APP on Live Music in New Jersey

An editorial in the Asbury Park Press from May 1 sparked a lively retort from a member of the Monmouth Civic Chorus, printed in the paper the following week as a guest editorial. The writer of the response, Jenni Blumenthal, was ticked that in extolling the virtues of live music in New Jersey the editorial didn't mention any of the local classical groups.

It didn't mention classical music at all in fact, local or otherwise. I suppose as a classical music fan, I should be offended by that. But the fact is, I'm used to it. The Monmouth/Ocean media and general population overlook classical music. It's very difficult to generate an audience for it, even if you're a world-class outfit like the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra or the Opera New Jersey. That's why theaters in Monmouth County aren't even on the radar for groups like Opera New Jersey. That's why the 50-summer run of the Metro Lyric Opera could halt without any public outcry and without attempt to replace it. That's why NJSO now limits its performances here to an educational "Best Of ..." series of one-hour concerts--the NJSO is bending over backward to cultivate an audience because the culture for appreciating classical music just doesn't exist here.

When the media talk about live music, they are generally talking about longtime pop radio celebrities of one stripe or another, names that can fill thousands of seats at a shot. But that's just not who we are musically, nor is it who we want to be. I don't expect everyone to be a classical music and jazz fan. But most of the live music that happens here is in yet another category: hundreds of small local bands that are touring and may exist as a performing unit only for a year or two. But even that rich, vital culture of bands and clubs that host them gets barely a whipser of mention in this APP editorial. Instead the writer mentions only the big theaters and arenas and the acts that can fill them. The most commericial kind of musical experience.

While some current pop stars, like Lady Gaga, make the list, most of the names mentioned by the APP writer are stars in their 60s and 70s who've turned gray playing their hits of 30 years ago. Classical and jazz traditions exist to continually reinvent the past, but pop rock does not. It exists in the moment and then quickly fades into memory. As a group, what these artists have to offer is notalgia for a time when their music was relevant. There's nothing wrong with that. But if we're trumpeting the musical vitality of New Jersey, citing the living dead as an example is hardly the way to go about it.

--C.
www.theandofone.blogspot.com

Storms and Reviews

Our local Monmouth Symphony Orchestra is scheduled to perform this afternoon at 3 p.m. The group has posted a note on its website that says the performance is going ahead as scheduled despite the remains of the storm that are everywhere here. I plan to be there and to write a review for the Asbury Park Press (running probably Tuesday or Wednesday).

I had planned to review the production of Carmen that opened at McCarter Theatre in Princeton Friday with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Opera NJ. But with the Weather Channel warning that blizzard conditions could shut down I-195 ... I opted to stay home. Performances of Carmen in New Jersey continue at 3 p.m. this afternoon at The State Theatre, 15 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick and 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Centre, 1 Centre Dr., Newark. For tickets and information visit the NJSO website, www.njsymphony.org or call 1-800-ALLEGRO.

--C.
www.theandofone.blogspot.com

Philanthropist! Heal Thyself

It's moments like these that test our convictions. We know that supporting the arts is vital to our society's well-being. Yet, how much are we prepared to sacrifice for that culture? Now, when money-to-burn has become charred toast; when each fundraising letter echoes like screams from the Titantic; when your accountant holds the stick, sheepishly unsure of how low your drunken assets can possibly go; now, when the U.S. government holds a majority stake in the bank that holds your money and nobody can tell you what that means--is it different, now? Our convictions were true, like universal laws ... once. Are they true now? The ground was firm then, like concrete. Now it is not firm--do we let go of those we supported?

It's not quite so transparent as that, I know. Fact is, I don't have any kind of money and probably will never know what it's like to be in your shoes. You'll have to make up your own mind.

If you decide to help out, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra will certainly do its part to make your decision easier to bear. This weekend, they're holding a black-tie fund-raising event Saturday, April 18, at 6 p.m. at Gladstone's Hamilton Farm Golf Club. Called "Spring Into Music: Getting Back to Our Roots," the event includes cocktails and dinner, a performance by the NJSO and its Greater Newark Youth Orchestra, and a silent auction. It's going to be a great shindig. You'll enjoy yourself while your there, and you can savor the memory as a balm. Visit the group's site for details.

--C.