composer want? Not the sterile professional/musicologicalningrainment thatncan only be creative incest; not acceptancensolely by a sequestered elitistncoterie. He wants to be heard and respondednto by an enlightened public;nto be recognized as a viable, creativenforce; to be a communicative voice. Towardnthis end he is urged to give thenmost serious consideration to the following:n(1) A thoughtful reading of HenrynPleasants’ The Agony of ModernnMusic (still these many years afternits first publication the definitivenstatement of the bankruptcy of thenmusical “avant-garde”—whose thesisnhas yet to be refuted: that “serious”nmusic has long since committed antotally unnecessary suicide and onlynpopular music [particularly jazz] hasnsurvived in our time with a dynamicnlife of its own);n(2) That today’s so-called “serious”nmusic is, and has long been, stallednat the point that, for literature, wasnsimply a passing phase, “the revolutionnof the word” (the basic premisenof which before its expiration in thenlate ’30s was that for all “serious”nwriting, the traditional word, traditionallynspelled and with its traditionalnmeaning still relatively intact, wasnforever dead)—and that if one creativenart can survive a seeming Armageddon/Apocalypse/Millenniumnsoncan another;n(3) That extreme modernism is (a) ancontemporary form of puritanism,nwith Puritanism’s characteristic proscriptionnof pleasure; and (b) a formnof arrogant censorship that bansnforms, harmonies and structures stillnfound viable by the free spirit amongncomposers—those unrestricted, thatnis, by doctrinaire rule and regulations;n(4) That the tired old argument thatnthe “new” is always rejected by itsntime (the routine procedure is to citencertain contemporary resistances tonBeethoven and Wagner and Stravinsky)nis inapplicable to today’s so-ncalled “avant-garde” for two reasons:nfirst, today’s “avant-garde” is not anninsurgency but an entrenched academynfrom which dissenters are rigorouslynexcluded and, second, thenopponents of the Beethovens, Wagners,netc. were professional critics,nwhereas opponents of today’s Henzes,nLigetis and Druckmanns are the public—leadingnto one conclusion: thenone to mistrust, today quite as yesterday,nis not the educated concertgoernbut the &pater-le-bourgeoisnreviewer;n(5) That all the technological expertisenand virtuosity, all the musico-nMr. Unclean?nGovernor Jerry Brown of Californianhas a reputation of being a political opportunist.nOpportunism is not a politicalnsin in America, but neither is it a virtue.nIt can be redeemed by other qualities;nit can also generate a lot of popularncontempt.nBut rhetorical and tactical opportunism,neven personal prevarication, isnone thing, while hobnobbing with scumnis another. In the February issue ofnHigh Times, we found GovernornBrown’s article. It was about explorationnof space, to be sure, but written for HighnTimes and prominently signed. Wenthink it abominable. To make it clearnwhy, a few words about the magazine.nIts ideology is encapsulated in an adnfeaturing a bikini-clad girl who assumesna body position which at best can bentermed nonchalant. The ad reads:n”Expose myself.’ Why not, if I knownwhat I’m doing.Sure, it’s easy to closenyourself off to experience, cover up,nwithdraw from life. Safe. But I choosenlife. I want to open up to sights,nsounds, tastes, smells, feelings . . .nThat’s why I expose myself tondrugs…”nThe American Scenennnlogical precepts and principles in thenworld avail of nothing if (a) they carrynno communication to the listenernand for that reason (b) are irredeemablyndull.nCome back, Ernest Bloch—whilen”all” may not “be forgiven” by your establishmentnadversaries, there are thosenof us who understand that when youncomposed your “America Rhapsody”nyou were not a different man from himnwho composed your Second StringnQuartet, which Ernest Newman calledn”worthy to stand beside the last quartetsnof Beethoven.” DnHigh Times is totally, even fanatically,ndevoted to peddling narcotics. Itsncirca 130 pages of glossy and seductivenrepresentations relentlessly push marijuana,ncocaine, hashish, psychedelicnpills—for which the code word in thentext is “recreational drugs.” Its editors,nillustrators and writers spread beforenthe reader’s eyes an El Dorado existencenif only he dips into the pool of his ownnbefouled consciousness. They promisenthe paradise of unfathomable delightsnfor the price of simple addiction. Theirnvictims are hundreds of thousands ofnAmerican adolescents. The editors andnphotoreporters never venture to the renhabilitation centers where their victimsnshiver away their youth, or to the hospitalsnwhere they die. Why the Trans-nHigh Corporation, which publishesnHigh Times, wants to exterminatenyoung Americans—purely for profit ornon assignment by some unnamed forcesn—is never made clear. Governor Brownndid not ask this question either beforensubmitting his contribution.nHe seems to disregard the lesson ofnMr. Gerald Ford, a decent but embarrassinglynsimple-minded man. WhilenPresident of the United States, Mr. Fordn^m^m^^mm^ZlnChronicles of Culturen