Bug Club

All the way from Wales, Bug Club, landed at Union Pool on June 1, 2023 and brought their virtuosic, rapid-fire power-shanties to the stage. With songs like, “A Love Song?” (the lyrics of which I’d misheard as, “Lifetime”) and “It’s Art”, they ripped through the the hour plus set at an ear-splitting volume, yet managed to hit every high note and pluck every note perfectly – and be charming, to boot.

Bug Club @ Union Pool June 1, 2023.

‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and ‘Tartuffe’ in one day.

On a stunningly beautiful Spring day, recently, with cherry blossoms in full bloom and the air just on the delicious side of steamy, I found myself in my local movie theater taking in the most recent MCU offering (that’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, for the uninitiated), ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 3’. If you haven’t seen the previous films in this trilogy, don’t worry, every aspect of the dialog is intended to get clueless audience members up to speed on who the characters are, and how they’re related. The main points of a film like this is the explosions, the monsters, a few well-paced fight sequences, and the one-liners. Buried deep in the mix is a fairly well thought out critique of contemporary leadership and urban planning. In this installment, we learn the origin of one of the most intriguing members of the Guardians team, Rocket, a racoon-like mutant who, it turns out, is the result of an experimented conducted by a sinister leader known as ‘The High Evolutionary’ (THE), played by Chukwudi Iwuji. Rocket was one of a lucky litter of racoons plucked from a cage to receive a brain upgrade that made him a technical master. In flashback sequences, we learn that he was incarcerated for a long time and bonded with a tight-knit group of mutants whom he was unable to save when it came time to flea. Rocket’s technical prowess, known to audiences and his fellow Guardians is impressive to the degree that his creator wants him returned – to learn from him, or simply destroy him, it’s never quite clear. THE’s obsession is his achilles heel, but also the whole point of the movie as the team Mantis, Nebula, Drax, and Peter Quill, joined by Peter’s ex-girlfriend, Gamora, travel to an alternative Earth that is just as banal and desperate – they lounge in a middle-class suburban home and witness brawls and drug deals in the inner city – though inhabited by evolutionary upgrades of animals, the end results of the experiments that originated with Rocket and his friends. As Peter Quill intends to face off with THE, he points out that the alternative Earth is no better than the real one, and the point is taken. In fact, THE is just in the process of moving on to make an improvement on the improvement in a fashion that rings quite true to life-long inhabitants of NYC.

Pepper acts out a favorite scene from the movie.

Later that day, I went with my companion to see a free production of Moliere’s ‘Tartuffe’ in Prospect Park. While I haven’t given much thought to the play specifically since I’d read it in college, it’s themes have always resonated with me. While religious and moral hypocrisy are thematically front and center, Moliere also explores the frustrating paradox of upper-class life. Tartuffe appears to be successful not simply because of his prowess as a con man. He also has the ability to manipulate the courtly manners that preclude brash exposure of hypocrisy based on instinct. His detractors twist and whine to make themselves understood by those who revere him and the exposure scene can be be read as either a moment of revelation or one of futility. It takes Elmire coaxing her husband Orgon under a platform and out of sight to witness his wife’s would-be seduction by his supposed friend to finally expose Tartuffe’s hypocrisy. In this act, the question is asked, would we rather witness the act or prevent it altogether? Why must we coax hypocrites into demonstrating their behavior rather than instill virtues that make such behavior all but impossible in the first place? This minimalist production and under-the-stars setting created a perfect mood for this play and I look forward to more productions from Moliere in the Park!

A New Fire.

I am, at the moment, flat on my back recovering from a particularly bad flu.  It has been some time since my last blog post – forgive me, for I have sinned.  What got me writing again, of course, is that my country appears to have  suddenly, and according to some inexplicably, entered an entirely different political era than the one we were in just a year ago.  The discourse has transmuted from one of hope and progression, to one of fear and despotism, seemingly overnight.  We have certainly had our share of milestones to snap us awake and let us know that the era of Obama is over.  The problem with the narrative expressing our  shock is that it is just not true.  What is actually happening is that we are being forced to focus our attention more to the vitriol spewed by a minority of oligarchs, racists, homophobes, and fascists from which progressives were almost beginning feel safe, believing that humanity might be moving into a more progressive, uniting era.   We are seeing an agenda that has been years in the making, finally establishing itself after gathering knowledge, tactics, and political clout. It is now up to us to determine the fate of this minority movement and make it the final death rattle of old-school fascist patriarchy.

The silver lining to Trump’s inauguration is that it is already proven to be a Pyyrhic victory.  Hundreds of thousands of people descended on Washington D.C., not for the inauguration ceremony, but to march in protest of a new leader who by many accounts and his own words is a sexual predator and a hater of women.  In New York, Chicago, Boston, and Atlanta thousands marched, too.  Indeed, if my Facebook feed is a proper gauge, they marched everywhere.  On Saturday Night Live, Aziz Ansari, used his opening monologue as a salve to comfort and soothe angry Americans and ever more resentful Trump supporters.

“[I]f you look at our country’s history change doesn’t come from presidents. Change comes from large groups of angry people. And if Day 1 is any indication, you are part of the largest group of angry people I have ever seen.”

 

This is the right approach, and I believe he is right.  The marches this weekend were not merely a day of rage against a system against which we stand helpless, but a demonstration of the power of dissenters and a new milestone in our political consciousness.  This demonstration to the oligarchy that their mixed-messages, bullshit, and populism is just the beginning.  They have fooled few people if anyone that was not already looking for a politics more angry, divisive, and hate-filled.  It will be difficult to win those voters back to the right side, and demonstrate to those so stuck in their dark fantasies of a world that is predominately white, male, and frightening, that their vision has no place in reality, but we must try.  We must try mainly because the Trump camp isn’t fighting for them.  They are being used for an agenda far more self-serving and destructive.

As much as this new fire must burn hot, it must not lapse into violent protest.  A meme spreading on Facebook and elsewhere celebrates a minor alt-right celebrity getting clocked by a masked protester.   Non-violent protest has been the standard every since the civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s.  It is not a relic of that era, and it is not something that died with Dr. King.  The basis of the philosophy is simple: Do not muddle a debate with violent acts.  Address the issues and do not let violent action remove focus from the principles being demonstrated.  Violence always begets more violence, while the reasons for that first punch or kick become lost amid accusations over who struck first.  Don’t believe me?  Just look at Israel.  No, we have to reject this action and the delight that people seem to have taken in re-posting, re-contextualizing, and commemorating it.

So what can we do?  A lot, actually.  While I have been sick in bed, catching up on my reading, I’ve also been signing petitions and getting my calendar ready for coming protest rallies and events.  Here are just a few ways you can take action from your couch:

Sign Up for 100 Days of Disruption at FreePress.net

FreePress.net is a nonpartisan organization building a nationwide movement for media that serve the public interest.  They are particularly active in the fight for an open Internet.  In spite of some of the rhetoric criticising the unfair media, Trump is not attempting to champion the right of the people to a fair and unbiased press, he just wants to chip away and the credibility of major news outlets and they report more of the facts.  100 Days of Distruption is a daily email update highlighting actions, calls, petitions, and demonstrations that you and others can take part in to fight back against the Trump agenda.

[Freepress.net]

Create and/or Sign a petition at Whitehouse.gov

Yes, the same Whitehouse. gov that just got taken over by the alt-right and scrubbed of any sign of progressive agenda, also has a robust petition platform that isn’t going away.  Already, dozens of petitions are showing up demanding Trump divest of his overseas business ventures, show his tax returns or resign.  There is also one demanding that language supporting rights for LGBTQ people be returned to the web site.

[We the People at Whitehouse.gov]

Join or establish your local political action group

Earlier in January, a group of former congressional staffers released Indivisible: A practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda.  It lays out precisely the strategy used by the Tea Party to disrupt Congress in  2008 and block President Obama’s key initiatives throughout his eight years in office.   Now, as the authors tell us, it is time for the tables to turn.  In addition to taking up our causes, we have to be ready to organize against an onslaught of legislation designed to enrich the president’s cabinet and their cronies.

[Indivisible Guide]

Minor accident at the brewery

Lessons learned: cooler room;  ease up on the malt.

Fly Into the Mystery

A small explosion occurred in Queens NY today. Junior brewer’s apprentice Caper Nichols-Franklin was uninjured.

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Time to register for Bike the Branches t

Time to register for Bike the Branches to Support Brooklyn Public Library! http://ow.ly/itQmZ

Prediction: Thirty years from now, a dyn

Prediction: Thirty years from now, a dynamic media figure will emerge by the name of Cliffal Fisk #prediction #callingit

“Believe there is a great power silentl

“Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good, behave yourself and never mind the rest.” http://ow.ly/c1qY9

“Love is so short, forgetting is so lon

“Love is so short, forgetting is so long.”
http://ow.ly/caiqf

“Commuters give the city its tidal rest

“Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion. ” http://ow.ly/c1s2y

Wrestling for the City’s Soul

Spotted someone reading this the other day. 

I admit it, I love books about the battle for the City’s soul, and I love seeing other people read them.

On one side, you have the lofty visions of big business, politicos and city planners who think about space in terms of potential revenue, ‘packing people in’ and revitalization.  On the other side, you have ordinary people who want to cultivate community, walk their dogs and push their strollers, and make art.  Where, they ask, will the community go when you build that super highway or that stadium?  Where, ask the developers, will the City get its revenue while you sit in your community garden and sip your latte?  It all brings up an interesting question:  Was New York City ever meant to be enjoyed as a community?  We know well that it thrives as a place for spectators (a recent ad for police recruits tells prospective applicants that the job comes with “a front row seat to the greatest show on Earth”).  But when people start to talk about “settling down” and “cultivating community” developers just hear the part about slower revenue.  It can frighten them.