Ruminations on music, culture, America and the world stage
The main news flash in this story – that Iranian state radio is saying Iran is already giving the thumbs-down to the mostly-carrots, please-stop-enriching-uranium UN proposal – isn’t surprising, but click on the accompanying photo of Hugo Chavez reviewing Iranian troops on his current state visit. Further proof that the proper name for the current global situation is World War III.
This evening’s news and commentary outlets – on TV and the Net – are abuzz with Kofi Annan’s “apparently deliberate” characterization of the Israeli bombing of a blue-helmet post in southern Lebanon. He and his moribund minions might want to consider how their own foolishness fits into the matter.
Plenty of sharp analysis out there, and my links to it would probably be pretty redundant given the thorough way the blogosphere scopes these things out, so herewith a few short personal observations, in no particular order:
1.) Lebanon has never developed a strong sense of national identity, even though its longtime citizens do feel that there is a quintessentially Lebanese character. At this sad juncture, however, there’s just not a lot of soveregnty to respect. The Lebanese couldn’t expel or, better yet, obliterate Hezbollah, so now they must watch their infrastructure be upended by Israel.
2.) John Bolton is the only worthwhile thing about the United Nations. I’m not indulging in hyperbole here.
3.) The fact that Iranian officials witnessed the North Korean missile launches is big.
4.) The West, and the United States in particular, can’t afford to focus solely on the front of the day in this conflagration. It’s all of a piece and the situations that our media put on the momentary back burner come back to claim our attention. This cycle time for a situation’s back-burner status will continue to shorten.
It was intense, as I’d expected, but a rare gem of an experience which has profoundly impacted my life. Here’s some pix:
1.) A Typical Faculty Concert
We had these every evening after dinner. Here is Dave Stryker on guitar and Bobby Shew on trumpet, among others.
2.) Me with Corey Christiansen and Fred Hamilton
Corey is head on new-product development for Mel Bay Publications and Fred is a jazz-studies professor at North Texas U. They were among the guitar faculty; I took master classes from them.
3.) Me with Jim Rotondi (trumpet) and Bill Overton (tenor sax)
Faculty that I had the honor of jamming with.
I’ll be away from blogging until next Friday. Tomorrow morning I head out to the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshop at the University of Louisville. It’s something I do every year. World-class faculty, eating, sleeping, breathing music. Theory, ear training, combo practice, master classes. A guy I met last year described it as taking a drink from a fire hose. It’s intense, for sure, but it always boosts my playing to a new level. I’m sure I’ll have lots of stories to tell (and maybe pix / video) late next week.
I’ve told The Lovely and Talented Mrs. Q for several days that it was important to me to eat a hot dog on the 4th of July. She was respectful and supportive, even though The Great American Sandwich doesn’t interest her at all. (And I’m not a hot dog freak. It never occurs to me to have one any other day of the year. In fact, if I were really going to do it right, I suppose I would also insist on a side of potato salad, but having a lifelong aversion to eggs, I never touch the stuff.)
Anyway, it was amazing how unavailable hot dogs were on our nation’s birthday. Of course, the chain places that carry other classic American dishes – hamburgers, fried chicken – don’t serve hot dogs. I tried a couple of locally owned places that are rather well-known for them: Becker’s Root Beer Stand and Musillami’s Drive-In. Both closed.
Finally went to the store and got some buns and dogs. Came home, fired up the grill and had a gastronomic celebration of my God-bestowed liberty fit for a – well, U.S. citizen. Thinly sliced red onion, mustard (I know, it should have been the yellow ball-park kind, but all I had was dijon), relish, banana peppers and celery salt.
Now it’s off to the beach. We’ll put on my compilation CD of classic American party music for the ride. First few tunes:
Stars and Stripes Forever – United States Marine Band
Dancin’ In The Streets – Martha & the Vandellas
Hey Good Lookin’ – Hank Williams
One O’Clock Jump – Count Basie Orchestra
Da Doo Ron Ron – the Crystals
Flamingo – Earl Bostic
Sugar Magnolia – The Grateful Dead
The whole thing is that kind of stuff.
Hope everyone is having a fine, free holiday. Don’t forget to read Mr. Jefferson’s thunderous document. Out loud. Like I did to The Lovely & Talented Mrs. Q before she got out of bed this morning.
I probably wouldn’t have seen the new Supe flick anyway, but now I damn sure won’t. (Scroll through the comments after Debbie Schlussel’s post. It’s an interesting exchange.)
Hee hee. I just love putting these up here. This guy’s a climatologist at MIT.
Right in the middle of the controversy over its treasonous divulging of the secret bank-tracking program, the NYT just happens to do a piece – with a detailed photo of Rumsfeld’s driveway – on The Maryland vacation homes of the SecDef and VP Cheney in its Escapes section. And now Huffington Post is getting into the here’s-where-they-live act. Michelle Malkin has the details.
