Over the Moon about “Under the Moon”
To the Editor:
I very much enjoyed reading “Get Out and Get Under the Moon” by Joe Bebco in the August paper! In my mind’s ear I heard Roya Naldi singing, “Give me a night in June, beneath the moon…”
AI is encroaching upon the arts as well. You may have heard of scholars recently using AI to complete Beethoven’s tenth symphony from sketches left by the composer. As a composer myself, writing miniature symphonies in the mid-eighteenth century style governed by sonic physics and common musical practice, I often find myself asking, “Why bother? Why struggle to compose when AI can do it better?”
Joe Bebco’s entreaty to “show up” to ball games and the like prompted me to ask yet again, “Why bother?” I believe the answer is this: because what people do has value. The quality of what we human beings produce or accomplish will never measure up to that which is done by computers. The sport of chess has borne this out. But what we human beings do, in all its imperfection, has inestimable value, because we have souls. We possess a “divine spark” (remember Gettysburg?) that can never be extinguished. Your resolution to keep “showing up” is a powerful testament to the dignity of the human soul.
Brandon Byrne
Brown City, MI
Standing Up for Sitting Down
To the Editor:
I enjoy Jeff Barnhart’s columns on his inspirations. However, I have a comment on one of his recent columns.
It was about the question To Sit or Not To Sit. He did mention my Cakewalkin’ Jass Band as one that sits. Let me tell you the story behind that.
When I started to play, I would always stand in the bands I organized because I thought that is what you did. Even when the CJB expanded the front line, we still stood. Then in 1968 the Preservation Hall Jazz Band came to Toledo. When I went to see them, the front line was sitting down. I thought it was a great idea. You wouldn’t wear out as fast and last longer.
Beyond that, I feel that playing sitting down and standing on solos and the out choruses is a positive visual effect on the audience. But the most important benefit in playing sitting down is that you can stomp your feet! New Orleans jazz is a fun music and gets people moving, including band members. it is very difficult to stomp your feet if you are standing up. We were playing a gig in Madison, WI, with myself, Dave Kosmyna, and Roy Rubenstein subbing on trombone on the front line. We are all foot stompers. We all got stomping so much on a hot number that we had several in the audience laughing.
So my answer to the question is YES, SIT
Ray Heitger
Toledo, OH
