Superconductor Presents: The Sausage Awards

The Very Wurst of 2017
by Paul J. Pelkonen

How sausage is made: it isn't pretty. Animated still by Gerald Scarfe
from the film Pink Floyd: The Wall © 1982 MGM/UA.

Hi everybody, it's time for the first of a series of year-end wrap-up posts as we close the books on 2017. This will forever be remembered as the year that the government of the United States decided to start undoing the hard work and social programs of the 20th century, and as the year when long-buried sex scandals in the entertainment industry finally began to come out in the light.

Here are five things that Superconductor (that is I,) did not like about 2017.

An Anthem of the Mind

Reflections on the National Anthem and the Trump presidency.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Three Flags by Jasper Johns from 1958.
Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art.

In the last 24 hours of the never-ending cycle of news, tweets and sloganeering that has come to characterize American politics since the elevation of one Donald John Trump to the highest office in the land, another firestorm has erupted. The subject: Mr. Trump's decision last night to attack currently unemployed NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick for his protest gesture of taking a knee during the playing of the National Anthem at NFL games.

Death, Congress and Tosca

On Twitter with Puccini and the banality of evil.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Cover art for the CD issue of the 1980 Karajan Tosca.
Image © 1980 Deutsche Grammophon/UMG.

It started because I couldn't sleep.

Tonight was the super-stealthy midnight vote by the Republican Party to enact a so-called "skinny repeal" of the Affordable Care Act, the health care achievement by President Barack Obama that has enabled me to continue my career both as a freelance writer and as the author of Superconductor, my very own classical music publication that you're reading if you're reading this right now.

His Last, Bigliest Bow

Donald Trump brings back Luciano Pavarotti.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

This didn't really happen....or did it?
Luciano Pavarotti sings with Donald Trump.

An unexpected gaffe by United States President Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon may lead to an unexpected career spotlight for Luciano Pavarotti, the beloved opera tenor who died in 2007.

Today, speaking at the White House in a joint press conference with Italian prime minister Paolo Gentiloni, Mr. Trump said: "Through the ages your country has been a beacon of artistic and scientific achievement. That continues today."

He then referred to Mr. Pavarotti and his friendship--twice: "From Venice to Florence to Verdi to Pavarotti--friend of mine," President Trump said. "Great friend of mine," he added.

A Quick Word About the Election

And back to music soon after...promise!

It is impossible for Superconductor to exist in a bubble, or to allow the events of last night's election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States of America to pass without comment. This blog is not a political forum and it is not normally a place for such things, but I cannot get my regular blog writing done without getting these words out of my system.