My Letter to the CBC Executives

Last night, I wrote my own letter to the CBC addresses mentioned in the previous post. Rather than make this about my preferences, or love of Classical Music, I wanted this to be more about the identity of CBC as it relates to Canada, and how it could help to make this a better country, and how the changes they are proposing (and I wanted to make sure I kept it as a proposal, giving them the option to do as Coke did when it brought out New Coke, gracefully back out ) are hurting the country. Here’s how it came out:

Dear Mr. Stursberg,

I write to you as a new and proud Permanent Resident of Canada.  My wife and I moved to Vancouver from Boston in 2005. We had fallen in love with Vancouver, one of the most admired and beautiful cities in the world, and we chose to live here, partly because of the physical environment,  but also because of the exciting and authentic cultural life here.  I’ve been continually impressed and encouraged by the kindness, intelligence, and thoughtfulness of my new country.

Until today.

Today, I find myself writing you with great shock and horror about the decisions regarding both the removal of Classical Music from CBC Radio 2 and the disbanding of the 70-year old cultural institution and last of its kind in North America, the CBC Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Stursberg, these decisions are wrong, and do untold damage to both the people of Canada and the country which I now call my home.

Classical Music — which is, I believe,  a ridiculous name, suggesting stuffy concert halls and audiences of doddering old fogies who want the same old chestnuts of Beethoven and Brahms played back to them over and over — is not ‘just another kind of music’.   It is the kind of music — let’s call it ‘Art Music’ — that makes you think, that is complex and challenging. It is not always a ’song’, with vocal part. It is sometimes for ensembles other than ‘bands. It is not 4 minutes in length, and may have complex harmonies and rhythms, with no part for a drummer. That kind of music, that breaks out of the mould of the mundane, the pre-digested and disposable, is precisely the kind of thing that Canada’s airwaves should continue to offer. It’s music (and Canadian performers) that deserves to be in the lives of the people who live here,

The musical life of Vancouver is particularly eviscerated by the changes proposed.  If Art Music on CBC 2 and the orchestra are gone, there will be nothing to take it’s place here. Unlike Toronto or Montreal, there are no commercial radio stations that carry Art Music here.  The disbanding of a major orchestra situated here, on top of silencing of Art Music from our airwaves is a double-blow to the cultural life of this world-class city, so poised on greatness as we prepare to host the world for the 2010 Olympics.  Should our radio be a bland purveyor of pop culture, while we now pretend to be a major player on the world’s stage?

Art Music (or, if you insist on calling it Classical Music), is something the children of Vancouver should be able to get without having to pay a ticket to see the symphony. It should not be an elitist, snobby treat that is only for the rich, who can afford the steep cost of tickets.  They should have the opportunity to hear it at no cost. Challenging cultural experiences, like Art Music, that enrich our lives and minds, like Education and Health Care, should be a right of every Canadian, and certainly not just the ones living in the largest cities (and Vancouver as well!) I believe that we are a better people with a shared cultural heritage. Yes, there is other music brought by other cultures in this country, but we all benefit from a radio channel,  at least, just 1 radio channel, that carries some of the greatest music ever written, and more than just a token 3 hours at mid-day, when children are in school, and workers are at work. In a truly great country, great art isn’t a privilege; it is for everyone, and shouldn’t require them to fork over some cash just to be exposed or introduced to it.

The CBC already has a channel dedicated to popular music:  Radio 3. Please, maintain that channel, and put all of your creative thinking into it.  But this misguided, focus-group driven destruction of some of Canada’s greatest cultural resources should halted. It’s a tragedy that can be averted, if you simply listen to the hundreds of thousands of people who I know are writing you at this very moment, just like this new Canadian.  They, and I, have the confidence in you as thoughtful and visionary leaders, to stop this disaster from hitting our lives in Canada.

Yours Sincerely,

David Drucker

I’m not thrilled about that last sentence, but I have to admit that many who have commented on this state of affairs have called it a disaster, or a catastrophy, so I suppose those terms were ringing in my ears as I wrote it.

I didn’t want this letter to be an angry missive demanding their resignation. Somehow, that seems very un-Canadian. This is a country where people think twice before hitting a stranger (unless, of course, it’s in a hockey rink). I wanted to offer these people a reason why the noble thing, the wise thing, and the thing they’d be ultimately applauded for, would be to reverse their previous decision. I’d like to think that they’ll read it, but maybe I’m being too idealistic. In any case, tomorrow is the march on the CBC offices in Vancouver. We’ll meet at the Robson side of the Public Library at 10AM.  I’ll write about that tomorrow night.

Curiously, tomorrow is also the day of Massive Tech Expo, the event where I found my first job (and place to live) before we moved here, so I have a lot of good memories (and perhaps, expectations) regarding the day. Let’s hope the Massive mojo is still at work.

An Email and Live Protest on the CBC

On this Tuesday, April 1, at 10 in the morning many of us are going march on the CBC Offices downtown. Don’t know if it will do anything more than make us feel better, but at least we can say we did something. There is also more we can do, and it doesn’t require our physical presence. An email campaign has started (via Facebook). I’m going to publish the rest here, so that people who either don’t want to have to locate on Facebook or don’t want to join can participate as well. Here’s all of the information (and it has some eye-opening information about what the CBC has been up to lately):

Let’s give the CBC a lovely Monday morning

Here we go again, folks. It sure appears we’ve made our voices heard. Columnists in the major papers are taking note and taking sides. And the CBC execs themselves sense the threat to their schemes, taking out a full-page ad in the Saturday Globe in rebuttal to our criticism. We’re going to keep the pressure up.

Everybody: Write an email outlining your outrage over the changes happening to Radio Two. be as personal as you can. If you need inspiration, we’ve got a list of issues below, and many people have posted create feats of rhetorical splendour back at the Save Classical Music at the CBC site. Write your quick email tonight to Richard Stursberg and CC it to all the people we mention below plus any journalists you can think of. We expanding things this time to board members and members of parliament. Write you letter before the end of the day on Monday. Let’s make another huge statement, folks!

List of Issues and Email Addresses (Thanks to Margaret Logan for compiling all this!)

1. The CBC Young Composers Competition has not been held since March 9, 2003. It, as well as the CBC Young Performers Competition, have been suspended for the past four years. The Canada Council provided the funding for the $10,000.00 grand prize.
2. CBC erased the classical music budget for CBC Records in February 2008, precisely on the eve of their first Grammy win by Canadian violinist James Ehnes and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra under Bramwell Tovey on the CBC Records label. Many artists, such as Measha Brueggergosman, launched their careers on a CBC Records label recording.
3. The commissioning budget previously devoted to commissioning new works from composers is now spread out to cover jazz, pop musicians, and some unspecified amount of contemporary music.
4. CBC cancelled Two New Hours, a multiple-award winning program that was aired for two hours a week in the incredibly prime time slot of Sundays 10pm to midnight. This program was dedicated to the music of living Canadian composers. It was cancelled in March 2007 in its 29th year.
5. CBC cancelled The Arts Report. The late Val Ross, an arts columnist for The Globe and Mail, lamented the loss of this particular radio segment, saying that it kept her in touch with important cultural developments across the country.
6. CBC cancelled Music For A While, which aired classical music daily from 6pm to 8pm. It has been replaced by Tonic, a jazz program which also features hip-hop, soul and world music.
7. CBC cancelled In Performance the flagship Classical concerts program. It was replaced by Canada Live, which has an uneven and unpredictable offering of funk and R and B bands, jazz, Middle eastern fusion music, throatsinging…
8. The proposed cuts for the Fall of 2008 represents further reductions in classical music content, eliminating classical music 6am to 10am and 3pm to 6pm.
9. The new hosts are not musicologists and have little depth of knowledge to share with radio listeners. Howard Dyck, for example, who is no longer hosting Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, is an Order of Canada recipient, a conductor and the recipient of numerous honourary degrees for his contribution to music in Canada. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Dyck Larry Lake, former host of Two New Hours, is a Toronto composer, performer and broadcaster. He is Artistic Director of the Canadian Electronic Ensemble, the oldest active live electronic music group in the world, now in its 35th season. Other hosts whose, such as Tom Allen, Eric Friesen, Rick Phillips are also giants in the field of music broadcasting.
10. The axing of the CBC Radio Orchestra: North America’s 70 year old last remaining radio orchestra and platform for countless premieres of new Canadian compositions
11. Gone are Music & Company – Tom Allen’s morning show, Here’s to You – Catherine Belyea’s (Formerly Shelley Solmes’) all-request show, Studio Sparks – due to the venerable Eric Friesen’s “retirement”, and Disc Drive – Jurgen Gothe’s popular drive-home show after almost 30 years. These changes come on the heels of last years round of cuts to vital programs such as Danielle Charbonneau’s much-loved Music for Awhile; Larry Lake’s new composer showcase Two New Hours; Symphony Hall – Canada’s live orchestra recording showcase; The Singer and the Song – Catherine Belyea’s excellent Classical vocal program; Northern Lights – the overnight Classical program beloved by Night Owls everywhere; The reformatting of In Performance- a primarily classical live performance show into the much-reviled Canada Live – a uniformly non-classical and completely unfocused hodge-podge of World music, soft pop, and sort-of Jazz; and the controversial replacement of veteran Howard Dyck from Saturday Afternoon at the Opera after many years of great service.
12. The CBC axing the Radio Orchestra one day citing lack of resources, and the next day buying hugely expensive full-page ad in the Globe and Mail to convince us how wonderful everything is going to be in their Brave New World.

————————–

Send your letter to Richard Stursberg, head of English services at CBC, condemning any of the issues above, or, preferably, one of your own. Demand his resignation for single-handedly destroying 70 years of a carefully evolved musical ecology at CBC Radio 2.

cc: All the following individuals:

1. CBC President Hubert Lacroix ht.lacroix@cbc.ca
2. CBC board chairman Timothy Casgrain through his assistant Kathleen Martin Kathleen.Martin@cbc.ca
3. Board members Peter Herrndorf pherrndo@nac-cna.ca
4. and Trina McQueen tmcqueen@sympatico.ca
5. Stursberg’s Executive Assistant, Cathy Katrib-Reyes KatribC@CBC.CA
6. Lacroix`s Chief of Staff Francine Letourneau francine.letourneau@radio-canada.ca
7. Exec in charge of CBC Radio, Jennifer McGuire
8. jennifer_mcguire@cbc.ca or jennifer.mcguire@cbc.ca
9. Radio 2 Programming chief mark_steinmetz@cbc.ca or mark.steinmetz@cbc.ca
10. Peter Steinmetz, Chair of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame psteinmetz@casselsbrock.com
11. Josee Verner, Minister of Heritage Min_Verner@pch.gc.ca
12. Prime Minister Stephen Harper Harper.S@parl.gc.ca
13. Liberal Heritage critic Mauril Bélanger
14. Belanger.M@parl.gc.ca
15. NDP Heritage critic Charlie Angus angusc@parl.gc.ca
16. (optional) The major newspaper journalist of your choice – local is best!

To make it easier, here all all the email addresses for pasting into your email client:
to: Richard_Stursberg@cbc.ca; stursber@cbc.ca
cc: KatribC@CBC.CA; ht.lacroix@cbc.ca; pherrndo@nac-cna.ca; tmcqueen@sympatico.ca;
francine.letourneau@radio-canada.ca; psteinmetz@casselsbrock.com; Min_Verner@pch.gc.ca;
Harper.S@parl.gc.ca, Kathleen.Martin@cbc.ca; Belanger.M@parl.gc.ca; angusc@parl.gc.ca;
mark_steinmetz@cbc.ca; mark.steinmetz@cbc.ca; jennifer_mcguire@cbc.ca; jennifer.mcguire@cbc.ca

(Note: your email client may require commas rather than semi-colons)

So there you have it. I’m working on my email. If you have time (and this affects you as well), please send one of your own.

The Sound of More Silence

Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse with the CBC, they prove me wrong. This morning, I literally awoke to this news story:

CBC kills radio orchestra
Vancouver-based group last of its type in North America
Lloyd Dykk, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, March 28, 2008

VANCOUVER — The Vancouver-based CBC Radio Orchestra — the last radio orchestra left in North America — is dead.

The head of CBC Radio music, Mark Steinmetz, flew from Toronto Thursday to tell the orchestra’s 35 freelance musicians that the orchestra will be disbanded in September, key players in the Vancouver music scene said.
Steinmetz met with the musicians at a late afternoon meeting at the Georgian Court Hotel, which is near the downtown CBC building. Reporters were barred from the meeting.
Colin Miles, head of the Canadian Music Centre, an organization that promotes Canadian composers, said his understanding was that Steinmetz considered axing the orchestra an internal CBC matter and had no plans for a public meeting following the session.

The CBC Radio Orchestra was founded by John Avison in 1938 and has had an illustrious history.
It originally consisted of 25 musicians and was increased to 35 in 1952.
Its other conductors were the Englishman John Eliot Gardiner and Mario Bernardi. Quebec’s Alain Trudel has held the reins of the orchestra for the past two years.

The orchestra does only eight concerts a year, but that’s irrelevant, Miles said. “If they’re costing so little, why get rid of it when it’s a national treasure?”

Richard Kurth, head of the University of B.C.’s school of music, called the loss of the orchestra “a tragic event, both culturally and economically, for the musical life of the region and of the nation.”
He said he feels that being the last radio orchestra in North America has to be put in context — radio orchestras continue to play vital roles in European nations, he said, and that shows people do listen to them.

“The CBC is apparently planning to use the money to record and broadcast other Canadian orchestras,” Kurth said. “We … have to wait to see whether they would actually do that, beyond the degree to which they already do.… They were cutting the orchestra just as it entered a period of renewed vitality with a dynamic new conductor.”

“This is the most important orchestra in the country, with a 70-year history,” Miles said. “What the CBC is doing to their mandate is what [U.S. President George] Bush is doing to the constitution.”

After news of the CBC meeting leaked, Miles organized a rally of local musicians in the lobby of the Georgian Court Hotel. The approximately 40 people who showed up included musical heavyweights such as Bramwell Tovey, conductor of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and music lovers such as Mary Lou Henley, one of the city’s top arts patrons. As former CBC Radio Orchestra cellist Ian Hampton described it, the loss of the orchestra was only the next logical step in the “dumbing down” of the public network.

The loss of the orchestra comes as little surprise to Vancouver’s music community. In recent months, the CBC has killed such classical music shows as Music for a While and In Performance.

Despite my shock and sadness on losing classical music on CBC Radio 2, I could say that this doesn’t sting quite as much, and feels a bit like ‘the other shoe dropping’ (i.e. the inevitable follow-on to what’s been happening to date). I did hear the CBC as recently as last year, when they played a brilliant performance of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with my childhood friend Sarah Davis Buechner as soloist. Alain Trudel, who I believe was indeed that ‘dynamic’ conductor Miles spoke of, was the conductor of that concert and is indeed a brilliant talent. I hope he doesn’t leave the country to pursue his career (although that seems likely). The fact that the CBC was based in Vancouver means that the musical life of this city is affected even more than most of Canada.

Clearly, someone in the CBC has it in for Classical Music and people who listen to it. Their reign of terror is far from over. Appropriately enough, this day in late March, it’s snowing like crazy. Metaphoric frozen tears do match my mood.

Under Construction

You know how it is: A drippy faucet leads to a tile coming off, which leads to a hole in the wall, which leads to…a new bathroom. Well, that’s what happened to us years ago in Boston, and that’s all supposed to be a metaphor for what’s going on right now with this blog (or at least, the design of it).

I just wanted to ‘fix’ a Flickr badge, and incorporate some new functionality. That led to the whole design coming apart before my eyes. So, bear with me while I essentially start from scratch. I’m experimenting with a new look. I’ve tried 2 new themes so far and I’m not happy with either of them. I really hate messing with this.

An Impressive (and Maybe Historic) Speech

I’ve not said much about the US election to date. I’ll be voting in it, as an American abroad (even though I’m not really ‘abroad’).  Still, being a citizen, it’s my right to do so, at least up until I give up American citizenship, which for practical reasons I doubt I’ll ever do, no matter how expensive the US government makes it to keep it (but who knows what the future will bring).

It should come as no surprise that I’m supporting the candidacy of Barack Obama. I was never a fan of Hilary Clinton. She was always too strident and never owned up to the mistake of voting for the Iraq war. A simple apology would have been fine for me (like the one Richard Clarke gave to the 9/11 widows). Lately she’s struck me as so unpleasant and shrill in so many ways (including more than a whiff of some of the worst intrusive and meddlesome self-righteousness that Modern Liberalism in the US  can be; It Takes a Village indeed…) that I can even imagine her losing to John McCain on pure backlash, and a McCain in the Oval Office would be far worse then Hilary. I also hated the idea of the Presidency being a trophy tossed back and forth between two families that each felt themselves uniquely entitled to it. After Hilary’s stint, it would be Jeb Bush for two terms, and then it would be Chelsea’s turn, followed by… the twins? Sure; By that time the US would have been reduced to Third World Nation status, and it wouldn’t matter any more which Dynasty got their four or eight-year Time-share slot in the Presidential Palace.

But I digress…

Obama struck me as far more inspiring and interesting, (although admittedly not as much as Howard Dean did), but I couldn’t put my finger on why until the speech he gave today. He made the speech because he had to deal with the toxic statements made by the Pastor of his Church,  and why he hadn’t distanced himself from the man who made it (in addition to leaving the Church itself).

That was the reason for the speech. What I heard instead, was a clear and eloquent meditation on why the US is still so divided, how it got to where it is today, and maybe, how it can begin to move forward.

Bush and the Republicans had been using Race as a way of splitting up the electorate, mainly to keep the South in their pocket. It has always been in their best interest to keep the dialog on racial inequality a taboo in public life, or to simply ignore it. With this speech, I think Obama began to open up the dialog about this topic, touching upon one exposed nerve after another:  Slavery and the Constitution, Welfare, Affirmative Action, Immigration… He mentioned them all. In essence, both sides of the debate on race have merit, but we have to all move on now, if we have the courage to. It was the kind of speech that a patient, educated, and dare I say it – a wise Statesman (rather than merely a politician) would give. Whether or not Obama wins the election, I have a hunch this speech will be talked about and studied in history texts for a long time.

But don’t take my word for it. If you have the time, watch the speech on YouTube. I’ve embedded it here, despite the mediocre quality of the video and audio. If I find a better source, I’ll link to it. (I’ve done this, thanks to Al ‘Bokashi-man‘ Pasternak’s pointer.)