Word has come that Senator Tom Coburn (R) of Oklahoma has successfully pushed through an amendment to the currently debated Senate version of the stimulus package (which his website calls the “Generational Theft Act”) that would, among other things, prohibit any funding (via the bill) of institutions including “theaters, museums, and arts centers”.
So take a moment and send word to your represenatives in Congress via this page.
Coburn’s daughter is a classically trained soprano, but his stance is hardly surprising considering that Republicans will push through anti-gay legislation even if their son/daughter is gay or lesbian, so this seems pretty trivial by comparison.
Sarah Coburn is actually going to sing in Portland Opera’s production of Rigoletto in May 2009 – maybe we should get a crowd of partisan opera buffs to boo her after her big aria in protest of her father’s obstreperousness – what do you think?
29 replies on “hardly a surprise”
Nah, it’s not her fault… she probably feels the same way that we do!
Coburn strikes me as the kinda guy that would probably vote “yes”on a financial bailout package for a sagging Hummer dealership.
What a punk.
At least he finally lost the Mt. Hood wilderness fight.
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/01/senate_votes_to_increase_prote.html
Charles –
Your suggestion that “partisan opera buffs boo [Sarah Coburn] after her big aria,” in her upcoming appearance in a major role with Portland Opera, is completely idiotic, and you know it. Maybe you were being funny and facetious?
Heaven help us all if each audience member were to rain catcalls on every musician onstage with whom they had political disagreements. Not a single damn note would ever be heard.
Yes, Senator Tom Coburn’s amendment is stupid and a complete waste of legislative energy, but to yoke his daughter’s professional career to her father’s political machinations is tenuous, and a waste of space on your otherwise generally erudite blog.
Hey Stephen, yes, it was almost entirely in jest, but were arts advocates to become militant and extreme, it would take an even less tenuous connection to warrant a demonstration, however. In Italian opera houses, it would be taken as a matter of course, with paid hecklers/advocates vocally fighting it out after each big aria…
You were kidding about that last part, weren’t you?
No, Bob, it crossed my mind too. Why is it considered “civil” to strive to strangle the arts from the puny funds they receive from the government and “uncivil” to boo for political reasons. What here father does (or try to do) is much more harmful than booing a B singer in a B house (couldn’t resist, sorry)
Having said all that, I suspect Alicia is right…So, no booing is probably called for, but it’s a legitimate thought.
Charles, can you install some kind of spell check?
Was there something especially egregious? I do have built-in spell check on my computer – did something slip through the cracks?
Opera is “alive” in Italy in a way that is different. I was at a performance in Paris, at the Palais Garnier never the less, where people booed a dance performance of a well known choreographer for the lack of music (it was done in silence) when at the same time another segment of the audience shouted “a la porte” (ie get out if you don’t like it!) It was quite thrilling.
Of course Steven is right, if not because last thing we need is rabid conservatives shouting at performances of (mostly liberal) artists. It sounds to me however that it is these conservatives that are always vocal and and not us. Sad.
I am so careless, I mean Stephen.
Coburn-Baby-Burn.
Bob – LOL!!
SMB – well, truth be told, i like the occasional, “in real time,” musical scandal. aren’t we all jealous reading about the “Rite of Spring” premiere? don’t we all wish we could have been there? granted, that’s not the same sort of situation as a potential Coburn booing, but heck, give Charles credit for trying to inject some “vitality” into the, often flaccid, opera world.
anyway, here are a few musical scandals that i have enjoyed:
1/ a Brian Ferneyhough work was premiered @ Darmstadt a few years back. the performers were roundly applauded for their virtuosic performance (Brian writes the hardest “stuff” out there). then, when the composer came to the stage for a bow, he was booed with vigor. personally, i appreciate giving performers credit when they try their best to energize a bad piece.
2/ Stephen Albert (RIP) told me that about a half hour or so into one of Steve Reich’s works in Boston that an audience member cried out from the balcony, “I confess!”
3/ Messiaen told us that he was hit over the head with an umbrella by an irate concertgoer at the premiere of “Chronochromie.” apparently, Olly was heading towards the stage to shake the conductor’s hand when a bloke gave him a solid whack while stentorially informing him that his new work was, “vachement de la merde.”
4/ Kronos SQ played a singularly awful piece of tripe by Michael Daugherty in Seattle that was greeted with a one-word summation bellowed forth at the work’s end, “CRAP.” a woman close by shot back at the heckler, “if you don’t like it, buddy, LEAVE.” The SQ players looked sheepishly at each other and smiled.
5/ A work for “whistler and tape delay” was offered up one night at the U. of Victoria by Canadian composer, Martin Arnold. The first few minutes of the piece were magical. However, ’round about the 20-minute mark, the work’s novelty had long worn off. It was at this point that two amateur whistlers in the hall started to whistle along. The piece ended shortly thereafter. Following the performance, the whistler approached the rude duo and asked them why they had behaved thusly. Their response was that they were honestly convinced that the piece would go on UNTIL the audience joined in.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
OK, OK, I was the “Crap-Caller” and one of the two audience sparrows. So far, those are the only two concerts that have gotten a participatory rise out of me. I look forward to the next occasion . . .
My father was a bigot and a homophobe. If you’d rather not wait until May to vent your spleens, you’re more than welcome to show up to one of my pre-opera talks–they’re the ones in the B opera house, Nikos–and boo me. We’ve got a show on Thursday.
Bob – was your father also a US Senator involved in making policy decisions that affect many thousands (at least) of people?
Bob – i wonder what your dad would’ve thought about you giving a pre-performance, pep-talk about a homosexual-pedophile’s opera?
Charles–no, he wasn’t. And even if he had been, why should I be held responsible for his views or opinions? Honor (or guilt) by association is a particularly invidious type of logical fallacy, one that the Republicans have mastered over the past few years. Just ask Barack Obama.
Bob–to be honest, I really couldn’t care less what he would have thought about it.
Bob – look, I wasn’t serious, and I said so in my reply to SMB, and I wasn’t the one that called Portland Opera a “B” company, either. Also, in deference to Ms. Coburn, I found it to be very ironic that a senator who was advocating eliminating a major chunk of arts funding from the stimulus bill had a daughter who was a classical performer (and apparently a very well-respected one) and who most likely benefited every single day from government support of the arts. I think we should all step down from our high horses and just take a breath and realize that what this whole discussion is really about is the near subterranean priority that the arts receive from our government, from the top down.
So looking forward to meeting all of you in May.
He is from Oklahoma! The state of bigots, bigots and more bigots. They seem to me to be comprised of descendants of illiterate, ignorant KKK Texans. He and Sally Kern exemplify an unique Oklahoman style reminiscent of of mid-east Arab fundamentalism. I look forward to seeing the day when the citizens of Oklahoma cease electing 9th century thinking jerks to represent them.
Ron – that’s not exactly the kind of “discourse” that I expect on my blog, but I don’t feel like I should censor you, either, so your comment has been posted. Please don’t post again.
Actually, it might be better if you just meet me at the stage door after the performace, and punch me in the stomach. That makes just about as much sense. See you soon!
Bob – good to know that you’re your own man. My pop was from Arkansas and had a goodly smattering of bigot in him, as well. Like you, I don’t really care what he thought – or would think – of my activities. Or do I?
Anyway, I’m a huge Britten fan and appreciate “y’all” doing his work. He was a fabulous composer.
Ron – as a 1/16th Oklahoma Choctaw, I hope you don’t think Coburn speaks for me! 🙂
Now, let’s pool our penny ante pockets together and see if we can help out the USA art scene out. Imagine if we each wrote checks for $50-100 (all MILLION + of us that bemoan the current low funding priority given arts in this country). Then, there could be some sort of centralized, grassroots, “people’s art fund” that would disburse the windfall. Oh well, it’s a nice fantasy . . .
Would Angela Georghiou or Debbie Voight or Karita Matilla sing with the PO even for double their usual fee? If the answer to that question is yes, then Bob you are not a “B House”. Having said all that, seeing billions of dollars going to greedy bankers and Opera Houses around the country ( A and B or C) threatening to close or drastically scale down for lack of a few million (aka as pocket change in the financial sector) is outrageous.
I have heard Sarah Coburn is a rising star and more power to her and we are lucky to have her sing here and no one in their right mind would actually “boo” her for something she is not responsible.
But it is striking that Sen Coburn would in effect consider the performing arts a wasteful pursuit of the liberal elite, as if the jobs that are associated with this sector of the economy are expendable.
Charles, in fact, you didn’t say you were kidding – you said “it was almost entirely in jest,” which means you were partly serious.
If you regret the comment now, you should say so outright.
We all know what you meant Charles, let’s not be hollier than thou with political correctness.
Stephen – you’re acting as if I called for her to be assassinated, or the production boycotted, or the building fire-bombed. As if you’ve never said anything inflammatory in your writing. Please.
Sarah – tell ya what, I’ll vote for YOU in the Playboy poll if you promise to try talkin’ some sense to that dad-gum fool pappy of yours.
Deal?