Julius Raymond wrote: > <clip> That bit about Jay-Z you wrote has me feeling you better already..
Still working on Jay-Z's oeuvre... and trying to figure out exactly who Ludacris' "Move Bitch, get out the way" is directed to, and why. > <clip> and I said: > > > > I am about to see Wagner's Die Walkure > > which features murder, incest, and racism. Is it a great classic of > > western music or do we judge it by Eminem standards? to which Julius responded: > Um, what? You've lost me. I am waiting for Lynne Cheney and Tipper Gore to unite in having congressional hearings on how Wagner is everything you have said below, and thus his music should be banned, or at the least, warnings must be printed on each album. The old joke about 2LiveCrew is always appropriate: had they said in Italian, they'd be acclaimed as genius on every classical musical station in the country. > You're not defending Wagner now, are you? The > severely disturbed German 19th century composer, author, virulent racist > and anti-Semite, whose operas are rife with thinly veiled racist and > anti-Semitic subtexts? Die Walkure is a "great classic of western music" > like _Mein Kampf_ is a classic of western literature. I am not disagreeing at all, and I am going to see Walkure. It was only in 1997 that I finally went to see Wagner for the first time (someone else bought the ticket) precisely because what you say is correct, if understated, he was literally a father of Nazi culture. But eventually I thought the opera was going to be done anyway whether I went or not and I am always the one who argues that we should experience everything, maybe especially when we know what it is about, and so I saw Flying Dutchman. If Walkure hadn't have been included in the ticket package I got I wouldn't be going and I expect to gather material first hand for the next time I get into an argument with someone who says that Wagner is *not* what you say, and I say, he is. And to be fair, there are people who love Wagner totally for the music, who miss all the other stuff, they just don't hear it not because they block it but because they simply do not hear anything but the music. And then there is James Levine of the Met who champions Wagner purely on a musical basis. Still haven't figured that one out. > I wouldn't be caught > dead at a Wagner performance. Jesus Christ, Vince. That shit is > concentrated evil. I'll confine my sympathy for the devil to the Rolling > Stones tour, thank you. :-) The Stones tour was fine and Jagger sang Sympathy in fine voice. > I mean, Eminem couldn't even pronounce "Wagner." I suspect he could! :-) There is some great musicianship underlying his beats, but there I go getting started again.... > > > With love, if not tenderness, right back at you! Vince
