Aquarius Revisited and Worth the Trip

If you are in New York, anytime soon, go see “Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical”. The current revival of the 1967 show, feels, at first, like a cultural artifact, almost campy for those of us who remember, and like an enjoyable musical history lesson for those born later. But that’s the first act. It’s full of songs many of us will recognize, performed by an attractive cast and a band that is placed prominently on stage and knows how to rock. While most of the cast was born after “Hair” was conceived and performed originally, several members of the band are old enough to remember the 60s. The new cast recording is now available on iTunes.

With Lyrics by James Rado & Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot, what makes “Hair” so good more than 40 years after it opened on Broadway, the first time? Mainly, it’s how the music, staging, and story capture the political and social climate of the time, while entertaining us with outstanding staging, performances, and music. In the second act we find the dramatic center and emotional heart of this enduring work. The transition from “Three-Five-Zero-Zero” to “What a Piece of Work is Man,” is powerful, affecting, stagecraft. The reference to the number 3,500 comes from an Allen Ginsberg poem and refers to deaths in Vietnam. “What a Piece of Work is Man” is a song that takes lyrics from Shakespeare, and extols, in this case with sarcastic disappointment, the potential of humanity.

When I saw “Hair,” on Broadway in 1969, the subject matter was current and controversial. The performance I saw featured Barry Maguire who had a recent hit single at the time, “Eve of Destruction.” This was one year after Nixon was elected president, and also a year after Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy had been assassinated. The cultural counterpoints between Nixon in the White House and Hippies, along with many other Americans, protesting an increasingly unpopular war, gave “Hair” a prominent place in re-enforcing the need for change. The fact that several of its songs, including Aquarius, Let the Sunshine In, and the title track, all became hits on their own, added to the power and prominence of this counter-culture phenomenon. The first act ends with the actors taking off their clothes; this also added to the buzz around “Hair” when it opened in the sixties. And yes, the clothes still come off in the current production.

What is most striking to somebody like me, a fan of the show and music for 40 years, is that the audiences coming to watch today are as young and enthusiastic as I was in 1969. Rather than a bunch of people in their 50s and 60s, it’s younger audiences who seem to be making “Hair” a hit once again. And, if you’ve ever dreamed of dancing on Broadway, this is your chance. The final curtain calls include opportunities for the audience to join the cast and dance to the music.

“Hair” is one more reason to watch the Tony Awards, next Sunday (June 7th) on CBS. It’s usually the best of the awards shows, featuring performances from nominated shows. This year should be especially good, with “Hair”, “West Side Story”, and “Billy Elliot,” along with other nominated productions, supplying performances and music for the broadcast.

Ramblings about Weather, Sonia from The Bronx, and News

Cloudy Days

The morning skies are a bit darker these days as “May Gray” turns to “June Gloom” here in the lower left corner of the country. The Southern California sunshine that most of the world associates with San Diego stays hidden this time of year, along the coast, mostly in the morning. This weather offers little chance of rain or the arid winds that lead to the fires of fall. The ocean is still too cold for swimming, at least for most mortals, without a wet suit. Late spring’s darker skies mean summer’s warmer waters will be here soon, and the afternoons, even now, offer the possibility of sunny beaches and beautiful sunsets.

The seasonal changes, which are often overlooked in Southern California as too subtle to matter, remind us that we live in many worlds simultaneously. The world of nature is influenced by our actions but not controlled by what we do. Instead, we are much more likely to be controlled by hours of sunlight, water temperature, and what we need to wear in order to be comfortable. At the same time, social, political, and economic realities influence, also, in ways profound and simple. As California struggles, along with much of the country, to navigate its way through a terrible economic crisis, the macro view of a bankrupt economy the size of California’s, means personal suffering will increase as unemployment remains high, and services have to be cut. On a more personal level, the bad economy means finding new business or a job will be more difficult for some time.

A Most Worthy Justice

During the election campaign last year, I attended Camp Obama, a weekend training session for “community organizers” who would go on to lead grass-roots efforts to elect the president. One of the first things you are asked to do at Camp Obama is tell your personal story, or your “story of self.” The Obama leadership team, wisely, places great value in who you are, where you came from, and how you got to where you are today. As we’ve seen this week, with the selection of Judge Sonia Sontomayor as the president’s first choice to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, a compelling personal narrative carries much weight.

We hope Republican Senators have gotten the message that opposing somebody of Sotomayor’s judicial, and intellectual quality is a fruitless effort that will hurt the GOP more than it will hurt her nomination. Still, we can expect some challenging revelations and allegations between now and the time Judge Sotomayor is confirmed as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. Wouldn’t it be refreshing, though, if the Senate Republicans simply put the nomination on a fast track expressing their reservations but acknowledging the waste of time and taxpayer money that will be the result of serious attempts to derail her ride to the high court. This does not mean the Senate should abdicate its role in conducting a diligent and thorough process. It means the tone and approach should be businesslike and expeditious rather than contentious and petty. We shall see.

News and Communication

The continuing decline of the news media, as we knew them, should start to cause conscientious citizens--who value information and analyses they can trust--to wonder where the thinking person can turn for reliable news. We have a way to go before we lose our way completely, and there is still time to correct some of the wrong turns. But the momentum is headed in the wrong direction. With all the cutbacks at local newspapers and television stations, the news consumer is left with fewer choices, or at least different choices. In this space, we have mentioned several nascent efforts to supply so called hyper local coverage to communities whose newspapers have been downsized or eliminated. This is a good trend if the journalism they produce is worthy. Good reporting and writing require experience and talent.

As a life long advocate for freedom of expression I’m pleased to see web based technologies allowing individuals and organizations to communicate directly to people they want to reach. The theory is that the more voices expressing themselves in the marketplace of ideas, the better informed we become as citizens. As long as we understand where the information comes from and whose interests are being presented we gain from this sort of information. But when it pretends to be journalism, intrinsically fair and evenhanded, we have a problem. As media literate news consumers, it’s our responsibility to know the difference and let others know when free speech is commercial or partisan in nature. Journalism must maintain its independence in order to be valuable, whether it comes in the morning paper, the TV set, the radio, or the screen you’re reading now.

Connecting Through Failures and Glitches

During our recent trip to Europe my four year old Apple laptop started to experience "kernel panics." When this happens a gray screen pops up telling you--in four languages--to restart the computer. After a while I was able to get it to work long enough to read email and get through a few other essential tasks.

So, as soon as we got home, I made an appointment to visit the "Genius Bar," at the local Apple Store in San Diego's Fashion Valley Mall, to find out if it could be fixed. The young woman "genius" told me that for 280 dollars they would send my aged iBook out for repair and either fix it or not charge me. If they repaired it the warranty would only be for 90 days. She speculated that I had a bad Airport card or, much worse, a flawed logic board. She said that for another 50 dollars they would back up all my data. I decided the first thing I would do is back up the data myself and talk to a few folks who know more about these things than I do. After considering my options I decided to buy a new laptop and try to work with the old computer for as long as possible. It works reasonably well if the Airport function is turned off. (For those not familiar with Apple lingo, "Airport" is the WiFi component on Macs).

Back at the Apple Store the sales folks told me my best option for getting the new computer configured just the way I wanted was to buy it online and have it shipped to my home. I wanted a few upgrades to the higher end MacBook, which is not as expensive as the MacBook Pro. I ordered the new laptop a few days ago and have been following its progress to San Diego with the online tracking tool. This morning I found out the newly configured computer was shipped last night from Shanghai, China. This was a bit of a surprise for me but really should not have been. For some reason I was expecting the new machine to be coming from Cupertino, California, where Apple is headquartered; alas, I should have known better. In the global economy, adding a chip in China makes more sense than modifying memory in Silicon Valley.

For thsoe of us who depend on our laptops and other gadgets to keep us connected, having a failure far from home at first makes the panic in kernel panic seem highly appropriate. What quickly becomes clear is that if we don't have access to email or the ability to connect electronically for a few days, even a few weeks, we adjust, maybe even relax about it. After all, in Copenhagen and Paris finding a computer is no more difficult than finding a Carlsberg Beer or a finely made croissant. As long as we are in first world cities, connections are everywhere. But we do gain something, however small it is. By not having our own reliable laptop or Blackberry right at our side, we can look at things a little differently if we choose to do so. Those of us old enough to remember life before cell phones and personal computers recall that we got along just fine without them. Failures in technology force us to focus on where we actually are, physically and psychically, to be aware of the current moment. We ought to do this anyway, create pauses to be mindful of the present.

As I look forward to the arrival of my new computer, I do so with great anticipation. If you like technology and gadgets, getting a new computer is an exciting time, not quite as big a deal as a new car, but similar. As I reflect on kernel panics and other glitches I will try to remember that voluntarily disconnecting can lead to connections far more important and powerful than the additional RAM they just added to my new MacBook, in Shanghai.

We Have Not Disappeared

Hello, again, everybody. Travel and a temperamental laptop have slowed down our postings, but we are heading home to San Diego this evening and will share a few photos, now, until we get our blog's pace back to its usual tempo.

Enjoy.

These are not paparazzi stalking Angelina and Brad... it's Mona they are after, the Louvre's biggest star.






May Day found us in the middle of a very large "manifestation" designed to let President Sarkozy know that a wide range of groups were upset with current policies... for us it was a beautiful spring day in the French capital, manifest with a political protest of no specific concern, but high interest.


Typical tourists gazing at the sites of Paris.And now it's home to California!