Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 164

And Next: Beethoven At the Orgy?

Not a joke:  Amazon has filmed a pilot for a 2014 series on the seamy and steamy side of classical music, based on a 2005 book, titled Mozart in the Jungle.  The rest of the book title was: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music.  A true-life look at how in the super-competitive world of NYC some musicians trade you know what for some career advancement.   Will star as a young oboist Lola Kirke with Malcolm McDowell as an older conductor threatened by a young one, seemingly modeled on Dudamel and played by the electric Gael Garcia Bernal.   And if you've missed: new film doc (which I co-produced) on the political influence of Beethoven's Ninth. 

Out of 'Time,' Snowden Won a Bigger Honor Today

Foreign Policy magazine picked Edward Snowden as its top "Global Thinker" of the year but, alas, he could not attend tonight's reception.  But he did send this message:

It's an honor to address you tonight. I apologize for being unable to attend in person, but I've been having a bit of passport trouble. Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras also regrettably could not accept their invitations. As it turns out, revealing matters of "legitimate concern" nowadays puts you on the list for more than "Global Thinker" awards. 2013 has been an important year for civil society.

As we look back on the events of the past year and their implications for the state of surveillance within the United States and around the world, I suspect we will remember this year less for the changes in policies that are sure to come, than for changing our minds. In a single year, people from Indonesia to Indianapolis have come to realize that dragnet surveillance is not a mark of progress, but a problem to be solved. We've learned that we've allowed technological capabilities to dictate policies and practices, rather than ensuring that our laws and values guide our technological capabilities.

And take notice: this awareness, and these sentiments, are held most strongly among the young--those with lifetimes of votes ahead of them. Even those who may not be persuaded that our surveillance technologies have dangerously outpaced democratic controls should agree that in democracies, surveillance of the public must be debated by the public. No official may decide the limit of our rights in secret. Today we stand at the crossroads of policy, where parliaments and presidents on every continent are grappling with how to bring meaningful oversight to the darkest corners of our national security bureaucracies. The stakes are high. James Madison warned that our freedoms are most likely to be abridged by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power. I bet my life on the idea that together, in the light of day, we can find a better balance. I'm grateful to Foreign Policy Magazine and the many others helping to expose those encroachments and to end that silence. Thank you.

American Lockdown

Another campus on lockdown after gunman allegedly spotted about 8 p.m.--and it's my daughter's old school, in D.C.   "American University officials are urging students to take shelter and the public has been instructed to stay away from the university's Northwest campus."  On its Twitter feed @AUPublicSafety link to photo at left and asked students to NOT approach and instead call them. More details coming. UPDATE:  AU sounds "all clear," says suspect in custody.  And the two at left??

Kills 4 in Texas, Gets Off -- Because He is Rich

A teen who killed four people, and injured others, while driving drunk (he also had valium in his system) just got off with probation instead of the 20-year sentence sought by prosecutors in Texas yesterday.  See heart-wrenching video below.   Defense lawyers claimed the kid suffered from "affluenza."  (Is this new coinage?) The judge explained the sentence this way--the kids parents were so wealthy he had the impression he could get away with anything so was careless.   On top of that, there's little evidence that the kid has any pangs of remorse today.  CNN story here.

Sam Cooke, R.I.P.

In the pantheon of way-too-early rock 'n roll deaths, Sam Cooke's in 1964 on this date, ranks very very near the top.  Of course Hank Williams, at 29, may top them all, but then you also have Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding (which we marked just yesterday), Gram Parsons and John Lennon (though he was years older), not to mention Kurt Cobain, among others.

Sam is a personal favorite, thanks partly to his enormously influential recordings with the Soul Stirrers--the greatest gospel (or maybe any other kind of) male singing in this half of the century.  Sam was also a groundbreaking black businessman--starting his own label, unheard of at the time!--and increasingly political at the time of his death, hanging out with great friend Muhammad Ali and Jim Brown, among others, recording "Blowin' in the Wind."   On top of all that you have the fact that he merely wrote, and recorded, perhaps the greatest song of our era, "A Change Is Gonna Come."   And was captured in two of the greatest live vocal performances ever, with the Soul Stirrers at the Shrine Aud in the early 1950s and in the Harlem Club in Miami in the early 1960s.  Other than that: not much.

The fact that he died rather sordidly--a far cry from his suave image--we will pass over for now.  Here is part one of a cool documentary (and here's part II),  and the two classic live cuts, from the sacred to the profane.  Women fainted in each case.
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Aiding Syrian Rebels: Our Bad

This must pain hawkish Michael Gordon to report for  NYT  but he's just revealed that U.S. is suspending aid to Syrian "rebels" because (what a shock) it's falling into hands of al-Qaeda and other jihadist forces.  The evil debacle that was our near war against Assad becomes ever more clear and the hawks--including NYT columnists Kristof and Keller--have yet to utter one note of apology or "my bad."  And then there are all the pro-bombers among Dems and Repubs in Congress and the usual rightwing pundits. Whether or not Seymour Hersh's reporting this week is mainly right or wrong, it seems likely that Obama decided at last-minute that indeed the case for bombing--especially since it would aid the jihadists--was weak.

South African Singers

A leading group of wonderful singers in South Africa, filmed for our new doc on Beethoven's Ninth by Kerry Candaele but unfortunately largely omitted in final cut.

A Wail of a Film

Saw Blackfish, one of the finalists of Oscar feature doc, last night--terrific and eye-opening on capture and treatment of Orcas for the SeaWorlds of the world, and danger to trainers.  Save the whales!  And save the trainers.

Best Sushi in USA? At a Price

It's pretty rare that the NYT puts a restaurant review, and photo, at top of its Web site but that's what it did late today with a rare 4-star tribute to a new sushi place in the Village, about half a block from where I once lived.  Review is fun to read--I've encountered still-jumping shrimp myself, in Japan--until you get to the $150 price.  Anyway, I mention this only because the young sushi chef was in the great recent doc Jiro Dreams of Sushi--as a petrified apprentice then.  Here's three-minute clip from the movie:

Otis at His Peak

Otis Redding died in plane crash on this date in 1967--at height of popularity with "Dock of the Bay."  Here he is in famous performance at Monterey earlier that year.  It may surprise you that the first tune, "Shake," was written by the smoother Sam Cooke (reflecting Sam's gospel and soul roots).   Then Otis refers to "this girl" who took next song and made it a hit--Aretha, that is, with "Respect."  Then for this "love crowd" he does "I've Been Loving You Too Long."