indeed it was. When I watched the last night on tv, I was often aghast
at the ... antics. I know from personal experience that "patriotism"
in this country is a sad thing, violent and nasty.
I think the last night is the one which is a celebration of power and
money etc etc. The other proms, less so, more in the manner that all
institutions are part of the complex web of capitalism etc, but still
just a festival celebrating music. The last night tips the balance.
Roger
On Sun, Sep 14, 2008 at 6:15 PM, Halvard Johnson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Easy for *you* to say, Roger.
>
> Hal
>
> On Sep 13, 2008, at 5:54 PM, Roger Day wrote:
>
>> I did not watch it. The Last Night has nothing to do with me.
>>
>> Roger
>>
>> On Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 11:34 PM, Judy Prince
>> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>> You said: "....men and women in black evening dress play wonderful music
>>> to
>>> earnest
>>> concert-goers in their rainbow wear in the half-light of Albert Hall...."
>>> Very effective evocation, R'Owl. Thanks for the wiki-link; read it with
>>> great interest; think the 'inventor' of the occasion was a pragmatic,
>>> enlightened, action-oriented individual; wonder if you saw/heard the
>>> 'ceilidh'; and if you all sang 'Auld Lang Syne'.
>>>
>>> And all this time I though the Proms were a series of 'celebrations' of a
>>> war event. Glad to know otherwise.
>>>
>>> Hon. joodles
>>>
>>> 2008/9/13 Roger Day <[log in to unmask]>
>>>
>>>> The attachment of the last night to reality is ... very slim. Norman
>>>> Lebrecht was going on about how the the last night reflected England
>>>> back on to itself. It's not my England that's being reflected, but
>>>> some wierd place, half pantomime, half ruritania, half madman. Maybe
>>>> it is England, and I'm the one that missing something.
>>>>
>>>> The last night has little to do with the previous 200+ concerts where
>>>> men and women in black evening dress play wonderful music to earnest
>>>> concert-goers in their rainbow wear in the half-light of Albert Hall,
>>>> listening intently to the wonderful music being produced. You can get
>>>> seats in the balcony for 10 to 50 quid; but to stand, or to watch
>>>> through the railings as I did with others, you queue for a bit, then
>>>> you pay a fiver, 5 whole pounds watch the best orchestras in the
>>>> world.
>>>>
>>>> What does it mean? who can say? Reading the wiki might give you start:
>>>>
>>>> FYI:
>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proms
>>>>
>>>> Roger
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 11:01 PM, David Bircumshaw
>>>> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Apropos of things, I caught the end of our annual patriotic fest
>>>>> tonight, that is to say The Last Night of the Proms: among things that
>>>>> caught my attention was that among the Union Jacks and St George's
>>>>> Flags there were also a-waving Stars and Stripes, Russian Crosses, the
>>>>> Seven Sisters, a couple of Deutsch ensigns and even a Norwegian
>>>>> banner. How odd!.
>>>>>
>>>>> Even weirder the commentator described 'Jerusalem' as being written by
>>>>> 'Sir William Blake' (!!)
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> David Bircumshaw
>>>>> Website and A Chide's Alphabet
>>>>
>>>> http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/
>>>>>
>>>>> The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
>>>>> Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> My Stuff: http://www.badstep.net/
>>>> "I began to warm and chill
>>>> to objects and their fields"
>>>> Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> My Stuff: http://www.badstep.net/
>> "I began to warm and chill
>> to objects and their fields"
>> Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
>
> "Never underestimate the power of stupid
> people in large groups."
> --George Carlin
>
> Halvard Johnson
> ================
> [log in to unmask]
> [log in to unmask]
> http://home.earthlink.net/~halvard/index.html
> http://entropyandme.blogspot.com
> http://imageswithoutwords.blogspot.com
> http://www.hamiltonstone.org
> http://home.earthlink.net/~halvard/vidalocabooks.html
>
--
My Stuff: http://www.badstep.net/
"I began to warm and chill
to objects and their fields"
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
|