These Days: Sunday, January 15th, 2017
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus closes: My Helen Bach is overjoyed at the end of the circus after 146 years. the vegan abhorred the circus due to its cruelty to animals. I was never a fan but part of me will miss Ringling’s the way I miss my Mom even though I didn’t like her either: I’ll miss it because it is part of my past. Having said that, once the elephants were prohibited from performing it was over and so it should be. If it is one thing to kill animals for food, it is something else entirely to enslave them for our entertainment. If you believe those powerful beautiful elephants enjoyed being stuck in irons and bullied and caged you are nuts. And if you think lions enjoyed being stuffed full of tranquilizer and whipped to jump through hoops of fire, you’re equally nuts. I think it is no insult to humans who were (and are) enslaved by other humans to note that these animals -who define innocence, were, in fact, slaves. Perhaps the generation of animals being set free from the circus are lost, but at least none will follow them.
Old Music: Ah yes, nostalgia. On a hit summer Sunday I will dream of the crisp and cold weather where I can sit home all day watching grown men give each other concussion aka American Football. In the dead of winter, I dream of “Summer Breeze” and “Summer Wind” and, for some obscure reason, “You And Your Folks, Me And My Folks”. Prince, Pres and Macca all patiently awaiting their turn…
New Music: I am about ready to write my “Going Steady” singles column, and it feels like a very good week. The big surprise is the return of Laura Marling, in the wilderness since 2013. The new Rhiannon Giddens and Naughty Boy are both great as well. Albums, once I finish with Prisoner I’ll be giving Wiley a more thorough listen.
The President Elect: Trump could get away with a lot more if he wasn’t so horrible: maybe it is in the nature of fascism that the leader is an unspeakable bully but even so if Donald had one ounce of grace about it all maybe we would give him a chance.
