Ryan included..

trump and the rest are doing exactly what Stalin did, never mind Hitler... Stalin, Pol Pot.. these should be the comparisons..

Courts, media, government agencies, appointments....

Stalin could turn on a dime..exactly as trump does.... He did it to much of Shostakovich's family, for example, and if Shostakovich hadn't left Leningrad when he did...he would have been shot....


It is THAT bad here also...!!

Well, pangaia, your reference to Dmitri Shostakovich caused me to do a little research. Thank you. I wasn't really aware of the depth of his personal problems, even though I graduated from a conservatory. I love much of his music, especially the Tenth Symphony.

It's a fascinating history and I can't imagine the Arts being commanded by the government today. They just don't play the same role as they did in the Soviet Union, pre-TV and pre-internet.

With respect to Trump, he wouldn't even know the names of today's prominent composers or nearly any other artist, for that matter. The commercial music business certainly isn't dominated by the government and so-called serious or classical music has shrunken so much that its cultural impact is tiny.

Trump will be defeated. The corruption around him is just too thick and dark. And he is epically stupid.

Plus, he's an idiot.

He has always held a special place in my heart. I never met him, although I have a composer/friend who did.

In the mid-1980’s, I played the 1st and 7th Symphonies under his son, Maxim, shortly after he defected to the west. It was a life-fulfilling experience I will never forget. Just all the emotion around the history of the entire family, the almost superhuman heroism of his father… and Maxim, who looked very much like his father. It was uncanny ! Maybe he still does look like him. :&gt )


There is a powerful book about Dmitry Shostakovich and his 7th Symphony, much of which he wrote during the Siege of Leningrad.. The book really is about much more, but uses the war and that symphony as a vehicle.

LENINGRAD: SIEGE AND SYMPHONY
The Story Of A Great City Terrorized By Stalin, Starved By Hitler, Immortalized By Shostakovich

by Brian Moynahan


So I will tell you a little story that I have told here before…surrounding Russia, Russians, Shostakovich, etc etc..

I was first in Leningrad in January 1985.


Arrived on Russian Christmas eve -20 F snowing.
BEAUTIFUL !!!
I fell in love with that place on that first night….

So many stories about that trip, but here is just one…..
--got drunk ..vodka, of course,,, lots of it….with Russian percussionists after a performance of the Shostakovich 5th Symphony by the Leningrad Philharmonic at the Leningrad Philharmonie - the SAME hall where Shostakovich's 7th Symphony was played during the siege by the Leningrad Radio Symphony-- what was left of it!. ( The Philharmonic and it's conductor Mvarinsky had been evacuated to Novosibirsk.)

I have returned to St Petersburg several times since then and have loved that city ever since that first trip.....and have played several of Shostakovich's Symphonies over the years, including #1,5,7,10 etc.. ----


THEN---- The St Petersburg Philharmonic came to Rochester, NY, near where I live, this past February…they played--------- the Shostakovich 5th Sym..OMG!....I went.. OF COURSE !!!

After the gig I went out with the current percussionists. When I told them the story of my 1985 trip, my love for St Petersburg, Russian music, art, etc….etc.. we became instant close friends…., they of course knew the percussionists from 1985, so it was a really special touching 'reunion' for all of us. … and naturally we again drank vodka, lots of it….many toasts...

If you want to watch/listen to the 7th Symphony sometime---
--here ya go,

Andris Nelsons and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
first is the Bartok Violin Concerto. Janine Jensen.

If you want to skip that--- WHY WOULD YOU :> ) the Shostakovich begins at 26:00

participation in the Russian connections. As Bill and Hillary faced lots of investigations into Whitewater I wonder how many investigations could occur with Trump and his business dealings. But then it is starting to appear if we "locked them up" for the same nothing charges they wanted Hillary locked up there would never be enough prison cells to handle them.

Long time coming.

what a fucking bunch of hypocrites