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art & politics
Would really like to see some statesmen, stateswomen show up on the national scene. I'm really tired of all these people putting their finger in the air, taking polls, looking only to be elected, re-elected, appointed. People waffling, dissembling, dodging, weaving.
It's what I like about art, and why art is important.
Now, how, you might be thinking, can these two strands have anything in common? Glad you asked. Long day, busyness with business, standing around, selling ourselves (my partner and I) at a trade show, and I arrived home needing a beer, some conversation, something besides the dry scraping of scrapping for the almighty dollar.
Drove down to Duffy's on 'O' Street, because they have cold beer and access to great Gyro sandwiches from Ali Baba's. Couldn't get the sandwich because a band was there…closed the window. Rap band. Two people, man, woman. Computer beat background, just the two of them.
Dam. Hate rap. But the beer was cold, so I hung around, just for a beer mind you. Then it got weird. I liked them. The rapper couple…"Mad Happy." Funky, catchy beat, definitely their own groove, own songs, upbeat even some funny songs. I bought a CD. My daughter will fall over.
But here they were, doing their own music, listening to their own muse, criss-crossing the U.S. of A., performing 265 nights a year, for years on end, seldom in the same town more than one night. Working their gigs, staying true to their own funky muse.
Driving home from the trade show I heard excerpts of the confirmation hearing for the new attorney general of the U.S. of A. The committee asked him about torture, how he viewed 'water boarding' and what he thought the policy of the U.S. of A should be.
He wouldn't answer.
He was a master weaver, a mad-hatter, a figure out of Alice In Wonderland. If he had been singing his songs at Duffy's, I would have left. There is no soul there. No heart. Just another functionary functioning, a dancing bear dancing to his master's beat.
Being afraid of saying the 'wrong thing,' he said nothing. He wants the job and as long as he can prevaricate his way through the hearings, he will.
He'll make a fine attorney general for this administration.
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