To thine own self be true

for any playgoer who wants to see a significant, serious, relevant play of significant conflicts and ideas as opposed to the empty-headed Broadway show ‘fluff’ prevalent in our declining modern theatres these days.

This is one of Miller’s best, which plays very powerfully within a tight 70 minute structure. It is about eight men in a detention room in Nazi-occupied France awaiting interrogation to decide if they will go to the death camps. This is a truly moral play about human responsibility which would likely not play well in our current time of excuses, copouts, irresponsible behaviors, and me-first.

What is awesome is the extent of honesty with which Miller explores his themes. He is especially surprising on the value of human sacrifice where it is least expected.
The 1973 tv play version from the Broadway Theatre Archives series is well-acted by Rene Auberjonois, Harris Yulin, Richard Jordan (remarkable as an Austrian prince), Andy Robinson (the psycho-killer from Dirty Harry makes an excellent confused Nazi major), and skilfully directed by Stacy Keach (an interesting actor who rose to prominence in the ’60s and ’70s).

This is must-viewing for anyone who is interested in the workings of the Holocaust and the kinds of conflicts experienced by Jews and non-Jews during that crazy time. *It is a play that is still incredibly relevant today given the rise of anti-Semitism in the West. Highly recommended and unforgettable. Miller gives hope where one least expects to find it. An intelligent play and convincing performances. Two thumbs way up.

(Our animal friends)

What kind of human-‘worse than animals’ leave a dog in a garbage bag at a Costco parking lot to freeze to death? (Probably the same kind that abandoned the bins of cats to die recently.) I have long said that people who want to own pets should be licensed or at least go through a course to make it more difficult for people to own animals, to make them more aware of what pet ownership entails, and to weed out people who should never be allowed to own pets.

The other incident in the local news here is about an American Staffordshire Terrier (part of the pit bull group) being dogsat at a house attacked a three-year-old. What is a pit bull breed doing walking around free inside a strange home? Now that it’s had a taste of a child and human skin and blood, what is the dog’s future? What is likely to happen to the owner? You’d think this was also a wake-up call to the sitters about the owner who obviously misrepresented the dog and the likely effects on their relationship.

Owning a pet, particularly a dog, requires human responsibility. The humans in these two cases failed abysmally and the result was serious trauma, injury and near-death. No, people cannot be willy-nilly trusted to own dogs. They need to be educated and screened first. The well-being of dogs and other humans (especially children) depends on it. There is far too much casualness and unreliability about too many dog owners. Animal abuse and cruelty are some of the worst of human behaviors.

(a rare folk-rock  performance with students and girl singer of Dylan songs at McNally in the ’70s)

(‘Fudgeing it’ with Fudge, my ’90s teacher trio, in the Scona Room at a packed noon-hour concert in the ’90s)

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continues to be the non-mainstream genres of classical and jazz. By some estimates, the former is only listened to by 1% of North Americans and by 2% for jazz. These challenging genres have become outside the average listening scope of today’s music fans which accounts for fewer jazz releases and the decline in symphonies. I listen to them for mental, emotional, and especially spiritual nourishment. I particularly enjoy the freedom and unorthodoxy of jazz, with which I maintain a strong unseen, umbilical connection.

Personal notes: When I was in elementary and junior high, my favorite music was pop. Folk music was a big part of my life from 1965 to 1973. I performed it from 1967 to ’72. When I was in high school and university, I listened to rock mostly, peaking with The Who, The Yardbirds, Hendrix and The Cream. I played rock from 1973 to 2002 in public as a part of many bands, most which I was the leader for.

(the nifty 2 disc Criterion version of, arguably, Roeg’s best film)

My favorite Roeg is the classic Don’t Look Now, based on a Daphne du Maurier novel, starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland. A beautiful dark suspenseful film built on mystery and coincidences in Venice. Very arty, clever, and spooky.

History Channel used to do actual programming squarely about history, but has lost its original purpose and mandate for some time now. This likely reflects a corporate decision to survive by playing to lowbrow, ‘redneck’ instincts and passions reflected in shows like Rust Valley Restorers, Counting Cars, American Pickers, Pawn Stars, and Ice Road Truckers. These are the glandular and money-centered shows its current fans now watch and prefer over ‘boring-ass’ historical content and academic discovery.

This massive shift is also likely due to a decline in tv viewers and people in general who are interested in history, period. All part of the decline of people’s interest in the past because of the increase in e-technology and personal phones which isolate users from the world and its larger long-term perspectives. The interest today, by and large, is simply, reductionistly, in Now and Me. Thus, History Channel’s adaptation using a crasser, glandular, materialistic  approach. And voila, a channel with a completely misleading, misnomer name which is perfect for our distracting/distracted times.

has a mind of its own. (E.g., when Apple e-mail starts substituting unintended words and spellings or when line spacings cannot be redone.)
It sometimes/often doesn’t automatically line up with human intents and purposes.
And yes, technology can be a terrible taskmaster and tyrant.

(cover by John Eyre, 1900 E.P. Dutton ed.)

Author of “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, once considered the best-known poem in the English language. Took Gray 9 years to write. General Wolfe who won Quebec from the French in 1763 said just before entering the battle that “I would rather be the author of those lines than take Quebec.”

“The curfew tolls the knell of parting day…”

“The short and simple annals of the poor”

“The paths of glory lead but to the grave”

“Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire”

“Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air”

“Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife”

“And melancholy marked him for her own”

As true and beautiful as ever over two centuries later. A great perspective and overview of life. The paths of Trump, celebrities, ordinary people, and the poor still lead but to the grave. The roles of chance and luck of various kinds in determining one’s life. The never-ending ongoing brevity of life in the great scheme of things, even today.

(from the 1883 ed. by Estes & Lauriat)

The last survivor of the 1921 Tulsa race riots who lived a good/great life after this terrible tragedy the governments have never apologized for. An impressive role model for her people and yet another tragedy in the history of race relations in the States. Story in The Washington Post today.

The day when millions of obsessed shoppers ‘lose it’ to get a deal, conformingly and egoically defining themselves in purely materialistic terms.