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Monday, March 9, 2015

The Writer's Life 3/9 - Pros & Cons

I always get a kick out of the odd coincidences that sometimes occur during a session of the floating book shop. Marsha is a big fan of Danielle Steel. I knew she would scoop up the two paperbacks I had on display -- if she hadn't read them. As she was digging into her purse for her wallet, a gentleman approached and handed me two pristine Steel hardcovers, neither of which Marsha had read. My thanks to both.

Here's the third of four essays I recently found on old floppy discs. It's at least ten years old but an argument that will always hold true. It's about a five-minute read:



Liberal Artists, Conservative Consumers

   One of the many blessings of the computer age is the ability to upload and download music. I've purchased about 75 songs from itunes, a mere fraction of what others acquired for free in Napster's heyday. I've uploaded many, many more from my own CD's and those I borrow from friends. So far, I've burned 14 discs for the car. It's wonderful to drive with the windows rolled up and music playing.
   Every now and then I recall a track I've yet to transfer from my cassette collection. Modern music has become secondary to my passion for the Great American Songbook as interpreted not only by past generations but contemporary artists as well. Fortunately, the dust occasionally lifts from my middle age brain and I recall gems from the rock 'n roll era I've come to neglect. Some of these, perhaps most, were written and performed by artists whose politics I despise. This contempt holds true for the views of most actors and writers in film and television. What's a conservative to do -- boycott those whose politics he does not respect? That won't work. For one, it seems 90% of artists are liberals. The remaining 10% won't provide enough entertainment in an era in which we are blessed with so much leisure time. There are only so many Charlton Heston and Tom Selleck movies. As for the majority, whose outspokenness is often so annoying, they contribute not only entertainment but a thriving enterprise that helps the economy. Although many would probably be loath to admit it, there can be no art without commerce. When Michael Jackson was criticized for purchasing and then selling pieces of the Beatles' catalog to advertisers, I recalled having first heard Etta James' beautiful At Last in a car commercial. I also recalled a hilarious send up of I Pagliacci by one of the fast food chains. Even Dave Brubeck's haunting jazz standard, Take Five, has been used to sell cars, indirectly introducing it to thousands if not millions of new listeners.
   Excuse me, I’ve digressed. The key to this issue is finding common ground with artists whose politics is grating. As I was driving along in Brooklyn the other day, Joan Baez's Diamonds and Rust, recently downloaded, came through the speakers. I hadn't listened to it in years, since I first began conversion. It is believed to be about her feelings for Bob Dylan and is one of the most moving odes to lost love in the modern canon. I was not completely sure of the lyrics, but my eyes glazed as she sang: "Now I see you standing with brown leaves falling and snow in your hair/ Now you're smiling out the window of that crummy hotel over Washington Square/ Our breath comes out white clouds, mingles and hangs in the air/ Speaking strictly for me we both could have died then and there." It is a poetry that makes beauty of deep despair. Many of us have probably felt like that at some point in our lives. The piece is written and delivered with an elegance and poignancy that has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with humanness. I cannot name another Baez song. It doesn't matter. This lone piece made an indelible mark on life. It dwarfs her activism, although I doubt, many years removed from that love, she would agree.
   Is there a bigger blowhard in the entertainment industry than Alec Baldwin? Fortunately, his real work somewhat offsets his irritating outspokenness. In film he is at best, appropriately, as a reprehensible bully (Glengarry Glen Ross, The Cooler). Perhaps the roles weren't much of a stretch for him. However, he delivered at least two hilarious performances (Schwede Balls and Greenhilly) in sketches on Saturday Night Live. Anyone in search of a good laugh should seek them out.
   Another SNL mainstay, now (then) liberal talkmeister, Al Franken, was memorable in his lampoon of the Reagan years, which the media dubbed the “Me Decade.” Many imitated his signature line, delivered with a goofy smile: "Me, Al Franken." It's a pity he did not reprise the bit in the '90's when the Dow and Nasdaq were soaring on what in some cases turned out to be creative bookkeeping on the part of corporations. His reluctance couldn't have been due to the fact that a Democrat was in the White House, could it? Nah! I have more than a few stocks I'd like to sell him.
   I've been a fan of Joni Mitchell since the '70's. I'm not sure where she is politically, although I'd guess it's left. Fortunately, the period of her music I most revere, the run of albums Court and Spark, The Hissing of Summer Lawns and Hejira, is free of politics. In my first novel I used Song for Sharon to help reveal a troubled young woman's state of mind. I used Help Me and Centerpiece in one yet to be published. These songs and others like Coyote and Car on a Hill offer extraordinary insight into the soul. "Help me, I'm fallin' in love too fast/ It's got me hoping for the future and worrying about the past." In Car on a Hill she sings: "He makes friends easy, he's not like me/ I watch for judgment anxiously." This simple couplet summarizes precisely the difficulty of relationships. These songs will outlast the burning issues of the day, perhaps with the exception of abortion. Recently, Mitchell contacted the child she gave up for adoption many years ago. She found she is a grandmother. It was a heartwarming story. Of course, the devil in me immediately wondered about her position on abortion. Lance Armstrong's mother was 15, I believe, when she had him, actress Debi Mazar's mother was too. Here are three cases that form a compelling argument against abortion, yet it wouldn't surprise me if all three of these gifted people are pro-abortion. A man in upstate New York has created controversy by posting pictures of aborted fetuses in the window of his establishment. It is not something I would do, although I've always thought an abortion should be broadcast once in prime time on every channel from coast to coast to make sure everyone knows what occurs. I'd guess people wouldn't watch, as most know what it entails and would rather not think about it or rationalize it as only the removal of tissue. The man in New York obviously believes it involves more than that. If it is simply a medical procedure, why would anyone object to pictures of it?
   Again, I’ve digressed. U2's The Edge, a brilliant guitarist, is riled that Bono would break bread with George Bush. His position disappoints me, but it does not diminish my admiration for his searing work on numbers like The Fly, The End of the World and many others. I'm sure he is generous. I hope he gives all his riches toward the Socialist ideal in which he apparently believes. However, all his charity will mean nothing if his beneficiaries fail to embrace free market principles. There is an art to creating wealth, as there is to creating music and literature, and it must continually be created if a society is to thrive. It cannot create itself, despite the planet's abundant natural resources. Repeated donations used strictly to be consumed offer only temporary relief. There must be personal investment in education and ideas. Christianity is interpreted as Socialism by many, but it is often said: "The Lord helps those who help themselves." It will always come down to that in the end.
   Bette Midler claims to owe her career to homosexuals, who spread word of the lively bathhouse performances she gave when she was starting out. Is it wise to dismiss her work because of an advocacy of the gay lifestyle? Life would be less absent her touching rendition of Amanda McBroom's The Rose, another of the great ballads of the rock era. "Just remember in the winter/ far beneath the snows/ lies the seed that with the sun's love/ in the spring becomes the rose." Her live performances are legendary. I was fortunate to have had my VCR rolling when she did a rousing version of a Sophie Tucker song on The Arsenio Hall Show. "Pretty legs, great big knockers....that's what keeps 'em comin' back for more." She had the house rocking – no politics, just bawdy fun.
   I used to experience a sense of inadequacy in not appreciating the gifts of Barbra Streisand. Her outbursts have long since cured me of that silliness. I find her singing as annoying as her politics, despite the purity of her voice. And her presence on the big screen has always left me unimpressed, sometimes beleaguered. I haven't watched any of her films of the past two decades. Perhaps someday she'll make one whose subject interests me. Of course, this doesn't mean conservatives shouldn't enjoy her talents. Music, especially that of the Great American Songbook, is a common ground we all may share. Conservatives can both repudiate the views and appreciate the work of liberal artists. Granted, it isn't always easy to cut slack to the most outspoken of the lot. However, when they aren't politicking, they sometimes shed light on the human condition or provide relief from the trials of it. At least they're good for something.
   What do you think? 

Vic's 5th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/okxkwh5Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tinyurl.com/pdxwsnt
Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp
Vic's Horror Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f
Vic's Web Site: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/

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