Torching Honesty

As a resident of San Francisco, I was pleasantly surprised to hear, several weeks back, that the Olympic torch was to be paraded through the city as part of its journey around the world. How cool that San Francisco, this weird and beautiful city full of slackers, activists, Burners, hipsters, aging hippies, yuppies, protesters, innovators, technical geniuses, floaters, musicians, bankers, students, and me, was to be the only United States stop on the tour. We had a chance to show the country, and whichever parts of the world happened to be watching, that SF is not the pit of liberal sin some demagogues of Middle America might have it be. Rather, it's a sophisticated and mature metropolis that welcomes the pre-eminent symbol of international cooperation - and is willing to deal with whatever controversy might accompany it with style and dignity.

What happened was cellophane. Nutrasweet. Fox News. Plastic sushi. It lacked courage and character. Above all, it was dishonest.

But isn't this a music blog?

Well, honesty is of the utmost importance to me when I make my own music, and I know I'm not the only musician who feels this way. When I perform, I struggle to overcome fears and insecurities and to, in the words of virtuoso violinist Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg, "play without a net." I want whatever's on the inside, whatever I'm feeling and trying to communicate through my music, to pour out as sincerely as possible - ugly/beautiful/complex as it may be. To do this, a musician must develop considerable courage and at least a little self-knowledge, as well as enough technical and theoretical mastery to make his or her instrument a transparent conduit of emotion. None of these are easy goals, and to master them can take a lifetime.

As a side note, this is why I rail against much indie rock. It revels in detachment and weirdness. The only emotion that seems to be behind it is a passive-aggressive flavor of disdain. And while some blues-men can communicate the deepest of emotions with a single bent note, many indie rockers say less than nothing with the three chords they know how to play and the slurred syllables they know how to sing. Ugh.

San Francisco did not play without a net when it came to hosting the Olympic relay. It did the social equivalent of lip-syncing, going through the motions of creating a compelling public event, but then chickening out at the last minute and succumbing to that fear and artificiality that the best musicians spend lifetimes fighting. Our city was not honest to its citizens, or to the Olympic committee, for that matter. Why accept this honor if you can't do it right? And furthermore, what does this say to the national and global community - that SF and the US can't get themselves together enough to handle a parade and some enthusiastic protesters? They have to engage in cat-and-mouse trickery instead? It's borderline shameful.

San Francisco is not ready to be a headliner touring on international stages. If this is the best it can do, the city needs to brush up on its Hanon and take a few good piano lessons.