Musea E-mail Club #501. New Musea “Interrogation!”

Reader,

The new issue of Musea, #173 for Feb/Mar is out in print and at the regular stops that include The MAC, The Inwood, Half Priced Books – the main store, Paperbacks Plus, and Curiosities.

Webmaster Matthew has also posted it on the musea.us site.

This is a one act play in verse. It’s called Interrogation. It’s a frightening drama about the worst of future worlds.

The idea came from a biography of the painter Rothko. The college he was teaching painting at, called him in for a talk. Said they were upset at his novel teachings. Reminded him that they were all TEAM players. As if that was an excuse to fall into line.

Here is the first lines of Interrogation

-

THE INTERROGATION

The light was harsh

on its sole object

a painter in a hard back

stiff metal chair.

Somewhere in the dark

sat the questionnaires.

Folded hands and

mechanical voices.

“You are here

of your own free will?”

“No.”

“You are here

to answer a query

of the school board

that employs you?”

“Let me go.”

“We are not here

to threaten or cajole you.”

“Let me go then.

Let me go…”

“This is only a

few days of your life.

We ask you and

you instruct us.”

[For the rest of the play see musea.us and click on issue #173]

Let me know what you think.

Tom Hendricks

(editor of the 17 year old zine Musea)

http://www.Musea.us (Musea, named as one of the best ZINES by UTNE magazine)

http://www.Hunkasaurus.com (Music, 5 full CD’s of free Post-Bands Music)

http://www.Musea.wordpress.com (Blog for Musea, Art Contests, Weekly E-mail Messages)

http://www.Myspace.com/Musead ; (Myspace Page, New Friends welcome)

http://www.youtube.com/TomHendricksMusea (Youtube Page, features all my 60 videos)

http://wp.me/p5S9X-36  (Big World Music List, best and first worldwide new music list.)

Musea Art Contest 2/2/10

The answer to, and winner (if any) for,
our last contest question of:

This mid 19th century trapeze artist is today known for dance clothes! Name the dance clothes he’s known for. Clue there is a classic song all about him.

IS
Leotards worn by Jules Leotard. He is also the subject of the song, “The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze”. For a great version of the song see “It Happened One Night” bus scene.

We had no winners seems your brains were up in the air with no catcher in sight, on this one.

I don’t
dumb down,
so please
wise up.

Now on to a new Q.:

Win a copy of
my NEW cd CALLED ‘30′! – (first anti-band CD) or
my NEWER cd CALLED ‘NEXT”(‘06)
or my NEWEST cd CALLED ‘THIRDS” (May ‘07)
or my MORE NEWEST cd Called “FOUR-TH” ‘08
or my Just RELEASED MOST NEWEST cd CALLED ‘5-TH’(Nov.’09)
Hunkasaurus.com (has them all plus videos and more)

if you are the first to e-mail me at THIS ADDRESS:
tom-hendricks@att.net
with the correct answer to this art question*

This mid 19th century trapeze artist is today known for dance clothes! Name the dance clothes he’s known for. Clue there is a classic song all about him.

OK Let’s see how you do on this one. It’s the most common word in the world. Name it.

Readers, IF you like these puzzles and would
like to resend them to friends, post them on any
newsgroup, or any website, please do so.
The more the merrier!
For tons of past quizzes go to,
the musea website at musea.us
or the Musea blog at musea.wordpress.com
And don’t forget the music/videos at hunkasaurus.com
http://www.Myspace.com/Musead (New Friends welcome)
http://www.youtube.com/TomHendricksMusea (all my videos)
Tom Hendricks
(editor of the 17 year old zine Musea)

Q. and A. With NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman – Musea E-mail Club #500

Rocco Landesman, the Chairman of the NEA, National Endowments for the arts, was a guest on the Diane Rehm Show 1/25/10. The guest host was Susan Page. I emailed a comment, Page read it, and Landesman answered it. Here’s the exchange

Susan Page: Here is a question you may like less well. It’s from Tom… It’s an email from Tom Hendricks who identifies himself as the editor of the web magazine Musea and he says,

“The NEA should get out of the art decision business, and help set up regional art centers open to all local and traveling artists and all arts – not just a NEA chosen few.
Let the community decide region by region. (He writes)
The NEA has not had a good track record for choosing and funding great art.”

Well what do you think about Tom’s idea that you set up regional art centers that would just be open to all comers?”

Rocco Landesman: I think to a great extent that already exists. 40% of all the NEA funding goes to the state agencies, which then filters out through the various local arts agencies and there’s quite a bit of local input and control in that way and I think there’s quite a bit of decentralization of arts funding because of that as it is.

Susan Page: What about Tom’s point also that the NEA does not have a good track record for choosing and funding great art. What kind of record do you think… This would be of course from before your tenure there, but what kind of record do you think the NEA has on that front?

Rocco Landesman: I think very strong. We fund on the basis of peer reviews. We get the best people in the disciplines to look at the submissions and proposals and my own sense is at least to the extent i’ve been out in the field and talking to people that we do a very good job of supporting and funding excellence. Now there may be people who haven’t gotten a grant or been rejected that object. I think we make mistakes but by and large I think we do a very good job.
___________________
My extra comments. Note all the bureaucracy in the NEA process that mine would eliminate. For my regional art centers, you sign up and show your art. On big nights traveling shows do their art. In the NEA there is endless layers of filters, and peer group reviews. BTW what peer group do you know that supports what’s new to them?
Landesman is also FOR funding individual artists, though that is mostly not allowed at this time. Yet that sets up funding for NEA darlings. And why should the government be in the art review business? Are they who we look to, for art knowledge and art picks?
He also says about the politicalization of art, that he is opposed to ‘message’ art. “I have a visceral aversion to what is sometimes called message art. I can’t stand it and I hope the NEA isn’t going to fund it.” Sadly, though he is trying to keep politics out of his funding decisions, it says to me that any art with any content that isn’t deemed safe will not be funded. But who decides what is safe and who decides what is message art?
I do agree with him that there are basic standards to great art, but my opinion is that the state is not the one to decide what those standards are. Art centers would allow all Americans to decide.

Tom Hendricks
(editor of the 17 year old zine Musea)

Musea Art Contest 1/26/10

The answer to, and winner (if any) for,
our last contest question of:

This giant hit song was the first real smash to use the pitch correction software. Name it. Good Luck!

IS
Cher’s 1998 mega hit “Believe”. It sold over 10 million, hit number one on the charts and made her the oldest female artist at 52 to reach #1.
She didn’t need the pitch correction or auto tune, but when the bonehead record execs wanted her to dump the cool effect, she refused. Sadly many stars today use it in both recording and performance to hide their pitchiness. I DO NOT! When some amateur sings too well be suspicious!

We had no winners
No brains out there were auto tuned to the right frequency on this one!

I don’t
dumb down,
so please
wise up.

Now on to a new Q.:

Win a copy of
my NEW cd CALLED ‘30′! – (first anti-band CD) or
my NEWER cd CALLED ‘NEXT”(‘06)
or my NEWEST cd CALLED ‘THIRDS” (May ‘07)
or my MORE NEWEST cd Called “FOUR-TH” ‘08
or my Just RELEASED MOST NEWEST cd CALLED ‘5-TH’(Nov.’09)
Hunkasaurus.com (has them all plus videos and more)

if you are the first to e-mail me at THIS ADDRESS:
tom-hendricks@att.net
with the correct answer to this art question*

This mid 19th century trapeze artist is today known for dance clothes! Name the dance clothes he’s known for. Clue there is a classic song all about him.

Readers, IF you like these puzzles and would
like to resend them to friends, post them on any
newsgroup, or any website, please do so.
The more the merrier!
For tons of past quizzes go to,
the musea website at musea.us
or the Musea blog at musea.wordpress.com
And don’t forget the music/videos at hunkasaurus.com
http://www.Myspace.com/Musead (New Friends welcome)
http://www.youtube.com/TomHendricksMusea (all my videos)
Tom Hendricks
(editor of the 17 year old zine Musea)

Musea Art Contest 1/19/10

The answer to, and winner (if any) for,
our last contest question of:

Gustav Holst composed a suite for the Planets. I think I’ll do my version (for the sake of this question). In my version I am going to arrange the pieces in the order of each planet’s discovery. The first five planets are the ones the ancients knew: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
I’m done with those five parts of my suite. Now the question is, ‘What planet is next in my musical masterpiece, OR what planet was the sixth planet discovered?’

IS
(As quoted from the winning entry)
“EARTH! lol! they realized earth is a planet too and that everything was not revolving around us but instead we are one of the planets revolving around the sun!”

We had one winner, “I Am’ (real name) from Brownsville, Texas.
Congratulations!

Seems the rest of you missed the answer – an answer that was right under your nose!

I don’t
dumb down,
so please
wise up.

Now on to a new Q.:

Win a copy of
my NEW cd CALLED ‘30′! – (first anti-band CD) or
my NEWER cd CALLED ‘NEXT”(‘06)
or my NEWEST cd CALLED ‘THIRDS” (May ‘07)
or my MORE NEWEST cd Called “FOUR-TH” ‘08
or my Just RELEASED MOST NEWEST cd CALLED ‘5-TH’(Nov.’09)
Hunkasaurus.com (has them all plus videos and more)

if you are the first to e-mail me at THIS ADDRESS:
tom-hendricks@att.net
with the correct answer to this art question*

This giant hit song was the first real smash to use the pitch correction software. Name it. Good Luck!

Readers, IF you like these puzzles and would
like to resend them to friends, post them on any
newsgroup, or any website, please do so.
The more the merrier!
For tons of past quizzes go to,
the musea website at musea.us
or the Musea blog at musea.wordpress.com
And don’t forget the music/videos at hunkasaurus.com
http://www.Myspace.com/Musead (New Friends welcome)
http://www.youtube.com/TomHendricksMusea (all my videos)
Tom Hendricks
(editor of the 17 year old zine Musea)