|
The Broad Street Review, the online complaining about the Barnes Foundation journal, recently updated, according to an email I got earlier today. This reminded me about Dan Coren’s review of electronic music, where he attended the Electro-Music Festival in Cheltenham. Or, rather, he was going to, but:
We figured we’d take in the Sunday session. Alas, the Fates had other ideas. While dressing on Saturday morning, I got my foot caught in the leg of my underwear and hopped left when I should have gone right, throwing my back into spasms beyond anything I’d experienced in years. As soon as it happened, I knew I was in for a weekend of three-I’s time— ice packs, Ibuprofen and immobility.
Fortunately, he was able to watch online and write the article anyway. Whoo!
After the jump, comparisons of the Barnes Foundation move to slavery and the death of Jesus. Double whoo!
Meanwhile, editor Dan Rottenberg compares the move of the Barnes Museum to slavery and the crucifixion of the Lord:
“Why are your contributors still debating the merits of moving the Barnes Foundation to Center City?” several people have asked me lately. “It’s a done deal! Let’s move on!” [...] The “done deal” argument was used by abortion advocates after Roe v. Wade, by segregation advocates after Plessy v. Ferguson, and by slavery advocates after the Dred Scott decision. In each case it was presumed that a Supreme Court decision would settle the issue once and for all, but the opposite occurred, because ultimately “done deals” don’t cure the queasy feeling that persists in people’s stomachs regardless of what their leaders tell them. On the contrary, “done deal” logic tends to stiffen resistance to the deal at hand, as Pontius Pilate discovered 2,000 years ago. (“Why are you people still worshipping this guy? He’s dead! It’s a done deal!”)
I’m really beginning to think the Broad Street Review is actually some sort of parody magazine — along the lines of brilliant comedian Michelle Malkin — where actual arguments about art/culture/whatever are replaced by inane comparisons to Jesus and Nazis.
Over on the letters page, the some people — surprise! — took some offense to the Jesus/slavery comparisons and they respond with a reasonable argument and — oh, fuck it, no, they just make segregation comparisons instead.
As I have patiently listened to my opponents, I have detected a whiff not of the oppressed, but of the defiant who historically have resisted changes that benefit the larger public. Their criticisms of Judge Stanley Ott and the Montgomery Orphans Court bring back memories to this boyhood Mississippian of the late Senator James Eastland’s comment: “Supreme Court or no Supreme Court, we are going to maintain segregated schools down in Dixie.”
Wait, there’s more:
Most recently, Riley offers “the public good” as the compelling reason to violate the Barnes indenture and tear a site-specific collection from its home. Do we throw open the doors of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts as well? Down with tuition and portfolios! How about making an education at Penn free and available to all comers? That’s in the public interest, too!
Uh, yeah, those ideas sound pretty good to me. Unfeasible, I guess, but if people want to pay for it like they do the Barnes Foundation move, I think it sounds great! In fact, it’d probably one of the best things to ever happen in this city. What a wacky idea!
Oh, also, that comment above is in reply to a letter directly above it, which is what my college’s humor magazine did. Eh? Eh?
Give electronic music a chance: It’s better than it sounds (seriously) [BSR]
May 23: Nazis Infiltrating City’s Classical Music Scene
|
I think I need to apply for a writing job there. I watched this incredible video of a piano playing cat that is pushing the boundaries of music.
Also, what is even better is that Scott from South Jersey is writing for The Broad Street Review in support of keeping the Barnes Foundation far from Broad Street.