The Parchman Hour

I tend to be a little wary of documentary theater, just as I'm reticent about historical novels. I often find myself thinking, well why don't I read a nonfiction account about this historic issue or topic? But lately I've been pleasantly reminded of how and why dramatizations of actual historic events can illuminate the characters in history and what motivated their actions and made them significant. This time it's the Guthrie Theater's excellent production of Mike Wiley's play with Music, The Parchman Hour, that won me over. The story centers on some of the key players among the Freedom Riders who bussed into the Deep South to oppose segregation and often ended up threatened, abused and jailed --at the notorious Mississippi State Penitentiary known as Parchman Farm. In song and story, the actors remind the audience just how much physical and mental menace and brutality the freedom marchers faced on their journey to try to force state and local governments enforce the court mandated integration of schools and public facilities. The fact that this all occurred fairly recently, in the early 1960s, reminded me that the racial tension and systemic racism that continue to plague our society today (the play incorporates references to the Black Lives Matter movement.)
The title of the play refers to the variety show that the freedom marcher inmates at Parchman Farm performed for each other to entertain themselves and keep up their spirits during the time they were in jail. It always interest me to see how, even under extremely dire circumstances, people rely upon humor to salve their woulds and sustain their spirits. (And what better tool than farce to highlight government hypocrisy.
Director Patricia McGregor and musical director Sanford Moore (of Moore by Four fame here in the Twin Cities) lead an outstanding cast that includes Sam Bardwell, Nathan Barlow, Cat Brindisi, Whitney Maris Brown, David Darrow, Kevin R. Free, Katherine Fried, Terry Templeman, Jared Joseph, Zonya Love (whose incredible voice gives ballast to many of the musical numbers) Stephen Conrad Moore, and Kory LaQuess Pullman.

A Little Left of Center

U.S. Senator John McCain announced he'll write in the name of fellow Senator Lindsey Graham for President. U.S. Representative Eric Paulsen says he'll write in the name of Senator Marco Rubio, the king of empty suits on Capitol Hill. One after another, prominent Republicans, after enduring months of boorish talk and behavior by their party's presidential nominee, and noting polls that show Hillary Clinton pulling ahead in her bid for the White House, have decided to abandon ship and disavow their party's nominee. But they all go to pains to say they won't be voting for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Secretary Clinton had difficulty securing her own party's nomination because she's perceived to be too moderate or centrist. Some even view her foreign policy views as hawkish. Yet the Republicans suggest that she's so far to the left that they'd rather aid and abet a misogynist, xenophobic candidate than admit that Hillary, one of two viable candidates on the ballot, would be a better president than the "bloviating idiot" (George Will's words) that their party has nominated.
Just remember that when you go to the polls. These Republicans are so irately partisan, so doctrinaire in their self-described conservatism (personally I don't see pillaging the environment, empowering corporate boards and executives at the expense of people, and piling on the the federal debt to fund tax cuts for the very rich as conservative values) that they'd rather disparage a moderate presidential candidate than support her. When the election is over, if Republicans control one or both houses of Congress, you can expect more gridlock and obstruction on Capitol Hill. The legislators who refused to reach out and embrace any olive branch that President Obama offered them won't be any nicer than President Hillary Clinton. If you want a functioning government, and won't mind a political environment a little to the left of George H.W. Bush, then vote Democratic across the board, up and down the ballot. Only with a Democratic congress will Hillary be able to govern in a way that is guided by a progressive compass.

Tangled Up in Blue

I found myself more pleased with the announcement that Bob Dylan has won the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature than I might have expected. First, there's provincial pride–I like to celebrate all accomplishments originating in Minnesota, my own native state–and Dylan's birthplace in Minnesota's northeastern Iron Range territory strikes me as a formative influence on America's most famous poet songwriter. (If you haven't seen Martin Scorsese's documentary about Dylan, No Direction Home, it's definitely worth seeing. I'm hoping public television stations will rebroadcast in light of Dylan's latest honor.)
Despite my Minnesota roots, I was slow to come into the orbit of people who love Dylan's music. I guess I was a generation behind the people who discovered him growing up. By the time I was coming of age, heavy metal or garage bands like Husker Du, The Replacements and Babes in Toyland were capturing my imagination (under the influence of more musically sophisticated friends of mine).
But at some point I discovered Dylan's brilliance, often from listening to covers of his songs performed by other bands and singers. Dylan's lyrics do rise to a level of poetic intelligence and resonance that I think is rare in popular music. Other lyricists whose work I think can often stand on its own as poetry include, of course, Patti Smith, Elvis Costello, David Bowie, and more recently Erika Badu. But Dylan's Nobel helps to shed light upon the poetic achievements of great song writers. And, if I'm not mistaken, though several poets who've lived in America have won the biggest award in literature, Dylan is the first truly American poet to claim victory. (T.S. Eliot was born and raised in the U.S., but spent most of his adult life in England.)
The times definitely are a' changing.