Weapons of Mass Orchestration
One angle that hadn't occurred to me, as I've spent the weekend fuming at the notion that books are now being treated as potential tools of terror - an idea that writers have often romanticized, but not quite in this way - is the effect that the new flight restrictions are having on musicians. Cello players seem to get it the worst, at least after bagpipers (see the comments in that one). The actual effects on economic and cultural commerce will be horrible if they're really going to treat as a threat any traveller who's not naked and bearing a certified X-ray to ensure they haven't got explosive bone marrow, rather than relying on other means of screening and intelligence, not to mention the inevitable risks and even losses involved in having a free and cosmopolitan society. Considering the fundamentalist edicts against music, this is one irony that stings.
(PS: Speaking of bagpipes, I hadn't heard till this afternoon that jazz piper Rufus Harley has died.)
| Posted by zoilus on Tuesday, August 15 at 2:15 PM | Linking Posts | Comments (4)
COMMENTS
Don't forget about us double bassists.
There was a classic page at the back of Rufus Reid's bass method "The Evolving Bassist" with great photos of a very big-haired Reid showing the techniques of stowing a bass in an airplane seat.
This page may now be obsolete.
Posted by Adam Fine on August 16, 2006 1:34 PM
Bagpipes are proof that Scotland is part of the axis of evil.
-G.
Posted by juepucta on August 16, 2006 12:31 PM
I find it really amusing that among the comments from people with priceless 18th-century cellos worrying about them being damaged by cold and people not trained to handle such valuable and delicate masterpieces....there's people who feel their blackberries and laptops are basically the same thing.
Posted by Jay Mullin on August 16, 2006 9:38 AM
Better stop that fuming right now, Carl-- I think fumes are now restricted on flights.
Posted by Ryan Catbird on August 15, 2006 2:53 PM