Posted on 01/04/2005 12:59:58 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Band's version of one-time Presley tune hits sour note with some
MADISON, Wis. - As if the incoming Legislature didn't have enough problems, a high school band's rendition of a tune that was an Elvis Presley hit decades ago drew a complaint from a newly elected member of the Senate.
The Richland Center High School band played "An American Trilogy" at the Senate's inaugural ceremony at the Capitol Monday - the first day of a session expected to be dominated by battles over budget-cutting, a tax-freeze amendment and a myriad of other issues.
Sen. Spencer Coggs (D), who is black, said he was SHOCKED, as were his family and other guests, to hear the strains of the Southern anthem "Dixie" played in the Senate chamber as part of the trilogy, along with "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "All My Trials."
Coggs, a Democrat from Milwaukee, complained in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center.
"Whether the slight was intentional or not, the selection was not appropriate," he wrote, noting that "Dixie" is often associated with slavery.
"While now it should be unnecessary to suggest, in the future a list of songs should be submitted prior to a performance and the list should be reviewed for its appropriateness," he said. "It is unfortunate that this special day was marred by such an unnecessary event."
Schultz had invited the band and choir to play at the ceremony.
He said the complaint caught him by surprise.
"A simple apology is what's needed," Schultz said, "and I will certainly be happy to do that."
He said he wasn't aware of every musical selection the band prepared for the event, and the piece has some historical significance.
"But I want everyone to feel included. If Sen. Coggs felt offended, I would want to extend my hand in apology."
http://www.wisconsinstatejournal.com
What used to tick off this kind of junior NCO was to get assigned to to them and they find out they didn't get a PVT Will Stockdale or Gomer Pyle.
We've definitely had similar experiences! ;)
See! That shows my ignorance. When I hear "Dixie" I don't think of slavery, I think of the Duke boys General Lee.
A friend I've known for years is named Dixie. Years ago, before I became the proper gentlemen I am today, (/sarcasm)
I used to whistle or sing that song everytime I saw her.
I truly appreciate that she took it for the joke that it was. I would have been highly embarrased if she clenched her tiny fist and popped me in the eye.
In a sick way...i'm happy for them ;)
I've known several Dixies...they were all babes.
What goes around, comes around, they always say.
I'm a Cali native with a rather amusing story.In 1965,I took a class at College of San Mateo caled The South and the Negro with an old socialist professor from Finland,very dogmatic but a pretty decent guy really.Well,our semester assignment was to subscribe to a Deep South newspaper and then report back to class on all the racist reporting and degredation of the black community.
I chose a little town in Alabama caled Chidersburg.I found NO racially biased reporting regarding "Negroes".Thats because there were NO stories about identified Negroes in this paper!Yes,the town was about a quarter black but I guess in a sense neglect by omission was racist in itself.
The irony was that at my college at the time there were only about a hundred black students and the dropout rate was huge.My socialist professor never seemed to commnent on that aspect of Northern racism.
Oh, HONESTLY!! "The Right to never be offended?" I am SO SICK of the touchy libs. It gives power to the thin-skinned self-righteous ones at the expense of everyone else. Why doesn't anyone challenge it? "You are offended? Tough."
What, to teach Jesse that being White and Southern is no crime? Good luck!
I'M A GOOD OLD REBEL
Oh, I'm a good old Rebel
Now that's just what I am
For this fair land of freedom
I do not care a damn.
I'm glad I fought against it
I only wish we'd won.
And I don't want no pardon
For anything I've done.
I hates the Yankee nation
And everything they do,
I hates the Declaration
Of Independence, too;
I hates the glorious Union-
'Tis dripping with our blood-
And I hates their striped banner,
I fought it all I could.
Three hundred thousand Yankees
Stiffen in Southern dust
We got three hundred thousand
Before they conquered us
They died of Southern fever
And Southern steel and shot
And I wish it was three million
Instead of what we got.
I won't be reconstructed
I'm better now than then
and for that carpetbagger
I do not give a damn
so I'm off for the frontier
soon as I can go
I'll prepare a weapon
and start for Mexico
You could be right!The Offended Crowd raved and ranted so much that the words to "My Old Kentucky Home" got changed to something else instead of "in summer the darkies are gay". Never did know if it was the word darkies or the word gay that caused all the furor. It didn't mean, "GAY" darkies but lighthearted and enjoying life. Personally, I'm getting pretty offended at the all the "Offended" ones! Re The Ameriacan Trilogy--OH! PLEASE!! Let's all lay off picking on Elvis and Johnny Cash, too. They loved their country and were Patriotic Americans.
I'm surprised that the Colorado town of Cripple Creek hasn't been renamed "Differently Abled Creek", "Physically Challenged Creek" or something of the sort. We still have a "Rifle" and a "Squaw Mountain", too.
LOL
For years the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra would not perform Wagner. In 2001 Daniel Barenboim led the Berlin Staatskapelle in part of Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan and Isolde at the Israel Convention Center as part of the Israel Festival in Jerusalem.
If the Israelis can allow Wagner a half-century after the Holocaust, I think we can tolerate Dixie 140 years after the abolition of slavery.
They still omit blacks.
Often, when there is a crime involving black suspects or perps the race is omitted.
In Jackson Mississippi, my hometown....the local paper does this frequently....the TV stations with one exception too....everyone just assumes...since Jackson proper is 78% black.
That practice is unfair from about every angle one can dissect it.
They do it here in Nashville too a wee bit...they are loathe to say a suspect is an alleged illegal as well.
Coloring The News by McGowan is a must read for anyone interested. These practices are wholly by design same as any Jim Crow shenanigans were.
cogent
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