GELFAND’S WORLD-There is a new Hillary Clinton scandal that just came up. Unlike so many others, this one is legitimate and comes complete with Hillary's own signature. As Jonathan Allen details in a Vox article, Hillary Clinton's recent financial statement shows that she has been getting paid huge fees by some of America's biggest corporations. Ostensibly, these payments were for giving speeches. But is Qualcomm interested enough in Hillary's management advice to present her with a check for $335,000? How about General Electric, which paid $225,000?
As Allen details, Hillary and Bill Clinton together "cleared $25 million on the lecture circuit over the last 16 months . . . " Bill was awarded $660,000 for a pair of speeches to Oracle. Hillary got $451,000 for a pair of speeches to a company called Salesforce.com.
It doesn't take a lettered political science writer to find fault with this kind of wheeling and dealing. Some of America's most powerful corporate bodies have paid to develop an inside track to the person who has a good shot at being the next President of the United States. For Oracle and GE, the sums are chump change. To you and me, it is a lot of money.
To the American voter, this will look like influence buying, and at a most raw level.
Within the Democratic Party, the Hillary Clinton candidacy has been viewed as the freight train barreling down the tracks. Nothing and nobody is expected to have a chance to stop it. I wonder. It's true that Hillary has been making serious efforts to solidify her chances in Iowa and New Hampshire, but will the voters buy into the bought candidate?
There are two questions that face Democratic voters. Is this story important? Is there an alternative?
From the liberal standpoint, it's critically important that the Republicans not win the presidency in 2016, because the next president is likely to get somewhere between two and four appointments to the Supreme Court. We're looking at saying goodby to voting rights, reproductive freedom, and any possible control over the issue of campaign contributions, should that unhappy event occur.
In addition, it's fair to point out that the conservative side has built its own system for making payments to Republican candidates, particularly those who lose, retire, or are forced from office due to a scandal. All those well paying jobs at the conservative foundations, for example, provide a soft cushion.
But arguing that the Republicans are just as bad is not a terribly convincing campaign position.
Is there an alternative? The liberal side loves Elizabeth Warren, but she continues to explain that she is not running. If Hillary were to withdraw, perhaps she would jump right in, but absent that event, it seems highly unlikely. Maybe the Iowa equivalent of a write-in for Warren would start to move the goal posts. There is also the former governor of Maryland and the former Senator from Virginia. I can remember the name of one of them.
●●●
A different drum and a novel art form
Live readings can be exciting or dull, depending on who is reading what. But suppose you were to take an ee cummings text and combine it with a percussion solo. How about having the drummer do both the words and the percussion? Nick Terry of the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet did just that in his May 16 performance with Jacaranda Music. The combination of the reading and the drumming becomes another art form entirely. It's not just the rhymes, and not just the snap, but something more than the two. The piece, titled Five Intermezzi, and composed by Veronika Krausas, also included texts by Kandinsky, Robert Lax, and Gwendolyn MacEwan. One other part of Five Intermezzi involved Terry doing a drum solo without the drum, imitating the drum by using words and sounds instead of the instrument itself. There is a certain element of humor in this technique, as Albert Brooks showed a few decades ago.
This was just one of half a dozen modern percussion pieces in Jacaranda's program titled Fits & Starts, but probably the one that was most accessible to the non-musician. After the performance, Nick Terry graciously discussed his work with listeners, explaining that modern classic percussion involves a different sort of music than what one hears from the violins and flutes, etc. It is a more abstract sort of thing, where the meaning doesn't take on the obvious emotionality of orchestral music written to be happy or to be sad.
I think that the word fun better describes what these percussion pieces can be, at least when they are, indeed, fun. There were moments that seemed to be more abstract and less fun, but the substantial crowd of practiced musicians took to the elements of the concert enthusiastically.
The take home lesson that came from talking with the musicians and composers is that there is a lively Los Angeles scene for classical composition, and it includes some young and enthusiastic people.
●●●
{module [1177]}
A sad note: John Farrell, 63
The longtime drama and music critic John Farrell passed away last week at the age of 63. His work was featured in the LA News Group papers such as the Daily Breeze, as well as the Random Lengths News, He had been a good friend to the arts, particularly in the harbor and south bay areas, encouraging the work of new groups and old companies alike. He was instantly recognizable as the enormous man wearing the top hat, and of late using a cane. Tributes to John are available online, including one in RLN which discusses his south bay roots.
Many of us used to enjoy chatting with John after performances, discussing the good and the bad, what worked and what didn't. John was encouraged by the remarkable growth in local theater, which obviously had a personal meaning to him, considering his San Pedro and Long Beach roots.
(Bob Gelfand writes on culture and politics for CityWatch. He can be reached at [email protected])
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 41
Pub: May 19, 2015
