History, Artistry… and a Moat!

The city of Gouda (g-ow-duh, not g-oo-dah! And the g is guttural like Hebrew or an ach-laut in German) is so old they don’t have newfangled things like stained glass windows in the church. Instead, they’re burned glass. The St. Janskerk church–where the windows are–was built early in the middle ages. The house I am sitting in currently was built 800 years ago. So was the moat. The eels and the herons that feed on the eels have been in the moat and canals for generations. This neighborhood only got a sewer system within the past 8 years. Gouda charms me.  

“Chamber Music Insurgents”

This is what happens when classical musicians act ‘hood…

So Percussion! So what?! Think they’re in touch with the street./On your minimalist tip we got that champion beat./ Iannis Xenakis. What? You think you bad playin’ hard shit/ with nested triplets and septuplets?

You down with MTT? Yeah you know me!/ S.F. Symphony, but that’s not all the he be./ American Marvericks , spinnin’ fab shit,/ like Milton Bizabbitt, but HGP’s so past it.

…

“Eighth Blackbird we can play your music backward/ Then chop it up and serve it to you 13 Ways!/ Y’all stuck on Kronos carbon copy new music cliches/ Straight pimpin’ Fred Rzewski for that Grammy mo-NAY.

There’s something hilarious about the misspelling of “mavericks” in the second stanza that makes me want to put sic after it.