When the world believed this to be an act of international Islamist terrorism, state leaders, from Obama to Cameron, all stated that they would stand by Norway in our struggle. Which struggle will that be now? All western leaders have the same problem within their own borders. Will they now wage war on homegrown rightwing extremism? On Islamophobia and racism?Simon Goldhill in his book Foucault's Virginity writes:
The failing search for a pharmakon for desire is a topos of Hellenistic poetry, and Theocritus, the pastoral master, begins one of his most famous poems (Idyll 11) with the declaration that 'there is no pharmakon for desire, no salve, no ointment, other than the Muses'.This line of Theoritus's, along with Simonides's For the Spartan Dead at Thermopylai (480 B.C.)
Take this news to the Lakedaimonians, friend,
That here we lie, who followed their command.
Peter Jay, 1981
have affected me, whenever I summon them, in a way that prevents my speaking for a long while.
It took a very long time for me this morning to speak to myself about the 95 lives taken in Norway by the Norwegian rightwing extremist, Anders Breivik.
Yet I have also had trouble speaking to myself about our madmen, our own rightwing extremists in our House of Representatives (and elsewhere), and especially the quite 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' John Boehner, Republican of Ohio.
There is no pharmakon for the political desires of the rightwing Republican kind; certainly no Muse or Song either. Who will take the news to our Commander, to President Obama? Here we lie, down here on the ground, with Boehner's and Obama's hands in our pockets - which brings to my mind Dizzy Gillespie's tune "A handfull of Gimmie and a Mouth-full of Thank-You-Much". Of course the other Republican mascots (aka "Democrats") are outraged, mad at their mascot, President Obama. Ha Ha.
Bud Powell, Dexter Gordon, Francis Paudras and Bertrand Tavernier - Round Midnight
Thinking this morning about Norway, Boehner-Obama, hands in my pocket down here on the ground (our socio-economic Thermopylai) led my thoughts to Bud Powell, and then to the Dexter Gordon, Francis Paudras, Bertrand Tavernier-Round Midnight nexus. I don't know why. It just happened. I decided to listen to Bud Powell all day (Sunday is my music day anyway). And I decided to listen to Bud Powell with Bird, with Dexter, with Stitt, with Byas (did I miss anyone?).
Then I decided to watch Tavernier's film Round Midnight, starring Dexter Gordon. Then I decided to re-look at Paudras's Bud Powell book, Dance of the Infidels: A Portrait of Bud Powell.
Why all of this? I wish that I could provide an explanation for my insistence on Bud Powell, on Messrs. Gordon, Paudras and Tavernier. As Marcel Duchamp explained to an interviewer, "We have to make our own arrangements." Why Bud Powell? is a mystery to me. His life and music - his music was his life - appeared to me as follows.
1957 - I heard Bud Powell in person at the Masonic Temple in Detroit, as part of the Birdland All-Stars Tour. Listened to the Savoy recordings of Charlie Parker with Bud Powell throughout high school. Listened to Powell's Blue Note recordings in college and afterwards. Listened to Bud Powell with Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt and Don Byas through the years. Met and listened to Detroit's Barry Harris (keeper of Bud Powell's flame) in New York City in 1961. Watched Tavernier's Round Midnight in 1986 and thereafter. The image I have is like that of a telescoping tunnel as seen on TV shows like The Prisoner.
I got up at noon today; read the Guardian and its accounts of the tragic Norway event and the absurd USA Obama-Boehner minstrel show; decided to devote myself to Bud Powell and related masters and matters. While our minstrels do their steps - to what music one can't imagine, we (the rest of us) search for our Muse, for our music, for our anthem. It certainly won't be in the key of "I have a dream". It appears to be rather in the key of our minstrels' "We have a scheme." Right.
You know the steps here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmakos
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