Talk about small screen . . .
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
A Startling Shock On His Wedding Day
A Scandinavian classical musician, somewhat well-known (more so in Europe than the U.S.), who very, very, very recently got married, suffered a startling shock on his wedding day: someone posted on a pornographic website numerous photographs of him doing things with numerous males that normal heterosexual men do not do.
I was alerted to this by a recent comment on an earlier post, a comment I deleted because it provided a direct link to a pornographic website.
The commenter knew all the details of the musician’s wedding—a wedding still not made public, although Andrew was able to ascertain via a couple of phone calls that the information provided by the commenter with reference to the wedding was indeed accurate—and the commenter seemed to thrive on what happened to the musician on his wedding day.
My instinct tells me that whoever commented on my weblog was the very person responsible for taking the photographs of the musician, perhaps surreptitiously, and submitting them to the pornographic website.
My instinct also tells me that whoever gave or sold the photographs to the pornographic website was a current or former paid escort of the musician and is among the men (there are many men in the photographs, often in groupings, all “interacting” with the musician) who appear in the photographs.
Further, my instinct tells me that whoever commented on my weblog also notified the about-to-be-married musician of the existence and release of the photographs, deliberately unleashed and published on the musician’s wedding day.
Unless blackmail—a criminal act—is involved, the musician is without recourse. The pornographic website is in Russia, and not subject to European Union privacy laws and not subject to private, involuntary legal action within the European Union.
The musician, theoretically, could go to Russia and sue, but it would surely be too embarrassing for him to do so—and would certainly constitute a career-killing move, even if he could obtain some sort of recovery, a very unlikely prospect.
Update on 25 August 2012 at 1:34 p.m. CDT:
I probably should add that there are additional considerations that, as a practical matter, preclude the unidentified musician from seeking lawful recourse.
On at least two occasions (and perhaps a third, and even fourth), the musician was escorted out of Russia because of possession of an unlawful substance. Had the musician not had a very powerful Russian musician as his protector, he probably would have been prosecuted in Russia’s criminal courts.
Further, a celebrated incident involving the unidentified musician occurred at Saint Petersburg’s Ambassador Hotel. The musician had invited several male guests to the hotel to perform services for him, at the conclusion of which there was an unpleasant payment dispute, with the result that law-enforcement authorities were called in to address the situation.
Whoever gave or sold the photographs to the Russian pornographic website no doubt was aware of such past incidents—and knew that the incidents would be an effective bar to the pursuit of legal remedies on the part of the musician.
The unidentified musician holds a minor official post with a leading Russian musical organization. His June 2012 scheduled appearances with that organization were mysteriously cancelled at the last minute by the Russians themselves—and he has been assigned no performances for the 2012-2013 season, despite his official affiliation with the organization. It will be the first time in years the musician will not appear with the Russian body.
I was alerted to this by a recent comment on an earlier post, a comment I deleted because it provided a direct link to a pornographic website.
The commenter knew all the details of the musician’s wedding—a wedding still not made public, although Andrew was able to ascertain via a couple of phone calls that the information provided by the commenter with reference to the wedding was indeed accurate—and the commenter seemed to thrive on what happened to the musician on his wedding day.
My instinct tells me that whoever commented on my weblog was the very person responsible for taking the photographs of the musician, perhaps surreptitiously, and submitting them to the pornographic website.
My instinct also tells me that whoever gave or sold the photographs to the pornographic website was a current or former paid escort of the musician and is among the men (there are many men in the photographs, often in groupings, all “interacting” with the musician) who appear in the photographs.
Further, my instinct tells me that whoever commented on my weblog also notified the about-to-be-married musician of the existence and release of the photographs, deliberately unleashed and published on the musician’s wedding day.
Unless blackmail—a criminal act—is involved, the musician is without recourse. The pornographic website is in Russia, and not subject to European Union privacy laws and not subject to private, involuntary legal action within the European Union.
The musician, theoretically, could go to Russia and sue, but it would surely be too embarrassing for him to do so—and would certainly constitute a career-killing move, even if he could obtain some sort of recovery, a very unlikely prospect.
Update on 25 August 2012 at 1:34 p.m. CDT:
I probably should add that there are additional considerations that, as a practical matter, preclude the unidentified musician from seeking lawful recourse.
On at least two occasions (and perhaps a third, and even fourth), the musician was escorted out of Russia because of possession of an unlawful substance. Had the musician not had a very powerful Russian musician as his protector, he probably would have been prosecuted in Russia’s criminal courts.
Further, a celebrated incident involving the unidentified musician occurred at Saint Petersburg’s Ambassador Hotel. The musician had invited several male guests to the hotel to perform services for him, at the conclusion of which there was an unpleasant payment dispute, with the result that law-enforcement authorities were called in to address the situation.
Whoever gave or sold the photographs to the Russian pornographic website no doubt was aware of such past incidents—and knew that the incidents would be an effective bar to the pursuit of legal remedies on the part of the musician.
The unidentified musician holds a minor official post with a leading Russian musical organization. His June 2012 scheduled appearances with that organization were mysteriously cancelled at the last minute by the Russians themselves—and he has been assigned no performances for the 2012-2013 season, despite his official affiliation with the organization. It will be the first time in years the musician will not appear with the Russian body.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Four Years Ago Today
Four years ago today, we visited Oxford on our final complete day in Britain.
One day was not enough for Oxford.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Four Years Ago Today
Four years ago today, we were in Stratford-Upon-Avon.
Everyone goes to Stratford-Upon-Avon in order to learn that Stratford-Upon-Avon is not worth visiting.
In that respect, it mirrors Stonehenge.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Four Years Ago Today
Four years ago today, we were in the Cotswolds.
We toured several villages and towns, including Stow On The Wold, where we visited its ancient house of worship, Saint Edward Church.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Four Years Ago Today
Four years ago today, we were in Bristol.
Quite naturally, we visited and toured the S.S. Great Britain.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012
One Year Ago Today
One year ago today, our final full day in the U.K., we visited and toured Chartwell, Winston Churchill’s private residence.
Four Years Ago Today
Four years ago today, we visited the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, for centuries England’s wealthiest and most important Abbey.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
One Year Ago Today
One year ago today, we were in Brighton.
Quite naturally, we visited The Royal Pavilion.
Four Years Ago Today
Four years ago today, we were in Saint Ives, which we rather liked (other than the art museums, which were not good).
Friday, August 10, 2012
One Year Ago Today
One year ago today, we took a ferry from Portsmouth to the Isle Of Wight in order to visit Osborne House, former summer retreat of Queen Victoria.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
One Year Ago Today
One year ago today, we were in Portsmouth.
Quite naturally, we visited and toured H.M.S. Victory, Admiral Nelson’s flagship at Trafalgar.
Three Years Ago Today
Three years ago today, we were back in Munich, where our journey had begun.
Our final full day in Munich—as well as our final full day in Europe—was devoted entirely to the Residenz.
In the morning, we visited that portion of the Residenz open only during morning hours. In the middle of the day, we visited the Residenz Treasury. In the afternoon, we visited that portion of the Residenz open only during afternoon hours. In the very late afternoon, we visited the Cuvilliés Theatre.
The Residenz Antiquarium, through which both morning and afternoon visitors must pass, is one of the most magnificent spaces in the world.
We were delighted to be able to experience the Antiquarium twice.
Four Years Ago Today
Four years ago today, we were in Plymouth.
We spent most of the afternoon on beautiful Plymouth Hoe, which overlooks Plymouth Sound and Plymouth Harbor. We explored the many historic attractions, including the ancient fortifications.
I Guess I Had Better Brush Up On My German
It is a noteworthy feature of 20th-Century culture that, for the first time in over a thousand years, its educated class is not expected to be at least bilingual.
Jacques Barzun
Jacques Barzun
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
One Year Ago Today
One year ago today, we were in London.
That evening, we attended a performance of the Mariinsky Ballet at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
Three Years Ago Today
Three years ago today, we were in Innsbruck.
While exploring the city by foot, we saw the Tiroler Landestheater, the city’s opera house.
The Tiroler Landestheater is a very bad building.
Four Years Ago Today
Four years ago today, we visited Stonehenge.
Stonehenge is one of those things visitors must see, although it does not amount to much.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
One Year Ago Today
One year ago today, we spent the entire day at London’s Imperial War Museum—while widespread looting and rioting occurred less than two miles from the museum.
The Imperial War Museum may be my favorite museum anywhere.
Three Years Ago Today
Three years ago today, we drove the entire length of the Grossglockner High Alpine Road.
The drive was breathtaking.
Four Years Ago Today
Four years ago today, we spent the entire day at Salisbury Cathedral, exploring literally every nook and cranny of the Cathedral and Cathedral Close—and taking every possible guided tour, including the special afternoon guided tour of the Cathedral roof.
In the Chapter House, we saw the best-preserved surviving copy of the original Magna Carta, from 1215.
Monday, August 6, 2012
One Year Ago Today
One year ago today, we were in London.
In the morning, we visited Handel House Museum, home for the final 36 years of his life of the great composer, George Frideric Handel.
Three Years Ago Today
Three years ago today, we were in Graz.
We were given a thorough—and delightful—walking tour of Graz by one of Andrew’s former schoolmates from Andrew’s Vienna days.
One of the buildings we passed on our walking tour was the Graz Opera House.
Four Years Ago Today
Four years ago today, we were in Chichester.
Quite naturally, we visited Chichester Cathedral. Of particular interest to me was the grave of one of my favorite composers, Gustav Holst, laid to rest in Chichester Cathedral.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Just When We Thought They Had All Died Out: The Rebirth Of “Useful Idiots”
A few hours ago, someone from Tel Aviv University left a very eloquent comment on an earlier post.
The comment deserves its own showcase.
________________________________________________
Nikolaj Znaider has no love for Israel other than the monetary benefit conferred on him by playing here (the Israel Philharmonic and the fees it pays him). Znaider’s main interest is money. Nothing else motivates him.
Znaider is Jewish only when there is a financial incentive for him to be Jewish. If there is money to be made by being Jewish, Znaider is Jewish all the way. If there is no monetary advantage to being Jewish, Znaider is not Jewish at all. Why do you think he changed his name from Szeps-Znaider to Znaider?
The Israel Philharmonic has supported Znaider loyally for fifteen years, offering him far more engagements than his talent warrants. This loyalty is a one-way street for Znaider. The Israel Philharmonic interests him only insofar as he can make money off the orchestra and advance his career. Znaider otherwise could care less if the Israel Philharmonic were wiped off the face of the earth tomorrow.
Znaider tried living in Israel. It didn’t work out for him. People didn’t like him. He didn’t make friends. The only people willing to hang around him were the types that were hoping to make money off him. Znaider is not the sort of person who makes friends—or keeps them. I cannot begin to tell you about the well-known Israel musicians who will have nothing to do with Znaider, starting with several of our most renowned pianists and string players. Ah, the stories I could tell (and the pictures I could send) . . .
Znaider would play in any totalitarian state if it were profitable for him (Dubai, anyone?). For a vain, immoral person like Znaider, it would be no big deal to play in a country with an anti-Semitic government that has publicly pledged to support Israel’s destruction—as long as Znaider was being paid. Znaider would have played in the death camps while watching his relatives being marched into the gas chambers if the fees had been assured.
And, for symbolic purposes, that is precisely what Znaider did when playing a benefit concert in Venezuela for a charity important to Hugo Chavez—and doing so while Iran, Venezuela’s ally, carried out a terrorist attack against innocent Israeli women and children vacationing in Bulgaria. No doubt the Bulgaria incident barely registered with the vain and self-obsessed Znaider.
In the Cold War era, Znaider would have been called “A Useful Idiot”, the term invented by the Russians for dupes in the West. And Znaider is a dupe. He is “A Useful Idiot”: he is vain, selfish, without education, without intelligence, without judgment, without character, without scruples, interested purely and solely in his own pleasure and indulgence—and capable of causing immeasurable harm by his thoughtless actions.
So Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic will continue to humor Znaider, engaging him to play the same handful of concertos over and over, played more poorly each return visit. Znaider will collect the money, the Israel Philharmonic will have done the honorable thing by engaging a Jewish artist, and the audience will hear Znaider scratch his way for the umpteenth time in Tel Aviv through yet another concerto he has already played 7000 times but will never master (this year, the Brahms).
As for me . . .
I won’t be there.
David
The comment deserves its own showcase.
________________________________________________
Nikolaj Znaider has no love for Israel other than the monetary benefit conferred on him by playing here (the Israel Philharmonic and the fees it pays him). Znaider’s main interest is money. Nothing else motivates him.
Znaider is Jewish only when there is a financial incentive for him to be Jewish. If there is money to be made by being Jewish, Znaider is Jewish all the way. If there is no monetary advantage to being Jewish, Znaider is not Jewish at all. Why do you think he changed his name from Szeps-Znaider to Znaider?
The Israel Philharmonic has supported Znaider loyally for fifteen years, offering him far more engagements than his talent warrants. This loyalty is a one-way street for Znaider. The Israel Philharmonic interests him only insofar as he can make money off the orchestra and advance his career. Znaider otherwise could care less if the Israel Philharmonic were wiped off the face of the earth tomorrow.
Znaider tried living in Israel. It didn’t work out for him. People didn’t like him. He didn’t make friends. The only people willing to hang around him were the types that were hoping to make money off him. Znaider is not the sort of person who makes friends—or keeps them. I cannot begin to tell you about the well-known Israel musicians who will have nothing to do with Znaider, starting with several of our most renowned pianists and string players. Ah, the stories I could tell (and the pictures I could send) . . .
Znaider would play in any totalitarian state if it were profitable for him (Dubai, anyone?). For a vain, immoral person like Znaider, it would be no big deal to play in a country with an anti-Semitic government that has publicly pledged to support Israel’s destruction—as long as Znaider was being paid. Znaider would have played in the death camps while watching his relatives being marched into the gas chambers if the fees had been assured.
And, for symbolic purposes, that is precisely what Znaider did when playing a benefit concert in Venezuela for a charity important to Hugo Chavez—and doing so while Iran, Venezuela’s ally, carried out a terrorist attack against innocent Israeli women and children vacationing in Bulgaria. No doubt the Bulgaria incident barely registered with the vain and self-obsessed Znaider.
In the Cold War era, Znaider would have been called “A Useful Idiot”, the term invented by the Russians for dupes in the West. And Znaider is a dupe. He is “A Useful Idiot”: he is vain, selfish, without education, without intelligence, without judgment, without character, without scruples, interested purely and solely in his own pleasure and indulgence—and capable of causing immeasurable harm by his thoughtless actions.
So Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic will continue to humor Znaider, engaging him to play the same handful of concertos over and over, played more poorly each return visit. Znaider will collect the money, the Israel Philharmonic will have done the honorable thing by engaging a Jewish artist, and the audience will hear Znaider scratch his way for the umpteenth time in Tel Aviv through yet another concerto he has already played 7000 times but will never master (this year, the Brahms).
As for me . . .
I won’t be there.
David
One Year Ago Today
One year ago today, we were in London.
We spent ten hours, from very early morning until very late afternoon, exploring seven London churches. Andrew and Alex chose the churches—Andrew and Alex had visited the churches before, and had wanted their parents to see the churches—and all seven churches were interesting.
One of the churches was Saint James’s, Spanish Place, a glorious 19th-Century Roman Catholic Church situated on an odd parcel of land near The Wallace Collection.
Three Years Ago Today
Three years ago today, we were in Vienna.
We explored Saint Stephen’s Cathedral, although we did not visit the crypt or climb the tower.
We did not see Saint Stephen’s at its best. Much of the building was encased in scaffolding, and portions of the exterior had been power-washed and portions had not.
Andrew said the exterior looked better before the restoration project began. Apparently to persons who have known Saint Stephen’s over the years, it is jarring to see white stone, since the original stone had been blackened by soot for over 500 years, with the result that Saint Stephen’s had become accepted as a beautiful black structure sporting a remarkable roof crafted from colorful patterned tiles.
A white stone base makes Saint Stephen’s look foreign to all but newcomers.
Four Years Ago Today
Four years ago today, we were in Arundel.
We explored, thoroughly, Arundel Cathedral, a magnificent 19th-Century recreation of a French Gothic Cathedral.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
One Year Ago Today
One year ago today, we were in London.
That evening, we attended a thoroughly incompetent performance of a thoroughly incompetent production of Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal” at the Comedy Theatre.
Before the performance, we dined at what must be London’s cheapest restaurant with edible food, the Stockpot, located right across the street from the Comedy Theatre.
Given the price, our dinner was entirely satisfactory.
Three Years Ago Today
Three years ago today, we were in Vienna.
That evening, we attended a thoroughly incompetent performance of a thoroughly incompetent production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” at Theater an der Wien.
Before the performance, we were pressed for time, so we dined at a small, modest, family-run, typical Viennese restaurant. The restaurant offered two fixed three-course-dinner options—and nothing more.
Our dinner was more than satisfactory—and we made the opera performance with time to spare.
Four Years Ago Today
Four years ago today, we were in Rye, spending a delightful day in the ancient Sussex market town.
That evening, we dined at The Mermaid Inn.
Andrew’s parents had stayed at The Mermaid Inn, erected in 1420, on their honeymoon.
That night was their first return visit in almost thirty-five years.
We had a luxurious meal, and a lovely evening.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Three Years Ago Today
Three years ago today, we were in Salzburg.
In the very late afternoon and early evening, we spent three hours aimlessly walking around the center of Salzburg, taking in its rampant commercialism.
Four Years Ago Today
Four years ago today, we were in Canterbury.
After visiting Canterbury Cathedral, we spent an hour walking around the town of Canterbury, taking in its rampant commercialism.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Three Years Ago Today
Three years ago today, we were in Munich.
That afternoon, we spent a couple of hours examining antiquities at the Glyptothek.
Four Years Ago Today
Four years ago today, we were in London.
That morning, we spent a couple of hours examining antiquities at the British Museum.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
“Two Dunces Sitting On A Volcano”
An outtake from the 1971 film, “Nicholas And Alexandra”.
The film is not very good, but Pauline Kael was unnecessarily unkind to the film in her notorious New Yorker review.
Three Years Ago Today
Three years ago today, we were in Munich.
In the early morning, while exploring churches, we caught a portion of the morning mass at Saint Anna Damenstiftskirche, a small 18th-Century Baroque church in central Munich.
Four Years Ago Today
Four years ago today, we were in London.
In the late afternoon, we attended Evensong Service at Westminster Abbey.
The Westminster Abbey Evensong turned out to be an eyeball-rolling multicultural affair. We were appalled at the twaddle on offer.
“One is required to check one’s IQ at the door in order to make it through this” was Andrew’s father’s characterization of the service.
Myself, I got through the proceedings by reading Pauline Kael’s celebrated “Come Dressed As The Sick Soul Of Europe” essay from 1963.
Still, I nearly lost it at the Abbey.