PA Arts Sunday - February 1, 2009 -- Wars and Peace -- And a Question

Judy and I went with some good friends to see Buster Keaton's The General yesterday evening. It was a supplemental Anchorage Symphony Orchestra concert. Randy Fleischer directed the orchestra in ensemble member Chris Beheim's fantastic arrangement of music from the time the film covers - the American Civil War. The digitally remastered print was flawless. It gave us an undistracted view of Keaton's art.

Keaton's film, which is one of the great "chase" movies, pioneering many aspects of the genre, simplifies the horrors of the American Civil War. It had to. It was an exquisite comedy.

At the intermission, near the restroom, I bumped into a longtime friend. He told me he appreciated Progressive Alaska's coverage of the Gaza siege, bombardment and invasion this past five weeks.

He asked if any other Anchorage area blogs were covering it from a progressive perspective. All I could answer was, "Maybe," because I really don't know. Some of the Fairbanks blogs and one of the Kodiak blogs have posted strong, locally written, pro-Palestinian essays, but I couldn't name any Anchorage or southcentral blog essays to him that I could remember.

I pointed out that most of our progressive Alaska blogs report on issues with a direct local or Alaska impact. He told me to ask my Alaska blogger friends why Emmonak is more important than Gaza. I told him that he posed a worthwhile question, and that I'd pass it on.

Here are a couple of excerpts from a recent concert in Copenhagen, by the Middle East Peace Orchestra.

Part One:


Part Two:


image - ASO accompanying the General - from my iPhone