Dan, I see your points. I've been on the "ass end," as you rightly put
it, of several NEA (and several *other* NEH) grants myself, so I'm not a
stranger to the institutional logic we're discussing here.
I know good things get done and good projects get supported with NEA
monies and I sure know how difficult it is to get one's project funded.
I'm working in and around such projects every day. Overall, however, let's
face it, we're not talking about a hotbed of innovation or populist
initiative either in the arts in general, or in popular music in
particular.
Again, my point is about Alejandro and it's a taste point. I find
him uninteresting. The NEA is another and more complex ball of wax....
I'm not suggesting that govt funding of the arts is somehow wrongheaded
and everything should be left to market principles. Neither am I
suggesting that getting NEA funding de facto invalidates anyone's or any
institution's work. Of course not.
If I'm the only one to perceive irony in the situation, so be it. Maybe I
have an overactive sense of humor <g>. But the day NEA funding leads to
as much good popular music as, say, Texaco Truck Stops, I'll gladly
buy you a round!
--junior, off to see Big Sandy....
