Monday, July 04, 2011

GOD SAVE THE AMERICAN STATES



The videos here are all from the excellent HBO series on John Adams that aired a few years ago. I'll talk about these films in a moment, but first a word about the holiday.

I was tempted to celebrate the Fourth by putting up a bunch of pinups of beautiful girls in stars and stripes bikinis...tempted, but I just couldn't do it. It seems to me that the holiday is too serious for that. I intend to celebrate with raucous beer and barbecue like everybody else, but first I'll remember with gratitude the people who made possible my happiness in this country.

Some people are quiet souls who could thrive under any system that was at least minimally tolerable. I envy them, and I wish I could be like them. Unfortunately I'm a goofy and sometimes silly romantic, the kind of person who foolishly provokes the powers that be and ends up being killed for it, or spending his life in jail. My type of person needs the American freedoms; I can't survive without them. Thank God I was born in a time and place that tolerates my kind of person, and allows me to find my own way.



Here ( the video immediately above) are three clips from different episodes of the Adams TV series. They show Adams' stormy relationship with Benjamin Franklin. They were both good men, but they just couldn't get along. It underlined the question that was on everybody's mind in the late eighteenth century: can temperamentally different people and states ever combine into a functional  republic?



Here's (above) an exquisitely awkward sequence where newly-appointed ambassador Adams meets King George III for the first time. Adams is awed by the sophistication and grandeur of the English court, but is mindful of the equal grandeur of the American ideals he represents.

Well, here's a glass to the Founding Fathers, and their powdered wigs!

15 comments:

Michael Sporn said...

The book by David McCullough is absolutely worth reading. It's much better than the tv series. So much amazing research went into it. Somehow I was never able to buy Paul Giammati as Adams.

David Germain said...

Yeah, I would definitely be executed by the state in less democratic countries as well. Happy birthday to Canada and the US and all the freedoms of expression we enjoy.

Joel Brinkerhoff said...

Thanks for the reminder. They don't teach this stuff in schools anymore and our rights are being stripped away without anyone protesting.

Anonymous said...

Happy Fourth of July, Eddie! I'm only beginning to watch the clips, but they're already making me feel patriotic and proud of being apart of this great country, where the citizens are allowed to express themselves and their thoughts freely.

Unknown said...

Happy Independence Day!!!

JohnDoe123 said...

I've seen parts of this show before! Loved it. As an immigrant to Canada (and hopefully soon to America) I have been in constant awe of the USA, the rebellious and idealistic history, the innovative men and women on the home front and the willingness to hold it's chin out as the representative for justice always left we wide-eyed. Happy 4th, Eddie.

Stephen Worth said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_j-kE1ka2s

I'm celebrating the 4th with one of my heroes, the greatest American composer, Charles Ives

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

David, Roberto, Damiano: Thanks much! We're lucky to have a great country like Canada for a friend.

Michael: I read parts of that book and thoroughly enjoyed it. One of these days I'll read the whole thing.

I'm not surprised that you couldn't buy into Paul Giammati, but I'll bet that you change your mind over time. I had troube with him at first because I pictured him only as Harvey Peckar or the nerdy wine enthusiast in Sideways. He's so good that every major role he plays tends to typecast him.

Joel: *Sigh!*

Sandra: Thanks!

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Steve: Ives!? I don't know, Steve. I'm not much of an Ives fan. I have to run, but I'll try the link you sent when I get back.

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Steve: I just listened to the Ives piece you linked to. HORRIBLE! Maybe there's a reason why Ives was obscure for so many years.The comments to the video praised it to the sky, so I guess you're not the only fan.

Anonymous said...

actual Ives quote:"Good god. What does sound have to do with music!"

thomas said...

Thought this was interesting; from wiki

At this time, Ives was also promoted by Bernard Herrmann, who worked as a conductor at CBS and in 1940 became principal conductor of the CBS Symphony Orchestra. While there he was a champion of Charles Ives's music. When meeting Ives, Hermann confessed that he had tried his hand at performing the Concord Sonata.

Recognition of Ives's music has improved. He received praise from Arnold Schoenberg, who regarded him as a monument to artistic integrity, and from the New York School of William Schuman. He won the admiration of Gustav Mahler, who said that Ives was a true musical revolutionary. Mahler talked of premiering Ives's Third Symphony with the New York Philharmonic, but Mahler's death soon after prevented the premiere.

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Thomas: Thanks for the interesting notes, but I have to say that Schoenberg sucks, too. Bernard Herrman was great, but he probably liked Ives because Ives gave him ideas he could use for his (Herrman's) own superior music.

thomas said...

IYHO?

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Thomas: Yes, of course. Ives seems to me be a poor man's Stravinsky.