Winter
Holiday Greetings from Stormy Seattle
DEAR FRIENDS, QUEER FRIENDS,
December
2006
Happy
holidays from my corner of the world! We are breathing a
sigh of relief here, as the Bushist
Phalange was
chastised
at the
polls and events may at least stop their downward spiral. Unfortunately, Dubya
is still in denial, out of touch with reality, and continues to drag America’s
reputation and promise through the mire. We shall overcome.
I
haven’t traveled much this year compared with last, since
I’m back
to singing (www.seattlepromusica.org)
and right now I am
in the week between pairs of concert performances of American music,
mostly
living composers. Last March we sang obscure works in Arabic, Armenian,
Bulgarian, and other works “from the East” Last
May, we sang the Bach B Minor
Mass with period instruments. I auditioned for, but didn’t
make the Seattle
Opera chorus, cracked on a high note, but the voice lessons I took in
order to
prepare have been very, very helpful.
Curiously, I have been singing low bass D in practice. Is
my identity as
a tenor in crisis
I
did some volunteer work
for Verified Voting Foundation (www.verifiedvoting.org
)There are still problems with non-recording machines, like the ones in
Sarasota, Florida that seem to have caused six times as many undervotes (no vote in a given
race). Was it the ballot
program or the equipment? In any case, a revote is called for.
I
also belong to the Sierra Club Energy Committee, which worked on
a renewables
initiative, and opposes new coal-fired
plants, a major cause of global heating.
“Warming” sounds too benign. The
planet is under threat.
Some
optimism is generated by my annual work on the Pride Foundation
Scholarship Committee. Amid all the negative media, there are young
people who
are excelling in arts and sciences and leadership, and it is a great
joy to be
involved in helping them advance.
The
two-year moratorium on home
improvements after retirement has ended. I painted the dining
room, got
some new fixtures, and got the chicken-wire window in the living room
replaced
with clear plate, in anticipation o new stained glass with a seven-fold
star as
theme. Since the dining room was out of commission, I had a Chinese
vegan
thanksgiving at a restaurant, and as a bonus, 12,000 fewer calories of
leftovers to tunnel through.
Travel:
Andalucia, Maroc,
Porto, London. My
summer travels
started
with a visit
with my friend Paul in London,
who is now happily married to his partner Alan. I took in the
Chelsea Flower show, which was a bit of a disappointment, much of the
exhibit
was cut flowers, like being in a cavernous florist shop. Reconnected
with a
friend from my last trip (and saw him again in San
Francisco!)
I nabbed some nice cheeses at the Borough Market.
Who
is buried in Columbus’
tomb? There’s a Columbus
buried in an elaborate tomb at Seville Cathedral, but it’s
probably
Christopher’s son Hernando. Chris is in Santo
Domingo.
You can still walk through the hall where queen
Isabella received the father.
I
ate a great lunch in Seville
that I replicated at a dinner party in Seattle,
with white gazpacho (with almonds, grapes, and cream) and a simple
dessert of
carrot, orange and cinnamon. Tapas and beer are so civilized.
In Granada,
spent a day visiting the incredible Alhambra, Spain’s
top attraction, where the Muslim Caliphs of Al Andalus
held court, were far enough from Baghdad
to
be more liberal, and employed Jews and Christians at court and in the
arts. Then Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic
Monarchs, who took
over in 1492, expelled the Muslims and Jews, started up the
Inquisition, and
created much of the distress we are still dealing with.
The
train ride from Granada
to Algeciras
was gorgeous. Gibraltar
was worth the short visit with the Barbary
apes and to take
in the view
from the Rock, but time has passed the colony by, and now people start
drinking
early as there’s not much to do.
I
had a good time in Morocco, but
got sick from hotel food in Fez,
where it
was 107 degrees in the afternoon.
I saw
a few concerts in the World Festival of Sacred Music, but my digestive
system
almost got me into a duel with this French dude who heard “un
pet!” The medina
has been there since the 9th century,
continuously occupied. UNESCO
has provided sanitation. Unfortunately, some of the cultural sites are
off
limits to infidels. No, I don’t want to buy a carpet. Marrakech has its charms
closer to the
surface, especially fresh squeezed orange juice for 30c a pop from one
of
dozens of stalls on the main square (this years photo is from a
restaurant
overlooking) and patisseries for emergency sugar. Less
interesting was Casablanca
(a
little walking tour through art deco public buildings, and a curious
concrete
cathedral), but it is mostly businesslike and not very touristy. .The movie that bears its
name had no
location shots and was
shot entirely on Hollywood
soundstages. Tangier, the Tijuana of Africa,
is an unavoidable stop if you enter by ferry.
Anything there is better elsewhere, and the cab drivers
all cheat.
Returned
via the ferry and train to Cordoba,
the exquisite Mezquita
which got a Renaissance
cathedral rudely plunked into its midsection. Which of these things
doesn’t
belong? A donation
of two tones of gold
tiles from the Byzantine emporer
brightened the mihrab. I had a
good time roaming the streets of Madrid,
but the nightlife runs so late (dinner
at 10
PM
bars open at midnight,
discos
at 2
AM)
that it wasn’t compatible with tourism.
And I’m shy enough in clubs where English is
spoken! More to my
liking was the Prado,
and a visit to see Picasso’s Guernica,
now 25 years returned from New
York.
And it was only 95 degrees out, yet another reason to hang out in
climate-controlled art spaces. Also
in
the Prado, El Bosco’s Grden of Earthly delights, and
contemporary (2nd
century) busts of the Roman emporer Hadrian
and his male
lover Antinous, the
last god of pagan antiquity. (The
other good statues of Antinous
are in the Vatican Museum
and
belong to the Pope. Any questions?)
A few hours spent
in the company of genius is
always the most rewarding
way to spend my time!
Portugal
was entertaining without the snobbery. Whilst I was in Lisbon,
their
national team made the World Cup semifinals, so I got to witness 90
minutes of
pandemonium from the Commercial square.
Every taxi,
bus, firetruck, car
tuned into a noisemaker for
ninety minutes. I did enjoy I stayed in the Baira
Alta, so bar crawls were really bar hill climbs.
Since a package tour I had booked bailed out,
I took some day trips to Cimbra,
Sintra,
and even Fatima, where they take you through a religious articles
shopping mall
first. Calouste
Gulbenkian, who received
5% of Iraq’s
oil in 1905, spent his fabulous fortune on art, and luckily his
taste was
equally fabulous, and the museum he bequeathed a fine example of sixties’s modern. In Porto,
I enjoyed a cruise
through the Douro
valley, reminiscent of the Rhine. And had a good afternoon
at Solar do Porto tasting
fine
ports. Including a 1961.
I could not afford the
100-year old at 4 Euros the milliliter, and the 4 bottles of
250-year-old are
without price, though for all we know they taste like vinegar.
The
1980 I bought was well appreciated, now all gone, sigh.
High vapor pressure makes fine port disappear
from the cabinet.
Rounding
up the visit was a little trip to Cambridge, Englans, where allI could think
of in Kings College Chapel was a bawdy limerick.
Write for it.
Ashland
Shakespeare: I
went with friends to see four plays in April in Ashland,
a
nice break in the usual plans. On this trip, as well as a Pro Musica tour in October, I
reconnected with Portland
and
Eugene
friends.
Salmon
River, Idaho
rafting.
This was a great deal of fun, if not a New Deal,
benefiting Save Our
Wild Salmon, in the company of a political columnist for the P-I, and a
Congressional candidate. Names
dropped
everywhere. Very
different from cultural
touring abroad, it was a good way to connect with the elements. On the
way
back, I wandered about Walla Wall in search of wine, in little
industrial
buildings out by the airport. Discovered
by the N Y Times, now coveted and expensive!
John
Burnside’s 90th
birthday in San
Francisco:
The other trip that I so enjoyed brought me to San
Francisco,
always a place to reconnect with friends, this time being no
exception. The party and fundraiser for John Burnside, Harry
Hay’s lover until
Harry’s death in 2002, was a joyous event. My friend Ben
Gardiner provided a
limousine and a fanfare. Porn
star Peter
Berlin, still sporting bangs and bulge at sixty, also attended and one
of his
prints fetched a month’s rent for John. I saw Terry from Santa
Cruz,
the man who broke my heart in 1981, at the party. He meant everything
to me,
and I meant nothing to him. Sounds like a pop song, doesn’t
it? Romantic love
is like that. The pain is like radioactive decay, with maybe a half
life of
four years, so I’m down to a couple of percent now.
Coming
up,
a wintry blast in Minneapolis
at
New Year’s for my niece’s wedding. Why not June?
Why not Tahiti? Inmid-January
I
will be traveling to Malaysia, Singapore,
and Indonesia
for about six weeks. I can’t wait. There’s a beach
in Bali
with my name on it!
Culture: Some
great
new works at the Pacific Northwest Ballet, now in its second year under
Peter Boal. Hmm, with
the male pulchritude on its promotion
materials, you don’t suppose they have discovered a key
segment of their
audience? On that theme, my friend Ray presented his festival of men in
dance
for the sixth biennium. A
lot of fun in
a small space, where you can see how hard dancers really work!
The
new De Young museum in San
Francisco now
has room
to show more of their collection, and a fabulous view of Golden
Gate
park from
the tower.
I
have really enjoyed videos of the PBS series on Jazz (more hours
spent in the company of genius) and some audiotapes on the history of
Philosophy (the long dinner conversation over brandy).
Sex
and
Love.
Alas, not much to report in that department I’ve gotten used
to life alone, but
would it destroy some cosmic plan if, if, if?
Politics:
The Democrats will be in the majority in Congress, so some
positive activity will be possible, but Buxh will veto everything he
can,
especially if it benefits ordinary citizens instead of wealthy
corporations. He
won’t listen to Baker (and his father, ever the brat) and Iraq
will end in a rout, just like Vietnam
did. Maybe
that’s the best
long term outcome, but this war, based on a tissue of lies and
incredible
arrogance, never had to happen. We
may
lose in Afghanistan
as well, because all the resources that could have been devoted
to it, were squandered
along with our troops lives for
Halliburton and Carlyle and oil company blood profit.
Typical:
Buxh is having the Environmental Protection Administration
destroy their libraries. That way, there will be no way for future
administrations to hold corporate polluters to account.
The evidence will be destroyed.
And there is no money for food inspection.
That money went to tax breaks for wealth te
campaign contributors. Along
similar
lines, the NLRB is trying to reclassify millions of workers as
“supervisors” so
they can’t unionize. Setting schedules is not supervision.
Hiring and firing
is!
Gay
Marriage has
become a shibboleth.
If I were king, I would take government
out of the “M-word” entirely. All you get from the
government is a contract.
You can dress it up with religion as much as you like, but
that’s not the
government’s business. Some
heterosexuals would also prefer it that way, and it wouldn’t
violate Equal
Protection. I am
also not holding my
breath.
The
Corporate States
of America
has, in the words of BBC’s country profile
“the best government money can buy.”
My
apologies for the word-oes. Microsoft is at fault!
Microsoft is at fault!
All the Best to
You and Yours
May all beings
be happy, safe, healthy, and at peace,
avoiding
suffering, living
or reposing in ease and well-being and
love.
David
Kerlick
Cold,
Windy, Rainy, West
Seattle