Music and protest
Gilad Atzmon to play music, foment hate in New York
In my inbox is a notice from World Village-Harmonia Mundi: Saxophonist Gilad Atzmon “makes a rare appearance in New York City beginning May 5th and is available for interviews.” Oddly I see no gig schedule listed. In any case I won’t be interviewing Atzmon during his visit, because I’m too busy interviewing musicians who don’t claim that the Jews provoked
Assange and Shamir
I think it’s safe to say that political activists who compare themselves to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ought to be regarded with a high degree of skepticism. Alas, many on the left regard Julian Assange of WikiLeaks the way he views himself. Katha Pollitt of The Nation has written this very eloquent piece about the belittling of Assange’s rape charges.
Socialist Worker on Atzmon: “The evidence for these serious charges is damning.”
Yes, it is. So it’s good to see the fringe lefties at Socialist Worker retract and apologize for publishing an interview with a Nazi sympathizer. The fact that they felt no need to vet Gilad Atzmon beforehand speaks volumes, however. “Critics of Israel,” no matter how virulent, have come to be given the benefit of the doubt on the radical
Atzmon in America: a follow-up
Rich Siegel, who is partnering with Gilad Atzmon as described in my previous post, has written me a terse reply. He says that the Atzmon quotes I cite “do not constitute racism or holocaust revisionism. I suggest you read them again.” Michael Ezra, in the Z Word comments space, has also referred me to this piece of writing, in which Rich
Atzmon comes to America
[Cross-posted at Z Word, and at Harry’s Place.] The bloggers of Mondoweiss have worked very hard to convince the public that antisemitism does not exist among the Palestine solidarity movement — indeed, that all such charges of antisemitism are mere subterfuge concocted by “Zionists” to tar critics of Israel, who are by definition pure of heart. So it’s important to
On Christian Scott
Patrick notes the mounting buzz over trumpeter Christian Scott and his forthcoming Yesterday You Said Tomorrow. I’m still getting to know the record, didn’t flip over it at first listen, but it’s clearly the work of someone with high skill and strong vision — exactly the sort of hip, relevant, advanced, forward-thinking music that Stuart Nicholson believes to exist only
Self-importance watch
“While there are many lessons that can be drawn from this historic upset, the main one is this: that ordinary people, banding together in solidarity, can change ANYTHING, be it the pop charts or the world.” — Rage Against the Machine, after a fan-driven effort made “Killing in the Name” the #1 Christmas single in the UK, beating out X
Teachout redux
Lord knows I had my problems with Terry Teachout’s much-discussed “Can Jazz Be Saved” editorial, but I can’t get with this account of Teachout’s motivations, as posited by Ron “Slim” Washington. Teachout, you see, wrote his piece for The Wall Street Journal, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, which means that there’s an attack on jazz “coming from the highest