Monday: Music and History and the dark side of art

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First, a quick addition to tonight's live music scene- one we did not receive in time for the full edition of the Acoustic Americana Music Guide's "Spotlight Events" when we published it on September 14.
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Tonight, beginning at 6:30 pm, "HALFWAY TO ST. PATRICK'S DAY" is being observed with KEN O'MALLEY and his authentic and original Irish music at the Auld Dubliner, 71 S Pine Av, Long Beach 90802; 562-437-8300. The "HALFWAY" day is sort of a big deal on the Irish music scene, it seems.
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Bluegrass fans can catch the BROMBIES at Viva Cantina in Burbank, or catch any of the many gigs or jams or open mics in the Guide's full edition.
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There are some TV listings in the Sep 14 edition, too, and we want to draw special attention to one, with our related thoughts. Here it is:
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WHEN THE ARTS AND MUSIC OFFER THE WRONG INSPIRATIONS
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An example is on TV tonight and worth watching.
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Tonight from 9-10 pm, a new episode of the PBS series "HISTORY DETECTIVES" reveals a 78 rpm record pressed on the KKK Label that contains Ku Klux Klan songs. The whole idea is damned creepy. But it's a history lesson that we, in music, need. It's broadcast tonight on KLCS, and repeats 7-8 pm on September 23. (If you live someplace else, check your local PBS station's listings. It may turn-up as a stream or podcast on the PBS site, too.)
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There is, indeed, a dark side of the arts. We still see it in more recent music. We are seeing it in an online trailer for a film that's never even been released, but which has nonetheless played a tragic role in the past few days on the global stage.
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Take a deep breath. You couldn't write fiction like this: a convicted criminal with a repeating first and last name was put-away for web-based embezzlement and fraud. Out on probation, he violates its terms to produce, for the internet, an overdubbed film he made. He put new dialog in the actors' mouths, changing its entire meaning to become a hateful hit piece on the Islamic religion. A right-wing, web-based, supposedly fundamentalist Christian organization, based in a Southern California industrial park in the San Gabriel Valley town of Duarte, gets financially involved and promotes awareness of the film trailer and may be planning distribution of the full, overdubbed hate film. Protests of the now-publicized film trailer erupt in Egypt and Libya. A US ambassador and three others are murdered in Libya when an American consulate there is invaded and burned - apparently by a well-organized small group of paramilitary assassins who used the street protest as a cover. A presidential candidate puts his foot in his mouth in the midst of it, reiterating his bizarre take on what happened, even when members of the press offer him a way to back-off. The President and the Secretary of State speak at the funeral for the murdered ambassador, after issuing clear promises that the unknown assassins will be brought to justice. Protests spread to 23 countries with sizeable or majority Muslim populations. In at least one US diplomatic mission (in Lebanon) the staff destroys sensitive documents in case their embassy is overrun by mobs. Things show no sign of calming-down. And that's where we are right now.
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A film, even when it is the product of misfits and a convicted felon, is powerful. So is music about criminal misfits.
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In "Cabaret," the stage musical turned Hollywood film, set during Hitler's rise in the 1930s, a fresh-faced young German Brown Shirt sings "Tomorrow Belongs to Me," a song that is inescapably chilling because its ability to inspire is palpable.
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And yes, the actual Nazi songs were the theme music of Kristalnacht and rounding-up "enemies of the state" and countless atrocities made celebratory for the perpetrators by the images imparted by those songs and their infectious spirit. Classical composer Wagner's music played a similar role, imparting epic inevitability.
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There is no place in the arts for hate. But it's a never ending fight. Gangsta Rap has, thankfully, all but vanished from popular culture, along with its cop-killer lyrics, infatuation with the "f" and the "n" words, and ubiquitous denegration of women.
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But as recently as this year, the rap record labels attempted to regain dominance of the Grammys by taking over the category selection committee and eliminating a vast variety of other Grammy categories. Some temporarily lost Grammys were regained, but music's top awards lost ground: they have always needed to become more inclusive, not less, and certainly not a place for rewarding expressions of homicidal and other violent criminal behavior.
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Yes, the knowledge that there was a KKK record label is creepy. So is the continuing misuse of the arts. Whether it's awarding scarce public funding for a Robert Maplethorpe exhibit that included a work Christians found highly offensive - as once infamously happened - or the participation of one religious group to mongrelize a film to deliberately make it offensive to an entire religion.
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Certainly we believe in freedom of expression. Anyone who knows anything at all about Folk-Americana music understands and celebrates the role of protest songs in advancing opportunities for the downtrodden. Song parodies, and musical satire, play just as important a role.
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Censorship of the arts never works.
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So, is that a contradiction? No.
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It is up to each of us, as artists, to exercise judgment. Is what we do, or say, or sing influential? We hope so! But is it likely to be misinterpreted or manipulated by others for their own purpose? Is there a high potential for offending those who do not deserve it?
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In a sense, asking yourself those questions is only adding a facet to what you must already do to protect yourself, your image, and your creative work.
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Have you turned-down a gig because of where it is - some place with which you do not wish to be associated? Or because of who was sponsoring it? Or whose cause or candidacy the gig was supporting? The point is similar.
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As always, ask yourself the business questions that protect you. It's all related: is an opportunity actually fraught with exploitation? Is there an offer of "support" from someone whose motives are not compatible with yours?
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Not that any of us would knowingly get involved with Nazis or Klansmen or religious hate groups. But it's an increasingly complicated world.
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More tomorrow, about the music scene. Meantime, check the latest full edition of the Acoustic Americana Music Guide's "Spotlight Events" published September 14.
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