It's What Leftists Do

I have mentioned before the importance of music, and of course the other arts, drama, painting and sculpture, to the human spirit.  Now, not all music is created equal.  Some music composed by geniuses, is timeless.  Mozart's A Little Night Music is one such. Yes, it is composed as an entertainment, but it is more than simply an entertainment. Then there are the great hymns that have accompanied worship and prayer over the centuries; hymns like Christ is Risen Today Other music is unfortunately crap best forgotten, or pablum meant to file the silence with sound to distract us from the banality of our own thoughts. Never the less, music is one evidence of the existence of the God of Creation. For the is no practical value to music, and yet nearly everyone at least has a capacity to appreciate music, and both sing music or play an instrument are common accomplishments.

As in Massachusetts, where Nick Chase writes of the lockdowns that They Killed Everything Beautiful, local culture has been shut down for months now, and parts of it permanently damaged.

At first the various events managers postponed their concerts and shows, assuming this was just a temporary delay. But after two or three weeks it became obvious that the bureaucrats were going to push this overwrought quarantine into overdrive, and they began cancelling.

Overseas orchestras and soloists cancelled their tours because they couldn't fly into the U.S. Music Worcester's entire spring concert season, cancelled. Mechanics Hall in Worcester, one of the top dozen concert halls in the country because of its acoustical perfection, closed. Tuckerman Hall, also a very fine and beautiful space, open but with few events and no musical events. All concerts by local groups, cancelled because the performers were unable to meet and rehearse. Worcester's magnificent Hanover Theatre (home for touring Broadway shows), shuttered. July 4 fireworks and concert by the Massachusetts Symphony in Worcester's East Park, gone.

The damage reaches across the state. Symphony Pro Musica's (Hudson) spring and summer events, cancelled. July concerts by the Concord Band at Fruitlands (outdoor museum), kaput. The Boston Symphony Orchestra's performances in Symphony Hall, silenced. The entire summer season of concerts at Tanglewood (the BSO's summer home) in the Berkshires, cancelled, an enormous blow to the tourist season in that area. Worcester Art Museum, Fitchburg Art Museum, Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, all closed.

Locally, we have a coffee shop called Lorraine's Coffee House and Music. It is, obviously, a small business that features live music by local talent on the weekends. I attended one of the last shows before the lockdown. Lorraine's has been subsisting by drive through coffee sales. But you wonder how long they will hold on, even after the state is cautiously opening up. Such establishments are allowed to operate only at significantly reduced capacity.  Yet,because they operate on a razor thin margin, one wonders how they will make ends meet.  We also have larger venues including the PNC Arena, which hosts big professional acts, and of course Red Hat Amphitheater in downtown Raleigh, where music is staged al fresco with events like the World Of Bluegrass.

Church services have fortunately returned, so music associated with religious services has resumed.  But other music requires performers to rehears together.  Practicing by yourself only goes so far.  To perform on a stage one ust rehears exactly like you are going to perform.  Sound check have to be done.  The timing, play list, encores, and much more has to be worked out.  And of course, there is no way to "'social distance" on a crowded stage.  And even if all these other things can be satisfied, there is the question of whether it is economically sound to put a show on in the first place if ticket sales are 1/3 of what they were expecting.  Must musicians after all do not make a lot of money on these shows.  They largely do it because they love it.

Music and culture is just one more casualty of this soul sucking lockdown.  The public has been terrified into giving up their basic human rights, including their livelihoods, their rights to travel, to worship, to in some cases exercise, and of course their right to enjoy music. 

The Covid-19 lockdowns have given us a first hand look at living in a socialist hell hole.  It's what Leftist dictators do.