eBay Vintage Skateboard Gouging

For all of those who are seeing fit to list vintage skateboard items on eBay at ludicrious
prices, "But It Now, or Best Offer," please stop.  No collector or skateboard aficionado ever
will purchase your trumped up product.  You only are debasing the real art of skateboard collecting.
There is a small group who are imprudent enough to think that listing vintage skateboard gear
somehow will see fit to ascribe a value to it that simply is insane.  Please stop.  You only are harming
the once fun and diversionary sport of collecting memorabilia that somehow connects you with
a nostalgic and pleasing past.  Not any more.  If I see another board, set of trucks or wheels, or
anything listed at a ridiculous price it just makes me want to find you and.... well you know.  It's the same
with music.  What once was a reputable, artistic, and respected art form now has been debased to
nothing.  Drive integrity into the ground.  Yes, satan all ready is here once again on earth, and we just
are waiting for God to make His second appearance.  Anytime.  I have had my fill of the bullshit.  Once
collecting, assembling, and photographing vintage skateboards was fun.  Now it is a mockery.  Please
you assholes, take your trumped up shit off eBay and take a powder.  We know the value, and it is NOT
what you decide.  Your auctions are a joke, so please stop humiliating yourselves.  I have seen the same set
of non-vintage, fake, not valuable trucks for going on two years.  Please take them off eBay and rather
try sticking up your @#$%.  They would find your self ascribed value there.  Thank you.  Sincerely, Jay
Adams, Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, Lance Mountain, Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerro, and Moi.
Jesus, please save us from this insult.

Beleaguered Education

 

When I look backward at my life, there is one thing I know for sure. 

When I graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

In l985, beginning teacher’s salary was too low to lure me into such a demanding vocation.  Although both of my parents were teachers, my instincts told me taking such a low level job would be pointless.  It was beneath me.  Not only would I not make enough money to have a family, I barely would have anything upon which to live myself.  Is this why I spent four long years at a reputable university, to emerge into a job market in North Carolina that was  sub standard?  I have been able to reflect more recently about the state of North Carolina having returned for a short while.  The one thing I know for sure is, it is an embarrassment to live in such a backward state.  North Carolina under the helm of former governor Jim Hunt was a much different place.  I was afraid to ride my mini bike on the street, drive drunk for fear of a two day pass to jail, or commit a crime in general.  In the l980’s North Carolina was conservative.  Now every where I turn there is another unlicensed motor scooter, a car or truck with illegal window tinting, or blatant drag racing.  Teachers’ salaries, just as in l985, are in the top five LOWEST of all fifty states.  Ironically North Carolina state income taxes are in the top five highest of all fifty states.  Like a dinosaur the both expensive and cumbersome vehicle state inspection has lumbered on draining the taxpayers' pockets yet filling what seem to be the empty coffers of the North Carolina state government.  At least the new governor is trying to change this.

What I know for sure and have remembered clearly is North Carolina attempts to take your money.  If you don’t sign your car registration, there is a fine.  If you car’s stop engine light won’t go off so your vehicle will not pass the outdated state inspection, you had to spend at least five hundred dollars trying to get it fixed before the state will give you a waiver.  I know one thing for sure.  It is embarrassing to live in this state.  The realm of crimes being committed here would challenge any ghetto neighborhood in Watts, the Bronx, or Harlem, and the state governmental infrastructure, like our federal Congress can’t seem to solve any of the problems.  What do they do?  They spend our money.  What does President Obama do?  He and Joe Biden spend our money.  Instead of trying to create capital supporting small businesses, investing in manufacturing, and encouraging entrepreneurial thinking, government simply spends our well-earned tax money.  They spend, and spend, and spend.   Maybe it was Ronald Reagan that stopped this government spending.  One thing I know for sure is during his Trickle-Down Economics life was better.  Things were expensive, but our quality of life was high. 

Now our quality of life is a joke.  Food manufacturers, instead of trying to sell us nutritious wholesome food, have instigated a plan of deception to skim pennies off of the top of their sales.  Now you can’t buy a regular sized can of pork and beans.  You must buy the BIG one that costs three times as much.  Containers deceptively are smaller as are our ABC store liquor bottles.  You don’t get as much, and it costs more.  That the government gets HALF of what we pay for alcohol, tobacco, and firearms emphatically says, “We have no way of creating jobs, educating students, or building this country into a superpower again.”  “It says we are broke, we will still spend the money we do not have, and we will continue to do so until someone says no.”  Does that mean for our lawmakers to become competent once again there must be a revolution?  It has happened before and in many countries.  Should it happen here?  There appears to be no real alternative.  It is dismal, and embarrassing to turn on the news in North Carolina.  After having lived in George Voinovich’s state for comparison, it is like venturing to the Adirondacks.  The Hatfields and McCoys are feudin’ it out everyday.  Is to this what North Carolina has sunk?  To add insult to injury, my chosen profession of teaching has become the butt of George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind.”  All I ever have heard from colleagues about this beleaguered legislation is that it emphatically stymies effective teaching.  Now a process is in place, a plantation owner, a Hitler, or a Mussolini that demands you produce test scores.  How did Communism make it into our public education system?  This legislation must be repealed for teaching to begin again.  I look at academia, a dissertation and exam away from a doctorate degree in music, and my stomach turns.  They are saying, like North Carolina, schools would rather hire beginner or novice teachers that will work for less money.  Who needs the pinnacle degree representing wisdom beyond your years?  Who needs someone that smart?  Instead let’s begin to scorn and ostracize the academic elite.  I look back at the prospect of completing that degree and see hardship, heartache, and disappointment.  Why bother?  No one cares about education anymore.  Once it was a respected profession.  Like all of the baby boomer jobs, that generation is taken care of.  They were the last.  America abandoned Generation X, and they abandoned me.  Thinking of starting a publishing company only has me thinking of how I am going to pay Uncle Sam.  That’s what we do in America anymore. 

Obama's Droning Drones and the Schutzstaffel

            The question is, “What kind of training do ‘federal agents’ receive?”  We as an American people seem to know little about the Department of Homeland Security other than they and their partners are requiring 1.8 billion hollow point .40 bullets over the next four to five years.  With the traditional American military, it is transparent with a tried and true protocol for training.  We as a populace have been exposed to this entity, as it has been a core part of our existence since the birth of this country.  With each successive war usually it has been very clear the role of the military in our national defense.  Desert Storm was well covered by the television media.  The Iraq war less so, because it became dangerous for journalists.  Prudent, dedicated, and honest reporters found ways to present the truth to the American public.  That has changed dramatically with the “sprawl” of media driven both by cable television and the internet.  The boundaries have become blurred between entertainment and news.  It is not dissimilar to “Big Brother” in Orwell’s novel l984.  The goal was this blurring of boundaries between the truth and governmental propaganda.  It seems this may have come to fruition in the U.S.  It has been widely reported by former reputable news anchors that lies intentionally are being spread by dishonest, self-serving, potentially harmful politicians desperate for their government subsidized paychecks.  The expansion of a relatively new government-employed civilian-staffed “para-military” cannot help but be met with question.  Because George W. Bush created this agency in light of the 9/11 attacks at a time of impending war, its constitution seems to be shrouded in secrecy.  Similarly to our military, the CIA and FBI while often performing covert actions, at least are watch dogged by the public and our representative elected officials.  It seems the Department of Homeland Security is another entity all together.  With such a political dynamic of unbridled intelligence gathering by President Obama’s drone program (of which we know little), it has become to appear that America has an additional force responsible for the existence, location, and eradicating of terror movement before they become volatile.  Who is overseeing this movement?  Which wing of our military is operating the drones?  What administrative body is performing the appropriate checks and balances in compliance with the Geneva Convention?  With Rand Paul’s recent lengthy filibuster, it seems President Obama himself has blurred the boundaries of due process and would rather murder suspects covertly with little to no accountability to the American people.  With such a large bullet purchase for the DHS creating a huge shortage of ammunition for American citizens, one cannot help but see a pattern beginning to unfold.  It probably is true this depletion of rounds also was created by the hoarding of ammunition by people feeling an ensuing jeopardizing of their Second Ammendment rights.  There are many ways to look at it that have been verbalized.  My personal sentiment is we do not want in America a secretive, well-armed, para-military force empowered with the task of implementing our President’s covert agenda.  Forces of these types traditionally in history and more specifically in Hitler's Nazi controlled Germany were called the S.S. or Schutzstaffel  Resemblances to this Nazism are not prone to advance the popularity of a sitting second term American president who now could be attempting to implement the original intentions of his sponsors.  Likewise questionable legislation and cabinet picks are not helping the situation.  I voted for President Obama and patiently am waiting for the appearance of an affordable health care plan for me and others around me that cannot afford it.  In light of a particular’s state rejection of 2 billions dollars of federal aid for Medicaid expansion to the poor, I am beginning to feel more and more like a surf rather than a middle-classed American.  This is not a good feeling, and the creation of a private para-military force for the President along with the all ready burgeoning Ft. Bragg Regional Alliance and its directives for Base Realignment and Closure have life where I live resembling a police state.  Some reassurance for my personal security would be appreciated, because the sound of that turbo-charged four cylinder drone engine flying continuously over my house is annoying. 

Manmade Governmental Violence

 

            It truly is a complicated America in which we live.  There is no question there is violence around us.  In particular dwelling in a military community is a very different experience than say living in a college town.  When first experiencing a college town it is quite the surprise.  Small cafes, nightclubs, and shops are prevalent catering to the students.  There is art, intellect, and camaraderie.  Traditionally in decades past there was a similar brotherhood amongst service men and women.  American government used patriotism to create this mainstream.  Despite the inescapable responsibilities of impending war, military personal shared a hearty kinship.  Today American government pays soldiers more money to justify their premature deaths in the Middle East.  It is a different animal.  The dynamic of living in a military community drastically has changed as has America.  The mainstream has been lost, and as in real life many of the tenants of culture have been replaced with sheer denial.  Why has this occurred?  If one peruses the American landscape things have changed.  We no longer are a holistic, natural, spiritual country.  Instead we have been turned away from the very elements that attracted immigrants to America in the first place.  Conspicuously our industrial base has shrunk, our factories have closed or moved, and again with the emergence of skyscrapers in Manhattan we as Americans are looking up to see who is controlling the purse strings.  Who are these people?  Before that question should be answered it is more important to examine social issues that affect the American people.  We have heard enough about Wall Street, Washington, and the Middle East.  How about what’s happening with Americans?  Firstly why are mass shooting increasing?  There must be a concrete reason why citizens are committing mass murder.  What could be the stimulus motivating young people to arm themselves as commandoes and blindly murder dozens of innocent school children?  Could it be President Obama’s newly expanded and reinforced Paramilitary?  We all ready have seen the negative repercussions of hiring private security firms to try to implement policies overseas.  Blackwater among others have proven they like European governments do not possess the ethical or moral qualifications necessary to implement a Christian or Islamic doctrine.  Relying upon a relatively new, covert, and inexperienced nonmilitary body to fight terrorism is a stretch.  With military spending solely having created America’s trillion dollars plus deficit, why is the President expanding this particular agency?  We all ready have the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation both laden with acts of inappropriate sexual misconduct.  Is the President attempting to sidestep the nation’s tradition governmental infrastructure and implement his own personal agenda unbeknownst to the American people.  With his forthright unwillingness to divulge more pertinent information on his drone policy, it is becoming clear that something is happening with the President that must be discovered.  While the elimination of Osama Bin Laden was monumental as was the downfall of Moammar Gadhafi’s political regime, wartime executive powers cannot and should not define the role of America’s president.  He like everyone else on this planet must adhere to and abide by the same set of rules for man.  Muslim extremists also wanted to sidestep this human responsibility choosing to rape, murder, and pillage women rather than learning to deal with them as people.  Was it easier to wait for virgins in heaven than to do what every other man on earth must do?  These shortcuts are a sign of the weak, because it means one is not willing to take the time to deal with humanity.  There can be no shortcuts spiritually, politically, or economically.  President Obama must operate in the traditional construct of the American Presidency and not abuse war time granted executive powers.  All ready we have seen the most destructive and unconstitutional legislation created in America’s history degrade the fundamental and founding principals of the American Republic.  Daily and with complete deliberation  government and its protective wing of media continue to do this.  Rarely do you hear President Obama speak of past presidents and their policies showing his knowledge of the history of America.  How can one aspire to be a truly great president with no evident role models?  The term anti-trust jumps to mind.  With the systematic rebuilding of America’s dangerous trusts, loopholes have been created that severely undermine the American economy.  If the most powerful and affluent corporations in America earning a majority of their revenue via American commerce, how is it that income is immune from the American income tax?  How can poor Americans inexplicably be expected to pay down a national debt so large it usurps the GDP of many nations?  It is absurd, and the idea that General Electric is exempt from its responsibility to subsidize the American government visibly and with oversight is an atrocity.   We already know the covert money, the money that is off the table and out of sight of the American people is what is driving policy.  It always has.  These things we know.  What we don’t know is why innocent people are being murdered.  Sigmund Freud if he were alive could be of service.  Yes, we are getting the shaft but not just economically.  Our environment, once an inviting and nurturing place for human existence and growth has become polluted with the tenants of war.  As living in a military town with little to no patriotic sentiment, the construction and implementation of violence can be overwhelming.  When one is exposed to on a daily basis the tenants of war, how is one not to realize these mechanisms easily could turn against us?  With one evil dictator and a subversive, unproductive, and recalcitrant Congress it is plausible to the American people we should be worried.  After all the idea of a drone raining down on you incomprehensibly at a street corner in mainstream America is of concern.  It should be.  I listen to a drone above my head daily that I wonder what its mission is.  Is it to protect?  Is it to serve?  How are we to know when our President will not be forthcoming with his covert terror-fighting force.  If these policies are going to seep to American soil we as a populace have the right to understand new procedures.  For those with rational minds still the job of remaining optimistic is daunting.  With the recent passing of 2012, still we are not sure of the lineage of events outlined in the Book of Revelations.  How many of the foreshadowing occurrences have passed?  Keeping the American people in good spirits is in no way the intent of our current federal government.  They have not proven it.  We must assume the American people have been put out to pasture to feast on unhealthy fast food.  We are not literate enough.  We are not savvy enough to understand.  We do not care.  When mass shootings continue to emerge, a look must be taken into their causes.  Being at war does not set a good example for young people.  Warmongering is a trite, cheap, and ineffective long term investment in the world’s economy.  Art would be a better choice.  The heating of our planet with invisible electromagnetic waves of all frequencies is not prudent.  In addition they have been proven unequivocally to cause cancer in the human body.  Still mass wireless telecommunications become a major component of our economy.  When people resort to violence, usually it is an act of impatience.  One has been taxed to the limit, and they decide the current state of affairs is not worth tolerating.  They would rather die, and for some reason decide to take others with them.  If we want the violence to stop, then policy changes in our governmental system need to occur.  A whole new philosophy of existence must be entertained, contemplated, and implemented.  Maybe it is by God only this process is possible.  Let’s hope the puny existence of man will endure a few more years. 

A Well-Armed Militia, not a Well-Armed Department of Homeland Security

 

            Relatively new in existence, the United States’ Department of Homeland Security recently made news by purchasing 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition.  With the recent shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut it seems consumer level gun advocacy has increased along with its brother, the federal government.  It is a complicated issue.  The gun violence has spread and now includes malls, movie theaters, and schools.  It in the wake of dying elementary school children it must be addressed, and it seems logical a ban on large clipped semi-automatic rifles is appropriate.  While the gunmen carry a compliment of artillery including pistols with multiple clips, the ease of destruction provided by an assault rifle seems to facilitate the act of mass murder.  This gruesomely and graphically was depicted by innocent school children found laden with bullets.  It was appropriate our President Obama recommended some call to action.  The NRA, one of the largest lobbying institutions in our history, responded as did the American public.  Feverishly it seems many Americans began to buy more guns and ammunition in response to what could become an encroachment upon America’s second amendment rights to bear arms.  The kicker is, the DHS’s purchasing of that many bullets cleverly has stoked a conspiracy theory that is credible.  Very much like each and every other “bubble” that has been created, this action is being prosperous for a select few.  Who’s to say Smith and Wesson’s stockowners do not deserve the 40% increase in sales, but who are they?  Who’s to say whether the troubled teenager that committed the murder  was being coerced by a larger party?  Isn’t it plausible citizens exhibiting mental instability could be manipulated by the properly trained institutions?  Isn’t this what terrorist networks have proven to do?  They bring foreigners onto the United States’ native soul and train them with our own educational systems thus manipulating our own infrastructure.  It is possible cults historically driven by mental illness created the mold.  While entertaining this possibility is secondary to the issue at hand, it is important.  More importantly is how Capitalism plays into this scenario.  Who is profiting from this violence?  The United States traditionally herself has profited from war, but is this how we want to continue fertilizing our economy?  Warmongering is not a reputable activity nor is it inspiring artistically, spiritually, or socially.  What is inspiring and fueling to our ailing economy are grassroots programs to return America to a likeness of her former self.  It seems we as a populace driven by what has become a corrupt media and telecommunications industry, have lost sight of our own history.  With the exception of certain notable television networks such as the History Channel, The Learning Channel, and The Discovery Channel the rest of media like Hollywood has turned into a metro-sexual, pop, group masturbation.  The intent is to disguise and then destroy our ability to distinguish gender and make responsible decisions based upon logic, wisdom, and self-preservation.  The dramatic intentional decline in support of our public education systems seems to have reduced our young people’s ability to find a traditional quality American education.  Even schooling by rote driven by the act of trial and error has been circumvented as traditional social systems of interacting in person have been replaced by gaming devices and social media.  We are building a non-work force of weak, emotionally stunted, spineless androids.  With no new jobs on the front, what’s the difference?  We have digressed so miserably from America’s former greatness who cares?  Do we even want to take a stand?  Along with this mis-education an infringement of our Second Amendment’s rights to establish a well armed militia is disconcerting.  Not only are we not educating our young people, we are priming them to be submissive, passive, compliant citizens.  This is alarming.  With its recent purchase of 1.6 billion bullets, in addition to gun manufacturers becoming more prosperous, the availability of ammunition for OUR well-armed militia, our last line of defense against invaders, has become compromised.  In an ironic twist some cities are having trouble providing proper

ammunition for their local police forces.  It seems no one wins, except for our federal government.  It seems some clarification is in order.  Why was such a massive purchase necessary at this time instead of more moderate pro-rated purchases?  Isn’t it necessary to ensure the rights of America’s citizens?  We are after all the people for whom the federal government should serve, although many of our Washington lawmakers have forgotten this.  It seems history is repeating itself, but who is teaching this?  The once powerful trusts that controlled industry also controlled the government.  Sound familiar?  In a very deliberate but incognito program the path of America has been chosen and implemented.

Before this well known but misunderstood group of affluent individuals is mentioned, it is relatively clear with recent events Americans' toes are being stepped upon with what seems to be a growing Communistic movement.  I do not mean Socialistic, as I for one as a citizen of the United States favor the quintessential nature of Socialism over Capitalism.  It simply is a publicly owned “Means of Production” rather than a privately owned one employing a public work force.  It has been well documented in many other countries man is not ethical or moral enough to uphold the principals of Socialism.  It failed and developed into Communism.   This trend of government spending both for our military and now for arming of civilian government employees including agents of our Social Security system (with its existence threatened regularly) seems questionable.  Who is the priority?  Is our right to a well-armed militia, the right of citizens to be able to obtain and purchase suitable firearms and ammunition, usurped by the need of the Department of Homeland Security to train its agents?  I think not. 

The Tax Man

It has been a long time since I have attempted a blog entry.  After spending six months of my life mostly in Europe working on the Mariner of the Seas, it was difficult enough just

to get basic things accomplished much less finding the time to formulate an opinion based upon a set of Europeans views.  I do know that the value of the American dollar was paltry when in combat with the Euro.  In a kindred occurrence the European Union proved itself to be more of a hindrance to a better quality of life.  The creation of the Euro in retrospect largely was responsible for much of the economic instability that emerged.  Proponents rallied a preservation of their native currencies would have been a wiser choice.  Governments make mistakes and that currently is glaringly obvious in the United States.  I can’t remember a time when our set of elected officials seems to be more incapable, unwilling, and self-serving.  After four years of hints of immigration reform, out of the blue at the beginning of President Obama’s second elected term comes the news that legislation now actually will be proposed.  In light of the recent school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut, it seems the now expired ban on assault weapons would be a more prudent priority.  Instead Republicans decided they could just not lose the Latino vote in 2016.  Hillary may prove to be too viable as a democratic candidate.  It is almost sickening to see our government in action today.

As with the steady purposeful decline in public education, so too have the skills and intellect of our elected lawmakers become dull and vague escaping to a comfy place of money laundering for the recent American economic meltdown.  Our politicians with their Wall Street sponsors are so deeply in bed with each other, it seems America’s money never will be found.  General Electric, probably the world’s most powerful corporation, continues to laugh in the face of the American public paying nothing in income taxes.  How is this possible?  Instead this year with almost exactly the same amount of income as 2010, I am getting back half as much money.  What the @#$%?  Were Bush’s expiring tax cuts responsible for the federal government picking my low earning income pocket?  The only logical solution for re-infusing the economy is to find America’s money and begin to re-circulate it.  That means G.E. and the rich will have to accept their responsibility of subsidizing our government.  That responsibility certainly cannot continue to be placed upon the working poor and middle class.  It seems our recognized and documented process of government has sprouted almost as many malignant tumors as citizens dying from cancerous cell mutation from electro-magnetic radiation.  We are just @#$%ed up.  Plain and simply being at war in three different foreign countries is what broke our bank.  Still the Dick Cheney’s of the world through their Halliburtons continue to to suggest America’s economy is stronger while we are at war.  “Bomb them and we will fix it, for a price.”  This strategy has proven to be an utter failure as publicly known George Bush was not able to get Iraq’s valuable crude oil.  We don’t really know to this day if that is the case.  We got the hell out of dodge and as Rupert Murdoch’s monopoly on media directed, they swept it under the rug.  With the falling of the Wall Street Journal into his hands, the last chapter in America’s honest, viable, news reporting draws to a close.  It’s all spin.  I cannot even read any of the web’s popular news sites anymore.  It’s all about gaming and selling advertising and iPhones to America’s adolescents.  Is seems a parallel has occurred between the fall of our government and the agencies that are supposed to canvass them.  Again we are @#$%ed.  Americans just tool away, but I’m not sure anyone really is happy, except the rich.  They have our money and are enjoying a pina colada on the beach in Grand Caymen.  It would seem the recent release of Les Mis more readily could be applied to an imminent social change in America.  Indeed television certainly is enjoying a grassroots Renaissance exposing the more viable and down to earth trade practices of a more viable America.  Can it actually be that, “Jobs are coming back from Asia?”  With the death of entrepreneur Steve Jobs Apple once again is unguided.  That large slave camp in China where people kill themselves trying to escape has become too large a carbuncle on Apple’s face.  The news was announced that manufacturing was returning to the U.S.  Maybe it has something to do with the state of China’s air and their overpopulation.  Did I mention they are Communist?  None of it makes any sense.  While I was a supporter of Bill Clinton, most people don’t know that his major campaign intent was to allow every citizen of the United States to purchase and own their own home.  While I bit on this bait, and I feel it seemed wise and prudent, that intent became the beginning of the housing bubble and our economy’s subsequent meltdown.  That is when the shrewd occupants of Wall Street decided to make that intent a reality.  They began offering mortgages to everyone whether their credit scores were approved or not.  The real estate industry immediately almost overnight raised prices on homes to an almost uncanny level.  I watched this happen in Columbus Ohio.  The new homes that were being built were of poor quality materials, but the bubble was on!  The pooling of those sub-prime mortgages creating hedge funds sealed our economy’s fate many years later.  While Bill Clinton did construct the Dayton Accords all but solving the Bosnian Conflict, this good intention grossly was misshapen by the likes of Bernie Madoff and his Wall Street chronies.  None of this economic activity effects me except that for some reason I only am getting back HALF of the tax refund I received two years ago with the same income.  I guess they were right when they said it really will get you in the pocketbook.  I can’t help but think that what seems like a low flying reconnaissance drone above our neighborhood has something to do with it. 

The Political Usage of Prostitution

         A recent news story that has broken concerning potential illicit behavior by some members of the Secret Service accompanying President Obama to the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Columbia is a prime example of the corrupt nature of modern day news reporting.  Historically the employment of prostitutes by politicians often has meant the destruction of careers, marriages, and lives.  It seems we the people or rather our news agencies find this aged practice questionable.  The ever-reaching far right contingency in America utilizes often hypocritical, unchristian, and unconstitutional dogma do promote their own acquisition of wealth.  If a few

politicians, televangelists, or Secret Service members fall in the process so be it.  For decades the media has built celebrities and then brought them down for entertainment purposes.  It is unethical.  While under the ever watchful eye of the paparazzi, it is inevitable oppressed actors, musicians, and the youthful rich will make mistakes in public.  Simply it is because they have very little privacy in which to grow by making mistakes.  They are made in the public forum, and that is the very concept of many television news programs.  The humor in this emerging story is that

what is being reported is misunderstood.  The far right’s use of a staunch, oppressive, Fire and Brimstone type of attitude may create entertaining news, but it also can destroy lives.  Prostitution is one of the world’s oldest professions.  In many countries all over the world it is accepted and even legal.  It is not in America.  Instead our hypocritical capitalist socio-economic system deprives Americans of what they deserve and sells it to them.  Why not sell sex?  Once we used to receive clean, pure, tasty drinking water for free.  We had cleaner air to breath.  We had less noise.  Slowly republicans have been taking away our land, our rights, and our happiness in return for their own monetary gain.  Seen in its proper perspective, prostitution is a humane anodyne.  For those who cannot afford to purchase a trophy wife and cannot navigate America’s decrepit social network, there is an alternative.  The far right do not recognize it because that revenue will not be in their pocket.  Once long ago the economy in America was driven by small business.  Money flowed between Americans in a successful economic system that was not reliant upon large drug cartels, a corrupt medical profession, and interceding insurance companies.  Also the reliance upon the automobile was not the core of the American economy.  Once the arts were a major generator of revenue as the entertainment industry flourished.  Sean Parker and Steve Jobs ended that with the invention and use of the Napster software.  Today we are expected to subsidize the rich.  That is what we do.  We do not create.  We do not intermingle.  We do not actualize our own personal happiness.  We pay the debt for living in our own country.  America is not the same.  With this great system of Capitalism, one still cannot go to the mall and buy a girlfriend or a wife.  Instead we are sold remedies to treat symptoms of our unhappiness.  We can go to a strip club and waste our money on sexual frustration.  We can download pornography and self gratify.  We cannot go to the source of our loneliness, our physical needs, or our emotional longing and have them satisfied even temporarily.  Then we would not buy.  Music no longer satisfies these same needs as it once attempted.  Now it has been manipulated to make us buy.  The buying of sex is not immoral.  We do it in our marriages.  It is branded immoral by a contingency that is stuffy, controlling, and rich.  The seeking of physical intimacy is natural.  It is a component of human nature.  It is human.  If one chooses not to be manipulated by evil People attempting to acquire your home, your vehicle, and your inheritance then what are the alternatives?  Is it to become gay?  Is it to become mentally ill?  The misuse of prostitution is common in America, because it is misunderstood.  It like the vices of drug abuse and alcoholism is abused by unhealthy Americans.  It can be utilized in a positive way.  Certainly a public argument with a prostitute demanding the intervention of local police is not a positive example of prostitution, especially when it was instigated by an member of America’s Secret Service while accompanying President Obama to Columbia.  The irony of this story is, Cartagena is a common and well known host of the profession of prostitution.  Is is logical that American men would attempt to utilize this amenity if they found themselves in close proximity to this temptation.  It is unfortunate these men were not savvy and experienced enough to navigate the cloaked practice of the selling of sex.  They @#$%ed up, but not because it involved prostitution.  It is because these men dropped the diplomatic ball.  They like other fallen angels failed to use their reason to control and then satisfy their personal needs.  They got carried away.  They let fame and notoriety influence their common sense and lost sight of reality.  In perspective a member of the Secret Service is a security guard.  That is all.  For what they provide security is a point of contention.  If these men were off duty and not responsible for the President’s safety, then what they choose to do in the privacy of their own time is their business.  Navigating a Columbian brothel probably is not the strong point of a bullheaded, self-righteous, Blackwater type agent.  It could be the skill of a cruise ship musician. 

The Rhythmic Aspects of Pop Style

            In as much as what has become the modern definition of popular music is not musical, its ploy merits study.  It is a very clever musical ruse that parades itself as being genuine.  Without true emotional effort and learned musical technique, pop falsely masquerades itself as stellar performance.  How is this accomplished?  It is simple.  The guitar traditionally has not been included in early music education for a reason.  The simple strumming of strings does not teach a potential musician how to count internally.  Anyone with basic physical coordination can move their hand in one direction and reciprocate over the strings of the guitar creating the traditional strum.  Unfortunately this rhythmic concept that is created is not representative of the spacing of notes found in European classical and American jazz music.   When 8^th notes are generated from this intimate, proximal, alternating gesture they are spaced too closely together.  The initial stroke by obligation of having to arpeggiate six strings is projected ahead of the beat.  What should be a single pulse becomes a flam that erroneously abstracts where exactly a traditional single attack should occur in other styles of music.  It replaces a solitary intellectually prepared attack with a grouping of two.  “Ta da!”  Quintessentially this is how modern pop is defined and performed.  Irresponsibly pop musicians do not count or feel time internally.  Instead they use the crutch of kinesthetics to fabricate a false representative feel of time.  The resulting feel, not the affective defining of rhythm, tempo, and time is stretched over the top of what traditionally would be a single downbeat.  The two 8^th notes that are produced both ahead and behind the beat are pulled together with tension rebounding one another like a teeter-totter.  It is interesting that while the spacing of these notes is too close to actually define time, the rebounding that is necessary in Swing music is present.  How much a guitarist flexes their wrist determines this amount of swing.  Hauntingly parallel to the unique characteristic of Rock ‘n’ Roll, the pop beat can be heard to swing and be straight at the same time creating an engaging result.  It is unfortunate that because thought, emotion, and soul are not involved, the resulting rhythmic concept inherently is incapable of producing a human feeling.  Traditional accents or syncopations are replaced instead with a smooth bed of repeating 8^th notes.  The most surprising characteristic of pop rhythm is that although it is insipidly sweet, some listeners perceive it to be rhythmically aggressive.  The genre of Techno exhibits this same quality.  Sonically it deceives the listener.  The strum motion of the upper arm pivoting at the elbow over the strings of the guitar cannot be found in any other obvious human motion except sex.  This is why pop rhythm is used as a foundation for porno music. While good for providing the backdrop of erotic sexuality activity, it kinesthetically produces no defined dance beat.  It does not breathe and allow the limbs to reciprocate freely.  Instead its strokes are forced and seeded with tension, the overt quality that pop aficionados seem to enjoy. 

            When a pianist attempts to perform in pop style, a stark and rude realization will occur.  The ease with which it is created on the guitar and bass is absent.  The piano also uses a reciprocating percussive action, but is it is not equipped with the upstroke emulating the strum of the guitar.  The pianist must wait for the key to reciprocate before again striking it.  This delay in Cristofori’s original piano action is what created the feel of early piano music.  It is interesting over the years that pop has found its way into the piano resulting in its subordinate technique.  The approach that resulted was a complete departure from the classical methodology of piano instruction.  Personally I have seen as many as five kinesthetic approaches to pop realized on the piano.  They all were surprising to me as a classically trained jazz pianist.  The first was stabbing fingers, fingers that were extended straight and hurled at the keyboard in a gesture simulating the early attack of the guitar strum.  The second was curled fingers, fingers that were curled inward toward the palms as tightly as possible minimizing the motion necessary for repeated notes.  The third was penguin arms, forearms that were held stationary parallel above the keyboard with the fingers free to dangle limply on the keys.  The fourth probably is the most common and can be characterized by the playing of Sir Elton John.  Unlike traditional musical grooves that require a tightening of the muscles to define strong rhythmic patterns, pop uses a loose body movement undulating alternately between the arms.  Stevie Wonder must be credited as the most masterful of this purveyor pop keyboard music. 

            What must be understood is that traditional musical rhythms and their notation do not lend themselves to the pop approach.  The grift that has been created in commercial music is that by choosing pop for musical performance, all other traditional rhythmic styles will be discarded.  Any musical style that has emerged, been developed, and found its way into print must be re-interpreted to be performed in this derivative style.  This interpretation abandons the more engaging feels of what once were viable and popular forms of dance.  It substitutes a base, derivative, artificial time feel that is incapable of engaging movement in the human body.  For this reason people do not dance at pop concerts.  Instead these concerts represent the glorification of the pop artist, the sentimental masturbation of the public, and the generating of revenue. 

            It should be possible for pop and artistic music to coexist.  The lines of demarcation clearly should be defined.  The artistry of real music never should bear Jesus’ cross of persecution.  Artistic music is necessary for the sustenance of humanity, and it cannot be replaced with cheap, shallow, shortsighted fodder intended for the consuming masses. 

A Different Drummer

            Marching to the beat of a different drummer always has been suspect.  It seems only artists have the gall to begin such a revolution.  America her last two decades has become weak, apathetic, and uncaring.  I take pride in the notion after hearing Rick Santorum speak on C-SPAN months ago, I knew only he would be the viable Republican presidential candidate.  Iowa it seems, throbbing to the beat of a “new” drummer, also cast Santorum above the ridiculous lot of soap-box-shouting, media present, seemingly conservative Republicans.  A small victory was won in my head.  Many things I think and feel are diverted by modern day society.  Often I feel guilty for being a college-educated man.  Often I feel guilty still for possessing the possible love of a woman.  Often I feel guilty for feeling a need for heterosexual interaction, love, and sexual fulfillment.  If I weren’t careful I would begin to believe 2012 would be the seeming end of the world.  I am not sure how in America the “good guy” became the “bad guy.”  I am tired of feeling guilty for being good, but my conscience predicates I should.  Still I receive no tangible reward of which I am aware.  Still in deep emotional pain, thwarting the imminent result, I persevere.  I feel alone with little spiritual fulfillment.  Only my brain serves me on task daily not to drop its guard allowing me to become an uneducated manipulated putz.  It is your brain that drives the truck.  It is your brain, not your dick, that creates that drum beat. 

Shallow America

            After returning from Europe for six months, it has taken me longer than usual to remember my normal routine.  America is not helping.  It is apparent that American television has digressed.  Every time I turn on the tube I see neo-Republican soapbox shouters caught in an endless loop of stale, uninteresting, pretentious commentary.  Why is it they are always shouting?  Why are they always whirling their bodies around like Shakers and Quakers seemingly speaking in tongues?  If I hear one more panel speak about the state of the American economy...  We’ve got it.  You don’t need to tell us anymore about what you don’t know.  We don’t need to see any more bad news.  What we need to hear about is innovation in business, manufacturing, or the arts.  What we need to see is a return to America’s grassroots movement embracing things that are meaningful, righteous, and giving.  What we don’t need is shallow commentary trying to squeeze a dime out of the American people.  There are too many channels.  There are too many networks.  There are too many devices.  The simple task of finding a program has become monumental.  There are mirror channels now.  One is HD and one is not.  Why have both?  I prefer a basic set of 60 or so channels provided by a satellite.  That used to be Direct TV, and I remember experiencing it in Black Mountain, North Carolina at a Comfort Inn.  There on the tube was everything I needed to stay entertained.  These days I find myself watching only a few networks.  Their content veritably is grassroots.  “Moonshiners.”  “Storage Wars.”  “American Chopper.”  “Swamp Men.”  Why is it these particular kinds of programs are interesting?  There isn’t a lot going on, but their concept deals with a grassroots level of humanity.  They are satisfying, because the people in these shows are doing things Americans always have done and enjoyed.  There is both a visceral and spiritual satisfaction that comes from pursuing a cause and then reaping the reward.  What makes it better is that it is not cyber.  It is not cerebral.  It is tangible, and that means satisfying the human psyche.  America’s wealthy slowly over time have robbed Americans of the infrastructure that used to satisfy some of these desires.  We used to have clean, natural, drinking water.  We used to have clean natural air devoid of electromagnetic waves.  We used to have clean space to stretch our legs.  Now it appears America is going Communist.  I never knew what that looked like until I went to Spain.  Then I began to see long flat expanses of governmental-like housing.  There were metal fences.  There were courtyards.  There was dirt.  There were few trees.  There were few people.  It looked like a Communist camp.  America is becoming increasingly Communist.  If Barak Obama is a socialist, and that would not be bad, he is not responsible for the wealthy in America’s charge to communize the United States.  Are not our freedoms as both humans and American citizens being violated?  Did not the Patriot Act violate our right to privacy?  Does not the legislation Imminent Domain undermine the essence of the American Constitution?  Why would we elect former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich president?   All ready he has proven he is capable of failing to implement a “Contract with America.”  He proved he could shut down the federal government.  He has lied to his wife and his republic.  If we the people do not being to see what is happening, it may be too late. 

What's the Bottom Line?

I am tired of being mind fucked.

The Future American Economy

            For survival’s sake we as human beings have to be flexible.  I have found the older you get the more flexible you must become.  Actually in my life compromising my life long musical ambitions became the norm.  In music always one had to be competitive to stay ahead.  I learned this early or rather just worked hard because it was the thing to do.  You could either drink beer and smoke pot, or excel in some particular field.  Because I have been a musician since childhood it seemed normal to try to excel in music.  Luckily my background and training paid off and my diligent dedicated labor kept me ahead in the musical game.  I was able to begin playing “gigs” and making money from playing music.  I never made a conscious decision to be cocky.  You just had to be to be competitive.  When I moved to the Midwest from the American South, I received a rather rude awakening.  The acclimation that took place over several years was one that was socialist.  The musicians in Columbus were not concerned with being told how good you were.  They were honest and genuine enough to want you to be a part of their fraternity, because there was a common thread.  You all loved music.  That love was what allowed you to become a part of their community and thus “gig.”  I learned a gigantic lesson in sincerity.  Over the years it became boring to me to concern myself with self-promotion.  I had had so much of myself over the years, I was not interested in hearing myself tell anyone how well I played and that someone should give me a gig.  I begin to pursue music because it was the right thing to do.  What could that mean?  The right thing to do is part of the Protestant Work Ethic.  We work hard as men, because it was why we were put here on this earth.  Our job is to succeed.  It is right to continue to learn, be creative, and be productive.  That is why I do music.  I have forgotten in America the field of commercial music is a dog eat dog scenario.  I had been involved in academia for almost nine years.  I wasn’t having to compete in the “real world” for recognition as a musician.  I had paid my dues.  Now that I no longer immediately am involved with academia, the rules of engagement seem to have changed.  The game has changed.  Above all the music has changed.  The kind of music I was taught and to which I listened was personal.  It allowed for personal expression.  If the music performance didn’t have your soul in it, you would fold.  It would become very cold.  You no longer would be playing music in public.  Now the game is to be flexible.  The game is to compromise.  The game is to not play like we played by my learning.  If you do you become an outcast for not lowering yourself to the lowest common denominator.  Recently I have been trying to become re-motivated about music.  Because I have been a professional musician for over twenty years, I play well.  Because I have studied music at the doctoral level I know a lot about music.  I can’t help it.  When I play I feel like I am stepping on people’s toes.  Is this because of the weak economy?  Is it because people are too uneducated to get what I do?  Is it that people have become so self-centered that they no longer are able to stop what they are doing and listen to someone else’s opinion?  Karioke was the beginning of the end for professional music.  Whoever decided that people should try to perform musically, no matter how un-trained they were, should be shot.  There was a time when music attempted to be artistic.  It attempted to transcend.  With these efforts came communication and communing with the public.  Now music sucks up to the public and sacrifices its artistry in a lame excuse of entertainment.  It has been emasculated.  This trend must be a component of P.C., a premise that has become a joke, but stealthy still is dictating our lives.  Slowly in America the freedoms and ideals human beings have forged and prolonged are being replaced with communist ideals.  We are being manipulated over time to become mindless, soulless, money-spending androids.  The reason why the economy in America is in the dumps is because we have no product.  Moving money around, while it worked for a while for many who became rich, no longer is a viable source of income.  The money all has been received, and those who have received it certainly are not putting it back into the American economy.  It is laundered in some Grand Cayman bank and sent elsewhere.  America has been abandoned, and I for one wish those rich people with the money would shut the fuck up.  There is no way the economy in America can be re-fueled by the poor.  It takes money to make money, and  those small business loans and credit lines have been absorbed by those crafty rich.  Until people are employed, a product is produced sold and bought, and that money circulates, there will be no revitalization of America’s economy.  The Grassroots roots program that started America will have to return.  Maybe the disappearance of those crafty rich is what is necessary.  History shows what is to come. 

What Actually is the American Economy?

            Twice only in my short life have I experienced mental illness.  Mental illness can be stealth.  In certain ways it can be more difficult to understand and treat than physiological illnesses.  That is why we have psychology and psychiatry.   What do I mean by “mental illness?”  Perhaps the term mental illness is inappropriate jargon.  If one becomes off balance in their daily routine for some unknown reason, is this mental illness?  Mental illness better clarified would mean an ailment or affliction that sustains the test of time.  It is not a temporary navigating of the stormy seas of everyday life.  It would be something that sticks around.  In professional terms that would be categorized as “chronic.”  Some deviant situation that recurs for a length of time likely could cause mental illness, because the mind loses the ability to remember what is healthy.  It would be often in the evolution of man the human mind and body have enabled themselves to survive by the process of accommodation.  When faced with a non-changing environment within which we are forced to operate for financial sustenance, our minds can accommodate the situation by adapting.  Upon scrutiny we may alter our moral or ethical codes to justify our economic freedom.  Is this freedom worth the social and psychological freedom we pursue as human beings?  More astutely characterized is this “American” freedom worth the psychological price?  We cannot be so shallow to recognize many other global cultures are not afforded any civil liberty, so the boundary between human and civil liberty must be defined.  One could use the United States Constitution as “ground zero.”  That could be why many foreign cultures seek asylum in the United States.  They understand, respect, and admire the rights outlined in our Constitution.  Sociologically the challenge is to understand human rights and how they have been defined and implemented by different political regimes.  What is an unacceptable environment?  In the field of labor, an entity that Abraham Lincoln considered synonymous with America, unions were organized to mitigate conditions of labor.  Today the term “labor union,” like many things in non-mainstream America, can elicit bipolar responses.  In recent decades America politically has become more polarized.  The term “mainstream” has gone undercover leaving the defining of our own society to ourselves.  We have become forced to become better educated on our own to survive in an increasingly hypocritical and often evil socio-economic construct.  Once afforded government-provided amenities have vanished.  With them has vanished our quality of life forcing us to buy the creature comforts our country once provided.  This has become the “New American Economy.”  We are living off one another, not for one another.  Ironically and erroneously Republicans shout, “Socialist” at our President, when their already-rooted communist economic infrastructure is the enemy. Grass roots artistic and intellectual aesthetics have become disguised and decreed unimportant.  We are experiencing a modern “Dark Ages” perhaps or perhaps not fueled by a teetering economy.  It is the prospectus of this economy that should be in question.  

An Artistic Healing of Neurosis

            Upon watching Woody Allen being interviewed by Jay Leno, it became perfectly clear that his comedy is a metaphor for Jewish neurosis.  A light bulb went off in my head!   I have been asking myself the last month how I am going to understand and heal my own neurosis.  His answer was comedy.  Over the decades after the obtainment of security (personal wealth) he was able to use his neurosis positively as a motivation for creativity.  Although misunderstood many would be surprised to know upon study artists do the same thing.  “When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade!”   The argument presents itself that neurosis should not be necessary for great art.  Upon study it could be proven easily that it is this unresolvedness often that prompts attempted healing by use of artistic metaphors.  Artists study and understand, synthesize, and abstract their aberrations into artistic renderings.  The thorough study and expunging of their afflictions in the present helps to cure the eventual, longer lasting, emotional effects the neurosis may cause in the future.  What is interesting is, “Will an artist have able material with which to create if there is no such rift?”  Consequently are artists naturally and openly sentenced to lives of continual neurosis? 

            The primary and painful step in the healing process is attempting hypothetically to understand its cause.  A hypothetical or disassociated survey of one’s own history attempts to quell painlessly neurosis’s symptoms.  The artistic process on the other hand may use the emotional unrest of neurosis and funnel it into creative impetus.  While it could be understood traditionally only good emotion is used as motivation for art, history has shown that also art has been used for catharsis.  The film Goya’s Ghost provides a perfect example of such art.  The argument could be presented that creativity which is intelligently and skillfully channeled may only be an attempted diversion or escape from  neurosis.  It is now that the subconscious mind is brought into play.  As synthesizers humans should not be expected cognitively to understand the total minutia of their own psychology.  If we were then the Romantic period in art and literature may not have ever existed.  A balanced combination of Classicism and Romanticism could be viewed as a suitable recipe for the healing of neurosis. 

Ms. Saigon at CFRT

            Ms. Saigon has been around for quite a while.  I had never seen it.  I have played some of the music in cruise ship production shows, because I recognized a few tunes.  I did not do any mental preparation before seeing the show.  I did remember upon seeing the people-filled lobby, it takes some effort to absorb “live” musical theater.  It never is like a movie, where you can just relax and enjoy the drama.  Navigating the other patrons in my eyes is the largest obstacle to overcome when trying to enjoy a play. 

            I found out upon entering the theater the orchestra was on stage.  “Oh. Chicago,” I thought.  What was the purpose of that?  Then I noticed there were virtually no sets on stage.  There were only chairs on either side like two jury boxes or better yet, choir pews in a church.  For me this set the stage for what was about to transpire.  It would not be a run-of-the-mill musical.  It would be more like a straight play with music.  Then when the lights came down and the music began, I realized it was an operetta.  Like Les Miserable it was all music with no spoken dialog.  Then Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell came to mind.  It was kind of rock music with a little oriental flavor sprinkled in.  I didn’t like the first act at all.  The music seemed boring, vanilla, and long-winded.  It was bad Andrew Lloyd Webber.  I felt the characters were portrayed accurately.  Then I realized I had to meet and build a relationship with each character before I could begin to enjoy the show.  First there was a stoic quiet seventeen-year-old Vietnamese girl who was being forced to sell her body for money.  How could I empathize with her without a better setting of the scene?  I realized Ms. Saigon was a “Broadway” depiction of fairly serious subject matter.  It was attempting to do two things, reveal a truly dramatic story and entertain a theater audience.  It was Chicago, Oliver, and Sweet Charity in one.  There were similarities.  First Engineer reminded me of Fagen.  Instead of instructing degenerate boys how to “pick a pocket or two,” he was instructing young Vietnamese women how to have sex for money.  At the culmination of Act II he cemented the similarity to Chicago.  Engineer created a prospect of the story with a rousing solo production number called “The American Dream.”  “This was the lawyer in Chicago,” I thought to myself.  He was the comedic relief, calculated as such.  That felt like an old television show with a clown coming on intermittently to relieve the tension.  That works.  Then Cabaret came to mind.  A narrator was hosting the show.  That also works.  Immediately at the start of the show it is necessary quickly to set the scene.  There is no foreplay for the drama.  Ms. Saigon begins with a loud, aggressive, brothel scene except the drama is being played in front of a theater orchestra.  That was strange.  It made it intimate.  How could the mood be set for a sultry, sexy, alluring whorehouse in this environment?  It is a lot to expect your audience cold to warm up to such an intent.  People are eating or working or just living, and then immediately they are projected lingerie-clad young women gyrating on chairs.  Normally as an adult male I should enjoy this.  In a “theater” show where I am more accustomed to serious themes being explored, it was difficult to accept such a gratuitous offering.  I tried.  Still because I am fourty-nine, watching neighbor’s children doing local theater does not push my buttons.  I watched the G.I.’s dance with the girls and felt absolutely nothing of what they were intended to feel.  It was like watching high school kids spoon.  I was too old and did not have the time to waste dredging up a feeling that I knew would be pointless.  I watched hypothetically as the main character seemed to fall in lust with the young seventeen-year-old Kim.  I could be sympathetic to the situation, because I too had done the same thing.  I would never be so juvenile to fall in love with a prostitute, because it wouldn’t be love anyway.  It would be lust, or love based upon physical desire.  I have learned my lesson over time that this is not love.  For a helpless G.I. stationed in Vietnam, it is plausible he could be that naïve, like Radar in the television series M*A*S*H.  To solidify their purely physical attraction they kissed a lot on stage.  I find this also difficult to watch, because it does my psyche absolutely no good whatsoever.  Why would I want to watch this on stage?  It is personal and boring to me. 

            I began to understand the story as it approached the conclusion of the first Act.  Then a completely new and seemingly strange Tinkerbell-like character stepped from stage right.  She appeared while Kim reflected at her miniature romance alter which appeared repeatedly throughout the show.  Now there were two Kims, but one was wearing a black negligee and was surreal.  Upon reflection Ms. Saigon did attempt to offer you clues to its disguised unfolding story.  That was smart but also needed.  The music was not sufficiently strong to carry the play without sets.  It needed an ensemble of things to bring it off, and some of that was sheer effort.  Without getting distracted I must admit I was grievously disappointed in the pianist.  (Being a professional pianist myself for the last ten years aboard cruise ships, I am equipped to be able to make a value judgment about musicality.)  I felt the rest of the orchestra was capable, but this man failed to deliver the goods at the keyboard.  He did what most every pianist is doing these days, skating over the performance with no tactile connection to the piano.  His sound was thin, devoid of tone and bass, and flaccidly performed.  His limp waving wrists proved there was no physical connection to the music, only cognitive.  You could feel it.  Better yet you could not “feel” it, because there was nothing to feel.  Admittedly he had his hands full conducting the long and complex score.  Trying to cover both bases is too much for one person, but that often can get you the gig.  A solid, heart-felt piano performance was needed to bring the show up to CFRT standards.  I longed for both a bass fiddle or guitar, and a solid, meaty piano sound.  The piano truly was piano in this show, too much so.  It played a solidly subordinate role to the overpowering woodwinds.  That will be the drawback to placing your orchestra on stage.  I wondered again at the logic of it.  Did they not want to deal with sets?  The scenic designer at CFRT is top notch.  I remember a scene from Miss Saigon in a ship show that had the couple in a lofted treehouse- like bed.  It was effective.  This truly was a strange setting.  The sound quality was poor.  While the actors did need to be miked to be heard over the on-stage orchestra, the sound quality through the speakers was both harsh and often distorted.  I came to realize the show could have been produced acoustically.  That would have been fine.  By the end of the second Act, volume levels did reinforce this was a rock opera. 

            After suffering through the first Act, finally I began to be able to “feel” what was happening in the show.  It was a tough nut to crack and more attempts are needed to polish this retro piece.  I never thought a sole alto saxophone would provide the much needed warmth the show required to be intimate. 

           

America's Incognito Geronimo

While strategically attempting to operate incognito it is a natural consideration whether to release photos of Osama Bin Laden’s body. Conspiracy theorists easily could speculate Bin Laden’s murder was a fake. Many believe 9/11 was, although not a fake in that it rendered historical suffering for the United States, a publicity stunt. Considering the current socio-economic situation and with America involved in three wars, it was time for a military victory. Soldiers have continued to die for what has become a nebulous cause. Is ten years too long to be at war to find one man? While it is well known Osama Bin Laden was the instigator of many terrorist acts upon the United States, posthumously remaining organizations in differing countries will continue to antagonize the United States. It is a great victory. Upon querying the loved ones of many lost in the collapse of the twin towers, closure seems not an option. Loss seems to last forever. Justice brought by Bin Laden’s execution should send a message to those remaining Extreme Islamic factions. Whether hiding in a farmer's cellar or a seeming militarily protected mansion, the United States will find you and serve justice for the American people. Bin Laden declared war on America with the greatest domestic attack since Pearl Harbor instigating World War ll by the Japanese. Under the cloud cover of Wall Street’s hedge fund and Ponzi schemes, for ten years the U.S.'s financing of the epic hunt for Bin Laden with it's War on Terror has been exponentially costly. During the process former President George W. Bush dipped his hand in the federal reserve and handed it to many of these criminals. Americans decided when offered a choice of funding this war or necessarily rebuilding our own fragile economy, we are the priority. This opinion clearly was conveyed by former United States Senator Richard John Santorum in a recent speech on C-SPAN. As he reminisced about Reagonomics America’s choice of us over them became clear. Who can say Santorum’s view is what America wants, but it seemed plausible. Astutely he capsulized the American political front. He urged a renewed federal anti-corporate commitment to the American ideal domestically. There was no mention of globalization or outsourcing. In the perfect symptom of the raid on Bin Laden’s compound, Santorum incognito mandated economically the appropriate use of our armed forces. Defense. Ironically enough President Obama, with his boldest move as current Commander-and-Chief, implemented an offensive tactical strike fueled by years of cumulative intelligence painstakingly collected by the U.S. and her allies. Under the shadow of the Battle of Mogadishu, Operation Eagle Claw, and the Bay of Pigs, President Obama’s sanctioned Operation Geronimo exemplified a decisive role of leadership for the United States. Singlehandedly it should restore America's top, global, military prowess. While our defense technology could have been superior, without the courage and heroism of men it never would be seen. Man it seems has stepped up to the plate. God would be happy.