Safety, Doubt and Mass Murder

The Yeagermeister

Nope - not about beer....come on this is the sports part of my blog.....can't you figure it out by now? Nothing overwhelming in sports this weekend so I'll just give you a bit of baseball history. I'm standing at the batting cages at our baseball field in Chatsworth the other night talking to a parent and he says "yeah - Steve Yeager is the coach of my son's team". Yes, it was in fact star catcher of the the Los Angeles Dodgers of the 1970's in the cage throwing batting practice to Chatsworth Little Leaguers. So here is my tidbit for the day - thanks to Steve Yeager, catchers have that odd piece of equipment that flaps underneath their face mask to protect their neck. You see, Yeager was in the on deck circle in the 1970's when nine pieces of wood from his teammate's shattered bat pierced his neck nearly killing Yeager. From that point on he was given protection for his neck so that he could still catch behind the plate. It sometimes takes a tragedy or near tragedy to bring improvement in safety to sports. Just ask the Earnhardt family. No one has died in a major Nascar series since Dale Earnhardt's death in 2001 due to vast improvements made in driver protection.

DOUBT

Philip Seymour Hoffmann and Meryl Streep are two of my favorite actors. I was so happy to see them acting in major roles in the movie doubt. The actors (including Amy Adams) were all nominated due to their supreme acting ability. The acting in the film was undoubtedly superb. And, to be quite honest, I would do anything to have seen this ensemble of actors put on this movie as a play on or off broadway. I will recommend the movie to those who really enjoy focusing on an individuals ability to get lost in a role. However, I would consider the movie far from entertaining....it is dry, intense, bordering on dark....all elements that I enjoy in a good movie but as something that could potentially move into the mainstream it misses. It is a play on screen. So if you would like to see some of the great actors of our time at the very best, this is one to see. If you want to see action, over the top drama, and exciting nail biting ending....maybe this one is not for you.

A SURVIVOR FROM WARSAW

This is always one of the first musical composition I introduce to music appreciation classes. It's because I quickly realize that most people don't "appreciate" music unless they actually like to listen to the piece of music. To be honest, I don't care if you don't like it. I just want you to understand why a person, given their own personal and social circumstances may have created a work of art that you may not like but that still may be considered important in the art world. Schoenberg's "A Survivor from Warsaw" is one such work. This short orchestra/vocal work based on themes of the Holocaust is an intensely packed 10 minutes of music packed with unrelenting dissonance, intensity and drama. The work has narration in both Engish and German and ends with an anthem sung by full male chorus. In order for an composer to subjectively recreate one of the ugliest moments in human history, the composer must not be bent on entertaining. These events are often something the composer or artist witnessed and it is their desire, based on their own value judgements to put their own voice behind these events.