The right to bear arms) That way a police state can be created.  
5.  Relying upon welfare, take control of each and every aspect
of people's lives.  (food, housing, and income)  
6.  Take control of what children learn in school.
7.  Remove the belief in God from the government and schools.
8.  Create class warfare between the rich and poor.  

      While this list is not quite as accurate as Mr. Alinky's original, it creates a certain amount of doubt in the American mind.  At least it should.  Instinctively I have observed these things happening in the United States.  While at times I have lamented about being born into the wrong generation, now it seems as if my generation is the only one capable of seeing such changes take place.  The Baby Boomers lived in their own bubble.  That almost is extinct.  They got theirs for them.  Gen. X was not left with much except baggy blue jeans and flannel shirts.  They did create a viable form of commercial music that today vehemently is ignored.  Who wants to hear about the angst of their youth?  Certainly no one that is interested in their well being.  We have proven that.  On the second try with less resistance from Grunge music, which had a substantial financial message, America was able to allocate the true functionality of her youth.  "We exploit them."  When the fight of Gen. X waned, it was easier to convince each child in America that they needed a "portable communication device."  When I was a kid we had Walkie Talkies.  They were available at the local Sears and Robuck store.  While they had telescoping antennas they did function worth a damn.  Two cans and a piece of string did better.  (I wish the television commercial that is using this set up as a prop, would reinforce that the string has to be pulled taught for it to vibrate properly and carry sound in the can amplifiers.)  Cell phones in their short history have gone through very discreet phases of development.  I never could hear on one, so without the aid of an earpiece I chose not to use it.  I still don't.  My income can't substantiate a wireless communication device with a base price tag of $600.00 and a rental fee of $50.00 a month.  That is a lot of clams.  I can think of better things to do to occupy my time, such as compose music.  The cell phone can wait.  The bottom line is the cell phone is an entertainment device.  There is novelty in its use.  Given the quality of an AT&T ground line and its modest price, I saw no reason to change for the sake of popularity.  The campaign was effective, and the virus spread.  Cellular phones could be the only truly mainstream item in existence in America.  Music is not uniting anyone, nor are mass shootings.  What I am wondering is when and why America became a "do or die" situation.  When did we become disposable?  When did we become so "attention deficit" that we can't remember what came before today?  I believe this rule should be added to Mr. Alinksy's bucket list.  

9.  Take away the human being's mind's ability to concentrate and   
      thus think.  (Create Attention Deficit Disorder)  

At the same time we could throw in a few other maladies that would alter the effectiveness of a properly functioning mind.
  
What I truly am questioning is how we became an "intangible" nation.  What I truly am questioning is how we became a "disposable" nation.   My only answer can be that this ideal has come from television broadcasting.  Television in America drastically has changed.  Why does it concern me?  It concerns me because I always have enjoyed watching late night television, that is as an adult.  When I was a child I enjoyed watching at the normal times, cartoons on Saturday morning, and prime time in the evenings.  These days I only can stomach late night television and that too has taken a dive.  Without criticizing bad writing, I want to focus on the approach of today's TV.  First and foremost the amount of time allotted to commercials it seems as just the same as programming material.  When I channel surf in the wee hours of the night and find a good movie, I have to sit through five minutes of commercials each five minutes before being able to see the end of the movie.  It is nerve wracking.  Usually I give up.  I do this at other times as well.  It seems to me that if you dissuade your viewer from staying on the same network, you are missing the boat.  Isn't the goal to keep viewers?  This could of course could work toward the advantage of other networks, since you will flip through them.  Unfortunately it is likely that at any given time, if your surf through say seventy one basic cable channels there only will be commercials showing.  This happens to me often.  I find at a given moment no programming at all, only a barrage of unrelated, unartistic, pop-oriented advertisements that annoy me.  There has been but one exception, the commercial for J.G. Wentworth that uses real opera singers in a bus actually singing the ad's message.  Because it is so rare I get choked up watching it.  It harkens back to the time in my life when I was pursuing music full time.  I was working on the D.M.A. in Composition.  Then and only then was immersing one's self in the artistry of Western music copacetic.  Here in America what's the point?  We don't understand the music anyway.  The Baby Boomers and their sensibilities are almost extinct.  What is left?  It is a scary thought.  Dare I say Miley Cyrus?  Justin Bieber?  Is this what the youth of America understand today as music?   What I long for in my life is a sense of line.  A sense of line recognizes recent history, relies upon education, and maintains a sense of leverage in life.  It is not disposable.  Why should it be?  When did the state of the human being become tossing them away like dirty paper cups?  Television invented this concept.  Possibly in competition with the internet's interactive nature, television needed a new direction.  Why not use "Newspeak?"  George Orwell all ready invented it in "1984."  Why not say, "To hell with the truth.  Let's just lob out random lies and cover the reactions of the American public."  To an extent we still are in this modus operandi.  What I long for is a sense of line in life.  I long for a time when life is not sensational.  It is average and ordinary.  I long for a time when through the philosophy of Zen, we are able to quiet ourselves and our minds from the superfluous overstimulation of modern society allowing our own ideals to come to fruition.  This is what I attempt each and every day, and I fail.  The phrenetic pace of television is not helpful, nor is its scare tactics.  While fully I believe the grass roots survival programming is relevant, trying to scare the viewing populace with grotesque imagery is childish.  We have the cellular phone to blame for this.  Without it many of the disturbing photos and videos would not be in circulation.  It is in extremely bad taste that television media is broadcasting some of this programming.  Tangibility.  Tangibility to me is knowing and understanding what is around you each and every day.  I feel I may be the exception to the rule, because having returned to my "home" town after years working in the cruise industry, I have no security.  Things have been cemented into place for decades, and they are not changing.  I am operating on the fringes, and in no way do I have any desire to penetrate the perimeter.  It is oppressive.  It is staid.  It is boring.  It is uncreative.  I should say, "It is conservative."  It seems like we are operating on a virginal landscape.  Is it not well-known that most things all ready have been accomplished in our world.  I know this because I can remember.  I can remember the hundreds of television shows made and broadcast in the 70's and 80's that are better than what we see today.  It is because they contained social commentary about the Conditions of America.  They were reinforced each week over years.  Nothing was going to change tomorrow.  There were no terrorists.  There was a Cold War, a war that was fought intellectually.  Today we have been dragged back into the trenches fighting day to day for our sole survival, and it is tiring.  It is a ploy.  It is a plan.  It is an approach being implemented to weaken America, and we are complying.  In my view television is responsible for the largest part of this campaign, and Rupert Murdoch certainly has something to do with it.  Back in the day you could look forward to watching "Fat Albert" toe the line of modern racism with a soundtrack by Quincy Jones.  Today we watch crime scenes.  I don't much like it.  

We No Longer are Free

Freedom in America has gone out with the tide.  In its wake are 70,000 dead fish on the banks of the Ohio River.  Of course the drinking water drawn from this source is safe to drink for humans.  How could fish and humans be the same?  There is coal ash still in the Dan River in North Carolina.  Of course the drinking water drawn from this source is safe to drink for humans.  "Silkwood" ring a bell?  Freedom in America has gone out with the tide.  What does that really mean?  What that really means is no one gives a rat's ass about the common man in America.  Freedom has gone out with the tide.  Do you really believe anyone has got your back?  Let's get rid of drinkable tap water and sell Americans bottled water instead.  Let's take every conceivable earned American freedom, abolish it, and sell it back to the American people for a profit.  Capitalism.  Gotta love it.  Where has this breakdown occurred?  Who is it that is supposed to look out for this common man?  That pattern has ebbed and flowed in American history.  Most quintessentially Franklin Delano Roosevelt possibly best represents this entity.  Is that the sole responsibility of America's president?  It seems this leader bears a variety of responsibilities.  He is the Commander and Chief.  Being the highest ranking officer of America's military doesn't necessarily mean they have the best interest of the common man in mind.  We would hope so.  In the definition of Capitalism is there anywhere that states we as citizens and patriots are required to give a rat's ass about our neighbors?  I think not.  That language is reserved for religious dogma.  "Love thy neighbor as thyself."  It seems to me Socialism [sic] encompasses such an ideal.  "Socialist!"  Rednecked Republican Americans wield this term vivaciously against current President Obama.  In reality this contingency is redefining the American populace, or perhaps just clarifying that the populace doesn't care about their fellow man.  What would be the benefit of that?  Oh, is it perhaps that Capitalism doesn't work unless citizens spend money?  (Like now.)  Since the "Financial Crisis" (or rather the fleecing of the American people by Wall Street) Americans have not had enough excess cash really to spend.  Why is this?  It is because all of that money swiped with hedge funds is sitting idle in banks.  The unreliable media is reporting that the super wealthy are too tired to spend the money.  Thus it sits idle in banks both domestic and afar.  Capitalism only works if money flows through the system.  Workers must earn, and then they must spend.  The "capital" freely flows between parties.  Hoarding money like junk is a perilous plight.  It sits stagnant like a pile of garbage.  Mold and algae will grow on it until it deteriorates into nothingness.  Enter "Economic Crisis of No Previous Proportions" in American history.  
Is it possible we could experience a second "Great Depression" in America?  Of course.  Of course that water is safe to drink.  If the economy (i.e. commercial banking) collapses, what will happen to all of that hedge fund money?  If it is not worth anything, could it still maintain its value?  Is it better to vent it now when money is needed rather than let it deteriorate in stuffy vaults?  There is a half life to each and every element.  Money could be considered an element in terms of Capitalism, since it is the most necessary ingredient.  What if it had a half life like an element?  What if it over time and devolution said money became unimportant?  After all it is not doing anything worthy.  It is sitting in a dusty vault unused.  If anarchy erupts in America and the markets collapse, than this money will be rendered worthless.  It has happened before.  Then what will become valuable?  Goods?  Services?  Food?  Energy?  Skills?  Possibly the things that were deemed valuable when building a nation would become valuable.  America.  If all of that Wall Street-controlled money is not allocated to re-build America in the wake of her rape, what will happen?  The rapist will go to jail for eternity and never be allowed to provide restitution.   They will burn in hell fire forever.  Wouldn't it be better to restore the American system of Capitalism by re-inventing it?  I believe so.    

Living the American Musical Dream in Academia

I was lucky enough in my life to have experienced college teaching at two universities.  Three of those years were as a Graduate Teaching Assistant, and one year was as an adjunct jazz faculty member at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.  I will admit it was the holy grail of music jobs.  You commanded respect. You got to play music. You enjoyed a small amount of celebrity, or at least I did.  It is difficult to remember, because I never wanted to be a music star.  I was a college teacher.  When I began to write my own fusion jazz music and employed Chris Potter as our saxophonist, the group Quintessence began to enjoy a certain amount of notoriety.  Mainly it was because we won the semi-finals of the Hennesy Cognac Jazz Search.  I rented a cargo van and we trucked down to New Orleans with a trailer in tow to perform at the Storyville nightclub.  Doc Severinsen was one of the judges.  Largely responsible for our win were two female fans who happened to be girlfriends of members of the band.  They came with us on the trip.  I remember it was a trying time, and the logistics of moving our gear to the French Quarter was somewhat of a hassle.  I didn't enjoy any of it.  Evidently everyone else did, and surprisingly to me when we performed these two women went nuts for our show.  It was infectious, and Doc was smitten with the energy of the two attractive blondes.  I was grateful for the experience, but I did not know that success would change my life in the near future.  I was not teaching at USC at that time, but I was making a living playing music in Columbia.  I used this time wisely after I was passed over for the full-time position of jazz faculty member.  I spent two complete years studying the recorded history of jazz music with the help of local record store "Papa Jazz."  I had a friend who had completed the same degree as me, and he knew everything.  We became friends, and together we listened to most of the great "sides."  My jazz piano playing developed as it should have, and I produced my first recording called "Crystal Raindrops."  It was copyrighted in l991, and other than a treasure trove of underground internet videos  that have surfaced of Mr. Potter playing in "Pugs" at Five Points, I believe this could be considered to be his first professional studio recording.  Some day I will release it along with twelve CD's I have produced, much of my own original music.  As I mentioned earlier, I had no desire to be a jazz star.  I was a college teacher, or at least I was at one point.  Possibly out of necessity I found myself trying to be something I wasn't.  Shortly after I was passed over for the full time professorship, Lee and I broke up.  It was a nasty affair that ended badly.  Never did I get closure on the break up until decades later when I decided it was time to heal the wound.  The problem became suddenly I found it necessary to try to be something I wasn't, because the clout from my teaching position was gone.  Suddenly the support I had had from students and friends disappeared.  It was like I was dropped off of a cliff, and to boot I had been branded the bad guy from my ex spouse.  Desperately and without dignity I groveled in front of her and with my musical career.  Needless to say it was over on both fronts.  I continued to play music for a short time, but after realizing the height of my musical career had become being in a wedding band, I decided to move back home.  The year that came next was the worst of my life.  After this year of continuing to play my original fusion jazz music in North Carolina, I applied to the doctoral program at Ohio State University.  After being accepted I hauled myself and my belongings five hundred miles to Cowtown where I set out on a new and different musical journey.  Still being a music star was not in my consciousness.  I knew that being a jazz pianist was no vehicle to such a thing.  Instead I focused on developing as a musician.  I wrote jazz-oriented music for several years also while developing a classical style.  When the threat of the General Exams got closer, I had to shelve my jazz inclinations and focus on contemporary classical music.  As always I continued to play as a keyboardist both because I enjoyed it and because I could make money.  Never did I aspire to be a "music star."  What I did aspire to was what I feel most composers do.  I aspired to have my music available to the public.  Because much of the music industry is convoluted and is connected to large sums of money, it seems to me now that not many venues exist for marketing music at a grass roots level.  Why must it be that the music business is a "Do or die" scenario?  To this day it is perplexing to me.  Like any other profession musical skill is compounded over time.  With study, practise, and knowledge comes a better degree of musicianship.  For me it is like water.  I have played music my entire life.  It was in the genes.  The idea of having to pimp myself or my wares to a rabid public is repugnant.  There is no way I in any way ever will allow the integrity of my music to be judged on a panel of a American reality television show.  I have come to realize the public no longer is the proper litmus test for quality music.  For the most part they are musically illiterate.  That creates a great deal of tension in my life, because with a catalog of music rather vast where am I to use it?  This brings up an issue that has become disturbing to me.  As I reflect now I remember that I had an opinion about it before now.  I had to abandon this sentiment, because it had caused me great pain in my life.  My dedication to the field of music teaching was shattered when the job for which I seemingly was preened was given to a musical celebrity.  I experienced first hand the disappointment and reality of politics.  It was a difficult axe to bear in my heart.  I learned how the political game worked.  Academia in particular was a ruthless shark.  They take for themselves what they want, and cast the rest aside.  I saw how connections, friends, and networks decided who got the job, not who was most qualified.  It is the responsibility of the university to recruit students into their programs with flashy resumes, impressive biographies, and politics.  It didn't really seem to matter if the job really was going to be done.  It didn't, and to this day it seems to not to matter if students are being taught well in college.  It was a common anecdote that, "If you can't teach, teach teachers."  After being out of academic for for than twenty years, that brutal reality has beset itself upon me again.  It is as difficult a pill to swallow now as it was two decades ago.  The jobs in academia often are a popularity context.  Especially the music-oriented professorships, because they entail performance, are steeped in pretense and ego.  Please understand my sentiment about his is not sour grapes.  I have no desire whatsoever to exist in this vacuum.  In fact I have no desire to pursue music at all, because America as a country is not capable of understanding or feeling it.  I fight with this notion each and every day.  The things that always have motivated me to write and perform music are absent.  Instead I am back in the same black hole I escaped years ago by traveling to Columbus.  What exactly am I talking about?  I am talking about a contingency of musicians who seem not to know the roots of their music.  They are living in the same bubble of musical idolatry I did in the late l980's.  I have learned my lesson.  If the aesthetic of music is powerful enough to kill you, then I am not doing it.  Since I have left Columbus many many musicians I have known and worked with are dead.  It has been an enigma to me.  What possibly could be going on with musicians in Cowtown?  The reality is possibly once there was a nurturing, caring, loving environment which appreciated music.  I played in it for many years.  Then I realized this reality only was a bubble.  If you laid your musical heart out on the line, as America has devolved you could be slain.  Several musician colleagues  have committed suicide.  Others have died inexplicably.  In most of the instances their deaths are cloaked in secrecy.  What I want to suggest is that life in America should not be a matter of life and death.  While certainly it has been at certain points in history, we evolved as a country to provide a certain amount security and comfort to our citizens.  The War on Terror and the blatant Campaign of Fear and Intimidation by television as a whole is seeking to uproot this national security.  Many prolific jazz musicians were poor.  Because they were poor did not mean that they had to behave in a desperate way.  With education, knowledge, and thus wisdom men and women can learn to live in respect and harmony with the Creator no matter how poor.  As with music I never will ever put human existence up against a love and desire for musical fulfillment.  Music can satisfy deep human emotional needs, but the reliance upon these needs being met also can kill you.  It is better to take a step back and regain one's perspective when music is your only goal.  

A War Within My House

A virtual war seems to be raging in my house.  I am doing my best not to be engaged in it.  I have hidden my artillery.  I have adopted a philosophy of solidarity, although part of me is incensed by the phrase, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse."  Years ago an overzealous police officer nicknamed "Pineapple" gave me a traffic ticket for motoring my Trail 70 across the Vanstory Hills Elementary School playground.  I stepped into John McCollum's snare.  It was said he had been breaking into the school, and on that particular day both the principal and an investigating Fayetteville city policer officer were standing in the playground.  Ridiculously I made a beeline right toward them without a thought.  Of course he had to ticket me.  I was their obvious sacrificial lamb.  It had to be me that was breaking into the school.  After all I was riding a motorcycle.  John rode one too, and so did Bo Bo (David) Cane who lived on the corner.  I never gave much thought to the break in's until our white Chevy Malibu Classic station wagon's rear window was penetrated by a large yellow brick.  Gone was my gig rig, my professional keyboard system upon which I performed in jazz-oriented bands.  It was a harsh reality.  Thefts of these kinds have great and grave consequences, because it is with these instruments musicians may earn their livelihood.  We used to when live music still was a viable commodity.  It is not anymore.  I have learned from the years of experience.  While I still ride my motorcycle on the playground, I am more careful with my musical instruments.  They really cannot be replaced.  Instruments can fall into the category of "vintage," because there was a time in history their manufacturing was more skillful and their components were of a higher quality.  This would be the difference between a Bach Stradivarius trumpet made in Mt. Vernon, New York and a Bundy.  I have neither, but I understand the concept.  Things of value need to be preserved and maintained.  While you may not be earning money with them currently, they are worthy of investment.  The war that is raging in my house is daunting.  I hear the antagonizing buzz of a surveillance aircraft that never seems to stop.  This began as two Beechcraft King Air 350's flying in two parallel circles above the Vanstory school.  They would fly for hours at a time both during the week and on the weekend.  I have written about them before.  Lately in addition to the low-flying circling surveillance plane that makes its rounds over Fayetteville's downtown area, there has been a new presence.  I think in all likelihood it is Cessna Kodiak belonging to the Dayton, Ohio-based company Persistent Surveillance Systems.  It's president Ross McNutt invented a complex digital camera array that attaches to this hearty aircraft.  They fly for eight hours at a time at eight to ten thousand feet taking photographs of the ground below every second.  This digital data then is relayed for analysis to a land-based command center often working with local police.  It sounds like a viable business, but if this is what I am hearing continuously daily, I would like for it to stop.  I am not at war.  I am not in law enforcement.  Murders in Fayetteville do occur each day like a real war.  Usually they are drug related.  The sound of aircraft only is the start of the war.  What has been raging incessantly non stop for weeks are trains.  I have complained about these trains often.  Then I stopped, but their recent proliferation is perplexing.  Luckily with the help of Google Satellite, I was able to reacquaint myself with the seemingly humble state of North Carolina.  Believe me, this state is not humble.  While we put on airs of down-home hospitality, North Carolina is anything but grassroots.  It used to be until local industry decided to chase the dollar in China and India.  What we have now is the largest military presence in the country.  Not only has Base Realignment and Closure chosen Fort Bragg as the new headquarters for the army's Ground Forces Command, all ready the fort houses Special Operations responsible for training other countries' forces.  While these changes and the construction of a new outer loop, activity at the base has increased.  It is home for 50,000 American troops.  Many are deployed.  More importantly this seemingly rural wet scrub land hosts STRACNET, America's Strategic Rail Corridor Network.  In short Cape Fear Railways at Fort Bragg supplies much of our military might overseas.  They load two mile long military trains at their Honeycutt Marshalling Yard, and with the help of CSX-T shuttle them to MOTSU for loading onto waiting cargo ships.  Sunny Point is the largest military terminal in the world.  It seems if America is at war, or at least bombing ISIL, my house hosts a war of its own.  I would think that the beginning of yet a new bombing campaign in the Middle East would require munitions.  Fort Bragg is hard at work keeping up the supply.  While the Cape Fear Railways website says they only are operating during normal business hours, I know better.  I know how the railroads operate in America.  How have I come to acquire this special knowledge?  During my tenure in Columbus, Ohio working on my Doctorate of Musical Arts at The Ohio State University, I was not so fortunate enough to live a mere two blocks from both CSX-T's and Norfolk Southern's mainlines.  For a while I was musically productive at this location in my home studio.  Over time the "weirdness" became difficult to ignore.  My Prophet 600 synthesizer would dead short.  There would be so much electro-magnetism in the air the poles of the audio signal would arc bypassing the volume pot.  I began to get disc errors on my computer from the nearby rumbling of diesel locomotive consists.  I became engaged in a new hobby.  I stalked these trains for months accruing a large box of artistically shot 35mm photographs.  I found the NS terminal.  I found the CSX-T terminal.  Each were south of Columbus' outer belt.  The two lines utilized a high speed interchange allowing their mainlines to cross. I learned a lot observing these trains.  It was at that time I solved the "Taos Hum" along with inventing the internet.  In all candor I did discover the source of this then widely publicized annoyance.  Many people were complaining of a sound that was occupying their homes, cars, and businesses.  It was continuous, aggravating, and unavoidable.  I had been hearing the same sound from my townhouse in Upper Arlington.  After quite a few months of research via the world wide web, I put it together.  General Electric had come in and built an underground conveyor belt to carry mined molybdenum to its refinery miles away.  This conveyor belt out of necessity moved at slow speed and utilized newly developed AC synchronous motors.  They could rotate exactly at the supply frequency or a sub-multiple.  It was the "inverters" that were necessary for supplying this AC current that were the culprits.  It seems AC Traction relies upon these same devices for their alternating current traction motors.  Imagine a portable version of the Taos Hum freely traversing America's backyard completely unscrutinized and un-policed by any regulating agency.  This sound was what I was hearing. With the necessary curse of being a musician sensitive to sound, also I was feeling it.  What does any of this have to do with war, the War in Viet Nam, or the war raging in my house.  It is simple.  Anyone would understand it if they listened to my recording of a CSX-T locomotive equipped with AC traction.  As it pulls out of its temporary berth toting over one hundred fully loaded hopper cars of coal, the effort is sizable.  The tractive effort is sizable.  While the product of this AC powered traction is awesome in terms of efficiency and control, there is a down side.  Processing that much electricity is going to produce side effects.  Not only are there the traditional requirements of producing filtered and stable electric current traditionally DC, there is a new challenge.  It has yet to be solved, because it is invisible.  Evidently General Electric and General Motors choose to ignore the side effects produced by AC Traction, because no one is requiring they be substantiated.  What would this take?  It would take a small government sponsored survey to asses the possible damages from the transmission of both low frequency electro magnetic waves and infrasound.  A similar study all ready has taken place.  The Ground Wave Emergency Network was rejected for similar dangers.  The trouble is now the source of these disturbances are mobile.  They travel four hundred and fifty miles  on one gallon of fuel.  [sic]  The war that rages in my house includes both of these phenomena.  I know there is rogue electricity in the air from a simple alert.  My Macbook Pro's white indicator light becomes possessed and suddenly undulates with a brightness of the Star of Bethlehem.  The other alerts I observe with my ears.  Throughout the day and night I hear the wood structures in our house unhappily contract and expand at the ridiculous amount of barometric pressure created from the infrasonic pollution created by diesel "prime movers."  While it has been proven EMF's cause cancer by their vibration causing cells to mutate, (read the GWEN study, I have it) intense barometric pressure or pressure from low frequency sound waves has a more aberrational effect on the human body cavity.  Not only does it cause the eyeballs to oscillate sympathetically, it impedes circulation, triggers the body's heat sensors, and overwhelms the inner ear's ability to navigate gravity.  In essence it robs the human being of the skins traditional tactile sensory perceptions.  We are battling tsunami-sized sound waves modulating one another and dumping their trash on our bodies.  It is such an epic human invasion yet to this day their effects have not been properly studied and documented.  Fully I understand the need to equip the American military used to scavenge oil (I mean fight ISIL) abroad.  Fully I understand and appreciate the tremendous awe and might of one of GE's AC6000's.  There never has been a more powerful freight locomotive.  In fact in compliance with new United States emission standards GE is tooling down this locomotive's prime mover with a more environmentally friendly GEVO engine.  That is dropping the horsepower down to around 4400.  Still if a closer look was taken at why American youths are shooting up schools, extreme Muslims are favoring decapitation, and retired G.I.'s are committing suicide, surely living in America "Ain't What It Used To Be."  Things ain't what they used to be.  

The Stubborn Traditions of the American South

I was not interested in attending the "concert."   I was told it was going to be the Fayetteville Symphony.  The catering company did not show up.  We watched four Caucasian men play jazz in the dark outside.  I guess no longer I am a viable patron of the arts.  Was I at one time?  I used to relish hearing live music in Columbus, Ohio.  In high school I used to relish hearing Clarence Palmer play the Hammond B-3 organ at the Fayetteville Jazz Plaza.  I used to enjoy hearing and playing jazz music when it was real.  This particular outdoor concert at the Fayetteville Botanical Garden to me represented everything about the music industry I despise.  This opinion is not intended to say that the music lacked integrity or its patrons were disappointed.  Conversely the people in attendance enjoyed the music immensely.  I did not.  Partly I believe it was because I was not in the mood for cocktail jazz.  That entity, the happy-go-lucky music for wealthy patrons, this particular evening was not in my repertoire.  I tried to enjoy the music, and perhaps I did.  What I did not enjoy was the pretense.  Because I myself am a doctoral level composer and an accomplished jazz pianist, perhaps being a patron this particular evening was not in my cards.  My mother suggested that it was "sour grapes," because I was not performing.  That was not true, because the pretentious offering of the concert turned my stomach.  The music was fine.  What was amiss starkly represents  the short comings of southern American musical culture.  It always has been this way, and now I remember.  I remember having attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, that while jazz music was appreciated as cocktail music for society, we had to play "shag" music as well.  The combination was effective.  Extremely it was effective for a four hour dinner dance at a country club.  We played quiet jazz for two sets while the patrons had cocktails and dinner.  Then we switched gears and played two sets of higher energy dance music for their enjoyment.  Inherently I did not like the "Beach Music," but I learned and accepted it.  Many years later I came to appreciate this music more because I was the correct age.  Unless you grew up in a southern household that champions its own society and their cultural traditions, you may have missed the "shag" bus.  I did.  I grew up with jazz and classical music.  Until you reach the appropriate age the cultural tradition may not make sense.  In college I had no interest in drinking beer on Ocean Drive and dancing with my wife.  I can appreciate it now, but still the "shag" in my opinion is only one of many more viable forms of dance.  Having studied the history of music at three different universities in three different states, I left the shag behind thirty years ago.  It seems inadvertently I once again am faced with it.  I am not being forced to play shag music for money, but I am being confronted again with the population that champions it.  They were represented perfectly at this jazz concert last night.  There were several things I would have done differently if giving a  "concert" of the music of Dave Brubeck.  The most blaring idiosyncrasy was understanding the difference between a cocktail party and a jazz concert.  Evidently this event was both.  While the majority of the patrons were quiet during the performance, easily they could have continued talking and enjoying themselves while the band played.  That is because there is a strong precedent for this societal concept. Jazz music in the Carolina's is cocktail music.  You can find it most notably in the bars and restaurants of Charleston, South Carolina.  Certainly in these venues patrons are not required "not to talk" while the music is being played.  To me it was somewhat confusing.  It felt awkward to me to be expected to sit and listen to a kind of music that more often is in the background.  If the event really was intended to be a concert, then the protocol should have been a little different.  The most obvious pretense about this presentation was it was advertised as a Fayetteville Symphony concert.  I thought the orchestra would be there.  It is common jazz knowledge that Dave Brubeck was a classically trained composer.  They were not.  Also contrarily to what was announced only two members of the group actually were members of the Fayetteville Symphony.  (I am guessing about one.) As a jazz musician myself fully I understand the need for the proper instrumentation.  Without acoustic jazz bass and most often saxophone it would be difficult to realize jazz music.  There was a need for these two things, but officially it should have been called "Friends of the Fayetteville Symphony."  Overall this experience was reminiscent of my early years of jazz study.  In retrospect I have changed my opinion about their success.  Without getting into an academic argument about the validity of a jazz education program at a traditional Liberal Arts university, I will say that my years of experience in both Columbia, South Carolina and Columbus, Ohio greatly expanded my knowledge and understanding of jazz music.  When I was at UNC in the mid l980's, there was a viable jazz scene there.  There were a handful of unique and authentic jazz musicians to which I owe a debt of appreciation.  Brother Yusef, Saleem Malik, Elmer Gibson, Robbie Link, and Ted Howe among others were a great creative inspiration for me during that time.  I was lucky both to be able to hear and play with many of them.  Having traveled back to the Tarheel state after many years abroad, it is disappointing.  The contingency of jazz players in Columbia has waned.  Terry Rosen, Ted Linder, Chris Potter, and Johnny Helms all have moved on in one way or another.  It seems these driving forces in both areas have evaporated.  While I do know that academia champions jazz education, I am reluctant to comment on its effectiveness.  Being once again in an environment where I did not know jazz history or the real roots of the music, it feels awkward as did this concert.  I feel like I have traveled back in time to an era where real jazz music is not understood.  Upon closer scrutiny I have not actually traveled back in time, I have traveled back to a place that probably never has understood the true nature and history of the music.  Having learned these things in other places is only suggests to me how unwilling or incapable the population of this area are.  They are sheltered.  They never have been forced to see, hear, or feel anything other than their own comfortable existences.  It is excruciatingly oppressive.  I had to listen to music I know extremely well in the context of a societal social outing.  I had to button my lip.  What could have made the concert more effective?  The answer is one thing by which I am troubled.  As I attend Fayetteville Symphony concerts, I am both amazed at the level of performance and the level to which they will stoop to sell their tickets.  I am beginning to understand this now.  With the North Carolina Symphony also concertizing, it is a competitive arena.  Even with the amount of endowed chairs in both organizations, keeping an orchestra up and running is an economic challenge.  With that in mind still the blurring of the boundaries of authenticity and taste are troubling to me as a musician.  I attended "Beethoven and Blue Jeans."  I did not like it.  I did not like the ragged appearance of the orchestra, and I did not like the program.  For me the programming of the concert's three works did not make conceptual sense.  I understood the need to program a rock-oriented chamber piece first.  It was visually interesting, but unfortunately musically to my ears had very little to imply any homage to the great British rock band Led Zeppelin.  This particular band has become my favorite for one discernible reason.  Not only do they use the feeling of the blues in their music, drummer John Bonham pioneered the use of polyrhythm in rock-oriented music.  While there were some interesting textural ideas that occurred in the first programmed piece on the concert, it fell short.  I am sure its programming was political.  It was meant to draw in a younger audience.  The second piece, Edouard Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole, really was a violin concerto.  The second half was presented as Beethoven's Symphony No. 5.  It took me several seconds to realize what this was.  It was the "Fifth of Beethoven," or "Beethoven's Fifth," probably the most known of all of his works.  While all three performances were exceptional, the programming did not make sense to me.  My musical aesthetic was not stimulated from the program's emotional expression.  It didn't make sense to me.  As a doctoral level composer and arranger and an accomplished jazz musician, I understand the great need for proper programming.  Programming is crucial to many aesthetics including radio airplay, band sets, and concerts.  If the proper songs, pieces, or works are ordered intelligently, than often they will "play themselves."  What does that mean?  It means the tonal centers, the feels, and the tempos logically work together as a greater whole.  Easily this can be demonstrated by two seminal recordings in commercial music history, the Beatles "Sergeant Pepper's," and the Beach Boys "Pet Sounds."  These iconic LP's were meant to be enjoyed as a total experienced, not necessarily as Top Forty Singles.  Finding this thread often is what creates a type of magic that is possible with music.  The ordering of the music needs to create a mood and then to continue to manipulate it as the concert progresses.  It is not enough to program differing pieces.  Because music is an aesthetic it makes use of human emotion.  To eloquently utilize human emotion in a respectful, tasteful, and beautiful way is a goal of more successful composers.   Empfindsamer Stil, the German sensitive style, seeks to express true and natural human feelings as opposed to premeditated ones.  To successfully program music a full understanding of the composer's intent is necessary as is its surrounding historical context.  This is why jazz connoisseurs often say musicians  adequately cannot play jazz until they know the lyrics of the songs they play.  It also is essential to know and understand the composer of the song.  Last nights "concert" could have been augmented with a small amount of oral biography of the music they played.  All ready I knew it, but I couldn't help be feel the audience would have been gratified.  One particular Cole Porter song jumps to mind, because very few understand it meaning.  The point I am trying to make is that my musical sensibilities are being fractured.  I am witnessing notable musical performances, but they are devoid of their deeper meaning.  There may be hints of hypocrisy here, and certainly American southern politics represent these.  It is comment to lie, mislead, and take advantage of the public.  As a musician I seek only to suggest that southern culture is very colloquial.  With the sheer amount of professional people in its midst, why must music history be neglected?  We are only concerned with our own shallow existences?  It seems this way to me.  It seems to me the local music scene in great contrast to other places basks in the importance of their musical skill.  It is historical.  While I attended UNC-Chapel Hill, there was a very overt "Ivory Tower" ideal at play.  Its professors much like North Carolina politicians make it clear they are smarter than you and consequently more valuable.  They put themselves in an "Ivory Tower."  This is repugnant to me, although I did not understand it at the time.  I didn't feel stupid, I just knew that I didn't like the music that was being taught as representative of the "Classic Period."  Opera.  As I have written earlier in this blog entry, often one has to be the proper age to appreciated a particular thing.  Young Americans may not yet be ready to stomach the ideals of European opera.  Still I cannot understand this sentiment.  While I support the musical arts in and around Fayetteville, North Carolina again and again I am assaulted by ego.  Why would musicians assume they deserve celebrity, because they are involved with classical music?    No one suggests this more than Dr. Michael Martin, the musical director of the Cumberland County Oratorio Singers.  While I do understand that this music is not so common place to everyone and marketing is needed to fill audience seats, I begrudgingly resist having to feed egocentric needs for public approval.  Having been a musician all my life and fully understanding and supporting that music is a God-given human condition meant for the entire human race, it is insulting to me that it in any way will draw boundaries.  That is racist, but then again we are talking about the American South.   

Executive Powers

Upon seeing recent televised footage of President Obama and what I assume was his cabinet sitting around a large table responding to questions about his newly sanctioned bombings in Syria, I only can think that his choice was one of necessity.  It was not necessity in terms of fighting ISIL, it was necessity in terms politics.  Interestingly enough his bombings began during the United Nation's Climate Summit in New York city savvily drawing media coverage toward his own slickly-produced military propaganda.  Military Politics.  I am sure after viewing this footage the President's decision to utilize his executive power to order the bombing of ISIL participants in Syria was in response to influential political vested interests.  According to MSNBC there is a sixty day clock ticking before a mandatory vote must occur by Congress having debated the choice.  In a move almost as clever and covert as North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory's late night passing of the Voter ID bill, obviously the responsible contingency embraced a premeditated time table patiently while waiting for their President's signature.  It was just too good to be true for them.  The United States joining a civil war in Syria out of the blue?  The icing on the cake of this illegal declaration of war without the consent of the American people, Congress, or possibly Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was it occurred just as Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told members of the House they could leave earlier than their planned pre-election recess.  Genius.  With an all ready incompetent Congress, we now can add complacency to the list.  Is it really an intended shirking of their responsibilities?  While under the cover of approval of the President's request for aid to train Syrian rebel forces,  covertly they "left the building" with no apparent intent of debate or approval of a new war in Syria being championed by the President.  I do not believe that for one minute President Obama is doing the talking.  His decision is the inevitable favor of politics the President is being forced to play now.  Congress passed his Affordable Care Act.  Now again they are engaging in the "Economy of War."  It would not surprise me one bit if lurked underneath those  ISIL veils second generation Haliburton, Blackwater, or Syrian army employees.  

The Cultural Evolution of TV

America needs to grow up.  We used to be an adult-based society.  During the golden age of television, ironically TV drama and comedy were a reflection of real life.  Real life?  Real life.  What we have now is Reality TV.  Ho hum.  More idiots doing nothing.  How is it possible that such inane activities could even begin to provoke the interest of a viewer?  The answer is simple.  It is a device.  It is a formula.  It is contrived.  It does not rely upon true talent or skill.  Take a few hum drum schmoes and put them behind the camera doing something seemingly challenging.  Then use the magic of television production to create a show.  Camera angles and movement.  Dramatic music cues.  Graphics.  It is all show and a shallow one at that.  Maybe the heart of the show does exist in reality.    Possibly the turmoil of the participants indeed is real.   Take strife and produce it with technology, and you get what?  You get what America has been using for entertainment for too long.  It has infiltrated other mediums.  It made its way into the cruise industry.  No one gives a shit about hearing and watching talented performers anymore, because it is passive for the viewer.  What we want is, "The envelope please."  Professional Wrestling.  
Professional wrestling.  While also contrived and fake it can be appreciated for its dramatic flair.  Certainly the athletes are engaged and committed at a spiritual level, but this stage, the jazz stage is limited in scope.  It lacks wisdom and thus any kind of useful message.  It is mere diversion.  Television used to be more than mere diversion.  Upon its inception it was such a new and remarkable entity, former players in radio and stage encouraged its eloquent use.  The possibility of "live" performance via the airwaves was unprecedented.  We could take the spontaneity and improvisation of vaudeville and jazz and broadcast it live via television.  Luckily investors in TV took it many steps further allowing broad and vast content encompassing many realms.  Comedy, drama, suspense, and horror all could be found on television at some point.  America has been stuck in a rut.  Not only have be been stuck in the nervous ticks of the steadicam, new television programming is becoming more and more supernatural and cartoonish.  One of Sony's priorities has been purposely to disguise the line of demarkation between fantasy and reality by blending together animation and live footage.  Is this really a good idea, disguising the truth?  I for one want to know when I am watching something real and when I am watching a cartoon.  As an adult I do not fancy cartoons anymore.  Only when they are laced with the malcontent and sarcasm of a rebellious contingency do they seem remotely appealing.  I have become a realist.  In my past I will admit I have indulged in fantasy.  The problem was I didn't know that is what I was doing.  I was sure that the ideals I pursued eventually would become tangible in my life.  Think again.  Again, America is stuck in a rut.  That rut is this particular aesthetic that exploits genuine human reaction and produces it like Broadway.  Screw a story.  Screw a plot.  Screw a message.  It is time for America to once again grow up and find her roots.  To have a message that is something other than sheer survival, we must understand history.  We must understand the travails of our predecessors.  We must understand our current journey.  Only after accomplishing these things will we once again be able to produce great artistic entertainment.  On a rerun of SNL this past Saturday evening, a band performed that represented such an evolution.  It was devoid of the visceral, low brow, expressionist approach.  It was not appealing to your ID.  Instead refreshingly it displaced itself from now.  Instead it commented on what it saw.  It did not appeal to immediate gratification, because it was confident in its own message.  In essence it was teaching something.  What a novel concept.  Music teaching something.  An artist bringing a message to its audience rather than trying to jerk them off.  On top of that, it grooved.  It grooved hard, but it was cool.  It was David Byrne, but in other characters.  Still I believe this artists approach to this day is the most current form of pop music we have.  While Hip Hop attempts to keep itself alive, and by all intents and purposes it can and will, the music of David Byrne is bringing something completely new to the table of pop music.  It is fresh.  It is positive.  it is invigorating.  There should be more of this music.  I would like to see a neoclassic period in American television.  I would like to see some nod of appreciating to the thousands of television shows that forged its medium.  There are far too many that just sit on the shelves wasted.  Have we changed that much as a nation, that we must shelve our cultural history?  It all ready has happened in music, radio, and television.  All of the media that should be available as America's history is sitting dormant in some television studio's vault.  Our very history is suffocating in a dark dusty room.  Why?  That is a formidable competition.  

A New American NeoClassicism

Upon hearing a local Irish duo play this evening, once again I am inspired to discuss an issue that has been on my mind.  Previously I suggested that the reason why America is faltering is because we are engaging in a war on the wrong front.  Listening to this music tonight only I could think the same thing.  The music was emotionally clad.  It could be said its whole intent was to express deep emotion.  Unfortunately I was not in the frame of mind to be able to similarly express this particular kind of sentiment.  My view is that is where America is making her mistake.  We have become so fractured as a nation, we cannot uncover America's true sentiment.  Once America's "mainstream" represented a cohesion of this sentiment.  Often it was aided by a war or a a resultant cultural ideology.  When soldiers are dying overseas this sentiment could become crystalline.  It was easy to figure out how you felt over "baby burners."  Wars it seems were efficient in sparking nationalist sentiment, but should we rely upon them for this?  World War II was sentimentalized but for a necessary result.  We as American citizens were responsible for supporting the troops who were dying for our freedom.  Certainly the wars in Korea and Viet Nam created great music voicing opinions and sentiments about them.  I don't really know what the the Gulf War achieved in this department.  Certainly it created an entire new generation of war torn veterans.  I think America has yet to understand exactly what our role is in any war in the Middle East.  First we heard it was "Weapons of mass destruction."  Still to this day I do not know why we are in Afghanistan, except that were are fighting the Taliban.  It is all sketchy.  Now we are being invited once again to participate in yet another war, but the reasons are not clear.  With this misunderstanding come the confusion of the population.  We really can't have a mainstream until something unites America's sentiments.  Something, something has to glue the fabric of the American people together in some way.  Historically the arts have aided this process.  Artists once studied, understood, and represented metaphorically the difficulties of life.  I have yet to witness anything to this order.  Only once have I heard a kind of music that suggested a presence of the religion of Muslim or simply an Eastern sentiment.  For America to figure out why terrorism is occurring, we first must understand our foes.  Listening to their concerns is a good starting point.  "Get out of our countries."  That is the first one.  While we are being assaulted by psychotic irrational acts of terrorism,  it would be helpful to fight on the alternate platform.  If jazz is war and classical is peace, then we should be fighting on the peaceful platform.  Peace recognizes spirituality as a core component.  That means that to pacify the desires of an insane murderer, we must refuse to lower ourselves to that level.  It is the quintessential war scenario.  The Joint Chiefs of Staff are sitting in a room with the president and vice president.  They are contemplating war.  One response is "Engage."  Fight the fight.  The other is attempting to play our opponent intellectually with the aid of a spiritual confidence.  At the moment the American media, probably because of the upcoming November 4th election, are lobbing grenades in a very low brow-type shouting match.  It is ignorant.  I do not know to whom this faction is trying to appeal.  Most Americans see through this petty bickering.  Because truly we are engaged in a war of spirituality, the actual existence of God, the only way to fight is with spirituality.  These could be represented by the teaching of Jesus Christ.  Simply He said, "Sell all of your belonging and come follow Me."  By disarming at the visceral level and engaging at the spiritual level, America only can be empowered.  We will conserve our physical resources, we will discover and reinforce our beliefs, and we will rise above the enemy.  My suggestion is that metaphorically jazz music is war, and classical music is peace.  We are fighting on the jazz stage.  We are wearing our emotions on our sleeves.  We are baring our souls.  We are engaging in something that should be beneath us.  On the classical stage we can be reflective.  We can fail to be provoked by an school yard taunt.  We can see beyond the limited scope of our adversaries often who are drunk, high, desperate, and ignorant.  We with experience, knowledge, wisdom, and God can refuse to sling mud in a pig pen.  Simply we can say and mean, "We are more evolved than this."  Refusing to be the victim in a bullying is the key.  Brute force is not necessary to teach the bully a lesson.  Wisdom, incentive, and patience are. Eventually they will create serenity, an ability not to live on the jazz stage but continue to engage.  Simply it means every provocation is not life or death.  America's music could as it traditionally has aid in this self analysis.  We need a mainstream musical representation on the classical stage that has considered these ideas.  It cannot exist in an artistic vacuum.  It cannot only imply it's self.  It must examine, understand, and then express new mainstream American sentiments.  Then we would have something to guide Americans thought and feelings to a more cohesive understanding of what and who we are as a country.  This cannot come from the jazz stage, although it is well known and appreciated jazz music has changed America philosophically.  It must come from the spiritual realm of classical.  America must invent and utilize a neo-classical period of evolution.  

A Product of Our Youth

Always it has been a toss up between parents and teachers as to who educates our children.  Teachers in fact attempt to "school" our children  instilling a set of values or rules which hopefully will steer us in the direction of success in our lives.  Schooling attempts to thwart the hard knocks school of "education," the process from learning from one's mistakes.  Schooling is important, and the older I get and less facile my mind becomes I realize this.  If I have a routine upon which to rely to solve a problem, one that I have learned somewhere, my chances of solving that problem are much greater.  Creativity is not involved.  Inquisitiveness is not involved. Haphazardness is not involved.  Simply you implement a process or series of events that intend to solve a problem.  Sometimes the steps are more.  With no process upon which to rely, without a creative and inquisitive mind it could be difficult to succeed.  In school and the field of education in general often it has been heard we are taught certain things to help us solve problem.  We are taught certain processes to help us think.  Usually this is met with disdain and the busy schedule of a teenager justifies they only should be involved with something that provides immediate gratification.  Probably each and every one of us doubted the validity of Algebra, Calculus, or Chemistry.  Would we ever really use these in the future?  Certainly we would use a laptop computer or an iPhone.  So what?  While a laptop computer indeed is an indispensable tool, its processes related to Algebra, Calculus, or Chemistry are cloaked.  Rarely as consumers are we going to be exposed to the intricacy and artistry of their programming language. It is an interesting dichotomy.  A deep and engaging a field of study in anonymity is providing for the consumer a tool they may use on a completely different level.  Imagine Algebra, Calculus, or Chemistry doing that.  I can't.  I can't begin to think of an example.  How could mathematics create a tangible consumer level product?  I'm sure it does in many ways.  I just can't think of them.  It is interesting still that computer programming creates viable consumer level products.  The plethora of "apps" has grown exponentially since the inception of the iPhone.  Incorporating entertainment into computer programs has become common.  Worlds are colliding and new boundaries staked.  It seems Apple one day will control it all maybe with the resentment of Google and their hierarchy.  The point is Algebra, Calculus, and Chemistry relate to the Liberal Arts.  What are these?  Quoting from Wikipedia, "The liberal arts are those subjects or skills that in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free person to know in order to take an active part in civic life, something that included participating in public debate, defending oneself in court, serving on juries, and most importantly military service.  Grammar, rhetoric, and logic were the core liberal arts while arithmetic, geometry, the theory of music, and astronomy also played a (somewhat lesser) part in education.  While utilizing a laptop computer does have its challenges, say understanding file hierarchies, we must agree that its usage does not seem to quality as a Liberal Art.  It is not.  Traditionally schooling had a purpose.  It was meant to prepare us for a much more evolved involvement with a society.  That has changed in America.  Our society and thus education system has devolved.  Somewhere down the line becoming an educated being was discarded.  Instead the impetus for our children simply was to take advantage of them.  It is despicable.  Two glaring examples come to mind.  One is the priests of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.  In depraved acts of blasphemy, these priests physically molested hundreds of naive alter boys in their churches.  Instead of giving them the spiritual guidance they needed, they gave them something else.  Secondly the sound of suction in a young boys anus rings clear.  Jerry Sandusky serially molested boys through his Second Mile non-profit charity for underprivileged and at risk youths.  It seems Mr. Sandusky profited after all.  How can these incidents happen in other than a vacuum?  Surely such high profile people in same way will be discovered during their crimes?  It is a new level of sordidness.  It is rather common knowledge the ancient philosophers of Greece were prone to their liaisons with little boys in the public baths.  Evidently this behavior is a part of human nature if having survived all of these centuries.  It seems like an adult problem.  It seems like a huge failure of responsibility for an adult human being to in any way think they can rape and pillage children.  They should be put to death.  This inclination has proliferated in the last decade with the youth of America carrying this heinous intent on their backs.  I can't imagine what it would be like spending my time trying to figure out if it was okay for Monsignor to stick his penis in my ass.  If this example of organized religion has become the norm for America, truly we have a problem.  Possibly we can sell them violent video games that will teach them how to murder their teachers and friends.  Possibly we can steal their money by instilling an instinct that each and every youth should own a portable electronic communications device.  Possibly we can abandon the responsibilities of their public education instead teaching them the concept of immediate gratification.  The list goes on.  When I look out at the public and see hooligans with their pants hanging around their knees, when I hear ghetto double talk, and when no youth can seem to form a coherent sentence, I think only, "This is what WE gave them."  

The Business of Being at War?

It is difficult to stomach.  Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, like his predecessor Donald Rumsfeld, is suggesting there will be "boots on the ground" AGAIN in Iraq.  Ridiculously close to President Obama's deadline of withdrawing all American ground forces from Afghanistan we are back in it AGAIN?  AGAIN?  It seems someone, some many only are comfortable if America is engaged in a foreign war.  When I reflect upon the recent history of America's armed forces and their duties, I cannot think of a single incident where our troops were engaged on American soil.  It seems at a subconscious level we are an imperialist nation.  It would seem we fancy our well-armed war machine, and play army we have.  What would be the use of training and arming all of those tech savvy soldiers if we don't USE them?  We want to play war.  As the United States federal government once again contemplates war, they should read a candid quote from past president General Dwight D. Eisenhower.  Quote, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense. a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.  This world in arms is not spending money alone.  It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.  This is not a way of life at all in any true sense.  Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron."  Un quote.  It is apparent to me the function of the United States military while not acknowledged publicly, actually is a security force for corporate America.  These corporations have deprived American citizens of a living, a sustenance that offers them a quality of life above poverty and without desperation.  When this quality of life of the working man no longer was of interest to the wealthy, they out-sourced our jobs to fledgling foreign nations who were on the cusp of their own socio-economic actualization.  They were so naive and undeveloped and their cost of impoverished living was so low, they worked for pennies on the American dollar depriving our citizens of opportunities afforded in our constitution.  How can these ideals realize when our populace has been betrayed?  "E tu, Brute." With the gutting of our middle class infrastructure came the restructuring of our military.  It became a security force to protect the foreign interests of American-owned corporations.  These corporations shelter themselves from taxes, they shun the American people, and they use our tax dollars to insure their foreign interest with the United States military industrial complex.  For crying out loud it has to stop!  (subtle laughter from all sitting Republicans)   

A Denoument

If the validity of the jazz process is being misrepresented metaphorically through Jihad, then what will ensure jazz does not become extinct?  A staunch and fervent believe in God must be reestablished before any Romantic tendencies are allowed.  The validity of the jazz process only will feel honest again when man has organized his priorities, and God once again reigns.  Only then by His grace will such individual, personal, and romantic expression be allowed.  Conversely the process of classical music purposely eliminates desperation as a component.  It rises above the smoldering fields of corpses and although vulnerable to death fully understands it will be resurrected.  There is solace in this knowledge.  There is solace that the fight of jazz necessarily does not need to occur now.  It has served it purpose through the years.  It has provided pleasure to those who understand it.  It has been a metaphor for social unrest and change.  It has altered the world.  It is possible that jazz could evolve to such a level or possibly already  has.  Rest assured this is not Smooth Jazz.  As I reflect there are specific works or stylings of jazz that could be considered more representative of the classical idiom   These most pervasively are the collaborations between Miles Davis and Gil Evans.  During their inception they were misunderstood.  They were "cool."  They were detached.  They were sophisticated.  They engaged you but in a different way than traditional visceral jazz.  "The Birth of the Cool," "Porgy and Bess," and "Sketches of Spain" all were a step in the direction of the classical process.  The invention of Third Stream by scholar Gunther Schuller in l957 could and should be a portal to a more socially relevant jazz music of today.  Simply we cannot spin on a hamster wheel forever.  All ready the animal is tiring, and without more nourishment it is possible he will stop running forever.  God?  Help me? 

War and Peace Through Music

Finally I am starting to get it.  We exhausted our supply of hi jinx from our aging Hollywood celebrities.  With no generation left to fill its void, we have resorted to the exploitation and debasing of young pop music stars.  I could never really figure it out.  Justin Bieber is a talented musician.  He plays a variety of musical instruments well and he is an expressive singer.  I'm not so sure about Ms. Cyrus.  It could be she is riding on her daddy's coat tails. The generation of singers who were capable musical performers has disappeared.  Where is Shania Twain?  Where is Christina Aguilera?  Somebody has to write those songs.  I'm not sure why bad behavior and sexuality are required to qualify as entertainment.  It is because the original crew that fulfilled this demand have moved on.  Has number one Paris Hilton disappeared from the public eye or from the lens of the Paparazzi?  Was she deemed no longer interesting?  Was her history of incarcerations enough to curb her energetic outings?  Did she grow up.  Did her family threaten to  eliminate her trust fund?  Why did the ephemeral Mr. Downy disappear?  Where is Mr. Sheen and his entourage of highly paid Hollywood prostitutes?  It seems these high profile celebrities no longer possess the goods for great media gossip.  In their vacuous absence someone must take their places.  How would tabloid  television shows survive?  They have invented the most low brow reality styled shows which thrive on low level humiliation.  Why pay stars top dollar when we can get some poor Joe Schmows to do it for cheap?  Thus were born this horrible contingency of grass roots reality television shows.  We just don't have it anymore.  Glamor died in the 32A cup of a waif model's brassiere.   It has to be because glamor like music only can exist in a sophisticated and wise population.  First we must understand what sophistication and wisdom are.  We must acknowledge that drudging through our daily money-earning routines is not enough to qualify.  We as human beings must understand that we are capable of more advanced concepts.  We successfully can live in grace, serenity, and empathy rather than in fear, intimidation, and war.  There are those who want either.  Like military contractors there are those who desire war.  Their livelihood is derived from brutal murder in the name of national security.  Are there those who want the former, a state of peace and security? I would like to suggest a metaphorical paradigm.  Early in my career I studied and performed jazz music.  Later in my career I studied and composed classical music.  It could be considered jazz music is war, and classical music is peace.  Jazz music is visceral, active, and directly related to the social condition of the human being.  It is integral to our history.  When one engages in jazz they are enveloped in their own personal identity and its expression.  Jazz is a tenant of Romanticism.  Romanticism only is one stylistic period in the evolution of European chamber and orchestral music.  Preceding it were Medieval music, Renaissance music, Baroque music, and Classical music.  (The term classical erroneously has become known to describe all of these style periods.)  In American jazz also there are style periods.  Ragtime, Swing, Bebop, Funky Bop, Modal, and Fusion represent these.  What I am suggesting is, because under the umbrella of each art form, European-based chamber and orchestral music and American jazz there are individual and specific styles, possibly jazz music can represent war and classical music can represent peace.  War is raged in the trenches hashing out the brutalities of combat.  Peace is actualized in both serenity and sanctuary.  The expression in classical music has sustained the test of time, because the feelings it actualizes are sophisticated.  They are not war-like.  Instead they encompass less physical, less visceral, and less contentious expression.  The emotions often are as intense, but they are realized possibly in a more hypothetical manner.  It could be said the expression, although candid and accurate, is not visceral.  In its glory it could be considered patronizing.  This platform is not a personal and extemporaneous vehicle.  That vehicle became jazz music and it contemporaries, rock, punk, soul, and R&B.  Adolph Hitler acutely was aware of the power of jazz, and forbade its performance.  Both classical music and jazz embody far-reaching human philosophies.  Because American jazz has seen a steady decline during the war years of the twenty first century, it is possible America is and should be waiting for a more sophisticated, consoling, and wise art music that attempts to lead a society out of war rather than into it.  To me also it is interesting that the mostly American sport of skateboarding shares  tendencies.  History has proven it has failed to proliferate during war torn years.  It would be difficult to justify such a "fluffy" past time when soldiers are sacrificing their lives for their country.  That irony does not in any way lessen the artistic merit of skating.  While like music different style periods have emerged through the years, skating originated from the sport of surfing.  It is well known that surfers are spiritual beings simply who are attempting to bond with mother nature.  The sea is a metaphor for God, and surfers are trying their best with their skill to both partake and be respectful to God's offerings.  Likewise the presence of God should be discerned in jazz and classical music.  Classical music from its inception has incorporated religious practices.  Jazz has not.  Jazz is about the human condition.  Possibly the reason why jazz currently is not thriving is because a larger issue is at play.  We in America unnecessarily are having to fight to maintain our Judeo-Christian ancestry.   The social condition of man necessarily takes a back seat to the dispute of the existence of the Creator.  We subliminally are engaged in a spiritual war, although jihadis are fighting this war in the wrong theater, on the jazz platform.  We cannot be sure they are aware their intentions are about the human condition, not about God.  Jazz is not working today, because metaphorically it is being misrepresented by acts of psychotic terrorism.  Without spiritual foundation nothing can survive.  

An Active Oligarchy

It is interesting today how varied is truth.  It all depends to whom you are listening.  Often truth is stated as a polar opposite taking for example President Obama's hypothetical approval ratings.  It seems, much like senatorial candidate Thom Tillis, all Republicans can do is cite their own opinion, which is a scathing admonishment of the president.  In the recent televised debate between sitting North Carolina senator Kay Hagen and Tillis, almost every rebuttal to Ms. Hagen was a preplanned attack on the president and thus her candidacy.  Really it was not a debate at all.  With no audience and no panel to ask impromptu questions, how could any potential voter have learned anything about the capabilities of these lawmakers?  Mr. Tillis's responses were so robotic it was difficult to surmise if there was any active thought occurring in his brain.  It was unsettling seeing such juvenile debate.  Hopefully in the two upcoming debates a more telling dialog will emerge.  The Republicans think this juvenile criticism of the president somehow will translate into effective legislation that will solve America's domestic problems?  I for one have stopped listening to the rhetoric on television.  It doesn't concern me because it is irrelevant.  Only a grade schooler responds to playground taunts.  Adults think about what they are doing.  Evidently Congress never has grown up.  Evidently they have been so sheltered from reality in their lives, they never have had to become accountable for the responsibilities of their jobs.  How were they even elected?  How did they dilute term limits?  How have they legislated their own pay raises while the minimum wage has stayed the same?  On a somewhat higher level they intimidate President Obama into a corner.  While the beheading of a captured American journalist videoed and made public via the internet is heinous, such a single event should not "call" on the American president to force his hand.  It did just that.  
I was surprised by President Obama's recent address.  It was the first time he actually appeared to be trapped in a corner.  Was it the Republicans who were demanding his plan?  This incident is indicative of many actions in the War on Terror that are using a base and primal tool.  It consists of using media often slated for social uses as a tool of aggression and propaganda.  It was bold for a English-born soldier of Jihad to challenge the President of the United States.  Surely with the death of Osama Bin Laden such a man is aware that Obama will kill him.  It was unnecessary to ask the president to state publicly his plan of action regarding the challenge.  The tactics of the sitting Republicans are so primitive and juvenile it is difficult to comprehend.  "We must hear you plan now concerning this beheading."  Are we as a nation really vulnerable enough to declare war on other countries simply because a psychotic extremist demands it?  Certainly the waste of a human life is tragic, but there have been many sacrifices of human life in America's history.  Surely one or two are not great enough to demand another ground war in the Middle East just as both the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan should be drawing to an end.  Somehow this tirade seems eerily reminiscent of the beginning of the Iraqi war.  There are contingencies of Americans who profit from war.  That was proven in such a stark way when Vice President Dick Cheney appropriated rebuilding contracts in Iraq to his own company Halliburton.  Fuck me.  Why does it seem that this syndicate, ISIS or ILIL, (I wish we could make up our minds) is being funded by our own?  There are contingencies of Americans who profit from war.  There are world leaders such as Saddam Hussein who knew anarchy was a tool of the totalitarian oligarchy.   it is sickening to see such immature politics play out on national television.  Because both our newspapers and internet news services have become compromised in respect to truth, where are we to turn?  You must stop listening and watching.  President Obama, credited with his intense victory killing Osama Bin Laden, should be respected enough to be allowed to do his job.  Pushing him into a corner and demanding  he recite a plan was lowbrow.  I felt badly for the President.  It was another American low point in politics.  Considering the sordid past of American politics I guess we should feel lucky there has not been a major scandal in recent years.  With the name Monica Lewinsky dominating newspaper headlines for over a year, we should feel lucky.  I do not feel lucky because this recent threat, while not epic in content, is epic in terms of philosophy.  Philosophical things deserve intellect, reflection, and wisdom, not a school yard taunt from a President backed into a corner by the Republican party.  It made my stomach turn.  Near the end of the speech the president relaxed somewhat into his traditional oratorical style.  He became more confident with his own thinking and plan.  It would have been much more effective if the senatorial debate between Kay Hagen and Thom Tillis was as visceral.  A call to arms would be more effective than the continual reiterating of mind-numbing Republican dogma. 

A Drug Addicted Society

Could it be difficult to determine which is the lesser evil, potentially violent drug dealers in our neighborhoods or pharmaceutical monopolies?  Startlingly in the last decade what once was a quaint American tradition has grown into Fortune 500 fiasco.  While once we used to walk or ride our bikes to the local drug store to pick up our pills, now we simply are a minute cog in the machine of mass drug production.  Does it really matter whence our drugs come?  When faced with a three thousand dollar visit to the local emergency room for kidney stones, it in retrospect seems much wiser to buy a fix of some narcotic to ease the pain, sit back, and drink water until the little demon dropped into the bowl.  I experienced both.  The first times I passed kidney stones I was showering after having skateboarded at our local indoor skate plaza.  I had no idea whence the pain came, but it was severe.  We had no choice but to frequent one of the local emergency rooms.  At the time there was a more upscale facility operating, so for the sake of timeliness and pain relief we went there.  It was a ballet.  First I was put on in IV drip.  Morphine was added and did little to ease the pain.  I suggested Dilaudid.  I was given this drug during a cornea transplant at Duke University, and I never will forget its effectiveness.  They gave it to me and finally the pain subsided.  I was instructed to go home and drink water continuously until the stone passed.  In the mean time they of course had to prove the existence of the stone.  With blood in my urine I was slated for a CT scan to see into my innards.  Sure enough there were two.  After understanding the nature of this process and because it had occurred before, I would not feel as content to spend three thousand dollars plus on this treatment.  Instead while working on a ship simply I told them of my previous episodes.  They checked my urine and gave me a shot of Demerol.   Case closed.  I went back to the cabin happy and content and drank water as usual.  The difference between the two treatments was stark.  Fully I understand a doctors need to understand your condition.  Fully also I understand that treating illness has become a staple industry of our country.  I said treating illness, not solving the enigmas of disease.  Treating illness.  Treating illness means we must be sick.  In a depraved view of the medical establishment and its cohort, pharmaceutical companies, it is not far reaching to assume treating illnesses with drugs is a profitable method.  Upon every available corner in America springs up massive drug stores often emulating castles.  They are large affairs, not quaint ones, with a drive through window and aisles and aisles of sundries.  Covertly these monstrosities have overtaken the corners in our towns' intersections  converting what once was a colloquial cultural habit into big business.  Television commercials have appeared advertising their drugs in what could be considered a satirical way.  Are they not even aware that any sane individual never would take any of these advertised drugs for fear of grievous side effects or death?  These commercials are a joke, and I am not sure why they air.  Isn't it a doctor's responsibility along with the pharmacist to understand which drug is appropriate for your treatment?  Why are drug companies evidently suggesting you self medicate?  We should ask our doctors for these drugs?  I am confused.  What I am not confused about is that our medical establishment much like our military is raging out of control.  Pharmaceutical companies along with their cohorts, insurance companies, now control our medical care.  The once intimate relationship we had with our family doctor now has been usurped by a greedy machine that has infiltrated our lives.  Now we are mere minute cogs in this out-of-control monster.  It is no wonder Americans have taken matters into their own hands.  Which is the lesser evil, becoming addicted to prescription narcotics or buying heroin on the street?  Really it all is about feeling good.  If we felt good as human beings, if we were not ill, and if we had some semblance of control over our meager existences then possibly we would not need these drugs.  We don't. Evidently we all are miserable.  Why is this?  In my opinion it is easy to surmise.  Once human beings were sensory beings.  Our existence largely was connected with our human senses.  Sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste were an integral part of our humanity.    These senses while appropriately capable of providing bad experiences also are capable of providing ecstatic experiences.  Ecstasy.  Isn't it ironic the the current connotation of this word would not be a human response it all.  It is a drug.  There was a time that human experiences derived from our senses provided the much needed shielding we need from the brutality of life.  America's first settlers found this out in a hurry.  Life in America could be brutal.  We lost a complete colony.  I am not sure today that Americans are in touch with our history.  It is being disguised.  Once the loving intimacy of a spouse provided this much needed shelter.  It is very well characterized in several pioneer-type films.  Early Americans as they struggled to maintain an existence as they traveled west across the great plains, sought comfort with the sexual intimacy of their spouses.  It was not erotic.  It was not depraved.  It was necessary.  It was given to us by God for exactly this reason.  Those of us that understand this can make full use of it.  Possibly our modern environment does not promote this practice.  Further our modern socioeconomic system does not promote this practice.  Why?  It is because America is capitalist.  We buy and sell as a means of sustenance.  Because we only know how to buy and sell why should we not buy and sell the human condition?  Why should we not sell love and intimacy?  It is disgusting.  I live in a city host to 50,000 soldiers.  Anywhere else in the world prostitution would be thriving in such a situation.  Having traveled to many places on ships, it is ironic to me that prostitution is legal in almost every place I visit.  It is legal, it is clean, and it is respected as a vital product of the human condition. Thus in America where we attempt to sell both love and sex underhandedly, the one entity which is capable of providing at least a temporary antidote for loneliness is absent.  Like many grassroots professions, the powers at be adamantly do not want to place money in the hands of common people.  They want to keep it for themselves.  This contingency somehow decided that money no longer would be in the hands of musicians and their industry.  Similarly they have decided to strangle the life out of humanity by implementing a far right wing philosophy so absurd it defies comprehension.  Is it possible a sect with psychotic dogma has infiltrated America thus infecting American traditions with irrational notions?  In certain ways that is the only way to understand the change that has occurred in America.  My whimsical antidote to Jihad merely has been the suggestion that instead of raping and killing women and then waiting for seventy-two virgins in heaven, why not traverse the same path each and every heterosexual man traverses?  Get in the trenches with a real woman here on earth and make that tackle.  It is a formidable opponent, one of which men must be tiring.  It seems to me that once known about ray of light in the world, the realm of physical intimacy and love, has lost relevance.  It's a shame, because it still is just as potent as ever.  With its revival most probably the need for both illicit and legal drugs would pale.  Wouldn't that be a shame?  Dare I suggest, "Free love?"  Nikola Tesla suggested "Free electricity" and we all know how that went.  America it seems would rather buy and sell the inappropriate products, products that make you fat, products that make you sick, and products eventually that will kill you after you have spent your hard-earned dollar.  Needless to say I always have been a Socialist.  At least I can get laid.