Was to a James MacMillan who 'led the funeral service' for a traveller gentleman who died in Sussex; the Sun did itself proud emphasizing the vulgar aspects of the event. A floral arrangement designed to resemble a bucket of KFC! They know their market, I'm sure. Sunday morning. In the Mirror today.
The Broadwayworld.com alert was to a press release from the Oregon Bach Festival; the University's classical radio station, the call sign of which I cannot think of at the moment [it is KWAX], will be broadcasting a 'radio festival' i.e. archived recordings and so forth from the Festival in years past, including Sir James MacMillan's European Requiem on 7th July. I must go look at the radio station [the 26th June to 10th July 'virtual Festival' schedule ('classic performances from the first 49 years') is here, pdf] and OBF sites [their announcement of the 'radio festival'] after I've returned from my spatiamentum.
The one positive aspect to the cancellation of this year's Festival is that by next summer I shall probably be done with my Matthew Halls nonsense-induced fit of pique; I gather that if I want to prolong it there are reasons to do so. But, eh. Of course, being retired, it is also the case that my budget is more suited to a virtual festival than to a series of 80 dollar tickets.
The rain delayed itself until I was almost at the front door; it doesn't look as if there is much deep cloud cover so perhaps later on Phoebus will stretch his limbs.
The usual nonsense at the Times this morning; the headline 'Harry Potter Fans Reimagine Their World Without Its Creator' struck me as the most amusing one of the lot. Only in post-post- whatever we are calling it these days world can so called literate people imagine the object of their reading to have no author. I read several chapters of the first 'Harry Potter' book to a couple of probably non-comprehending folks in a nursing home several years ago-- the things one is paid for 'at work'-- but that is the extent of my acquaintance with the world Miss Rowling created: I'll happily chant 'death to her enemies' in the present bit of nonsense, however. People.
Such mix of good insights, common sense, and nonsense in this essay that I saw on Medium earlier by a woman named Marley K. Am not going through it here and assign points, negative or positive ones, to each assertion but it is certainly worth the read. At the head of the list is this:
... I know. I know. We’re not blaming all White people when we say White people. I’m not talking about all White people, just the White people who do the uncomfortable and embarrassing stuff on this list and those who continue to believe they aren’t racist. But since you must come here to defend White people....
Am willing to grant that she means that 'you must come here to defend White people' in the same sense that she isn't really 'blaming all White people when' she writes White people, and I didn't go to read whatever she linked to. But I am not racist because Marley K. says I am-- that is the simple truth. In her estimation, I may be, sure, but that is something other: and presumably in a real conversation she would acknowledge that. On the other hand, I don't know anyone who would purposefully allow a door to close in someone's face because she is Black or not move out of a Black person's way on the sidewalk. (Marley: those white women who insist on walking two or sometimes three abreast on the sidewalk-- usually they're 'power walking', if that's what it's called-- they don't get out of anybody's way. You have to keep on going and at the last minute one of them will break formation. And I suppose one of them could always call the cops and report that the old white man had assaulted 'em, but that's a pretty remote possibility, I reckon; in a black person's case, I don't know, and will take your word for it that such an extreme outcome isn't impossible.)
The best I could find on YouTube in under 30 seconds of searching.
Later, before None. Re-reading some of that, I see that I'm inconsistent in my capitalization of 'Black' and 'White'. The editorial decision is that henceforward I'm not capitalizing the words, nouns, adjectives-- not capitalizing 'em. Others will do as they judge best.
Compression stockings-- the dermatologist told me to begin wearing those. I may or may not.
The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra's this year's recording (of a performance last year) of Handel's Saul is recently available on Spotify-- Nicholas McGegan, Yulia van Doren, Sherezade Panthaki, Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen et al. It is brightening the dreary damp day considerably, as are the Steller's jays. They are, or one of them is-- I haven't reached the stage whereat I'm able to distinguish the one from the other: but there are ordinarily two of them that appear together-- coming to the window sill now. 'O Fairest of Ten Thousand Fair':
The entire PBO recording is on YouTube, also.
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