Klarinet Archive - Posting 000022.txt from 2005/09
From: Bear Woodson <bearwoodson@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] New Orleans
Date: Fri, 02 Sep 2005 18:42:04 -0400
Hello, Everyone.=20
On the Viola List, Scott Slapin said that as far as
he knew, all the members of the LPO, the Louisiana
Philharmonic Orchestra, had left town before
Hurricane Katrina hit, except for one guy. To the best
of his knowledge, that guy was in a high building
with the ability to boil water, but he will probably be
evacuated soon, too. (Besides, won't even tall
buildings begin to crumble, if their foundations are
deep in filthy water for weeks? They weren't
designed or that.)=20
I'd guess that plumbing can't work, if the water
systems for the entire city are under water, and/or
destroyed. Likewise many would be electrocuted if
all the downed wires had current under all the flood
waters.=20
I grew up in a Navy family that moved so often
all over the US and Europe, that I never had a home
town, and rarely had one address for as long as 3
years. This includes living in different parts of the
Washington D.C. area, Los Angeles and Arizona,
three times each. I've even lived in London and was
educated in Edinburgh Scotland and Munich
Germany. Although I've never lived in New Orleans,
my mother did when she was a child, and has often
spoken kindly of it. Perhaps it is merciful that she is
too old and senile to know that it was destroyed,
even if she should overhear the TV news.
I've never been in a flood, nor a hurricane, but I
did live through some of the milder Earthquakes in
Los Angeles from Late 1980 to Late 1992. Most
Californians are either too stubborn or blas=E9 to
move away from a state that is known to be full of
earthquake faults! Personally, between Los Angeles
Arrogance and the Earthquakes, I will never move
back to California, no matter what! But I can imagine
that the many of the people of New Orleans refused
to leave, due to the threat of Hurricane Katrina,
because it was their home. Some people would rather
die at home, than be chased away; while others could
not imagine it might ever be destroyed, since it has
survived so many storms of the past.
Now the survivors face disease and alligators in
the flood waters, with no chance to begin rebuilding
for months. If New Orleans ever is rebuilt, it will
never be the same, and can't be completed for many
years. We will never know how many people have
died, and our loss, and this wound on our country,
will never completely heal. This is also true of the
many other towns and cities that were destroyed as
Hurricane Katrina moved north with the ocean
pouring inland, further than ever before in recorded
history.=20
I can't fault stubborn people for choosing not to
leave their homes, even though it was not a good
idea, because they had survived all previous storms
and doubted this one would be as bad as it was. At
least this tragedy was not the deliberate act of some
psychotic terrorist, although the wounds are just as
bad.=20
Southern Arizona is not prone to earthquakes,
tsunamis, tornadoes, snow storms, snow avalanches,
etc., but if we had a Power Failure, a lot of us would
die from the heat within days, especially me. (Not to
mention that my insulin would be de-activated within
an hour of being exposed to heat over 85=BAF, or 30=BAC.)
We all choose what we consider to be acceptable
risks.=20
Now as far as slothful, arrogant, indifferent,
pathologically lying politicians dragging their feet,
while they wallow in their own luxuries, THAT I can
blame! I've had direct dealings with some of the top
politicians in Arizona, only to have every one of them
promise to help, and break their word, as soon as the
publicity stopped watching them. I CAN blame them
for their laziness and deceit.
I'd rather see our troops work to save Americans
from this Natural Disaster than risk their lives for
foreigners of questionable gratitude and loyalty. At
least Americans won't booby-trap and kill our troops,
in response to helping free them from tragedy.
Meanwhile on August 26th I finished the
Orchestral C Score of my Clarinet Concerto, and
have since perfected the Transposed Orchestral
Score. I'm already back to work on the Piano
Reduction from where I stopped work on it, a few
months ago, in the middle of the second movement.
I hope to get copies of it to the Dedicatee, Joze
Kotar, as soon as possible.
My sorrows and prayers to the victims of
Hurricane Katrina.=20
Bear Woodson =20
Composer in Tucson, Arizona, USA
Home: 520 - 881 - 2558
"Bear Woodson" <bearwoodson@-----.net>
Bachelor's in Music Theory & Composition from:
Arizona State University and
California Institute of the Arts, Dec. 1977
Full Fellowship at the Richard Strauss Conservatory
in Munich, with Dr. Peter Jona Korn 1979-1980
Master's in Music Theory & Composition from:
Arizona State University, May 1996
Nominated in Spring 2003 for:
Arizona Governor's Arts Award and a Pulitzer
=20
This website shows a picture of my face, lists
some of my works and my Nine Categories of
Newly Invented Fugues:
http://www.fluteconnection.net/
Then click on "Contemporary Composers",
then click on "Bear Woodson".
=20
These are two listings for the Dissertation that
was written entirely about 4 of my Horn Works:
http://catalog.lib.asu.edu/search/a?SEARCH=3DMcGale
http://www.music.indiana.edu/cgi-bin/chmtl/isearchddm?DATABASE=3Dddm&TERM_1=3D7=
0
brFieK
=20
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