The thoughts, creations, and bizarre adventures of a Composer/Playwright/Performer/Activist

If You Are Pro-Gun Control, Then You Can’t Be Anti-Vaccine.

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If you are pro-gun control, then you can’t be anti-vaccine.

The posts I am seeing are using the same logic as gun nuts. A lot about individual freedom over societal safety. A lot about how it’s your choice to protect yourself from some vague hypothetical enemy (intruders/vaccine side effects), while ignoring the proven threat of a real and present danger (40,000 gun deaths per year/COVID). Even incredibly offensive and utterly nonsensical posts about this being how the Holocaust started – which has long been one of the NRA’s favorite rhetorical tactics.

Why is it that you don’t support people being able to own whatever weapon they want? It’s not generally because they might hurt themselves; because even though that would be sad, they knowingly took that risk.

It’s because they might – and statistically, will – hurt other people.

It’s the same with the vaccines. If the only person impacted by your decision not to vaccinate was you, then I would be sad and scared for you if you didn’t vaccinate, but I would agree that you have the right to do whatever you want.

But you’re not just putting yourself at risk. You’re putting all of us at risk. You are turning a temporary nightmare into a permanent Hellscape, and you are literally bringing about the end of the world as we know it.

This fourth COVID surge is especially devastating, because it’s the only one that is almost completely avoidable. And with all these variants developing so rapidly because of all you readily-available hosts, the fifth, sixth, and hundredth ones might not be avoidable at all.

If you give someone COVID because you didn’t vaccinate and kept going out in public anyway – even if you continue to wear a mask, because that was always just the temporary stopgap measure that was (and is) better than absolutely nothing – if you give someone COVID, and they die, then their death is largely on you. If they have lifelong complications because of the disease you gave them – as tens of millions of people already do, and always will – that’s on you, too. That’s just how responsibility works. Whether that person is your family, your friend, or a stranger sitting next to you that you’ll never even know or talk to. Or the people they go on to infect. Remember: this entire virus, as all viruses do, began with just one person. And look where we are now.

Haven’t we seen enough of that chain reaction over this 17-month nightmare? Do you understand that the only reason it’s still going on at all is because of you, and others like you?

At least with a gun, people know they have a weapon. But with COVID, you are the weapon – and you may not even know you’re in possession before you end the life of a fellow human being. Many of whom can’t get vaccinated, for genuine medical reasons (such as not being normally able to mount an immune response at all). Can you really live with that? Especially when you have watched hundreds of your friends and family get vaccinated, and we are all doing just fine?  And knowing that our own vaccines will eventually fail, when just one of you inevitably produces a variant that is able to evade them? Especially for we at-risk people, who spent over a year living in terror praying for the safety and relief of a vaccine. We finally have that safety. I cried the day I became fully vaccinated and didn’t have to live in fear anymore. We all hugged our friends as though it was the first time in our lives that we could, and were so unspeakably grateful that finally, after so much death and sacrifice, there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

And now you are taking that away from us.

I know that this is a difficult decision for some of you. I know that there is a plethora of misinformation out there, and that it is incredibly scary and overwhelming. But it is just that – misinformation. Lies told by people who profit from chaos and fear. And it’s literally going to make the last 17 months the new normal forever if you don’t do your part to end it. We will keep watching the people we love get picked off one by one. You could even be one of them.

I have seen COVID death firsthand. It is the most horrible thing I have ever seen. I don’t want that for you. I don’t want that for anyone.

If there is anyone who is on the fence about getting vaccinated, I would like to invite you to write to me to talk about it. I promise you I will listen to your concerns, and direct you to vetted medical resources to allay your fears. I will also admit when your concerns are potentially valid, but will do my best to convince you that the vaccine is still the far, far lesser risk. Both for you personally, and for all humanity.

Please don’t make us do this forever. Please don’t allow your fear and others’ manipulations to cause more people to die. Put down your weapon. It’s not just a personal choice; what you do affects all of us.

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RIP Herbert Kretzmer – You Dreamed a Dream, and Shared it With All of Us

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We’ve lost another one of the greats: Herbert Kretzmer, who was singly responsible for translating (and often entirely re-imagining) the lyrics of Les Miserables from French into English.

Les Mis was the first musical I was ever aware of, spawning a love for the artform that has delighted me ever since. It has remained my favorite since I was five years old, and it’s been a hallmark of my own career – especially my two Les Mis parodies, “One Grain More” and “Trapped Inside the House.”

You might think that in a parody where you replace the entirety of the text, the original lyricist doesn’t have much to do with it. But nothing could be further from the truth. If the parody is a building, the original lyrics are the blueprint. The art of writing parody is to match syllables, rhyme schemes and scansion perfectly, and to draw on elements of the original and twist them to fit into the new form in order to add extra layers of comedy to people who know and love the piece that inspired it. I think that Les Mis has probably inspired more parodies than any other show, not only because of its perfect and epic score – but because the intricate and poignant lyrics are such a fertile playground and vehicle for any subject you can imagine (even food allergies!).

Herbert’s words were such a joy to work with. In studying his lyrics to write my parodies, I learned so much about the art of lyric-writing itself, which I’ve been grateful to carry over into my original music as well as my satirical pieces. He will be sorely missed, but his contributions to the world of musical theater will last forever.

Rest in peace, Herbert – and thank you so much for everything you have given to me, and to millions of others.

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RIP RBG – Champion for Women, Role Model for All

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We’ve lost one of the greats. THE greats – of all time. A pioneer of women’s rights, and the rights of all people. A role model for each and every one of us. The notorious Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

I can’t even begin to get into the mindset right now of the political firestorm that is about to begin… So for now, I only grieve the loss of such a powerful and resilient human being, who fought so hard to (among other things) bring an awareness to countless areas where women face discrimination, enabling them to raise the ceiling ever higher (though the fight continues) just as she did, and teaching men like me about issues we needed to understand and to be allies with a full heart, a strong voice, a boundless will.

May we all strive to follow her example; we’re going to have to.

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RIP Major Van Winkle – The Master of Freestyle

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Today I was heartbroken to learn that a friend and collaborator of enormous talent, spirit and energy, has left this world forever.

If you ever met Major Van Winkle, you were not likely to forget him. Major was a musician and rapper whose freestyling was at a level I have never witnessed anywhere else – you may have seen him on the news rapping about the Eagles from time to time. He and I were both working at a concert with an international superband called the One People Band last year, and as Eric Bazilian closed out the show by performing probably his 9,000th rendition of his famous classic “[What if God was] One of Us,” he looked to Major in the wings and invited him to come out and rap. And without a single instant of preparation, Major ran up to the mic and blew the entire room away.

It wasn’t just the cleverness and alacrity with rhymes that made that moment, though – more than anything, it was his heart. In just 38 seconds, Major took us on a journey unlike anything I have ever experienced, ending with the following impromptu lyrics:

“I don’t even know if it’s a question mark
Can I find God in war and art?
Can I find God in love and peace?
Can I find God in you and me?
Can I find God in all the above?
‘Cause God is just love.”

For the next minute, the entire band (and the entire audience) all sang together, again and again:

“God is love.”

It devastates me to no end that people who radiate nothing but joy into the universe seem too often to have so little left for themselves.

The world is a much sadder place without Major in it. I will miss him, and all of the work and collaborations we talked about but will never get to do. But I will never forget his passion, charm, charisma, talent, resourcefulness, and absolutely pure love of music. Rest in peace, Major – you will never be forgotten.

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The (Entirely Unnecessary) Cost of “Herd Immunity”

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As reported by The Washington Post, our Supreme Leader is being advised to surrender to the virus entirely and try to achieve “herd immunity.” This would be against the nearly-unanimous consensus of public health officials, and requires widespread rebuttal that can be made to make sure Trump is never, ever able to enact this literally fatal policy.

First, let’s be clear what the policy would be: Basically it boils down to, “Let’s keep people intentionally in the dark about who is and isn’t sick to get as many people sick as possible, until we achieve herd immunity.” Here are just five of the innumerable serious problems with that:

1) There is no evidence yet that there even *is* permanent immunity to COVID-19. The first confirmed re-infection case was just reported in the US, in addition to another in China a couple weeks ago. So *millions* could die, and tens of millions be left with permanent damage, if this joke of a “strategy” is implemented.

2) Let’s be more specific with those numbers. Even if herd immunity is possible, it would require an estimated 70% of people to become infected. In America alone, that is *200 million sick people,* compared to the 6 million sick so far. The death rate is estimated to be about 2.1% (or as much as twice that), so at minimum that is over 4 million dead Americans. If any of you have lost loved ones as I have, or seen them irreparably wounded, you can expect 33 times as many of those lives stolen or destroyed.

3) The death rate in America is particularly high. Why? Because we are, by far and by almost every measure, the sickest country in the world. 1 in 2 American adults have an invisible disability; 1 in 4 adults have two or more such ailments. These “preexisting conditions” make Americans far more vulnerable to death and/or serious and potentially permanent complications from COVID-19.

4) What do I mean by “permanent complications”? It’s important to discuss this, because this disease’s heavy toll goes beyond a dramatic death count. Take it from me: you don’t have to lose your life in order to lose your quality of life. Just from my immediate circle, I have a friend whose kidneys were damaged severely by the virus’ notorious blood clots and who still can’t sit up for more than a couple hours, another whose legs are now covered in tiny red spots, and another whose sweet 6-year-old daughter has literally changed personalities and now spends most of her time screaming and crying due to inflammation in her brain. So in addition to the 4 million deaths, you can expect tens of millions of lives not necessarily ended, but quite powerfully ruined.

5) THIS. ISN’T. NECESSARY. There are so many incredibly promising vaccines just on the horizon, utilizing all sorts of different approaches. One of them at the very least is bound to be effective, and probably many of them, and relatively soon. The reason Trump is considering putting hundreds of millions of lives at risk is simple: those vaccines won’t be available until the end of the year or early next year, which means he won’t benefit from it in this election. He wants to be able to say he has a plan… even if that plan means death and sickness at numbers that do not have a precedent in American history. Each and every one of those millions of lives, I remind you, is an individual person, with hopes, dreams, and – no matter how shaken by this destructive and uniquely uncaring regime – the most fundamental trust for which government was created in the first place: to protect our lives. Donald Trump has betrayed that trust time and time again, whether it’s an unarmed black citizen being shot by police, covert ops missions that he authorizes over dinner without being briefed on actual details that (surprise!) manage to go very wrong, or now with the coronavirus, the seriousness of which he has belittled and dismissed since day one, and continues to do so now.

Donald Trump is asking our entire country to enter a dark room filled with sharp objects and alligator pits, all so that he can say he “has a plan.”

Well, we must have a plan too. We must vote for Joe Biden in such monumental numbers that Trump and his entire entourage of sadists and sociopaths are sent back into the swamps they came from. And if we do, maybe then – God willing – we will actually have a plan out of this that doesn’t require millions of us to suffer and die for the sake of one man’s unearned and insatiable ego.

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