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Greer Grimsley force of nature and Valentine to opera fans Part III: Stand by me
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Greer Grimsley: the arts are conduits
Greer sent me a great new video of Stand by Me. It’s street musicians from Greer's hometown of New Orleans but then . . . The video crew goes around the world taping musicians chiming in, including a cellist performing alone on a square in Russia, Native Americans, South Africans, South Americans, French, Brazilians, Dutch, Venezuelans, Congons . . . It’s an outgrowth of the documentary from New Orleans called Playing for Change. Greer says, I went to the website and it seems they fund arts programs in third world countries. Very nice!
I am all for making the world smaller.
I said, if street musicians can do it, can the opera world?
Greer says a classical version? Hmmm.
Here's the Youtube video of Stand by Me from Playing for Change.
As for universality, I asked Greer if he thought it possible for a classical production to be performed with singers and musicians from all over the world. Tape one section in one country, have the next country perform along to the tape of it, then blend them all together. Even wilder would be a global simulcast.
Just to get the parade started, here's the writer at Mardi Gras. Recognize the parading Krewe of St. Anne? It's a riverside ceremony called the Blessing of the River where revelers sprinkle the ashes of a dearly departed one into the eternally flowing Mississippi.
When I worked with producer and director Ron Yager at WLAE TV/PBS, he said the future of music is the internet. He would go to the House of Blues and transmit live shows. He let me interview musicians for the internet at JazzFest 2000.
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Moreover I used to hear about the state of the city when I worked in New Orleans at the PBS station, WLAE TV. The mayor Mark Morial would come in for his talk show. Photo from studio at Notre Dame Seminary uptown on Carrollton, December 1999, the writer with Mayor Mark Morial.
The mayor’s father, also a mayor, is entombed in a crypt next to voodoo priestess Marie LaVeau just outside the French Quarter. Here's the writer biking to Marie's crypt at St. Louis #1, March 2001.
Speaking of which. The Congresswoman Cynthia would come into WLAE also. I learned New Orleans was once the murder capital of the country. The Louisiana public education system remained the worst in the country. New Orleans was the worst in Louisiana. Domestic violence permeated Louisiana as did poverty. This was pre-Katrina, pre-9/11. This is where jazz and blues come from. And Greer Grimsley.
Greer also noted that he had three Salomes lined up this year but one opera house closed. He’s going to Vancouver before he performs Salome in San Francisco in October but Orange County closed. He said he called and they had just shut the doors, there was nobody there. Usually there’s a sign they are going under he says. They start selling things off? But this one was just gone.
Making your voice heard in Washington DC
If anybody wishes to voice support for the arts, that's what members of Congress are there for. A field worker Megan Miller at Barbara Boxer's in San Francisco tells me it's best to make as personal phone call. Second best, writing a personal letter, no form letters. Constituents can even ask for new legislation to be drafted to support arts programs. Further, a staffer at Dianne Feinstein's said it's often more effective to contact your House representative rather than a senator because there are fewer senators and they tend to be swamped.
So here are some links to help make such contact, especially while the stimulus package is getting the final touches. Also, when I was applying to be a US diplomat with the Foreign Service (State Department), the diplomat in residence at UC Berkeley said if you want anything done, go to the Washington DC office. Indeed, your Congressman or woman should have a legislative counsel in Washington DC.
You can ask your Congressman to talk to Paulsen, the Secretary of the Treasury, about arts funding in the stimulus plan, for example.
You may find your House representative on line at
https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
and send US mail or email via http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml
For example US House of Representatives Congressman Pete Stark is in Fremont, Alameda County.
FREMONT
39300 Civic Center Dr.
Suite 220
Fremont, CA 94538
510-494-1388
510-494-5852 (fax)
http://www.house.gov/stark/
WASHINGTON, DC
239 Cannon Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-5065
You can find and track legislation yourself too at http://www.govtrack.us/congress/ or at http://thomas.loc.gov.
How a Bill Becomes a Law
http://www.votesmart.org/resource_govt101_02.php
Also one may take one's cue from what Greer says about funding for the arts, from Part II of these features.
Again, he says:
On a somewhat related subject, I heard McCain speak on the floor of the Senate. He was pushing for his version of the "stimulus bill" and brought up the fact he thought 50 million dollars for the Arts in America was frivolous. If you split that up to the whole nation that is 1 million per state. I million per state for Symphony , Ballet , Theater, Opera. Nationwide, that relatively small amount works out to about $6.00 dollars a year for us tax payers or fifty cents a month. We spend more for a coffee! This type of thinking fails to realize the amount of commerce surrounding these nonprofit organizations. From restaurants to hotels , stores, bars parking facilities, real estate. I argue every dollar given to the arts in any community returns its investment ten fold. A great example would be Lincoln Center in New York. Once a veritable slum, now it is one of the most sought after parts of New York.
Moreover Carla Blank has some good New Deal ideas. If you have seen the murals inside Coit Tower this is a great example of Depression Era art projects.
Update: SFO Director David Gockley says:
The organization is called Americans for the Arts. We are lobbying furiously for including $50m for the NEA and getting rid of the Senate amendment that prevents stimulus money from being spent on arts centers, etc.
To be continued.
Salome unveiled at SFO October 2009
SFO's Tosca featured in film Milk
New Orleans Photos: Cindy Warner
Photos of Greer Grimsley singing Salome with Zubin Meta;
as Oreste: Courtesy of Greer Grimsley
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