At 13:13 16/07/2010 -0400, Ray Harrell wrote:
Thank you Ed,
I was offered to direct a performance of the Britten Masterpiece Albert
Herring at Brooklyn College this year and I turned it down because I just
couldn't get the system or as we say in opera, the convention or style of
English culture.
I shouldn't worry if I were you. By far the majority of English people
don't get it either. Personally I find Britten pretentious -- but then I'm
an old reactionary. I think English music stopped with Elgar (Vaughan
Williams perhaps).
I'll duck my head now.
Keith
I kept getting it confused with my old English Voice Teacher Dame Eva
Turner who was the great Puccini singer of her day. She was a great
advocate of the real as opposed to the story. With Dame Eva it didnt
matter what your story was, it only mattered what the sound you made was
and the level of its quality and virtuosity. But now Im confused
about Dame Eva. I thought she was English culture.
Another point of confusion was the English educational system - those
English Schools like Oxford and Cambridge that dont dally with rulesbut
only care about the final product as long as it isnt criminal. Like
Dame Eva they dont care about how you get it as long as you GOT
it. Also the English National Opera (ENO) and all of those terrific
cultural institutions in England and London and of course Shakespeare.
Shakespeare gave that new, other way of thinking, to Iago. Thats the
way Cornel McNeill played him at the Met years ago, as a
businessman. It was chilling. I didnt realize that he was playing
him as English culture, however. My England was different. Iago
was a criminal weaver of stories. So I didnt understand Henry the
VIII much ( I thought it had to be the syphilis that did it to him) nor
the corporations that came from England with a different attitude towards
performance and the story, like Heywood and BP. Heywood is
English. Hes the new conventional morality. The system that won.
Or is he the old convention applied to the colonies? The system
that keeps thinking its about ITs own story. That if the
storyteller performs the story well enough, then everything will be
fine. Heywood cant understand why the fishermen on the Gulf Coast are
complaining. He thinks his minor inconveniences are equal to
their tragedy.
That is a side to English culture that is very Albert Herringand speaks to
Brittens point about a man who has just been elected to be the May Queen
because of a story, regardless of its effect on Albert. Now, if the
Iroquois take the Albert Herringroute, this is not over. But they
probably wont because they resemble Jews more than Englishmen. They
are all about survival. Meanwhile, this is like the protagonists in
the terrific CBC series Slings and Arrows,especially in the role of the
character who was the crazy (real) director versus the man who was the
ardent amateur indulging his passion in showbiz.
I could direct the Italian, the French and the German operas but the
English just eluded me. Sort of like the Mumbai operators who try to
tell me a story about why the banks are screwing me and charging me three
times the amount of the loan I have.
If I just GET the story, then I will be OK and everything will be fine.
The video of the Iroquois team showed them singing in their rooms. Of
course, they lied about the nature of the song. They were singing a
socialsong but of really, it wasnt. While the International English
order asserted themselves because they could, the Iroquois sang because
music is eternal and did it for the TV cameras.
The story doesnt solve it for the Iroquois, the Gulf Fishermen nor did it
for me and my ensemble when the banks ruined our opera company with their
Congressional approved new usurious rules.
Like the Iroquois National team, we didnt know of the latest legislation
and were doing what we had done all along - producing more work than
anyone and funding it ourselves with our teaching, while the new rules
added 300% to the cost of the loan for late fees and stopped the company
cold in its tracks. It has not been able to produce a thing in five
years.
But I was supposed to be alrightbecause the telephone operator from India
could explain the banks story very well to us. He simply said, Thats
the way it is.
Thats the story. Thats the morality of English culture. The
subtext of the person from Mumbai was: You speak English but we learned
it from mother Victoria herself. We can tell you all about it. You
have no option.
Now, I can direct Albert Herring but do I want to?
Why should I? Im old. I live in a very fragile economic situation
but in a great place, with a great woman, with wonderful students and am
one of the gatekeepers of the worlds cultural systems. Im a wealthy
man but cash poor and terminal enough not to give any of those SOBs (with
their unwritten rules made manifest in present legislation) my time of day.
What was it Richard Wagner said in the Ring? I could have answered
your questions but instead, you only asked me what you knew.
REH
PS I will try one more time.
The International Lacrosse Federation said that If the Iroquois were
carrying Canadian or American Passports they could not be
fromHaudenosaunee. They would be fromCanada or the U.S.
and, therefore, could only represent Canada or the U.S. which already
has representatives.
The British government then said: If the U.S. doesnt guarantee to
accept the Haudenosaunee Passport on their return, England wont grant a
visa. Clinton guaranteed the Passport for the Americans.
I dont know what Canada did for the people on the Canadian side of the
line but Britain refused the visa.
Thats not a story. Thats just the facts. Dont be confused by
Iroquois pride and rhetoric about sovereignty. Those are other issues
and the legal issues are much simpler although the Haudenosaunee, like the
National Rifle Association, sees this as government chipping away at their
rights. But thats different. Its really not so hard if you just
think Catch 22. Youre story however was raw and terrific should I want
to direct Albert Herring or Curlew River. Thanks.
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick
Sent: Friday, July 16, 2010 8:16 AM
To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Fw: [Ottawadissenters] Fw: More dismal stuff
Ray, it's an unfortunate aspect of human history that various high level
powers -- political, administrative, military, etc. -- trump group
identity and culture. In Canada, the Quebecois see themselves as
linguistically and culturally distinct, yet they fall under the same
administrative rules, including passports, as the rest of us. The same is
true of our Native people. The fact that we call them "First Nations"
makes us feel a little better about what we have done to them, but it
really hasn't given them more power or improved their social and economic
status. Some twenty years ago I was heavily involved in helping Yukon
Indians settle their land claims. The process by which the claims were
settled and the administrative and land ownership provisions that were
applied were the way we saw things, not necessarily the way they saw them.
I don't know why the Haudenosaunee were not allowed to travel on their own
passports, but I suspect that the much tighter world we live in since 9/11
had something to do with it.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:[email protected]>Ray Harrell
To: <mailto:[email protected]>'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME
DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION'
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 7:06 PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Fw: [Ottawadissenters] Fw: More dismal stuff
Ed,
Whats so hard about this? No one is listening. The NYTimes said that
the Lacrosse Federation would not accept them as a National Team if they
came with Canadian or U.S. Passports.
Batesonian double bind. Or as we say between a Rock and a Hard
Place. The truth is probably that the Brits didnt want to risk losing a
game to a reserve. But that is their ego problem. That type of ego
problem took them into the Falklands and the U.S. to Granada.
The problem here was that it was Lieutenant Scheisskopfall the
way. Catch 22. [ You cant come without fancy passports but if you
have them you cant play because youre not from a real nation.]
Of course if they were from a Pacific Island Nation with representation at
the UN and 400 people, would the same be true of THEIR passports? The
Iroquois Confederacy is larger than Lichtenstein. More people, more
land, distinct language and culture and a history older than modern France
and they invented Lacrosse. But the problem is the same as for
Basques of Spain or the Armenians in Turkey or the Kurds in Turkey and
Iraq. How does it feel to be using the words of Sadaam Hussein talking
about his Iroquois? They were in the way. After 200 years theyre
still arguing over biological warfare here too. There is a lot more
distance between the Iroquois and their neighbors than the Kurds or the
Armenians were with theirs. Indian Nations in America have
more population than Lichtenstein and a continuous culture, language and
religion for longer. Hell there are more Muslims in America than Swiss
in Switzerland. This team had plenty of creds.
Britain didnt want to lose to them and besides they shouldnt give any
encouragement to the Catholics in Northern Ireland or the French in
Quebec. Reconciliation is really hard. It takes sacrifice and
integrity. What would happen if this sovereign nation decided to
take erase the Canadian/American border that runs through their nation and
set up their roadblocks in and out of their country? Theyve done
that before and they stopped traffic on a big International
bride. What if they appealed to the UN and to China for development
funds and set up a gaming empire? What, theyve done that already
too. But they have been good little Indians, a little surly but still
citizens. Cant you see the Canadians issues with taking over
militarily and the U.S.? The Canadians have the French and the Scots
and we have Texans:>))
The Brits, U.S. and Canada just didnt want the Indians to come and so they
set up a Catch 22. This is not my first experience with this. The
U.S. and Canada can talk about Reconciliation and Apologies but when the
ukstaha hits the fan they either mean it or they were just fooling around
and pretending that it was love. Under U.S. Law and the Supreme Court
Indian Nations are dependentsovereign entities. This is just the latest
skirmish that goes all the way back to the Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia
Supreme Court Case that Georgia lost and they sent us on a death march
anyway. More of us died than at the WTC.
I saw it happen again with our article to the Reconciliation Commission in
Canada, even though we were paid a good fee for the product. It was too
serious and the assumptions they had were not (serious).
This is the same cultural problem that David Kay spoke about when he said
the problem of WMDs in Iraq was that no one really knew anything about
Iraqi culture so interpreting Saddam was semiotic. Or
idiotic. Maybe culture is too much to ask here? Those were exactly
David Kays words on C-Span. Before that it was Edward T. Halls when
the State Department hired him to teach them about culture. He
failed.. Cross culture is just not a part of Americas cultural
image. Youre all supposed to become good Englishman but not too
English. As a result we have a cultural war with every culture speaking
ITs English and claiming that they are the only true version.
Its really simple. Its Bernard Shaw and Henry Higgins speaking for
him. Some people are sitting on one side of the problematic situation
and see that side but the others are sitting across on the other side from
the same problem and the views so different that it doesnt even seem the
same problem. Then there are the people on the left and the right who
see half of what both sides see but still think its something
else. No one seems to be willing to look for the whole. No one is
willing to ask and no one is willing to give up the power their unique
view affords them. So they fight. Thats Lacrosse. Thats the
meaning of the ball as each fights for winning over the other at carrying
the ball, not in their hands but in a stick. [The ball is too sacred to
touch. When they are through they can sit down, ask questions, dance
together and share their uniqueness with each other and come to some kind
of knowledge of what the real whole happens to be.
Unfortunately no one seems to really get the idea of a Circle of Nationsor
a circle of cultural identities. Thats what is so wonderful about
music. Everyone who performs knows that to do another cultures style or
context badly means youre a pig. So they work hard to learn the other
style. But thats Art and Art is of little value to the practical
worldthat got us into this mess with the environment and the banks. Or
is it? Maybe we just sacrificed another Indian, like in the movies, for
another White mans growth or survival. Been there, done that.
REH
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 3:55 PM
To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Fw: [Ottawadissenters] Fw: More dismal stuff
Easy, Ray, easy... and I don't like it anymore than you do. All I was
saying is that if the Haudenosaunee really wanted to get to Britain to
play lacrosse, they would have to follow the rules that would get them
there even if they found those rules demeaning. If, on the other hand,
they were trying to make a statement then I guess they put themselves into
a position that would enable them to make it. I don't see it as a game,
but the world is a crappy place and if you want to move around in it you
may have to do things that you don't like.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:[email protected]>Ray Harrell
To: <mailto:[email protected]>'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME
DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION'
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 2:26 PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Fw: [Ottawadissenters] Fw: More dismal stuff
Youre really not getting it. This is like the loggers road that was
going to destroy a thousands of year old meditation run for the Yarok
religion in California. All of the Anglos and the Italian Catholics on
the Supreme Court said Tsk Tsk too bad but we move on, we have to have
logs. Then the UN got involved and an international indigenous group got
involved and put pressure on the state of California and they stopped the
road. The Yarok culture is still there. To you its a game and a
game has a social purpose, to them its a part of the religion as it is
with us. Its a substitute for hostile action against those who oppress
us. Its called the Little War and its a lot better than going to
Iraq. Would you prefer suicide bombers? These kids have a high
suicide rate. How long before they realize what Islam has
realized? In short. You are a smart man and this is beneath
you. You should be better. There are consequences. If you
guys would like I would be willing to give the list a primer instruction
in this so you dont come off as brutes.
REH
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 2:04 PM
To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Fw: [Ottawadissenters] Fw: More dismal stuff
It's too bad, but it's the kind of world we now live in. I used to ride a
motorbike across the US border with nothing more than a driver's license
as ID. I'm no longer doing that but if I were, I'd need a passport. This
is the post 9/11 world. The Haudenosaunee should have known what they
were getting into and should have been prepared for it. You may not
respect a US or Canadian passport, but you may have to have it nevertheless.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:[email protected]>Ray Harrell
To: <mailto:[email protected]>'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME
DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION'
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 12:20 PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Fw: [Ottawadissenters] Fw: More dismal stuff
Speaking of Values. Whats your thought on the Iroquois Nationals now
that Britain has banned them?
From:
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 8:08 AM
To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Fw: [Ottawadissenters] Fw: More dismal stuff
I know it's about values Ray, and values come with cultural
perspectives. I spent a lot of my professional life working with and
about Native people in northern Canada and have a pretty good
understanding of how their values differ from ours. I recall how, back in
the 1970s, people of the Mackenzie Valley first encountered the concept of
land ownership. "What?" they would say, "owning the land? Nobody owns
the land. It's just there." Needless to say, the guys from the oil patch
who wanted to drill or build pipelines saw things differently. At the
time, the Canadian government tended to side with the oil patch. It took
a helluva lot of work to develop a concept of land ownership that was
accepted by both sides and to bring on the land claims process.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:[email protected]>Ray Harrell
To: <mailto:[email protected]>'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME
DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION'
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2010 5:07 PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Fw: [Ottawadissenters] Fw: More dismal stuff
Its about values Ed. They value the wrong things. A stone or a widget
or a piece of tar. Consider the value of a song? Consider a society
that rethought its values and moved away from the market ideas of Mill and
Jevons. Mill should have known better. If he had not had Wordworth his
life would have been spent as a failure in the mental institution after
the terrible beating his father gave him. Obama is a failure with
Indians because as a Black Man he missed the point completely of our
history. Hes a failure with economics because he bought the European
model of value. Capital, is what its all about. You have to be
willing to invest it in real growth that grows people, not just is
material transformation into energy that dissolves. Electricity and
computers, bit rot and records. All of our visual and literary treasures
caught in a machine that could disappear in a moment. Someones values
are screwy and they arent mine. I still say it Hohokum. Ive had a
computer crash and lost all of my history except for what was in paper and
had to redo thousands of pages and Im one person. This place is
nuts. The first solar pulse to come along and they will just disappear.
REH
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Keith Hudson, Saltford, England
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