Performed in Munich by the Bavarian Radio Choir and Bavarian Symphony Orchestra

Updated: The juvenile “maga” cultists love to jump up and down — like that beer-drinking, juvenile FBI director, Kash Patel, was doing in the men’s locker room at the Olympics — and shout how the US is the “greatest country.” The immature and rude/crude dictator says the US is “the hottest country.” Both of these cultists like to say these things to try to convince themselves that this is the case. The thinking is: Say it often enough and they start to believe it. And it really depends how “greatest country” is defined, and why does there have to be a “greatest country?” Many nations are great.

The ensembles in the performances on this page (both Orchestra and Chorus) are part of the public broadcasting system in Deutschland. The US has nothing like that. The US has no musical ensembles associated with what remains of public media. In fact, under the dictator’s regime, federal funding has been ended for public broadcasting/public media. That’s how little the US thinks of public broadcasting under the current stupid, draconian and barbaric regime and thoroughly corrupt and incompetent “maga” cultists.

There is a saying that is quite true and that is any Chorus can sing loudly — which they can but they may not be singing loudly and beautifully with choral excellence — but only the finest Choruses can singing beautifully quietly, as these two (make that three) Choruses do in these performances below. Listen to their hushed choral excellence/diction, and they’re also sitting for the quiet sections which makes it more difficult to sing quietly.

I’ve been slow to feature this piece because of the screamers (vocal soloists).  Some people will say that because Mahler never wrote an opera and that all of his symphonies are considered operas or operatic of sorts because of the vocal soloists, even though there is no costuming and scenery involved, which is part of the definition of opera.

This is one of the problems of the classical music tradition.  The reality is that it doesn’t matter what piece it is of the symphonic choral repertoire, when there are vocal solo parts involved, who is brought in to the performance to scream out those parts?  It’s always opera divas from artist management companies.  That’s what they sound like, even when the piece has nothing remotely to do with opera.  And because of this, some people who know nothing about music think that all symphonic choral works are opera because of the  opera divas screaming out the solo parts, when that is not the case at all.

As for Mahler’s Symphony No. 2:

The piece is really about the power of love.

• The “Resurrection”:  Mahler noted that the title refers not to a traditional, narrow, religious dogma but to the “resurrection” of the human spirit after the trials of life. It is a highly, emotional and, ultimately affirmative statement about the power of love.
• Though Mahler converted to Catholicism, he was not a strictly practicing Christian. The symphony is seen as a deeply personal, philosophical work, grappling with the suffering of existence, and offering an often non-dogmatic, spiritual, almost pantheistic, vision of afterlife.
  Pantheism is the belief that a deity and the universe are identical, viewing the cosmos, nature, and the divine as a single, all-encompassing, self-organising unity. It rejects a personal, transcendent creator in favor of an immanent divinity found within all things. Core beliefs emphasize that everything is interconnected, sacred, and part of one divine substance.

You would think that the religious nuts would try to make this piece all about their fundamentalist religious beliefs, but the sense I get and have always had is that most people think this is a strictly secular piece.  I suppose they see the word “Resurrection” in the title, but they don’t make anything about that.

As for Mahler, easy going and easy to get along with he was most certainly not. The singers and instrumentalists who performed under his him loathed him: to them, he was a small, pale tyrant who gave them no quarter and rehearsed works — they thought they knew — for hour after unending hour.

Management, likewise, usually detested him, with his endless artistic demands and constant threats to quit if those demands were not met. But no one could argue with the results, because audiences loved him, and everywhere he went he raised the level of performance to the degree that his actions and behaviors were tolerated; had to be tolerated.

I have wanted to feature this piece for some time, but I couldn’t find an Orchestra Chorus that I found acceptable, trained in choral excellence until now where I found this performance from the Bavaria Radio Choir and Symphony Orchestra, and later the performance from the combined WDR Radio Choir and Berlin Radio Choir, and WDR Symphony Orchestra.  Both performances were in Deutschland.  I think Deutschland has the finest Orchestra Choruses these days trained in the highest of choral excellence.

Unfortunately, Mahler viewed his symphonies as operatic in nature and felt the need to stick all of these vocal soloist parts into the piece, which ruins it for me and for my choral friend.  This is especially true for the vocal soloists (aka screamers) who have poor vocal technique that they use so much vibrato that you can tell what pitch they’re aiming for.

The Vibratobots(TM) always say that one must sing (they really mean scream) with heavy vibrato to be heard over an orchestra.  They never consider that orchestras are quite adept at accompanying a screamer. And with technology being what it is today, no one has to scream over an orchestra or a piano accompanist for that matter.  All opera divas can sing “normally” and wear discreet mics and or headsets on their person to be easily heard with the orchestra. So there’s no more need to “sing (scream) over the orchestra” to be heard.

In the second performance of this piece (second video below), the screamers were parked on the front of the stage and they had microphones in front of them.  The reality is that neither needed a mic as their obnoxious voice could be heard in the next city over.  In fact, the soprano screamer ruined the perfect intonation of the soprano section of the Chorus on their High B Flat as she was wobbling and fluttering.  At first I thought it was the sopranos of the Chorus, but my choral friend said, “No, that’s the soprano screamer,” which I had forget was also singing-screaming at the time.  He was correct.  They are one of my favourite Choruses so I was surprised that to hear noticeable vibrato from them did I don’t usually hear from them.  In the quietest choral section, the soprano screamer comes in with fucking wobbling which does not at all match the smooth sound of the Orchestra and Chorus.  She ruined it and seemed clueless about it.  It only takes one voice with wobbling vibrato to ruin perfect intonation and that’s what happened here.  The Chorus was well-trained in perfect intonation, but the soprano screamer’s wobbling contaminated the perfect intonation from the soprano section especially on the high B Flats in the finale.  Like I said, she ruined it.

The only live performance I’ve heard of this piece — where I was also in the Concert Hall — was in the Kennedy Center years ago with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) and the University of Maryland Chorus. I had seen on the NSO’s subscription series that The Maryland Chorus (as they were also known) seemed to be the Official Chorus of the National Symphony Orchestra at that time and I was determined to hear them. They were outstanding which is why they were Antal Doráti’s favourite Chorus and he invited them to perform with the NSO as often as possible. This didn’t set too well with the Choral Arts Society of Washington because they didn’t get as many invitations to perform with the NSO as they thought they should have — although one of the seasons I sang with them I remember us having 5-6 set of engagements with the NSO — because of the number of engagements given to the University of Maryland Chorus.  I liked both Choruses so I didn’t take part in the silly, one-way rivalry and lies that were said about Dr Traver and Maryland.  This was at the (what I call) height of the symphonic choral movement in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall where lots of works for Orchestra and Chorus were programmed, as compared to today where that is not the case at all.  Related:  The Big Three.

Have I told you how much I can’t stand vocal soloists, with few exceptions to that.  And of course the Vibratobots have umpteen rationales, lies and justifications to support the screamers,

Regardless of the piece, the soloists seem to think they’re on an opera stage.  I’m not into opera.  My choral friend has even less patience for this piece than I do.  I know where the choral parts are so I go to those and bypass the rest of it where the screamers are.

As I said, the vocal screamers — officially known as “soloists” — ruined it for me.  But at least the conductor — in the second performance down — parked the screamers away from the front of the stage and off to the side, back on the left side of the Chorus.  I think the screamers were mic’d even though they didn’t need to be as both could overpower the full Orchestra and Chorus without being mic’d.

I finally found a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 from a Chorus prepared in choral excellence, meaning, in part, that they sing in all voice sections (SATB) without wobbling vibrato. And the Orchestra played superbly as well. As for the vocal wobbling and fluttering screamers (commonly called “soloists”) who ruin it, well, I don’t have much to say about them and I’m not even saying who they are.  I was listening to the Chorus and their very smooth choral entrance and that was followed by one of the screamers. She came in with wobbling vibrato which completely ruined the moment for me. She seemed clueless that she wasn’t at all matching or trying to match the sound of the Chorus. Someone in the comments of the video complained about “too much vibrato.” So it wasn’t just me who was turned off by this noise.  I don’t find wobbling and fluttering to be music, and in some cases it’s used to cover up bad vocal technique.  I find wobbling and fluttering to be noise when it clashes with the smooth perfect intonation sounds of the Orchestra and Chorus.

In the first performance, from what I could tell, neither screamer was mic’d so production must have felt that neither screamer needed to be mic’d as they both had the ability to scream over all the other musicians on stage, which is usually the case.  Yes, they have the ability to scream over the Full Orchestra and Chorus and pipe organ.

This piece is not an opera — although Mahler considered his symphonies to be “inclusive” meaning, I guess, that his symphonies included aspects of opera (such as screaming) —  so the screamers took advantage of this and seemed to think it is opera and used the same obnoxious wobbling and fluttering vocal techniques that they use in opera.  As if to say, “Guess what pitch I’m singing?”  They made no attempt to blend with the Chorus and still be tastefully heard.

Did the conductor think there was “too much vibrato?”  Well, if he did, he apparently didn’t correct the screamer.  From my Orchestra Chorus experience, I don’t remember any conductor correcting a screamer on anything, at least not on stage. That’s something that is not done.

The screamers come from artist management agencies so they are seen as sacrosanct or above reproach and that’s how conductors approach them, as if they arrive on stage “perfect” even when they’re not.  Another double standard.  Although the conductor has no problem correcting the Symphony Chorus or the Orchestra on something, but not the screamers.

Notice the “bells up” for the French horns in the finale in the first performance, and also the wind section doesn’t play in part of that.  The violin section really has to work in the finale with their fast bowing although it looks like synchronised bowing to me, and not staggered bowing (to create a pedal point effect) as is sometimes used to keep the sound going nonstop in other pieces.

Interestingly, I see some of the same choristers in this performance that performed in the Vaughan Williams A Sea Symphony.  They were in the Gaechinger Cantorey for that performance from Deutschland with the SWR Symphonieorchester.

I also found this performance (below) — with one of my favourite Choruses from Deutschland.  I was hearing some screaming vibrato on the top high B Flat in the finale and I mistakenly thought it was the soprano section.  I listened again with my choral friend and he said the Chorus was excellent and the screaming was from the soprano soloist which I realised was the case.  Both screamers were unfortunately mic’d even though they didn’t need to be as their screaming could be heard in the next city over, especially with the soprano screamer.  This is not artistic singing, this is screaming and any fool can scream.  Screaming is noise; screaming is not music.  With few exceptions, this is especially true with soprano screamers who seem absolutely unable to control their voice.  One wonders where some people trained — they would need thick walls and soundproofing to block her obnoxious voice from travelling throughout the halls of the Conservatory or a University’s School of Music — and Voice Departments are turning out people like that whose obnoxious voice can overpower a Full Orchestra and Chorus.

Here’s a third performance from Deutschland I found. It’s not the same Chorus, but some of the same choristers are in this Chorus. From a choral sense, I think the Chorus may be better recorded in this performance.

I’m not hot on the idea of seating the screamers up in the front row center of the Chorus. But since the Chorus was seated up on what is essentially the second story of the building in those seats, I guess the conductor thought it would look better to have the screamers seated where they are, than separated on the left side of the Chorus:

Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks
SWR Vokalensemble
SWR Symphonieorchester
Dirigent: Christoph Eschenbach

I was asking myself: Why should I write anymore about the belligerent and childish US dictator in the white house when he’s just going to keep going and get worse and worse with every passing day.  His “show” is getting very tiring/exhausting to watch.  Aren’t the ratings dropping?  He’s like the worst of an out-of-control child with his temper tantrums, such as the last one directed at the Supreme Court for their ruling on his tariffs.  I don’t think there’s ever been someone in his position who engaged in a temper tantrum just because he didn’t get his way with a Supreme Court decision.  Just like a spoiled child.  He referred to two of the justices as “slime balls.” He’s like watching The Jerry Springer Show.  He’s clearly unfit for office.  He also called the justices “fools,” “lapdogs,” “unpatriotic” and controlled by “foreign interests” without offering any proof, as usual.  He also called Gorsuch and Barrett’s decisions to rule against tariffs ’embarrassment to their families’. Who the fuck does he think he is?  Does he know their families to make such an unhinged judgment?  And he has no sense of decorum or what is right and what is wrong. He also called the justices “a disgrace to our nation.”  Again, he behaves like an out-of-control child.  He’s an international embarrassment.  UPDATE:  I read that Los Republicanos at that tradition known as “the state of the union” were shouting juvenile chants of that simplistic “USA” nonsense.  Any fool can chant three letters, and most of them reside in the dictator’s upper colon.  How pathetic that they never learned how to deal with a bully, and from I read they are terrified of their “maga” cult leader.  These are adults?  Only in their chronological age.

One wonders if the dictator is literally in some aspects of — what is known as — “a second childhood?”  The guy surely has no maturity which confirms what I’ve said that chronological age and maturity don’t necessarily match at all depending upon the person.  He only has arrogance, which in some cases can be misinterpreted as “maturity.”  And he thinks he’s very entitled, and I’ve never seen anyone who demands that his name be put on as many places as possible.

Of course that “maga” cultist, hypocrite JD Vance — who has his head firmly planted in the dictator’s upper colon — is just as bad.  For attention, he had to open his puss and referred to the justices and their ruling as “lawlessness.”  JD only seems to care about the law and what’s legal when it’s convenient for him and when it benefits for the “maga” trash.  Related:  Sleeping with the Enemy: Is Usha Vance a Hypocrite or a Survivor?

It should be No Dictator

This again.  There’s going to be another “No Kings” demonstration.  I’m not promoting it because the name is wrong.  The previous ones accomplished so much, didn’t they?  [sarcasm intended]  In reality, nothing changed. Knowing that, my choral friend went to one of them and he said some people were using the correct word “Dictator” on their signs.  Dictator = fascism.  King = hereditary monarchy.  King is the wrong word because what the US dictator is installing is authoritarian fascism.  The appropriate word for that is dictator and regime (not administration).  He’s not installing anything hereditary.  His regime has nothing to do with a hereditary monarchy.  But apparently the organisers of “No kings” never looked any of this up — and still haven’t — so they continue to use the wrong word.

Many YT talking heads are using the word fascism to describe this regime, which is correct.  But they don’t seem to know that the word dictator goes with fascism.  Another disconnect.  Related:   Fascism:  dictator, not kings

There’s that piece of “never tr*mp” hypocrite who turned “maga” cultist, JD Vance, after he was selected as the 34-count convicted felon’s sidekick.

JD had previously warned about and referred to the now-dictator as “America’s Hitler.”  But now being a proud hypocrite, JD can be seen pounding the table with laughter at every racist joke and far-right thing said in the oval office.  Like all the other Christian fraud maga cultists, JD pretends to be a Christian by licking the Pope’s ass.  Well, the Pope wants nothing to do with this Christian fraud.  Hypocrite JD doesn’t even know who the fuck he is as a person.  Related:  Sleeping with the Enemy: Is Usha Vance a Hypocrite or a Survivor?

Like other “maga” cultists, JD resides in the dictator’s upper colon and routinely keeps his puss in the news by agreeing with most anything the dictator says.  Most recently JD referred to the “lawlessness” of the justices on the US Supreme Court because of their ruling on the dictator’s obsession with tariffs.

Now, do you remember when white nationalist Nick Fuentes had dinner with the dictator?  The chronic liar dictator said he didn’t know who Nick was.  Yeah sure.  Yes, white supremacist Nick Fuentes was a participant in the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017 where the dictator said, “There are good people on both sides.”  And one side consisted of nazis.  So of course, one always has dinner with someone they claim to not know or know anything about.  Related:  Donald tr*mp dined with white nationalist, Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.  (The 34-count convicted felon and adjudicated sexual pervert assaulter hosted Fuentes and Kanye West at Mar-a-Lago. He said it was “quick and uneventful.”)

And I think the dictator is a not-so-closeted nazi.  His senior policy advisor is Stephen Miller.  Miller’s actions and rhetoric have drawn intense criticism, with various opponents, activists, and officials accusing him of harboring white supremacist, fascist, and neo-Nazi views.

Well, apparently Nick has come out of his “maga” denial and is now telling it like it is about these “maga” trash and this lawless, cesspool/swamp regime.

Read post here.

The biggest threat to US national security is the insane, constantly unhinged nut, the US dictator from the Epstein Class who is vegetating in the oval office of the white house. He’s an international embarrassment. He is so unprofessional, especially for the position he holds. Here’s the link to an excellent article that attorney Scott Bolden wrote about that.

I agreed with the majority of Scott’s article, but him being a Democrat, he lost me at the last paragraph where he started talking as if he were in Dream Land. Now, assuming there will be midterms and assuming they will be legitimate — who still believes that after all that the dictator has said and done about “elections” and Steve Bannon calls for the dictator to deploy ICE and military troops to polling sites — the Dead Democratic Party taking back the House and Senate and then going up against the dictator and challenging him? WTF? What drugs are you on? The Dead Democratic Party/Cult is as terrified (if not more so) of this bottom feeder dictator piece of racist redneck trash as are the Republican Party/Cult.

Scott who wrote the opinion article is from the District of Columbia Democratic Party — that’s the official name of the party — and not what someone wrote, “that “Washington, D.C. Democratic Party” rubbish. There is no such thing. I’m not sure who wrote that, but either he or The Hill decided to cater to stupid rather than educate people. Someone must have thought that no one would know what or where the District of Columbia is — even though that’s what DC stands for that most people do use, so why the disconnect? — so instead they wrote the “Washington DC” rubbish.

But go to the site for the District of Columbia Democratic Party and you’ll see that is the proper/correct name for the party or DC Democratic Party and in fine print and blue font below that you’ll see District of Columbia Democratic Party.

From the site:

Quote: Chartered by the Democratic National Committee as the elected representatives of the Democratic voters in the District of Columbia, the DC Democratic State Committee provides input in the affairs of the Democratic Party at the block, precinct, state, and national level by ensuring, preserving, and protecting the principles of Democracy. End Quote

Why cater to stupid ?

Many people do so. I don’t; I refuse to.  One is complicit in the stupidity by catering to stupid.  As far as this catering to stupid goes, that didn’t used to happen. But with the dumbing-down of our society, this is the result.

I use official titles on this site since that’s what they’re meant for (to be used) and if someone doesn’t know what I’m talking about, that’s their problem. They can look it up, if they know how to use a search engine. If they don’t, again, that’s their problem.  I refuse to cater to stupid and dumbed-down on this site. I do my best to educate.

But unfortunately, I’ve noticed that people who write articles also go to such lengths as to cater to stupid by even rewriting the names of the courts in the District. There is no court in the District of Columbia with the language, “Washington DC” in it. Nada. Yet that’s what most writers put in articles, which is absolutely incorrect. You’d think that someone from the courts would ask the writers: Why are you changing the name of our court in your articles? The courts use the official name for the US nation’s capital and the official name — as I have written umpteen times — is District of Columbia, not that “Washington DC” sheeple rubbish. When I saw that at the bottom of Scott’s article, I said to myself: Now I know that is not the name of the party because people in the District know better. Then I went to the site for the DC Democratic Party and I found that I was correct in my suspicion.

This also reminded me of when I went back and visited the District sometime ago and I was over in Georgetown, I saw a school bus. The bus said, “District of Columbia Public Schools.”  They use the correct name for the Federal District.

Then they have another bus service:

The Conservatory was talking about Bad Bunny’s Half Time performance this past Sunday (8 February 2026). Everyone thought it was superb and celebrated a part of Latin Culture. Yes, indeed. To me, his performance was similar to what one would see on Univisión. It was that well done.

By the way, for the racists — such as the white house resident/Epstein Class — Bad Bunny is an American because Puerto Rico is a territory of the US. But even if it were not, Puerto Rico is in the Caribbean region of North America and is part of Latin America, so he’s an American. And the US is part of North America, just like Canada. The “maga” trash don’t seem to know any of that nor do they know that there are three Americas. They don’t believe in maps. Much of the hate directed at Bad Bunny is because he has brown skin. That’s the bottom line. You can watch the performance here. Enjoy!:

YT gives the option to “Share” which I chose, but apparently the NFL doesn’t want the video on other sites, so you’ll have to go to YT to watch it.

The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge (Oxbridge) has a cult-like following as I wrote about here.

The cultists gush over the Richard Marlow double descants that the Trinity Choir sopranos sing on various hymns during Choral Evensong. I’m not hot on the way they’re done. It sounds like one soprano is singing one descant and another soprano is singing the other. There is no full and lush sound at all, which is the way descants are supposed to sound from my experience. In this instance, it sounds like each soprano is singing a solo and at times it sounds like they’re off or something is not quite right. I don’t know why they’re done like this at Trinity.

Descants add so much to a hymn; they make a hymn much more interesting. And only the finest choral ensembles with a superb soprano section can do descants properly. I’ve heard members of congregations say, “When there’s a descant, I stop singing to listen to the descant.” That’s why I’ve suggested that a descant should be sung twice during the hymn, but the established Church of England/Anglican Church and Anglican Communion has this tradition of only singing a descant once for a hymn, usually on the last verse. Before the fire at Notre Dame de Paris (French Catholic), their choristers sang a descant for the hymn on every verse which worked well. Anglican Organist Gerry Hancock said that a Liturgy is not complete without at least one descant. I don’t think Jeremy Filsell — who resigned when Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue closed their renowned Choir School — agreed with that since he seemed to have become anti-descant the longer he was at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue. That was frustrating for me because they had some of the finest trebles anywhere and yet Jeremy didn’t have the trebles singing any descants — even on hymns that I knew had a descant written for it because I had heard them in the past — which is one reason I eventually stopped watching their liturgies.

On this page below, I’m featuring the Evensong where the double descant was sung (first video below). I’m also featuring the same hymn (it’s in a different key) but with a different descant sung by the trebles/boys of Westminster Abbey and the trebles of Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal.

I played both for my choral friend and he much preferred the Westminster Abbey/HM Chapel Royal descant.

He said that the Trinity descant sounded like just two sopranos, unrehearsed and screechy. I agree. Despite the gushing over it by the cultists in their comments below their video, I didn’t hear what they found so hot about it. Whereas the trebles of Westminster Abbey/HM Chapel Royal sounded rehearsed, full and lush especially in their high register and soared throughout the Nave. Their descant sounded like a descant is supposed to sound.

My choral friend doesn’t like hymns to begin with, and this is a hymn. He says about hymns, “they all sound the same” which of course is not true — to his ear they do — but what he really means, I think, is that hymns mostly all follow the same 4-part choral writing style, with occasional exceptions to that. They all certainly don’t have the same tune/melody. As I told him: Hymns are written to be fairly basic because the masses have to sing them and most people do not read music. Hymns can’t be too complicated but rather simple usually.

He also feels the same about Anglican Chant. The exception was that he heard Trinity perform one of the Howells’s Anglican Chants recently and he really liked that. He asked, “Is that a chant? It’s really quite nice and doesn’t sound like a chant.” I said: It’s an Anglican Chant by Howells.

So as I told my choral friend when I introduced this to him (because he has this thing/this hangup about hymns): This is not about the hymn and whether one likes hymns or not. It’s not about the acoustics of the building or the pipe organ. It’s about two different descant (sung at Trinity and Westminster Abbey) and whether the descant sounds thin, or full and lush. Well, he much preferred Westminster Abbey and so do I. I just don’t like the way descants are usually done at Trinity but I’m in the minority on that since the cultists can’t praise them enough, and I don’t know why they’re sung that way. They usually don’t sound full and lush as if the entire soprano section is singing the descant, which is the way a descant is supposed to be sung.

Here’s The Choir of Trinity College Chapel Cambridge. The descant begins at 1.15.50:

Here are the combined Choirs of Westminster Abbey and Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal from the Royal Wedding (William and Kate; they chose descants for all the hymns for their wedding). The descant begins at 2.20:

If you don’t know this hymn, “Love Divine, all love excelling” — I think only Anglicans sing this particular tune which is known as “Blaenwern” — you might want to listen to the hymn first without the descant to get that in your ear.

Again, the descant begins at 1.15.50 for Trinity and at 2.20 for Westminster Abbey.

I thought I’d add two more descants, the way descants should be done. The hymn is “Guide me O thou great Redeemer.” In both of these, the trebles really have to work to cut through the large congregation as best they can. The first is from St Paul’s Cathedral, London (Church of England/Anglican) with the combined Choirs of St Paul’s Cathedral Choir and Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal. Also assisting is The Wren Brass Ensemble. The combined Choirs of
St Paul’s Cathedral and Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal are directed by Andrew Carwood, Director of Music, St Paul’s Cathedral. The Organist is Simon Johnson, who is also the Assistant Director of Music. The organ console is up above and back above the Choir stalls on the the Epistle side, if you look closely. It’s essentially on what would be the second story. You can see the Organist in his white surplice and there’s a group of the organ pipes to his right (also above the Choir stalls) at 2.31 in the video.

Prince William and Kate looked like they really enjoyed the descant as they look over at the Choir stalls.:

This one below is from Westminster Abbey also from the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate. If you look closely, many people in the congregation are craning their necks to look at the Choir stalls to see the boys as they sing the descant:

Feel free to write in the comments which descant you prefer. (No proselytising allowed).

On another topic: For those who don’t know, yes, there are Anglican nuns. The women standing next to Prince William are Anglican nuns. The Catholics are not the only group with nuns.

That’s about the extent of it, with few exceptions.

With most politicians, I have to change the channel.

I have no use for most politicians and I wondered the other night if the majority of people who go into politics do so because they can’t do anything else? They have no skills.

“YES” or “NO”

In fact, consistently they can’t answer basis “yes” or “no” questions. Instead, they consistently skate around it. Answer the damn question, fool! You never learned how to answer a “yes” or “no” question. You say either, “yes” or no.” Doh.

So with most politicians, 1) they’re terrified of the US dictator because they never learned how to deal with your average schoolyard bully — something I learned early-on — and 2) they never learned how to answer “yes” or “no” questions. This is basic stuff, people.

What prompted this post was the US dictator’s increasing racism featuring the Obama’s as apes. You know, these “maga” trash don’t have basic sense, they don’t have good judgment to know what you do and what you don’t do. [Disclaimer: I’m no fan of the Obamas, by the way, so this is not meant as partisan].

Of course the US dictator doesn’t have the maturity or the intelligence and he never takes responsibility for anything negative to apologise for anything he does and he never does anything wrong (according to him). According to him, he’s perfect. He blamed a racist staffer for the Obama’s depicted as apes’ racism.

Well, Hakeem Jeffries called the dictator “disgusting” and “a bottom feeder,” (he was just getting warmed up!) amongst other descriptors. Then, when asked by Eugene on MS Now Weekend if the dictator is a racist, Harkeem had never heard the word “yes.” He just couldn’t find it within his weak self to answer the damn question with the word “yes.” Instead he danced around Eugene’s question. So to Eugene’s credit, he asked Harkeem again — good for Eugene — if the dictator is a racist. It was a yes or no question. Again, Eugene did not get a yes or no answer from Hakeem Jeffries. Eugene gave up.

Hakeem acted all big and tough in his video response to the dictator, but he absolutely crumbled like a typical Democrat when asked: Is the 34-count convicted felon a racist. Of course the answer is: Yes. Of course he is. From what I’ve read from credible sources, the dictator’s social media site is full of nazis and the dictator has made many racist comments and continues to do so. That’s why I’m somewhat unclear on whether he’s technically a fascist or a nazi. But he has one foot in the closet when it comes to being a racist.

Hakeem Jeffries turned me off, like nearly all politicians do. I changed the channel as I said to the television: “Answer the damn question dude.” Jeffries was pathetic.

Then you have California Governor Gavin Newsom. Ugh. He’s a mess, too. He talks out of both sides of his mouth. He doesn’t know who the fuck he is either as he caves to the “maga” talking heads when he’s on with them, they ask him about his previous comments and he backtracks on some of the things he has said, such as about ICE, because he’s on with a “maga” cultist. Related: Has California Governor Gavin Newsom flipped out?

The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts

I just read an article about the Kennedy Center’s National Symphony Orchestra and the article left out the word Memorial each time they wrote the name of the Center. That’s important, you know, because the Kennedy Center is a memorial to the late President Kennedy. And not being the least bit intelligent and not knowing how memorial buildings work, the US dictator has slapped his name on the building in front of Kennedy’s name. I guess he thinks he’s dead too, since a person has to be dead in order to have a building named in memorial to a person.

Singer-songwriter and pianist Ben Folds is the most prominent recent figure to hold a key artistic leadership role at the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), serving as its first-ever Artistic Advisor from 2017 until his resignation on February 12, 2025 when the 34-count convicted felon and adjudicated sexual assaulter pervert/rapist and dictator took over the Kennedy Center.

Ben was interviewed recently and answered a question I had wondered about. No one had addressed this that I’ve heard until now and all I’ve heard about it was that nobody knew what the dictator was talking about.

The question is: So is the Kennedy Center falling apart and in such bad shape as the dictator and that guy who he appointed “president” of the Center — who is completely unqualified for that position — continues to say it is? No, not at all. Just the opposite.

Ben said, “the Kennedy Center looks perfect. He (the 34-count convicted felon) is making it all up.” So he’s lying as usual and no one is calling him on it. Not surprising, since the dictator and the “maga” trash are all chronic liars.

I’m glad someone finally addressed the state of the building.

When I performed there, the Kennedy Center looked perfectly maintained and that’s what Ben says about the current state of the Center, which is good to know. I couldn’t imagine it being any other way.

So why does the dictator have this obsession with the Kennedy Center? Well, because it’s a memorial building to a Democrat, and the dictator is obsessed with and hates Democrats. Also, the dictator can’t stand the arts and by taking over the Kennedy Center it’s his way of killing the arts. The piece of trash never attended a performance there in his first term saying “There’s nothing there I want to see” despite the wide range of performances there. I think there’s only one Broadway musical that he pretends to like so he went to see that — or did he sleep through it? — awhile back.

Something I had not considered but that Ben pointed out: The dictator slapping his name on the Kennedy Center was planned for some time, long before it happened. It was a long process for that to happen, such as making the somewhat-matching letters to be graffiti’ed on the building in front of Kennedy’s name. His self-appointed “maga” board rubber-stamped his proposal of renaming the Center and the next day a crew was there doing so. So it was a well planned scheme he had, including the crew.

The dictator has been using the Kennedy Center as a “convention center” holding events there that have nothing to do with the arts or the performing arts, and I suspect that’s the type of “entertainment complex” he plans to build there and his way of gutting The Arts in the DMV (District, Maryland and Virginia). It sounds like he intends to tear down the Kennedy Center to its steel frame. One really can’t believe anything he says about what he plans to do because he completely lied about what he planned to do with the east wing of the white house.

What Ben didn’t talk about — or at least I didn’t hear him talk about it — was the apparently large group of “maga” musicians in the National Symphony Orchestra who were delighted that the dictator took over the Kennedy Center. But after he graffiti’ed his name on the Center the same “maga” musicians regretted that move, apparently seeing that as a death-knell for the Center.

The latest: The NSO does not yet have a future home after the dictator closes the Kennedy Center in July. So, they may become a touring orchestra for awhile, going from venue to venue. That will get old. They’ll get tired of that. In part, the acoustics of a new home is very important to them. I read that Constitution Hall, one of the places I suggested they go and where they’ve played before, has terrible acoustics, so I assume that idea is out.

Their current conductor says that the NSO is now playing better than the Chicago Symphony Orchestra or the New York Philharmonic. He did not elaborate on how he made that judgment or determination. His point was also about how long it takes to make an Orchestra of this caliber/high quality level, and it’s something you just don’t abandon. They played superbly when we were invited to perform with them (the Choral Arts Society and later with the University of Maryland Chorus).

The Century of Insanity. There’s a long list of artists who have fortunately cancelled their scheduled performances at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, including most recently the renowned Martha Graham Dance Company.

Despite thousands of people in San Francisco having signed a petition demanding that the San Francisco Ballet cancel their upcoming performance before the world’s dictator — he seems to think he’s the dictator of the world — closes the Kennedy Center and destroys it further, the San Francisco Ballet refuses to cancel. Hopefully they will perform to empty seats.

I suspect some people will say, “What is wrong with San Francisco?” even though the San Francisco Ballet is not The City and County of San Francisco, but rather a private company.

One must assume that their relatively new Director is a “maga” cultist and/or the Board members are “maga” cultists, just like there is a group of “maga” cultists in the Kennedy Center’s resident National Symphony Orchestra. I tried to research the Ballet Director and her politics but couldn’t find anything on that.

Some mealy-mouthed people are saying that the Director is in a “tough spot.” No she’s not at all. She either has the courage of her convictions — assuming she has any convictions — or she doesn’t. The same goes for the Ballet Board members. If I were the Director of a group scheduled to perform at the Kennedy Center — dance or otherwise — I wouldn’t hesitate to cancel our performances. Who wants to perform at a contaminated venue that is now broken. Why would anyone want that on their résumé?

I’ve previously written that if I still lived in the District of Columbia and was a chorister in one of the three Orchestra Choruses (Choral Arts Society of Washington, The Washington Chorus and the University of Maryland Concert Choir), that I would resign from the Chorus because I would refuse to perform in the Kennedy Center with a 34-count convicted felon and adjudicated sexual assaulter/predator pervert rapist, chronic liar, international bully and now dictator as the so-called “Chair.” Fuck off.

And the same goes for that Rick Grenell piece of “maga” trash who has no experience at all in the role of “president” of the Kennedy Center. Grenell has no experience in music or the arts or the performing arts, he doesn’t play any instrument and has no experience running an arts institution. But he’s most typical of what the dictator does by putting in unqualified people with no experience for the job they’re in.

I’m not hopeful that the San Francisco Ballet will cancel their performance before the dictator closes the Kennedy Center and begins to destroy it. The chronic liar says he will keep the steel frame and some of the marble. This is the same bottom feeder piece of gutter trash who lied about the east wing of the white house. He destroyed that, along with the Rose Garden and other things. He’s been lying — that’s all he does — about the state of the Kennedy Center. No one knew what he was talking about. In reality, the Center continues to look perfect. It sounds like it looks like it did when I was performing there.

Also, it’s disgusting to see some publications using the language of the graffiti’ed renamed Kennedy Center in their articles. Yes, some are doing that. Apparently they enjoy kissing the ring of the dictator.

From AI:

Quote:

Dictators often place their names on buildings, monuments, and infrastructure to establish a cult of personality, project absolute power, and ensure their legacy dominates the public landscape. Examples include extensive branding by modern figures, historical totalitarian leaders, and, as noted in some perspectives, actions by recent U.S. regime.

Examples of Leaders with Named Structures:

AI Overview
Dictators often place their names on buildings, monuments, and infrastructure to establish a cult of personality, project absolute power, and ensure their legacy dominates the public landscape. Examples include extensive branding by modern figures, historical totalitarian leaders, and, as noted in some perspectives, actions by recent U.S. administrations
.
Examples of Leaders with Named Structures:

Donald tr*mp: Multiple buildings worldwide bear the “tr*mp” name, including tr*mp Tower Manila, tr*mp Tower Punta del Este, and the tr*mp International Hotel and Tower (New York City).
Saparmurat Niyazov (Turkmenistan): Known for extreme self-glorification, including golden statues and numerous buildings.
Kim Jong-il (North Korea): Numerous,, monuments and facilities bearing his name.
Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe), Omar al-Bashir (Sudan), and Than Shwe (Burma): Associated with regimes that often branded public works with leader names.

Historical and Authoritarian Context:

Adolf Hitler (Germany): Infrastructure projects were often branded to reinforce his role as Führer.
Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union): His name was frequently used for buildings and city landmarks during his rule.

End Quote