Frank Beacham's Journal

The Analog TV Shutdown Comes on June 12

Finally, the turnoff of analog over-the-air television is going to happen. With June 12 set as the kill date, there are going to be no more delays. The fat lady will finally sing.

So what will happen on June 12? In short, nothing.

Oh, a few "shocked" on-air viewers will scream bloody murder when their analog programming disappears. But after a few days, their complaints will die down and be forgotten. Since most problems will only be solvable with an expensive new television antenna installation, most will bite the bullet and pay for cable. The cable companies are ready, with very cheap $10 a month plans for the first year. Then, zoom!

Most people already pay for their TV. Soon, anything worth watching will cost some kind of subscription fee. The dirty little secret with this whole transition is that it's disguised as progress. In fact, it's the beginning of the end of free TV and local stations.

So be it. Free TV has done little for the people who watch it. Perhaps a few will just turn the damn thing off and doing something else with their time -- like read a book or have an actual conversation. One can only hope.

Leonard Cohen Takes New York City

It was about 30 years ago when the British film director Ronald Neame, a big fan, first told me about Leonard Cohen. This Canadian poet turned songwriter was not for everyone, Neame warned. “He’s an acquired taste, but I think you might like him.”

I thought about Neame’s understatement Saturday night at Radio City Music Hall when Cohen literally brought the house down with a lifetime of familiar songs. I had seen Cohen perform twice in the past three decades and, for a while, it appeared he might not tour again. Now, at 74, this show may just be the best concert I’ve ever experienced.

With all the talk about the written word being degraded and devalued in our time, Leonard Cohen turns that notion on its head—making his every word soar. To songs about religion, isolation, sexuality and complex interpersonal relationships, he brings a huge doze of grace, charm and civility. He often sings on his knees, and tips his hat to the audience. Old fashioned manners are so rare these days.

After several encores, Cohen told an adoring New York audience how much he appreciated singing for them.  Best yet, you believed he was totally sincere.

I consider Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan the two best singer-songwriters of the past century.  Where Dylan’s genius comes fast and loose, Cohen struggles with his work and takes years to carefully craft his songs. Now he can do a three-hour concert where every song is completely familiar. 

When he performed “Tower of Song,” Cohen brought cheers when he sang he was "… born with the gift of a golden voice."  It also helps when you bring that voice to some of the best songs of a generation. 

                                                                                                                                         

Leonard Cohen at Radio City Music Hall

                                                                                                                    

Leonard Cohen sings "Tower of Song" while playing keyboard.                                                          

                                                                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                                                         

Cohen's image projected on a large screen video projector in Radio City Music Hall.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                                                         

Outside Radio City Hall after the concert.

Voices of “People’s History” Still Resonates

Howard Zinn is a professor, political scientist, historian, social critic, activist and playwright. He’s Professor Emeritus in the Political Science Department at Boston University. 

Zinn has been active in the movements for civil rights, civil liberties and the anti-war movements in the United States as long as I can remember. He is a genuine hero. Of his 20 or so books, perhaps the best known is “A People's History of the United States.”

Wearing his historian’s hat, Zinn believed that the point of view expressed in traditional history books is from the viewpoint of the rich and powerful. In 1980, he wrote his people’s history as an alternative—depicting the struggles of Native Americans against European and U.S. conquest and expansion, slaves against slavery, unionists and other workers against capitalists, women against patriarchy, and African-Americans for civil rights.

Zinn’s people’s history book is now being used as an alternative to standard textbooks in many high school and college history courses.  It has caught on, routinely selling more than 100,000 copies a year. 

In 2003, to commemorate the sale of the millionth copy of the people’s history, a dramatic reading was held at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. Major actors read speeches from the history, including Christopher Columbus on the Arawaks; Plough Jogger, a farmer and participant in Shays' Rebellion; Harriet Hanson, a Lowell mill worker; Frederick Douglass; Mark Twain; Mary Harris "Mother" Jones; Emma Goldman; Helen Keller; Eugene V. Debs; Langston Hughes and many more.

In 2004, Zinn published “Voices of A People's History of the United States” with Anthony Arnove. Voices expands on the concept and provides a large collection of dissident voices in long form. Since the reading in 2003, more than 60 productions of “voices” have been done throughout the nation.

Skip to May 13, 2009, and another reading at the 92nd St. Y. After years of requests from parents and teachers for a younger readers' version of the history, Seven Stories Press has published “A Young People's History of the United States”—a two-volume, illustrated adaptation of the original text for young adult readers.

Zinn, now 86, and Arnove joined actors and readers Tim Robbins, Amber Tamblyn, Avery Brooks, Brian Jones, Shontina Vernon, Staceyann Chin and Evann Orleck-Jetter in another reading of outstanding speeches.  It was clear that the concept works exceedingly well, since the actor’s portrayals of these unknown speeches from history were wildly compelling.

Evann Orlck-Jetter, who is 12, a native of Vermont, made national news this year when she testified before the Vermont state legislature in support of marriage equality.  She re-read her eloquent testimony at the Y, which was credited with helping turn the legislature toward its new law allowing gay marriage. 

For every kid who thinks history is boring, look to Howard Zinn. His work is guaranteed to make it come alive.                                                                                                                          

Howard Zinn at the 92nd Street Y on May 13, 2009 at the second "Voices" reading.  Photo by Frank Beacham

Uncommonly Good August Wilson Play on Broadway

I recently saw August Wilson's wonderful play, "Joe Turner's Come and Gone," in the Lincoln Center production now on Broadway. I prepared for it in advance—reading the play and exploring the themes addressed by Wilson in this second of his ten-play series portraying black life each decade through the 20th Century.

What a payoff! Joe Turner, first of all, was the brother of a Tennessee governor who kidnapped blacks early in the last century to work on his chain gang for seven year's hard labor. He is not a character in the play, but represents racism in the South after blacks were supposedly freed from slavery. 

This was Wilson's favorite play. I can certainly see why. It's a rich, poetic rift on racial and African life in the last century. The cast is remarkable, but Roger Robinson as Bynum Walker, was a standout. He's an African rootworker—a conjurer who has the power of the Binding Song. He acts as a spiritual adviser to those who live in a boarding house in Pittsburgh in 1911. 

Bynum tells Herald Loomis, who was captured by Joe Turner, that he has forgotten his song and must find it and sing it to become free again. After slashing himself with a knife, Herald discovers his song.

In my opinion, August Wilson is one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th Century. My favorite of his plays, "Gem of the Ocean," was one of the great theatrical events I've ever witnessed. With so much commercial junk on Broadway these days, I hope "Joe Turner" finds a worthy audience. It's a rich show that deserves our attention.

It was a Sunday afternoon, in December, 2004, when I walked out of a Sunday matinee. I looked across the street to another theatre and saw a man standing there alone. I instantly recognized that it was August Wilson. Amazingly, I was the only one to notice him. I crossed the street and introduced myself. He was quite friendly and told me he never liked to watch the endings of his plays. He had come outside in order to avoid the end of the premier of "Gem of the Ocean." Once the show was over, and the street filled with people, he allowed me to take his picture. 

Pete Seeger Turns 90 at Madison Square Garden

Pete Seeger turned 90 on Sunday. It was a global celebration of a man so beloved that his birthday party sold out Madison Square Garden in New York City in less than four hours. A who's who of musicians came to perform and share stories about a giant in folk music who influenced each of their lives. Concerts were held around the world, but New York City was the epicenter of this special day.

Bruce Springsteen sang the "The Ghost of Tom Joad," with Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine. The Boss said of Pete: ''He carries inside him a steely toughness that belies a grandfatherly facade. He's gonna look a lot like your granddad that wears flannel shirts and funny hats. He gonna look like your granddad if your granddad can kick your ass. At 90, he remains a stealth dagger through the heart of our country's illusions about itself.''                                                                                                                                                                   

Madison Square Garden was sold out with more than 18,000 people for the Seeger concert. More than 40 musicians performed.

Pete Seeger joined on stage by his grandson, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, to lead the audience in "Amazing Grace." Pete said: “There's no such thing as a wrong note as long as you're singing it." Then he gave a history lesson about John Newton, the author of the song and a former slave ship captain who became an outspoken opponent of slavery. "John Newton gave us all the greatest hope of all, that we can turn this world around," Seeger said.

Joan Baez performed several songs for Pete Seeger. Here she sings "Where Have All the Flowers Gone."

Kris Kristofferson, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Richie Havens, Taj Mahal & Warren Haynes perform a rousing version of "Maggie's Farm"

The end, after "This Land is My Land," the audience sang "Happy Birthday" to Pete. He was congratulated on stage by his fellow musicians.  Several encores followed.

Saving the New York Times!

As a former newspaper writer and editor, I have never gotten good print journalism out of my blood. I've seen it decline over the years to pathetic levels. It's a very sad thing to watch.

When I worked at United Press International in the 1970s, we did 2,000 word "think" pieces for the Sunday editions of our client's newspapers. Today, I'm told, the longest story UPI does is 300 words! Talk about dumbing down the news!

For the 18 years that I have lived in New York, I have been an avid reader of the New York Times. Even with its flaws—and all newspapers have flaws—I think the Times one of the best sources of objective news left in the United States.  

My major concern is whether or not the Times will survive. I just read of its $74.5 million loss during the first quarter. That's compared to a loss of just $335,000 a year a ago! My god, the company is bleeding money!

Curiously, I read the Times online for FREE. Due to my non-doorman building, I cannot get the daily paper edition—nor do I want it. A couple of years ago, I paid for a premium online Times service. But it ended. Now I get it all for nothing.

Of course, I'm willing to pay for the electronic edition of the Times. But they don't charge for it. What are they thinking? Go figure.

I'd suggest the Times get a business model for the Internet and do it quickly.  Free won't cut it, I'm afraid. Time is running out for the Times!  Let's hope someone there has the ability and vision to fix the newspaper's financial model.