Friday, July 13, 2007

Who killed the Pops?

I got an email today from a reader who has written his own blog post about the Boston Pops. Vincent Hancock has uncovered a dastardly plot to kill Keith Lockhart. Ah, that's not it, instead it is efforts to kill the Boston Pops Fourth of July televised concert, or at least to transform it into a Fourth of July concert with very few pieces performed by the Boston Pops. Read the whole thing, as the professionals say.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We used to look forward to the Pops Fourth of July every year, a must. Now, there is little to watch of that great music. Very disappointing.

Peter (the other) said...

The questions, does media reflect us, change us, or both, come up from reading that. Certainly one can never underestimate the banality of modern media.

What I miss is the sense of time. Taking a long (few hours?) summers evening together at concert or such, and going home tired, seems quaint. But the Pops (BSO) need more many then PBS or A&E are willing to pay, and so the old institution is jammed into today's commercial reality.

Not to sound too Pollyanish (I hope), but if one rides through life backwards, one experiences it as a constant slipping away of what one knows and loves. No matter how distasteful, I feel I must find a way to sit on the beast, looking forward, overcoming my fears, and find a way to participate, create and/or appreciate in what is, and what is coming. I suppose it is a faith thing.

Ahh, but I do miss those long summer nights. :-)