Sarah Palin's MLK Day Address to the Nation

As We look up from reading one of Our favorite publications about our Founding Fathers, We need to address those who have defaced our facebook page with comments disparaging that dark-skinned Dr. Martin Luther King. We would also like to address the scores of "African-Americans" who have shown up at thousands of Tea Party rallies across the Real America since April, 2009.

Dr. King was not Juneteenth. He was all about what We're trying to do today at FOX News and at the National Liquor Sellers Convention We'll be addressing soon. We hope to get them to move the convention to Fairbanks or Nome or Barrow next year.

Had that awful guy - who used to read the same magazine I'm looking up from - not killed King, King might have been able to get his kids some good magazine covers on Jet or Ebony or, well, uh, maybe not on the cover of the magazine you've interrupted Us from also.

Back to the Founding Fathers.

PA Arts Sunday - Thoughts on Writing Music as an Outsider

I. The 2010 offering by the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra's Musica Nova new work commissioning club premiered Saturday evening at the Atwood Concert Hall in Anchorage. It is a deftly orchestrated work with little original thematic content, but lots of flash. It starts out like an industrial film soundtrack and ends by trying to sum up a wanly projected visual and well-played aural feast that strives for focus, and fails.

Los Angeles composer Gregory Prechel's awkwardly titled opus, Exposition on the Anchorage Museum (at least he didn't name it Exposition on the Anchorage Museum at Rasmussen Center) was greeted with mixed enthusiasm. Some in the audience, including this writer, stood to acknowledge Prechel's efforts and the orchestra's performance.

Anchorage Daily News Arts & Entertainment Editor, Mike Dunham, in a fairly enthusiastic review of the concert and of Prechel's new piece, cited its use of Yup'ik songwriter James Afcan's song, Ciuliamta cauyam. Upon recognizing this theme Dunham has come to love, Dunham reacted positively:

The third movement featured art by and of Native Alaskans, both contemporary work and artifacts. The music had a “lower 48 Indian” sound to my admittedly west of Denali ears. But when I heard the horns blast out “Ciuliamta” I nearly came out of my seat. I noted a few of the slides — Machetanz dramatic “Quest for Avuk,” a mask by Sam Fox, a drawing by one of Afcan’s teachers, Milo Minock — but now the music snared my full attention.

I heard a melody I recognized, but didn't realize it was Afcan's intellectual property. Apparently, Prechel used Afcan's property without bothering to tell the latter. Here's more from Dunham:

In the program notes, Prechel acknowledges that three themes in the movement are “inspired by melodies handed down from the heritage of Alaska Natives.” In a phone call after the concert, Afcan was surprised to hear about the program or the inclusion of “Ciuliamta” in it.

Prechel told me in an e-mail that he hadn't found the names of the pieces he used or the composers while doing research in Alaska.

I'm not sure whether Afcan considers Prechel's appropriation of his property as theft or as free publicity. Hopefully, the latter. Would Prechel have approached the use of Afcan's melody the same way were Afcan a Hollywood colleague? I doubt it. Would Prechel have done the same were Afcan a white Alaska composer. Probably not.

This isn't the only way the work is distinctly the product of an outsider. The "Gallup New Mexico Indian carnival" atmosphere of the quick slideshow through Native Alaskan art at the museum was appalling kitsch.

[Disclaimer - Musica Nova was created in 2003 to commission me for my Piano Concerto. Judy and I have been members for four of the six subsequent years, but aren't members this year, in protest of the way the orchestra presented a concert sponsored by Exxon three days before the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill case. We will rejoin for the 2011 commission.]

II. When it comes to white composers using Alaska Native themes in their work, I haven't done that. The closest I've come was in Fanfare & Capriccio, which has a scene in it that evokes Athabaskan fiddling. I consulted with non-Native expert on this genre, Craig Mischler, went through his transcriptions, and came up with my own melody that sought to both include elements from this wonderful stuff, and relate to the main theme of my work.

I've contemplated an opera about Edward Teller's role in Project Chariot for years. Part of my reluctance to finish it is that I feel the plot is too intrusive on what Alaska Natives accomplished in their own right in defeating that crazy scheme.

I'm getting to work with Diane Benson on a composition about Elizabeth Peratrovich for narrator and orchestra. It will inevitably involve Tlingit songs that Diane knows, sings and cherishes. We both have agreed to use no song without express permission from the family, house, clan and moiety of its creator.

Non-Native Alaska composers Craig Coray and John Luther Adams have extensively drawn from the rich musical cultures of Native Alaskans. Both have always sought to use this material with due diligence. I've met many Native Alaskans who raved about the work of both composers.

I'm deeply into composition of Hindu Kush, an orchestral work centered on Afghanistan and my feelings about the conflicts there. For the second movement, I've created melodic content that slightly evokes three women's songs from contemporary Afghan emigre culture. For the last movement, I will set a Kashmiri folk song that has existed in the public domain for generations. It is a prayer for peace.

I'm an outsider. At times, while writing the music, I feel I'm intruding. The only time I've tred this territory in the past was with The Skies are Weeping. Jewish Zionist friends and others felt it was beyond intrusive. Palestinian friends did not. Yet, it or parts of it have been produced by Jewish organizations cooperating with Palestinians abroad more than once. I'm trying to put what I've learned from my own experiences, and from observing those of others - most recently of Gregory Prechel - to use.

image - Bill Hess, who also wrote a review of Saturday's ASO concert - with sneak photographs

Saturday Alaska Progressive Blog Roundup - Odds & Ends

I. The image at left was taken last year, of Sen. Mark Begich, with U.S. Defense secretary Robert Gates, staring down at one of the ABM missiles at Ft. Greeley. Those things cost a heap of money. And nobody knows whether they would work in a real world situation. The amount of money the Defense Department has spent testing these missiles - tests that usually show the missiles to be totally useless and easily fooled - goes into the billions of dollars.

Yesterday, Sen. Begich stood with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, while the latter announced that the Federal Government has acted upon requests by our state congressional delegation and Gov. Sean Parnell, to declare the Yukon River a disaster area, because of the severe decline in Chinook salmon returns there. Some didn't expect a decision until late winter or early spring, so its announcement now is good news.

The Association of Village Council Presidents has been asking for Federal disaster relief for over two years. The congressional delegation asked for it in May. The Council had asked the Palin administration to make a request to the Feds in 2008, but it wasn't until the first few days of the Parnell administration that their plea was acknowledged and acted upon.

However, no money has been appropriated to deal with this ongoing, and I suspect, deepening ecological catastrophe. It is up to our congressional delegation and Congress to come up with funding for a plan. Regarding the economic impact, Anchorage Daily News reporter, Kyle Hopkins wrote Friday:

Chinook salmon sell for roughly $4 to $5 a pound and are the most valuable commercial fish in the region, said John Hilsinger, head of the state's Commercial Fisheries Division.

About 870 fishermen hold commercial king permits along the river, Hilsinger said. Most live in the cash-poor Lower Yukon, a region where villages reported a food-versus-fuel crisis last year.

Fishermen made roughly $2.25 million on Yukon River chinook in 2007, catching about 35,000 fish, Hilsinger said.

Those numbers plummeted over the next two years.

Poor returns led regulators to restrict commercial fishing in 2008, with the harvest 89 percent below the recent five-year average, according to the Commerce Department. In 2009, there was no commercial season and limited subsistence fishing -- the fish residents catch to feed their families and villages.

Regulators expect another poor season in 2010, Hilsinger said.

Some village and regional leaders blame the massive Bering Sea pollock fleet for the decline, saying some of the tens of thousands of king salmon caught by trawlers each year would otherwise return to the Yukon.

In a statement announcing the disaster declaration, the Commerce Department said the cause of the disappearing salmon isn't fully understood but that scientists believe it's primarily natural events: changing ocean and river conditions and changing temperatures and food sources.

The kings caught by the pollock fleet don't account for the magnitude of missing kings on the river, Hilsinger said. But given how few fish are returning to the Yukon overall, the salmon lost to bycatch could still determine how much commercial fishing, if any, is allowed on the river, he said.

Kyle's description of the Pollock fleet Chinook bycatch as in "the tens of thousands," is misleading. When those tens of thousands go over 200,000, they are in the hundreds of thousands. And that's just the reported numbers, not the real ones. Hopefully, Alaska's progressive bloggers will help put pressure on our elected Federal representatives to get money sensibly appropriated in ways that lead to long-term solutions, not band-aids and hand-outs.

For the price of one ABM missile test, we could double or triple the amount of scientific research that currently exists on the Yukon River ecosystem and its relationship to the Bering and Chukchi Seas, and to the North Pacific.

II. What Do I Know's Steve has moved to Juneau for the legislative session. What Do I Know? has long been my favorite Alaska blog, and Steve is likely to shed a completely different kind of light upon the 2010 session than will be shone by the Juneau Empire, the Associated Press and the Alaska Public Radio Network. I don't know whether or not the ADN is sending somebody this session. I doubt it. I doubt that the ADN will survive 2010. Nor do I know whether the well-funded Alaska Dispatch will spend a reporter to the capitol. Alice Rogoff, the Mommy Warbucks behind the Dispatch, is married to a billionaire merchant of death, for whom, the expense of paying a reporter to live in and report from Juneau for the session, would be the equivalent of Steve buying a glass of beer.

III. Several progressive Alaska blogs have touched upon the ongoing civil trial in San Francisco, over the legality of that state's Proposition 8. At the end of last week, I asked readers to consider contributing to the firedoglake fund to pay the expenses of their reporters at the court case. Steve wrote about the trial until he had to head over to Juneau. He links to the Prop8TrialTracker.

Bent Alaska is covering aspects of the trial, and also links to the trial tracker, and E. Ross noted in a comment reply to me:

There are several teams of live-bloggers sharing media passes to keep everyone informed: FDL, Bilerico, NCLR, and the Courage Campaign are live-blogging, along with several newspaper teams. Kudos to the dedicated bloggers!

IV. Speaking of Kudos - Kudos to Shannyn Moore as she returns next week to five-day-a-week talk radio on Anchorage's progressive radio station, KUDO. Moore, along with Steve Heimel and Nellie Moore at APRN/KSKA, is one of the best on-air interviewers in Alaska radio history. With all the contacts Shannyn has made and knowledge she seems to soak up from all sorts of sources and points of view, this program - to be aired from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. - should be good. I've learned that Jeremy Lansman has offered to do some work on KUDO's transmission system that should improve their signal quite a bit. I hope the station takes him up on the offer.

Thanks to John Klapperich at KMBQ/KBYR for having Shannyn on for the past eight months on Saturday evenings.

Moore will be on Anchorage's KYES TV this afternoon at 4:00 to 5:00 Alaska time, for her weekly Moore Up North interview and panel discussion program. This week, she will concentrate on the upcoming legislative session, with guests Deputy Revenue Commissioner Marcia Davis, Rep. Les Gara, and Rep. Harry Crawford.

V. Rep. Crawford, who has filed to run in the Democratic Party primary for the AK-AL U.S. House seat held by Rep. Don Young, was Friday's guest speaker at the monthly Mat-Su Democrats Egan Dinner. Many, including this writer, were underwhelmed. Rather than give a stump speech, Crawford attempted to answer questions in his folksy way. He wasn't prepared to answer with much substance on issues that the current legislature will face. Nor did he display much knowledge of the bills that have been pre-filed by other legislators.

I questioned him quite a bit. The first question he dodged, but I let him go. The second one, of interest to the Alaska blogging community, was about Rep. Mike Doogan's pre-filed bill that would force those who make requests for clarification of poorly written or unadhered to executive ethics standards, to keep their queries secret or have them dismissed. There are other aspects of Doogan's bill that make it just as bad as, if not worse, than Rep. Bob Lynn's similar bill.

Rep. Crawford wasn't even aware of Doogan's bill. Basically, after changing the subject on me to how charming Sarah Palin is when she obviously doesn't know shit (the Fire Island veto story - he loves to tell it). After getting him back on subject, he basically concluded with - I'm paraphrasing - "We need to do something about Executive Branch ethics, but don't look to me for any leadership on this whatsoever."

He rambled on about how we get our attorney general and how he might change that. His solution was heavily criticized by former Rep. Katie Hurley. I went around to the tables, offering Crawford contribulopes to attendees. Not many takers. Judy and I donated $50.00 to Rep. Crawford, though.

Making Adjustments

My trusty iBook won't start. It has been having problems. They started about three days after the machine's Applecare plan expired.

The thing has been through a lot, though. It carried this blog from its beginnings. It has been to Washington state six times, Oregon and California twice. I've used it on airplanes, trains, light rail trains, busses, cabs, about five dozen coffee houses, a dozen bars, a score of restaurants, three Alaska State ferries, all our cars, a rented motorhome, a sailboat and other places.

I've used it to teach my classes at UAA since fall 2006. It has taken the minutes many meetings. I wrote three versions of Shards on it. I started my Sinfonietta on it. Nice Work, Kid - Don't Come Back comes from that iBook. I've probably made several hundred friends by communicating with it.

I've brought out my retired iBookG4 to help until the newer one gets fixed or replaced.

While setting it up, I looked through some of the photos stored in the older laptop. These four are pretty nice. I thought I'd share them. After a hard rain on July 7, 2006, the sun came out. The garden was in full bloom. The sun and the raindrops stuck on some of the plants and flowers was almost stunning.

Saradise Lost - Book 4 - Chapter 37 - Willow Busted in House Break-In

From the National Enquirer:

Sarah Palin's got another Wasilla wild child on her hands - 15-year-old daughter Willow who's running with the "wrong crowd".

Big sister Bristol made headlines with her out-of-wedlock pregnancy, and now Willow has been named as a participant in a teenage booze bash that got out of hand, say sources.

"Willow has been running with the wrong crowd," confides a friend. "They are a popular high school clique known as the Colony Girls, who are well known as hard partiers and are regularly involved in underage drinking and smoking dope."

Willow recently attended a party thrown at a school pal's former family home - after others broke into it, according to the friend.

"About two dozen kids broke into the house that was up for sale. They drank, played beer pong, listened to loud music - and trashed the place.

"Police were notified, and they investigated the incident for possible vandalism and breaking and entering. When the pal who threw the bash was questioned by police, she named Willow as one of the partiers."

And when word got back to Sarah about Willow's involvement, "she was furious," said the source.

The friend also maintains that Willow has a definite rebel streak like siblings, 20-year-old Track and 19-year-old Bristol.

In July 2009, Willow was photographed slamming back a bottle of vodka at a Juneau house party. "Sarah was fuming when that photo of Willow was published," said the friend.

Her older sister Bristol scandalized her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, as a dope-smoking underage drinker and party girl. At 17, she announced she was pregnant - by hunky Levi Johnston whose mother was later sent to jail for pushing drugs.

Bristol, who gave birth to baby Tripp in December 2008, later organized an much ballyhooed advocacy group to prevent teen pregnancy.

Track, meanwhile, has had drug problems in the past, and was addicted to the painkiller OxyContin before shipping off to Iraq.

The former Alaska governor - who ran for vice president on a family values platform - is upset that Willow's wild behavior could cause her embarrassment as she promotes her new gig as Fox News commentator.

"Right now, Sarah's trying to sweep the whole thing under the rug," the source said.

[emphases added]

WWGWD? - What would George Washington do?

A commenter at the blog, Bree Palin, is reporting that "I have also heard that Willow has lawyered up (I guess Fleabag has a bulk rate) and isn't admitting to anything at this point. There may be some charges headed her way soon."

These kids have sacrificed so much to their mom's and dad's ambitions. I heard about the party bust and vandalism involving Willow last week, but waited until it was published. Track and Bristol are now adults, and can leave the Palins' dysfunctional household anytime they wish. Apparently, Track has. Willow can't leave the fold, though, unless she turns herself in to a shelter or seeks help from the state.

I'll bet if Angelina Jolie offers Sarah enough money, Palin will let Jolie adopt Willow.

I think Sarah's prayer networks should spend more time praying for these poor kids, than they do for Sarah. I wonder how many of the nutty people at places like the Palin shrines actually care for her children past the pathetic, ill-informed platitudes and false good cheer they throw in the kids' direction from time to time.

note - I've been reluctant to print from National Enquirer articles about Palin in the past. The only post at PA I've ever pulled, was a story from the Enquirer about Palin in 2008. Now that Palin is a FOX News "analyst," I feel that the National Enquirer and Sarah Palin deserve to spend more time together. Fair and balanced?

hat tips - Bree Palin and commenters there

Palin to Address Alcohol Sellers Conference in Vegas

Today, the Crazy Woman (the crazy woman on the left side of the picture, not the right) told Glenn Beck - at first - that she didn't have a favorite founding father of the USA. Eventually, she settled on George Washington, because he stuck to the job at hand.

Yeah, right, CW. You voluntarily took a dishonorable discharge from the people of Alaska to go out and line your pockets rather nicely, as you further divide the comity of our country. You should fucking read some George Washington. I have three biographies of him. You only have to drive ten miles to get them. I'll loan them to you, if you promise to bring them back. He didn't think like you do.

I think Palin's real favorite founding father was Samuel Adams, the brewer (or maltster, depending on who you believe). He isn't generally regarded as one of the true FF's, though. Although her office is yet to confirm it (we've been here several times before, folks) :

The Wine and Liquor Wholesalers of America said Tuesday that Sarah Palin will deliver the keynote address at their annual convention, to be held in Las Vegas in April, CNN reports.

In Palin's Glenn Beck appearance today, she references several times about how leaders need to sacrifice. Maybe that can be the theme of her keynote address to the W&LWofA. Maybe she can convince the founders of the W&LWofA to move their convention to Bethel, Alaska.

FOX to Send Palin to Haiti to Investigate Haitians Pact with the Devil?

Just kidding. But maybe they should. Bring Brit Hume with you, Sarah.

I heard about this so-called "pact" years ago, from a black friend from Barbados. He told me that it was largely propagated by clerics who dislike the influence of voodoo, and by American businesses there who probably feel guilty about enabling the impoverishment of Haitians through their rapacious business models, and have to place the blame somewhere other than in their own activities.

Here's a bit from a two-part article on the origin of this myth, by former Haitian cleric, Jean R. Gelin, PhD:

The satanic pact allegedly took place at Bois-Caïman near Cap-Haïtien on August 14, 1791 during a meeting organized by several slave leaders, under [Dutty] Boukman’s leadership, before launching what would become Haiti’s Independence War. This brutal period lasted 13 years until the last survivors of the French expeditionary forces, dispatched to Saint-Domingue with the sole purpose to re-establish slavery, were allowed by Dessalines to leave the island and return to Napoleon. Those who made it safely to France wrote and reported about the utmost bravery and supreme courage of Haiti’s indigenous army.

The proponents of the supposed pact continuously refer to the Bois-Caïman gathering as the place where the satanic contract supposedly took place, even in the absence of solid historical evidence save their own prolific imagination. After extensive research on Haiti and several visits to the country, American writer Robert Heinl and his wife Nancy Heinl published in 1978 a volume on the Haitian revolution that deals with several aspects of Haiti’s painful history including the Bois-Caïman meeting. According to these authors, Bookman sought the help of the God of heaven in his prayer, and made no mention whatsoever of a spiritual agreement with Satan. Even though the text shows Bookman was talking to the creator and not the devil, some would still contend that he could not have been really talking to God because – the way they see it - Bookman did not know God as they think they know Him.

Robertson always sees "the hand of God" or "God's will" in storms, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes. I have no idea whether or not Robertson understands plate tectonics. The mechanisms of it were only finally discovered in the 2nd half of the 20th century, and we're learning more about it every month.

Robertson, however, knows all he need to know already. And he'll continue to tell us what that is on his TV channel, as long as his diamond mines in Africa hold out, and little, old, blue-haired ladies keep sending him money.

Ron Paul on the Current Status of Palin, 3rd Party Politics, and Voter Disenchantment with Both Democratic and Republican Party Leadership

Ron Paul was on CNN with Anderson Cooper three days ago. He gives good description of why many are disappointed with the leadership of both major political parties, and are probing for new solutions.

I don't agree with Rep. Paul on a lot of things, but he and I are both strongly anti-war, and want much more strict accountability on how Federal money goes to the banks and related quasi-Federal institutions.

PA Arts Monday - Day Before School Starts Edition

I just finished the first draft of the MIDI version of Women's Ghazal, the second movement of Hindu Kush, my new orchestral work, to be premiered in Anchorage on May 15th. I started it the day after Christmas. It is 333 measures long.

I've managed to get a lot done over the Holiday break.

Here's a screenshot of the computer screen of the score at my favorite part:I've been using a software program for musical notation, called Finale, for 20 years. The newer versions contain a plug-in called the Garritan Personal Orchestra. For the first 20 years of Finale, I used sampled MIDI sounds that are in modules outside of the computer. The modules I've used were called Proteuses (Proteii?), and were very state-of-the-art 22 years ago when they first came out.

To run all the sampled sounds of an orchestra simultaneously in a computer, you need a lot of RAM. My new iMAC has 5 gigabytes of RAM, and that helps. A lot.

Here's Women's Ghazal, in its first draft. Click here to listen.

Saradise Found - Chapter 22 - FAUX News, In Move to Placate Those Who Complain They Lie Too Seldom, Hires the Crazy Woman

The New York Times has broken the story that FOX News has made a deal with Sarah Palin to become a fairly regular commentator or host or something:

Former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska has signed on as a contributor to the Fox News Channel.

The network confirmed that Ms. Palin will appear on the network’s programming on a regular basis as part of a multi-year deal. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Ms. Palin will not have her own regular program, one person familiar with the deal said, though she will host an occasional series that will run on the network from time to time. This person would not elaborate, but the network does have a precedent for such a series. Oliver L. North is the host of an occasionally running documentary series on the military called “War Stories.”

Many suspected that when Ms. Palin retired as the governor of Alaska last summer she was doing so to pursue some sort of career in television. The Fox News deal, however, would not seem to be all encompassing, and would appear to give her room for other pursuits, as well.

The deal could be formally announced as early as this afternoon. Robert Barnett, Ms. Palin’s attorney, did not respond to a call for comment.

Any guesses as to what kinds of programs they'll be having the Crazy Woman create or host?

A commenter at Andrew Sullivan's blog, The Daily Dish, teaches a class in which "The subject matter includes lots of critical thinking. Politics is a common topic. We have frequent opinionated political discussion which usually feeds rich, committed writing."

The teacher writes that witnessing student reactions to Sarah Palin has been baffling:

They succeed and come off as smart, articulate, mature, and balanced.

Except when it comes to Sarah Palin.

My conservative students can't discuss or write about Palin to my satisfaction. These conservative kids can be intelligently critical of Obama and his policies; of the wars; of Bush and torture and the Constitution, and so on. They can make arguments that touch on religion and social issues they care strongly about without sliding into emotion or fallacy. They can dispute with the other students in a thoughtful and orderly way over most issues.

But when Palin enters the conversation, they become adamant, unthinking partisans. The eyes go blank. They seem starstruck and smile a lot (girls and boys.) They do not dispute evidence that she was unqualified or ill informed; they just ignore it. When they returned from an appearance Palin made nearby, four of my students behaved like they'd seen Miley Cyrus, not a potential leader of the free world. When it comes to Palin 2012, they tend to nod knowingly with a little secret smile and say "You'll see."

The information on Palin, as portrayed in Sunday's 60 Minutes episode, would be devastating to most American politicians. Or commentators, for that matter. Why does anyone want to have anything at all to do with such a proven, untrustworthy, pathological liar?

As of next month, I will have been observing Palin's rise in politics for 19 years. As much as I've gotten to know her, the roots of this unseemly national fascination with Palin remain a mystery to me. I'm as baffled as the teacher quoted above.

image - Zina Saunders