Weekly Items of Note (11/3)
David Shasha
Concert Note: Sleater-Kinney at Kings Theater in Brooklyn 10/30/19
There was no way that the world’s last great Rock band could have repeated what I witnessed in December 2015:
The dynamic then was a reunion which produced the group’s best-ever album, “No Cities to Love,” and lit a fuse that marked them as a singular force in the history of Rock and Roll.
They have just released a new album “The Center Won’t Hold,” which is very good, but very different from anything they have done in the past. Produced by the young hipster artist St. Vincent, the album moves closer to Pop and to Industrial-style Electronica as it minimizes the band’s usual buzzsaw thrash.
https://www.amazon.com/Center-Wont-Hold-SLEATER-KINNEY/dp/B07T5VVLCD
The Brooklyn setlist used “Center” as its primary framework with the older songs scattered in between the new ones:
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/sleaterkinney/2019/kings-theatre-brooklyn-ny-3b9d2cac.html
It made for a kind-of schizophrenic see-saw whiplash effect as the new material has a resolutely different ethos than the classic SK sound. It deeply affected the pacing of the show as the more intricate new songs contrasted with jackhammer brutal intensity of the older crowd-favorite classics.
In spite of this, it was an evening, as Carrie Brownstein insisted, of “showing up”; a social get-together in the debilitating Trump era that allowed the audience and band to show unity in the face of the overwhelming pressure and despondency we now face.
In the end the concert exemplified the title of the new album, as it shifted back and forth from the expected to the unexpected, showing us a Rock band that is unafraid to experiment with different styles and to throw a monkey wrench into their classic wall of noise.
It was certainly a sign of our troubled times.
TV Note: “Liberty: Mother of Exiles” on HBO
It is indeed an excellent time for a Statue of Liberty documentary:
https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/liberty-mother-of-exiles
The documentary starts off very strongly by extolling the importance of immigrants and refugees, and gives us a wonderful portrait of the Statue’s visionary builder Auguste Bartholdi who worked diligently to raise funds for the project as he did the yeoman’s work of designing it with the help of Gustave Eiffel:
https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric-auguste-bartholdi.htm
https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/alexandre-gustave-eiffel.htm
The documentary pays tribute to the great fashion designer and philanthropist Diane von Furstenberg, who not only spearheaded the brilliant creation of the High Line park, but is currently heading up the building project of a new Museum on Liberty Island:
https://wwd.com/eye/parties/inside-lady-liberty-with-diane-von-furstenberg-1203148962/
The middle of the documentary got somewhat bogged down in SOL fetishism and kitsch, but ended with a bang when it finally got to Emma Lazarus and “The New Colossus”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Colossus
After a whole lot of Ronald Reagan rah-rah jingoism, I was worried that Trump’s xenophobic Anti-Immigrant policies would be left out of the discussion.
But, not to worry, the final 15 minutes of the documentary took Trump and his Alt-Right racist advisor Stephen Miller head-on.
Miller famously sought to attack the Emma Lazarus poem:
https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/02/politics/emma-lazarus-poem-statue-of-liberty/index.html
Seeing Ms. Von Furstenberg visiting all the SOL-related locations in Paris was eye-opening, as was the final burst of radical energy devoted to the courageous activists who recently stormed the SOL to make important statements about Freedom and Liberty:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/04/us/new-york-statue-of-liberty-protest/index.html
And, of course, it is always worth seeing the iconic image of John Lennon flashing the peace sign:
Indeed, Lennon too was looking for some of that American freedom as the powers-that-be sought to deport him.
How little things have changed since then!
All in all, given how Trumpworld has eroded our Freedom and Liberty, the HBO documentary is a much-needed antidote to hate and confusion regarding immigration and the American heritage.
The Lavon Affair, Again
Last Sunday prominent self-hater Lyn Julius reminded us of the Lavon Affair:
It is interesting that she provided no specific HASBARAH comments on the matter.
For those unfamiliar with Julius and her understanding of the matter, I discussed it in the following article:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/Davidshasha/lavon/davidshasha/zIENe4p0bII/vBhJaP52AQAJ
The Lavon Affair continues to represent the deleterious role of Israel and Zionism in the affairs of the Arab Jewish community and the dangers it triggered for the security of our people.
Liel Leibovitz: Don’t Go to College – Except in Israel!
I included The Tikvah Fund macher’s attack on college in SHU 872:
Here is the link to the original article:
https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/272832/dont-go-to-college-do-this-instead
This week he seems to have a somewhat different idea about it:
https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/293096/free-college-tuition-for-american-jews
American Jews should not go to college in the US, but they should get free college tuition in Israel.
That is some great HASBARAH.
I have only one question: Why is Leibovitz living the TREYFE Medina if he is so gung-ho on Israel?
It is just a question.
It is interesting to hear that American colleges are not “safe” for Jews, but the hateful White Jewish Supremacy and anti-Torah values of many Israeli colleges is just dandy.
Just saying.
David Shasha