So I am finally going back to Brazil. It has been almost 3 years. So I have decided that this time I am going to try to do a blog about my adventures and experiences. It has already started on a sad note. My dear sogra (mother-in-law) is extremely ill. Maria has gone down a week early to help take care of her. We all are hoping for the best.
Before I start, I would like to commend guitarist Nick Fryer for the hard work that he has done in keeping a steady night going for original music. This is more than I have ever attempted to do for the jazz community, or anyone else I can think of, except for Rob Clearfield's program at ACME Art Works, Josh Berman and the cats at The Hungry Brain, Dave Rempis, etc.
Why do I mention this? Well, I finally made it out to the Bad Dog Tavern set that Nick has been in charge of these past few months on Monday, July 23. I really don't have an excuse that it has taken me this long to get there since I work across the street every Monday. Needless to say, I finally got there and was not disappointed. Bassist Jeff Greene's band Blink! played first. Dave Miller is really growing in all aspects of his playing; his sounds were very inspiring. Greg Ward sounded wonderful as usual, and the tunes and improvisation concepts were very original. Quin Kirchner played some interesting grooves. An enjoyable set.
After a changing of the band, guitarist Dan Effland's quartet came on. Jeb Bishop has been one of my favorite musicians for years. The band sounded cohesive, and Dan was really experimenting with some interesting sonic ideas. I get very excited when I go to hear music in Chicago these days. The creative music scene here has grown exponentially since I first got out here. It's very hard for me to find the time to get out, but when I do, I realize how strong and vibrant it is here.
Which brings me to the point of this blog entry. There were a lot of musicians hanging out. This made me very happy. But what pisses me off immensely is that they were all talking through the performances. At one point during Dan Effland's set between tunes, I turned to Dave Miller who was sitting next to me and I said "Boy, those yuppies sure talk loud." This was a sarcastic remark to show him the pathetic behavior of the musicians at the performance. How could anyone in their right mind go out to an original music set and ignore the music? What is more frustrating to a musician: playing for a bunch of yuppies who don't care (i.e. Pete Miller's), or playing for a bunch of your peers who talk right through your heartfelt shit? I think it's completely demoralizing. I compose a lot, and it takes me lots of energy to get a composition together, so I assume that it's the same for eveyone else. Then the people you think would care don't listen?
I am completely ashamed at almost every musician that was at the Bad Dog on July 23rd. I paid attention to everyone of you that wasn't listening. Musicians have to realize that we need each other or this music will die. We all are trying to find new ways to express ourselves. All of us are practicing everyday just to get a little better. Let's show some respect to our peers.
Why didn't Norman Finkelstein, professor of political science, not get tenure at DePaul University? It seems obvious that the reasons are many, but petty. The Dean of his department basically said that he called people bad names and that was bad for DePaul's reputation. Alan Dershowitz, a pathetic man of no academic value, sent a 50-page dossier on Professor Norman to the school of law at DePaul. Unprecedented in my inquiring of friends/acquaintances that teach at universities.
The reasons, though, in my mind, don't really have too much significance. It seems as it was a forgone conclusion due to Professor Norman's "confrontational" style. I put confrontational in quotes because I've never seen him confrontational in any debate or discussion. He is always calm, clear, concise. His debate with Shlomo Ben-Ami on Democracy Now was the type of debate that makes one proud to be human. Now if you want confrontational, go see Dershowitz debate. He just screams like an ape, thinks he wins because he was the loudest ape. "Gorillas in the Mist" is all I can think of when I hear him debate, except I don't want to defame Dian Fossey. An awful blowhard that proves one doesn't need to actually be an intellgient, dilligent scholar to be called a scholar. Another tool in America's power structure that makes the U.S. look pathetic.
And we look more pathetic when we can't give a great intellectual as Norman Finkelstein tenure at a place of higher learning. His students love him. His colleagues respect him. Raul Hilberg has the utmost respect for him. I have yet to hear anything come from the Grand Canyon sized mouth of Dershowitz about this fact. Dershowitz slanders Norman Finkelstein by calling him a "holocaust denier", but when the Dean of Holocaust studies calls Norman Finkelstein a great scholar, Dershowitz keeps his trap shut.
I have a had a little correspondence with Norman Finkelstein, and he has been nothing but gracious, clear, to the point, and ALWAYS answers my emails. His dedication to his studies, research, answering positive and negative feedback, is the stuff of giants. Just go to his site and see his talk at Brandeis University. The first questioner after the talk (part 3) makes the most horrific statements about Finkelstein's family. And Norman takes it honorably and tells the audience to listen, doesn't get hostile. He is intense, he may seem even obsessive at times, but he is a true artist. He never waivers from his core beliefs. The anecdotes from his mother, a woman who survived labor camps, concentration camps, and the execution of her family under Hitler, are always deeply enlightening.
It's a sad day in the world of the academy. Raul Hilberg states it well: "I have a sinking feeling about the damage this will do to academic freedom". All some powerful voice for American power has to do is run a smear campaign, and the unacceptable intellectual is out. We need to remember what happened to Norman, use it as an example of what is wrong with academic culture, and scream "we do not accept this!" I have seen many pathetic professors with tenure (professors of economics at University of Chicago come to mind), but to not give it to Norman Finkelstein is a crime.
One element of success of an empire is that it needs friends. The great hope of South America, the man from poor roots who lost his finger in a factory and then lost his first wife, Lula Ignacio da Silva, seems to have decided that large corporate interests are much more important than the economic health of the citizenry. See this opinion: http://www.counterpunch.org/kenfield03212007.html
When I heard that Bush was going to Brazil, I knew Lula was up to something. He has said he would support extensive agrarian reform which is badly needed. Instead he's going to help all the big sugar interests in Brazil including foreign interests that have been "investing" in Brazil sugar. This is going to hurt the people of Brazil and do nothing for the U.S., except maybe have the side effect of breaking a little of the hold on the sugar market that the right-wing Cubans in Florida have on U.S. sugar. This deal that was signed is going to steal more land for argibusiness and the price of ethanol will sky-rocket.
When sugar is produced, a certain amount of the cane is allotted for sugar production, and the rest for what is called alcool (ethanol). The harvest in Brazil, at least in the Ribeirao Preto region, is from about April/May until November. Alcool has always been the cheaper alternative to gas. Gasoline in Brazil costs about $4.00/gallon. Really expensive!! So, many people, certainly not all, have cars that run exclusively on ethanol. The price of ethanol has been traditionally about half of gas. Well, last year the price skyrocketed because the supply was low due to a lower than normal harvest. The last couple of months before the 2006 harvest (we were there in February of 2006 and everyone was complaining) the price got almost as high as gas. Now, imagine what will happen when they start to export ethanol to the U.S. In Brazil, $500/ month is a decent salary. The average is around $150/month. You can do the math or at least get an idea of the implications of the price going up for ethanol. Something like 7 out of 10 new cars now runs on ethanol in Brazil. One might wonder if the car industry isn't in cahoots with the sugar cane barons.
The sensible thing Lula could do is to have government programs that create incentives for people to open their own sugar cane farms. THe government could buy land at a decent price (not sure if they have emminent domain) and then give, lease, etc. the land to people who would like to farm the cane and then they could sell it to the usinas (sugar cane processing plants) and get their share of the pie. Government program?!! Oh, I forgot. That doesn't fit in with free market ideology. Thanks Milton! (Freidman, I mean).
This is just another of the many examples of the idiotic pro-corpoate, pro-elite U.S. foreign policy that just drives poor people into the dirt. Please keep in mind that everything the U.S. does in its foreign policy is about the extension, growth, augmentation of empire. And this goes for both political parties. Clinton (and Mr. Blair) was the worst of them all with these type of neo-liberal policies. Bush may be a total hack at empire management, but Mrs. Clinton, Obama, McCain, etc. will all continue these same policies.
Welcome to the new blog. I have started this blog to create a space for musicians to converse, express opinions, share concepts, and for myself to learn from musicians and also have a place to express opinions, share musical ideas, and political rants. Also to share what I have been reading, and also to learn about what any of you are reading. I have been recently embarking on a journey thru basic Buddhist doctrine. Fascinating! I have been recently grappling with the Buddhist doctrine of emptiness. Also I have been into this book by Italian author Umberto Eco. His essay on Fascism "Ur-Fascism" is relevant to today. He describes the basic tendencies of Fascist thinking, and guess where you might find some of those tendencies today? Pennsylvania Ave.?
Just a note: this blog is not about promotion of music performances. This is about sharing ideas, concepts, etc. I really don't care to hear about where anyone's gigs are or to share with anyone where I am going to be playing. That's for my website and for yours.
