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Marin Alsop To The Podium Please!

FRIDAY WILL BE A HISTORIC NIGHT AT THE STRATHMORE MUSIC HALL IN BETHESDA.. AS THE FIRST-EVER FEMALE CONDUCTOR OF A MAJOR AMERICAN SYMPHONY TAKES TO THE PODIUM.

Alison Starling Introduces Us To Tonight's Working Woman As She Breaks Through The Glass Ceiling In The World Of Classical Music.

Story:Marin Alsop Has Unbridled Passion For Music, A Passion She Will Now Bring To Our Area As The Conductor Of The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Marin Alsop, BSO Conductor: "It is very, very hard for me to imagine that it can be 2007 and there still be firsts for women." But she is the first female in the country to direct a major symphony.

It all began for Alsop as a child of two professional musicians. She quickly developed a love for the violin, but the true life changing moment for her - watching the legendary Leonard Bernstein conduct the New York philharmonic.

Marin Alsop, BSO Conductor: "I realized, 'Oh, this is what I want to do.' It was like, almost, the sky opening up and a big light shining down on me."

Bernstein later became Alsop's mentor when she was selected to conduct a concert with him as a music student. Now she hopes to make her own mark in this traditionally conservative field.

Marin Alsop, BSO Conductor: "Often women come up to me after a concert and say you know this was a different experience for me; I feel empowered somehow."

HER APPOINTMENT PROCESS WAS CONTROVERSIAL, BUT ALSOP SAYS THE BSO IS LOOKING TO THE FUTURE NOW.

SHE WANTS TO Make classical music more accessible, even talking to audiences during her concerts, bringing them along on her groundbreaking journey. Marin Alsop, BSO Conductor: "If being the first woman in this position results in interesting more people, then I'm thrilled about it." After Friday's preview performance, Alsop will continue to appear in Bethesda at the Strathmore through the season. Her inaugural concert will be broadcast live September 27th on XM satellite radio.

Talk about momentum. Things couldn't move much faster, or more positively, at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, where Marin Alsop is a few short weeks away from the history-making inauguration of her tenure as music director -- the first woman at the helm of a major American orchestra.Her interim term last season was eventful enough, what with such developments as the orchestra's first iTunes download (a chart-topper, at that).

This season, Alsop and the BSO will make their satellite debut on XM Radio -- the opening program this month will be broadcast live, and there will be a regular Alsop/BSO presence on that channel thereafter.On Tuesday, Sony Classical will release the orchestra's first commercial recording in eight years, a powerhouse performance of John Corigliano's Red Violin Concerto, splendidly recorded live at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall last June.

Related links

· Joshua Bell performs with the BSO Video
· "The Red Violin Concerto" excerpts Audio
· Violin soloist Joshua Bell Photo

At the very least, the perfectly timed arrival of the Corigliano disc adds to the sense of occasion as the BSO enters full-swing into its collaboration with Alsop.Other concrete signs of productivity are in the pipeline.

Alsop and the BSO have already begun recording Dvorak symphonies for another record label, Naxos, and the fruits of those sessions will begin arriving next year.The fact that the BSO will now be back on the record shelves -- even if there are few old-fashioned record stores left that actually stock classical items -- complements the orchestra's current upbeat condition.

And CDs do get noticed, often in influential places. They still have marketing value, along with artistic purpose. This new Sony product should generate a useful buzz.(For one reason or another, no commercial recordings were made during Yuri Temirkanov's tenure with the BSO, 2000-2006.

The orchestra's most recent commercial CD was made with Temirkanov's predecessor, David Zinman, in 1999 for the Telarc label.)

Of course, the Sony release is, strictly speaking, a vehicle for starry soloist Joshua Bell, he of the perennially boyish looks and unfailingly impressive talent. The violinist's picture alone graces the cover, and his surname gets the biggest type.

The BSO is heard only on the concerto; the disc is filled out with a snappy account of Corigliano's jazzy, early-1960s Sonata for Violin and Piano (Jeremy Denk is Bell's excellent partner in that piece).

Bell certainly merits the attention. His playing is never less than colorful, virtuosic and compelling. He gives his all to the concerto, a work that has its roots in Corigliano's 1999 Academy Award-winning film score for Francois Girard's The Red Violin.

The composer first wrote a stand-alone movement for violin and orchestra that explored all sorts of melodic and emotional possibilities in the principal theme from that film score. Three more movements eventually followed to create a substantial addition to the concerto repertoire.

Corigliano sometimes seems to be padding the score, piling on episodes of agitated drama and layers of rich orchestration (and occasionally recalling effects from his Symphony No. 1). The thematic material doesn't always bear the weight of all that development.

Still, there is never any mistaking the masterful craftsmanship. Fabulous sounds emerge at every turn.Even those who aren't ultimately won over by the concerto are likely to be impressed by the solidity and sizzle of the performance, which finds Alsop in tight control, and the orchestra operating as a fully equal partner to the dynamic Bell.

The opening Chaconne movement (a form of extended variations over a repeated harmonic series) offers a moody, highly atmospheric experience, punctuated by some percussive outbursts from the ensemble that have a tingling impact and provide a nice reminder of just how good the acoustics are in the 25-year-old Meyerhoff.

There is much to enjoy in the brief scherzo, with its wispy waltzes and sounds of things that slither, buzz and go bump in the night (the woodwinds do some especially deft work here). The third movement finds Bell sculpting ethereal melodic lines over string chords that have a Vaughan Williams-like lushness; the BSO players sound as gorgeous here as the soloist.

The finale yields startling technical feats from Bell, some of them almost impossibly delicate, others terrifically aggressive. Alsop keeps the orchestral side of things just as vivid and secure, with lots of snap from the brass and percussion.Throughout, the recording has an ear-grabbing immediacy. And the audience makes itself felt only at the concerto's end, with hearty applause.Although the disc certainly provides a shining vehicle for Bell, it also serves as a very effective calling card for the new team of Alsop and the BSO.

Autumn is in the air, or will be shortly. It’s time to com- mencethe Washington area's 2007-2008 classical music season, whose fall stanza promises to be notable for three potentially transformative events.

We emphasize "Washington area" because one of September's important happenings is the inaugural concert of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) under the baton of Marin Alsop as she takes over as the ensemble's music director. Past reports have had a tendency to emphasize the fact that Ms. Alsop is the first woman to attain this lofty position with a major American orchestra, but that's condescending and misses the real point.

Ms. Alsop comes to the area with an impressive resume. She already boasts an enviable track record as an innovative and imaginative conductor, possessing the focus and vision to renovate an orchestra's repertoire while engaging and building an audience across a wider demographic.

In addition, her willingness to champion the works of accessible contemporary classical composers while cultivating a reverence for tradition has attracted renewed attention from a jaded recording industry that wrote off classical long ago but seems willing to record Marin Alsop CDs. That's a big plus for both the composers and an orchestra like the BSO.

In short, Ms. Alsop's selection was not a publicity stunt. It was the start of a major effort to breathe new excitement into a venerable musical franchise.

The BSO will open its season on Sept. 27 at Bethesda's Music Center at Strathmore. Auspiciously, this performance will be carried live on XM satellite radio.

On tap is what will probably become a prototypical Alsop program, juxtaposing Gustav Mahler's gigantic "5th Symphony" with contemporary American composer John Adams' tricky "Fearful Symmetry." It's a minimalist techno-tone poem, performed on acoustic and electronic instruments and loosely based on William Blake's enigmatic short poem, "The Tyger." The program repeats Sept. 28-30 in Baltimore at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

Downtown, media excitement is on the minds of Washington National Opera aficionados as well. WNO opens its season on Sept. 15 with that ever-popular standard, Puccini's "La Boheme," at the Kennedy Center's Opera House. The company's coffers will overflow. That is pretty important, as Puccini is a man for all seasons, allowing opera companies to underwrite newer works with less-certain marketability, like William Bolcom's newish and well-regarded "A View From the Bridge," which will open in November.

The Maestra Tunes Up

Marin Alsop, distinguished visiting artist at Peabody and the first female music director of a major American orchestra, is determined to make symphony orchestras hip. Don't bet against her.

By Dale Keiger

Opening photo by Grant Leichton Marin Alsop resolved to become a symphony orchestra conductor in 1965. She was 9 years old and it was pretty much a snap decision. Her parents had taken her to see Leonard Bernstein conduct the New York Philharmonic, and by the end of the concert she knew what she wanted to do. All over New York City, 9-year-olds were making career choices: astronaut, fashion model, fireman, physician, shortstop for the Yankees or Paul McCartney's girlfriend. But Alsop, who last year joined the faculty of Peabody Conservatory, seems never to have wavered from her early ambition.

Which is how, mid-morning and mid-rehearsal with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra last June, she came to be addressing the trumpet players. She was leading the musicians through Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 4, which they would perform that night. After telling the ensemble, "In the coda, two bars before letter Q, if you feel that I'm pushing it's because I am," she turned to Andrew Balio and Rene Hernandez in the brass section and asked, "Trumpets, how quiet can you play it?" As they tried the section again, Alsop put her finger to her lips, asking for even softer. Then she stopped and raised her baton once more, to hear the trumpets really soft. In an inspired moment, as Alsop cued them Balio and Hernandez lowered their horns and did not play at all. The orchestra laughed. Alsop, with just enough grin to let them know she got the joke, said, "Perfect."

The 50-year-old Alsop is not the first woman to conduct a major orchestra. Before her were Nadia Boulanger and Antonia Brico in the 1930s; Sarah Caldwell, Iona Brown, and Jane Glover in the 1970s; and beginning in the 1980s Sian Edwards. But on September 28, when she gives the downbeat for John Adams' Fearful Symmetries, she will inaugurate her first season as the first woman ever appointed music director of a major American orchestra.

In June 2005, after word leaked that she would be offered the job in Baltimore; there were moments when it seemed she would not get here. In a much-publicized display of recalcitrance, the orchestra's musicians responded badly to news of her selection. The Washington Post quoted a letter written by a BSO board member who claimed that "90 percent of the BSO musicians oppose her appointment." The musicians on the orchestra's search committee formally requested that the search continue. From outside, it was hard to tell if the players' disenchantment actually was with Alsop, or with the orchestra's management in general. But something had gone really wrong.

At the Tanglewood Music Center in 1988, Alsop's hero Leonard Bernstein made her his protégé. Alsop's first response was to consider friends' advice to run away as fast as she could. Instead, she flew to Baltimore, walked into rehearsal, and laid out her vision of the orchestra to the players. When the symphony's board of directors offered her the job, she took it. Whatever the musicians thought of her at that point, they couldn't say she shied from a challenge. The BSO was a mess. Not musically — under outgoing music director Yuri Temirkanov, the orchestra had proven capable of sublime artistry. But as an arts organization it was a shambles. The orchestra had not issued a recording in eight years. Its management had run up a $16 million deficit. Some nights it played to a half-empty Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, and its status as a full-time orchestra was in peril.

Now, as it approaches the September 28 opening night, the BSO, if not yet robust, shows signs of new vigor. It has new, experienced senior management. Its board made the risky decision to spend down nearly a third of its $90 million endowment to wipe out the deficit and give it an operating cushion. Two years past an unpromising beginning, Alsop seems on cordial, productive terms with the musicians.

Unlike her predecessor, she has worked to become part of Baltimore's cultural community and reach out to audiences. She has invited other arts organizations to set up displays in the Meyerhoff during concerts, and arranged for high school students to attend BSO rehearsals. She has made the orchestra's music available from the online iTunes Music Store and XM satellite radio, and begun a cycle of Dvorák recordings that will put new Baltimore Symphony CDs on the shelves of record stores for the first time in a decade.

For 2007-2008, she has assembled an eclectic, intriguing first season of concerts, and the public has responded by subscribing in significantly increased numbers. No one knows if they have subscribed for the fresh new programming, because the orchestra heavily discounted ticket prices, or out of interest in Alsop. But her former conducting teacher, Gustav Meier, now her colleague at Peabody, is betting on her. "She will have a great future," he says. "And the future is here now."

Alsop is brisk, efficient, smart, and tough, and can be impatient if she thinks her time is being wasted. She's also articulate, self-deprecating, and funny. Though she's been asked some questions again and again — What accounted for your rocky beginning with the orchestra? Are you concerned about aging concert audiences? — she has a knack for never sounding rehearsed, and a gift for quick rapport with an audience. She frequently takes up a microphone to address the crowd, and often appears on stage after concerts to field questions from anyone who wants to hang around and talk.

The afternoon of the Fourth of July, she strolls through Baltimore's Harbor Court Hotel. The BSO's annual outdoor holiday concert is imperiled by approaching thunderstorms, but there's not much she can do about that as she sits down to talk about a new season of music. By this point, she has been working on the 2007-2008 season for about 10 months, and she knows how much is at stake. She dryly concedes that one possible gain from the controversy over her appointment is that everybody in Baltimore with the slightest interest in the symphony now knows that she's come to town, and some of them might be sufficiently curious to attend some concerts. But if the orchestra is to play for fuller houses, it must present programs that bring audiences back for more, not just this season, but next season and the season after that.

Alsop describes programming partly as working a big puzzle. By way of the musicians' artistic committees, she heard about soloists and guest conductors who have performed well with the BSO. Then she had to see who from that list was available, and when, and begin scheduling concerts. Of more consequence, she felt the season needed a defining concept, something that would begin to establish what she wanted as the BSO's identity. "Why would anyone think of the Baltimore Symphony before they think of Philadelphia, the National Symphony [D.C.], or New York?" she says. "It's probably not going to be because we can outplay Philadelphia or New York, although I think on a good day we can. I think the defining feature is going to be what kind of experience people have when they come to the hall. That has to do with programming and vitality and feeling connected."

"If you want to be a conductor, I think the one attribute you have to have, besides being uncommonly hardheaded, is to persevere no matter what." The guiding phrase for 2007-2008, Alsop decided, would be "new perspectives." And at some point — she doesn't remember exactly when — she had an idea that she knew right away was a good one: Throughout the season, perform all nine Beethoven symphonies, each one paired with works by contemporary composers like John Adams, Joan Tower, Thomas Adès, and John Corigliano. What's more, four of the composers on her list — Adams, Adès, H K Gruber, and James MacMillan — are also skilled conductors.

Why not bring them to Baltimore to conduct a Beethoven symphony each? She says, "Who needs another Beethoven cycle? You almost can't think of anything more conservative. But the way we're going to do it is going to be so radical, I think it's going to be fantastic. It's going to be all the Beethoven you know and love, but presented by the living Beethovens of our time so you get a new perspective, a new insight.

Programs like this will define the orchestra and set it apart." Further defining the BSO, she planned a lot of contemporary music, with 11 composers coming to town for performances of their work and conversations with audiences. There would still be Mahler and Brahms and Tchaikovsky and Schubert, but also Tan Dun and Christopher Rouse and Steven Mackey.

As part of her outreach strategy, each of those 11 present-day composers will appear at Baltimore's Theatre Project for hour-long "Composers in Conversation" programs to talk about their work, their influences, contemporary composing, and what the BSO will be performing the next night.

The orchestra announced Alsop's first season with a subscription booklet that included 13 photos of the maestra, leaving no doubt about how much was riding on her. (The booklet also includes her iPod playlist. Top of the list is the Dixie Chicks' "Not Ready to Make Nice.") She has been urgent about maximizing every opportunity for the orchestra. Though she says she has become more patient in the last few years, she adds, "Probably everyone at the BSO staff would say, 'You have got to be kidding.' Soon they'll be running as soon as they see me coming, because I have so many ideas and such high expectations and I just want to go go go.

But there's a certain point where it's enough already." Gauging that point will be a challenge. A few weeks earlier, in Rockville, Maryland, at the Music Center at Strathmore, the BSO's second concert venue, Alsop had attended a one-day symposium on conducting organized by the Smithsonian. She told the audience that after the controversy following the announcement of her appointment, "everybody knows who we are now. Everything we do has to be absolutely drop-dead amazing, because everybody is looking at us."

At that symposium, Alsop delivered a short version of her biography.

On her nativity: "I think my parents thought they should be a trio, so they'd make a pianist, which is how I came into the world. Piano was my first instrument, when I was 2, and I retired when I was 6. Then they sort of tricked me into playing the violin."

On Alsop family life: "I'm the only child of professional musicians. When I was accepted at Yale, my parents were the only parents who said, 'Good grief, why would you want to go there when you could go to Juilliard?'"

On parental support: "It's important for a younger person who wants to be a conductor to get musicians to play for you. My parents were hugely supportive. They always played free for me."

On motivation: "If you want to be a conductor, I think the one attribute you have to have, besides being uncommonly hardheaded, is to persevere no matter what. I'm the kind of person who, when I'm told I can't do something, I feel highly motivated to do it."

Marin Alsop's biography, the longer version:

Her mother, Ruth, is a cellist. Her father, LaMar, is the next-to-youngest of nine children from Salt Lake City. As each of his older siblings took up a musical instrument for a while then discarded it, he learned to play them all: violin, viola, saxophone, clarinet, flute. (He eventually settled on violin.) He could also whistle.

Older readers may remember a television commercial for Irish Spring soap that used whistling behind the sales pitch. The whistler on that soundtrack was LaMar Alsop. His daughter recalls, "He used to whistle theme and variations on everything. It was very annoying. Then he started making more money whistling than anything else." Ruth and LaMar played in the New York City Ballet orchestra (Ruth still does), where he was concertmaster.

When Alsop was 18, after two years at Yale she transferred to the Juilliard School as a violin performance major. A year later she applied to Juilliard's conducting program. When the conservatory said no, she still sat in on master conducting classes and played in practice orchestras so she could study the student conductors.

She supported herself as a freelance violinist, all the while nurturing her desire to become a conductor. She performed with the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet, a string quartet, a piano trio, a string orchestra, and a swing band called String Fever. She played recording sessions. In 1984, when she was 28, to gain experience and notice as a conductor she founded her own orchestra, Concordia, which performed under her direction for 18 years.

About this time, Tim Page, now The Washington Post's classical music critic, hosted a radio program in New York on WNYC. He remembers her from when she appeared on his show: "She came in and she was this sort of adorable kid with these big wide eyes. Very, very young, very nice. I liked her."

Still intent on becoming a conductor, Alsop applied to the exclusive summer conducting program at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. Four times she applied, and four times Tanglewood rejected her. Her response was to apply yet again, and on the fifth try she got in. There she worked with Gustav Meier, Seiji Ozawa, and her hero Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein took her on as his prot&eacaute;gé and she excelled. Page says, "She was definitely the star among the students, and Bernstein seemed especially fond of her. She made the most of it, which is what you do when you have a legend taking you under his wing. It was obvious she was talented, it was obvious she could be very charming, and it was obvious she was just fiercely ambitious."

The new maestra believes part of her job is to make the BSO not just newsworthy, but hip. "Challenging,isn't it?" she says. "Like making your grandparents hip." Meier recalls being immediately impressed by her energy and analytical intelligence. "She was always very studious. She always wanted to get to the bottom of a composition. She wanted to know what Brahms was thinking at a particular bar, how this symphony compares to other symphonies and other composers." What she most needed, he says, was to believe in herself. "It's a scary thing to stand before 70 to 100 musicians who have 10 times as much experience.

How do you dare to stand in front of this group and tell them how to do it?" Her 1988 season was so successful, Tanglewood invited her back for the following summer, something it rarely does. That year, she became the first and only woman to win the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize, which Tanglewood revived just so they could award it to her.

Meanwhile, she had begun her climb as a conductor, gaining prominence from orchestra to orchestra: assistant music director of the Richmond Symphony in Virginia, then music director of first the Eugene Symphony in Oregon, then the Long Island Philharmonic, then the Colorado Symphony in Denver. In 2001, England's Bournemouth Symphony appointed her principal conductor, and at the end of her first year the prominent magazine Gramophone named her Artist of the Year and she won the Royal Philharmonic Society's Conductor Award. No one had ever won both in the same year. In 2005, not long after she was named music director in Baltimore, she became a MacArthur Fellow, the first conductor so honored.

When he came to Baltimore in 2000, Yuri Temirkanov was named to the faculty of Peabody Conservatory. But after the press conference announcing his appointment, he probably never again set foot on campus. No sooner did Peabody make Alsop a distinguished visiting artist then she began teaching master classes at the conservatory. She also brought the Peabody Symphony Orchestra to the Meyerhoff for a performance with the BSO of Richard Strauss' Alpine Symphony and established the BSO-Peabody Conducting Fellowship to train a new generation.

For years, Alsop has invested herself in teaching younger conductors, especially women. In 2002, she and Tomio Taki, an apparel executive who had helped her launch the Concordia Orchestra, established the Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship to train young women conductors. As director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, California, Alsop established the Cabrillo Conducting Workshop. Meier, now director of Peabody's graduate conducting program, notes her instinct for watching a student and understanding what he or she feels and wants to convey. "She has a Geiger counter for what's in there," he says. "It's hard to get inside [a student], to figure out what the gestures mean about how the person relates to the music. But she has the intuition and the skill."

Rei Hotoda, assistant conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, met Alsop at a Concordia workshop in 2002, and was a Taki Concordia fellow in 2006. "I loved her teaching instantly. She was very direct and she knew exactly what to fix and how to fix it. She's very tough on herself, but also tough on me. She has high expectations. She's tenacious, and I love that."

When Hotoda first heard of her mentor's appointment to the BSO, she was thrilled: "Wow, a beacon of light!" Then she read about the controversy. She says, "I thought, 'Why is this happening?' I was with her that summer, and I could see she was really upset. It hurt her personally. But I knew she would pull through. I knew she would just cut through the noise, and she did."

When musicians, conductors, composers, and others in the classical music business speak of Alsop, a word that recurs is essence. Klaus Heymann, founder of Naxos, the recording label that will begin issuing BSO CDs later this year, says, "What I like most about Marin is whatever she does, it always sounds right. No extremes of this, no extremes of that. She's always got the essence of the music right." Composer John Adams says, "You want someone who understands the essence of what you're saying as a composer, and who can communicate that essence to an orchestra, and an audience." When Alsop first conducted a piece of his in Denver, he says, "I thought she was brilliant."

The essence of her conducting, say those who have followed her, is her sense of rhythm and her ability to meld an orchestra into a single instrument. Violin soloist James Ehnes, who has performed concerti with her, says, "Sometimes an orchestra just sounds like a bunch of people playing at the same time, in a nice harmony but still just a collection of voices. She creates very much a unified orchestral sound." James Jolly, editor of Gramophone, observes, "I think she's got an incredible sense of rhythm. That's something a lot of American conductors seem to have. She can infuse the music with dance rhythm, rather in the way that Bernstein could."

After a rough beginning, Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's musicians seem on harmonious terms.

As she rehearsed the BSO during the early summer, the painstaking business of getting the sound she wanted was on display. She requested more articulation on a set of eighth notes, different bowing from the strings, a slight space before the downbeat at rehearsal mark 293 in Dvorák's New World Symphony. The right accents here, perhaps softer sticks for a tympani part there, and bassoons, listen for the clarinets because they have a sixteenth note before that downbeat in the Korngold violin concerto. The musicians seemed loose and focused at the same time, concentrating when they needed to but at ease with their new boss.

Alsop says, "Because of the events surrounding my appointment, I think I actually got to know the issues the orchestra was suffering with far more quickly than I would have otherwise. Every trauma and hardship they'd been enduring for so many years managed to manifest itself and explode in that cathartic moment. It was obviously a challenging time, but I think it made me very aware that I need to be a strong advocate for them."

Tim Smith, who reviews the orchestra for the Baltimore Sun and has heard Alsop conduct during her season as the music director designate, says, "We would all hear by now, and there would be plenty of reports, if there was anything like there was a few years ago. [The musicians] can see tangible results, and whatever happened has pretty much been put aside by now or they wouldn't be having such effective concerts."

In the end, of course, what matters is the music. Temirkanov set a high standard. Tim Page of the Post recalls concerts of Temirkanov's with the word "incandescent." As a musician, Alsop will be graded on the steep curve set by her predecessor, and that will be a challenge. But no one discounts her energy, her ambition for the BSO, her ability to connect with audiences, or her flair for programming. Page is excited about her first season. "Oh, it's terrific. It's so much the most interesting season that Baltimore or [the National Symphony in] Washington have done since I've been on the beat."

Will it bring audiences to the concert hall? So far, the orchestra reports, season subscriptions are up 15 to 20 percent, with three times the number of new subscribers as last season. Local press has been paying more than the usual attention to the orchestra. This summer, three Baltimore magazines all had profiles of her in progress simultaneously, and during one brief stretch Alsop had interviews with 10 journalists on her schedule.

The new maestra believes part of her job is to make the BSO not just newsworthy, but hip. "Challenging, isn't it?" she says. "Like making your grandparents hip. I think it is hip, though, that's the weird thing. Look at how hip art is now, at least in my opinion. Opera is pretty hip now, how did that happen? I never expected opera to get hip. It isn't because opera has changed. But the packaging certainly has changed.

"I hope that in 10 years — I hope much sooner — there will be a culture of joy here. That sounds awfully trite in a way, but I think what we do is a joyous and profound experience. People need to be connected with that."

Dale Keiger is associate editor of Johns Hopkins Magazine.

We Will Not Be Alone On The 15th: Meet The enemy and where you will find him!

WE ARE NOT ALONE….FRIENDS AND ENEMIES: KNOW WHERE THEY ARE ON SEPTEMBER 15…BETTER TO KNOW WHO THEY ARE AND WHAT THE HELL THEY ARE LIKE!


"Each and every one of us must do all that we can to support the major Peace/Impeachment demonstration in Washington, DC on September 15, 2007, backed by more than a million votes for impeachment, and accelerating. The rally will begin at 12 noon at the White House, followed by a march to the Capitol."--Ramsey Clark

This is the next big one fellas, here's ANSWER's press release

September 15 — Join Thousands to Turn Up the Heat in Washington DC

We urge every organization to join in this effort. To register your support for the September 15 march and the actions scheduled in the days following September 15, click on this link.

The ANSWER Coalition; Code Pink; Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation; Cindy Sheehan; Navy Petty Officer Jonathan Hutto, co-founder Appeal for Redress; Malik Rahim, founder of Common Ground Collective, New Orleans; Rev. Graylan Hagler, Ministers for Racial, Social and Economic Justice; Ramsey Clark; Latino Movement USA; Hermandad Mexicana Nacional; Michael Berg; National Lawyers Guild; Father Luis Barrios, Iglesia de San Romero de las Americas - UCC; and many others are joining together to sponsor a large protest in Washington DC timed to coincide with the report by General Petraeus on the "Surge" in Iraq. There will be actions in the halls and offices of Congress in the days following the September 15 march.

Bush and the Pentagon are required to report to Congress on the progress of the "Surge" in Iraq on September 15. Congress will hold hearings the following week. The eyes of the national and international media will be focused on Washington DC and on the words and positions of the politicians and generals. We are determined to make sure that this so-called debate cannot take place inside Congress without them hearing the voices of thousands of angry veterans, students and working people demanding End the War Now!

Funding for the war, which totals $300 million each day, will have to be formally renewed by Congress. It is obvious that the politicians in Congress have become discredited (their approval rating is even lower than Bush’s) because they haven’t voted to end the war. The ANSWER Coalition believes that it is crucial that thousands of people come to Washington DC on September 15 and Turn Up the Heat to demand not one more penny be spent on this criminal war for empire. If the voice of the people is to be heard during this "debate" we must arrive in Washington DC on September 15—not after it is over. This is not the time for symbolic protests—we need to make the politicians and generals feel the heat of the people’s anger. In order to do that, we need as many people as possible to stay in Washington DC. We need to occupy the halls and offices of Congress. We need to raise our voices to demand that Congress stop funding the war immediately.

To endorse the September 15 protest, click on this link.

http://www.pephost.org/site/PageServer?pagename=S15_homepage

http://www.justsaynotofascism.com

http://www.masnet.org/takeaction.asp?id=4170

A.N.S.W.E.R.org
Become a volunteer in DC -Help build the September 15 Protestto End the War Now!

There are many ways to get involved in the DC metro area - by attending Wednesday activist meetings, joining leafleting and postering teams that go out daily (weekdays and weekends), or by picking up materials to spread the word on your own. Dedicate some of your time this summer to keep the anti-war movement going strong! See below for details about how you can become a volunteer.

Weekly Activist Meetings: Wed., Aug. 22 & weekly

Join us Wednesday, August 22 at 7:00 pm at the A.N.S.W.E.R. office (or any Wednesday in August and September) to learn how you can become a volunteer or organizer in DC for the September 15 Mass March. The meeting will take place at the ANSWER Office: 1247 E St. SE. This is on the corner of 13th and E Sts. in Southeast just a few blocks from the Potomac Ave. stop on the blue/orange line; the entrance is on 13th St. Meetings will continue weekly in August and September.

Upcoming meetings are scheduled for:

· Wednesday, August 22
· Wednesday, August 29
· Wednesday, September 5
· Wednesday, September 12

Weekend Postering and Leafleting

On Saturday and Sunday volunteers meet at the A.N.S.W.E.R. office and go out in teams across the DC metro area to put up posters and hand out leaflets.

If you plan to come in, please call first to sign up: 202-544-3389 x14.

Volunteers will meet at A.N.S.W.E.R. office at 1247 E St. SE on these (and other) upcoming days/times:

· Saturday, August 25 at 12:00 noon
· Saturday, August 25 at 4:00 pm
· Sunday, August 26 at 12:00 noon
· Sunday, August 26 at 4:00 pm... and continuing every weekend until Sept. 15!

*Please call first to sign up: 202-544-3389 x14.
Weekday morning and evening leafleting

Meet other volunteers in the morning (approximately 7:30-9:30 am) or evening (approximately 4:30-6:30 am) at a metro stop or other busy area to help hand out flyers. Call 202-544-3389 x14 for details and to sign up.

Weekday morning, afternoon and evening postering

Meet other volunteers during the day or evening (between 9:30 am and 4:30 pm, and between 6:30 pm and 9:30 pm) to put up posters. Call 202-544-3389 x14 for details and to sign up.
Flyers, posters and stickers available

You can also pick up outreach materials (flyers, posters, stickers) at the office on any day. We have tens of thousands of beautiful, two-color flyers, posters and stickers for people to use in your neighborhoods, workplaces, places of worship, local restaurants and businesses, and wherever you can.

You can also print and copy them yourself. Downloadable PDFs are available on the September 15 Resources Page.

The ANSWER office is at 1247 E St. SE. This is on the corner of 13th and E Sts. in Southeast just a few blocks from the Potomac Ave. stop on the blue/orange line; the entrance is on 13th St. You can come by at any time. If you need more detailed directions, call us at 202-544-3389 x14. If you can't make it to the office, fill out the Literature Request Form to receive flyers, posters and/or stickers by mail.

Get involved!

Spend the afternoon, evening or even a few hours donating your time to the anti-war and social justice movement. Volunteer this August and September! Call or email to get involved.

For more info call 202-544-3389 x14 or email dc@answercoalition.org.

The ANSWER office is at 1247 E St. SE. This is on the corner of 13th and E Sts. in Southeast just a few blocks from the Potomac Ave. stop on the blue/orange line; the entrance is on 13th St.

A.N.S.W.E.R.Coalitionhttp://www.answercoalition.org/dc@internationalanswer.org National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389

Please circulate widely*

Sept. 15: Impeachment Movement Comes to Washington

By plane, train, cars and buses thousands of ImpeachBush.org members are traveling from all 50 states to Washington DC for a massive march on September 15 demanding Impeachment and an end to the war in Iraq.

If you need a ride to DC it is urgent that you contact a volunteer transportation center in your area now and buy your bus ticket on one of the many chartered buses coming to Washington DC. Click this link to find a transportation center near you. The buses have to be paid for now so it is important that you make a reservation and get your ticket.

If you would like to be a transportation contact for your area, click this link.

If you cannot personally come to DC but want to help others come, please make a donation today by clicking this link. You can make a secure on-line donation or send a check.

Government Fines September 15 Organizers $10,000 for putting posters

One of the anti-war organizations mobilizing for the September 15 protest was fined $10,000 for putting up posters promoting the rally in Washington DC. This is an unprecedented action. The ANSWER Coalition is mobilizing political support and is filing a lawsuit against the DC government for this outrageous attempt to stifle the September demonstration. The group has said that it will not pay one penny for the exercise of its First Amendment rights.

Bush’s Interior Department is also threatening other large financial penalties against the group. The posters have been put up for earlier demonstrations. They conform to the government regulations and are completely legal. This is one more attack on Free Speech rights and an attempt to repress and criminalize those who are mobilizing against the Bush government.

The last thing Bush and Cheney want to see is a huge mass demonstration calling for Impeachment and End to the War at the moment that General David Petraeus makes his scheduled report to Congress about the “progress of the Iraq war.” Led by Iraq war veterans and their families, September 15 is shaping up as the biggest political showdown in recent years.

Please tell your friends and families to get on the bus and come to Washington DC on September 15.

We need to raise a huge amount of money for buses, posters, leaflets, sound and stage and the other expenses. We have no corporate funding. The ImpeachBush.org movement will succeed only because of the support from you and others who understand that impeachment is the defining issue for this country and its future. Please make a generous donation today.

Ramsey Clark, Cindy Sheehan are just a few of the well know speakers who will be addressing the September 15. Acting with resolve, We the People, can make the difference in the face of this transparent criminality by high government officials. But we must act right now.

From all of us at,

ImpeachBush.org/VoteToImpeach.org

TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT THE ENEMY IS LIKE

http://tampasbackdoor.blogspot.com/2007/08/linky-love-for-ones-who-needs-its.html

http://www.moveamericaforward.org

American democracy will once again be showcased for the world on September 15th as a variety of groups are already gearing up for massive demonstrations on that day in Washington, D.C.
Move America Forward, the nation's largest non-profit, non-partisan grassroots group that vociferously declares their support for Operation Iraqi Freedom and the American soldiers committed to that effort, will culminate their nationwide caravan with thousands of flag waving and placarded demonstrators making a visible statement of support for American efforts to defeat terrorism and introduce democracy to Iraq.

The "Fight for Victory Tour" will set out from Carson City, Nevada on September 3rd and move to Sacramento and San Francisco and then travel from California across the heartland of the United States with a scheduled arrival date of September 14th in Washington where they will meet with members of Congress and conduct a press conference. The massive demonstrations on the 15th will draw bus loads of supporters from across America particularly from locations throughout the east coast.

Rallies in support of the troops are also scheduled for numerous cities across America beginning September 3rd as the Move America Forward tour proceeds to Washington to deliver their message in unequivocal terms. A variety of organizations that also support our troops will join in support of Move Forward America along their route and in Washington. Among those groups are Gathering of Eagles, Vets for Freedom, Free Republic,Protest Warriors, Eagles Up and OpposeReid.com.
In opposition to this showing of support for America's soldiers will be a demonstration by a group naming themselves Act Now To Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER). They have a host of sponsors such as Cindy Sheehan, National Council of Arab Americans, Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, Iraq Veterans Against the War, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal and many others.

Size matters as these groups deliver their message to the American people, elected representatives and the soldiers that are engaged in the war against terrorism. This gathering will no doubt receive nationwide press coverage and how it will be interpreted in the news is always interesting. The numbers of those involved will send a stronger message than the repetitive rhetoric is expressed by each side about this critical debate on the military and political course America will follow in the days ahead.

Every American has an opportunity to participate and physically add to the discourse about American involvement in Iraq. Hope those that can attend seize the day.


Recent Posts
Links to recently posted information,listed by article title.

Islamic Terrorists (al-Qaida?) Hijacks Plane
3 New Radio Spots Promote “Fight for Victory Tour”
Itinerary for “Fight for Victory Tour”
Michelle Malkin Promotes September Pro-Troop Push
Busted! Anti-War Activist Caught Red-Handed
Fireworks Erupt: Buzz Patterson Spanks Anti-War Activist
Mr. Beauchamp’s “Jingas Khan” moment
New York Times: New Poll Shows Support for Operation Iraqi Freedom
Anti-War Soldier Admits He Fabricated Stories About U.S. Troops
2 Approaches in Iraq: Victory & Defeat
America’s support for the “Surge” is growing
New Poll: “The Surge” in Iraq Surges in Popularity
Associated Press: Military Shows Gains In Iraq
Major Headway in Iraq as Sheiks Swear to kill Terrorists
Vets for Freedom’s New Pro-Troop/Pro-Mission TV Ad!

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MAF Presents: The Daily File Blog


Here at the Move America Forward Daily File we chronicle the good news on the War on Terrorism you might not have heard about on the evening news. We also shine the spotlight on those whose conduct against our country and our military is unbecoming.


Monday, August 13, 2007
Posted By:Melanie MorganPermalink

Itinerary for “Fight for Victory Tour”

Updated Saturday, August 18, 2007 - 8:09 PM Eastern
You can suggest an ideal rally location for any of the cities we are stopping in, or request more information by emailing us at: fightforvictorytour@yahoo.com

(Day 1) Monday Sept 3 2007

9:00 AM - Carson City, NV Pro-Troop Rally & News Conference Mills Park - at intersection of East Williams & North Roop St. [CLICK HERE for MAP]

1:15 PM - Sacramento, CA Pro-Troop Rally & News Conference at Veterans Memorial State Capitol Park (near intersection of 14th & N) - [CLICK HERE for MAP]

5:15 PM - San Francisco, CA Pro-Troop Rally & News Conference Plaza in front of 450 Golden Gate Ave San Francisco [CLICK HERE for MAP]

8:15 PM - Arrive in Modesto at Modesto at Marriot Courtyard - 1720 Sisk Rd (Day 2) Tuesday Sept 4 2007

7:00 AM - Modesto, CA Pro-Troop Rally & News Conference Modesto at Marriot Courtyard - 1720 Sisk Rd [CLICK HERE for MAP]

10:00 AM - Fresno, CA Pro-Troop Rally & News Conference in front of Fresno Convention Center 848 M St, Fresno [CLICK HERE for MAP]

3:15 PM - Los Angeles, CA Pro-Troop Rally & News Conference Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Dr [Pad D] [CLICK HERE for MAP]

San Diego, CA Arrive at Hotel 8:15 PM (Day 3) Wednesday Sept 5 2007
San Diego, CA Rally Start 9:00 AM

1:00 PM - Yuma, AZ Pro-Troop Rally & News Conference Front entrance (parking lot) of Yuma County Fairgrounds Across from Marine Corp Air Station - Yuma, AZ 32nd Street

5:00 PM - Phoenix, AZ Pro-Troop Rally & News Conference Wesley Bolin Memorial Park - 1700 West Washington St [CLICK HERE for MAP]

8:15 PM - Arrive at hotel in Tucson, AZ
(Day 4) Thursday Sept 6 2007
9:00 AM - Tucson, AZ Pro-Troop Rally & News Conference Freedom Park - 5000 E. 29th St [CLICK HERE for MAP]

Las Cruces, NM Rally Start 4:00 PM

6:15 PM - El Paso, TX Pro-Troop Rally & News Conference Sue Young Park - 9730 Diana Drive [CLICK HERE for MAP]

Arrive El Paso, TX Hotel 7:15 PM (Day 5) Friday Sept 7 2007

Leave El Paso, TX 10:00 AM
Arrive San Antonio, TX Hotel 8:00 PM (Day 6) Saturday Sept 8 2007
9:00 AM - San Antonio, TX Rally Bass Pro Front Parking Lot 17907 1H-10 West San Antonio, TX 78257

Waco, TX Rally 2:00 PM

Crawford, TX Rally 3:15 PM

Dallas, TX Rally Start 7:15 PM

Arrive Dallas, TX Hotl 8:30 PM
(Day 7) Sunday Sept 9 2007
Leave Dallas, TX 9:00 AM

Oklahoma City, OK Rally Start 1:15 PM

5:45 PM - Wichita, KS Pro-Troop Rally & News Conference Keeper of the Plains Monument Note new location Park in lot on Central Ave just north of the keeper 650 N Seneca st, Wichita, KS - [CLICK HERE for MAP]

Arrive Wichita, KS Hotel 7:00 PM
(Day 8) Monday Sept 10 2007
Leave Wichita, KS 9:00 AM
Kansas City, MO Rally 1:00 PM

6:00 PM Des Moines, IA Note NEW Location! Pro-Troop Rally & News Conference Des Moines State Capitol West Capitol Terrace (brand new area for West Steps) [CLICK HERE for MAP]
Parking: Finkbin St. (down the hill/grade)
Arrive Des Moines, IA Hotel 7:15 PM (Day 9) Tuesday Sept 11 2007
Leave Des Moines, IA 9:00 AM

12:00 Noon - Cedar Rapids, IA Green Square Park

Chicago, IL Rally Start 6:00 PM

Arrive Chicago Hotel 7:30 PM (Day 10) Wednesday Sept 12 2007
Leave Chicago, IL 8:00 AM
1:00 PM Indianapolis Pro-Troop Rally & Press Conference Monument Circle, Indianapolis Indiana - [CLICK HERE for MAP]

Cincinnati, OH Rally Start 4:30 PM

6:30 PM - Columbus, OH Pro-Troop Rally & News Conference Ohio State Capitol Building

Arrive Columbus, OH Hotel 7:45 PM (Day 11) Thursday Sept 13 2007

Leave Columbus, OH 8:00 AM Pittsburgh, PA Rally Start 1:00 PM
Arrive Washington, DC Hotel 6:30 PM

(Day 12) Friday Sept 14 2007
Meet with members of Congress – Capitol Hill
Press Conference with D.C./National Press Corps

(Day 13) Saturday Sept 15 2007
“Let Our Troops Win” – GIANT Pro-Troop Rally Washington, D.C
http://gatheringofeagles.org

http://michellemalkin.com/2007/08/12/the-return-of-the-eagles/?fromrss=1

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Lodging for Sept Events: Updated 8/16
America Supports You Freedom Walk – September 9, 2007 andTASK FORCE EAGLE - September 10, 2007

Holiday Inn Ballston (4610 N Fairfax Dr, Arlington VA, 703-243-9800, 800-465-4329) offers a rate of $109.00 ( tax)/night. The rate is available from Friday September 7 to departure on Tuesday September 11 under the name TASK FORCE EAGLE. Reservations made before August 31 will guarantee the group rate. The hotel is about four blocks from the Ballston Metro Station.

OPERATION EAGLE JUSTICE - September 15, 2007

Rooms are available under Operation Eagle Justice from Friday, September 14 to Monday, September 17. Reservations made before September 7 will guarantee the group rate.
Holiday Inn Ballston (4610 N Fairfax Dr, Arlington VA, 703-243-9800, 800-465-4329) offers a rate of $89.00 ( tax)/night.

The Comfort Inn Ballston(1211 N Glebe Rd, Arlington VA 703-247-3399) (Group # 2953) at $99.00 ( tax)/night.

Best Western Pentagon(2480 S Glebe Rd, Arlington VA 703-979-4400) at $99.00 ( tax)/night.

The Westin Arlington Gateway(801 N Glebe Rd, Arlington VA 703-717-6200) offers a rate of $119.00 ( tax)/night.

Comfort Inn Arlington Blvd/DC Gateway (6111 Arlington Boulevard Falls Church, VA 22044 703-534-9100) 9/13 - 9/16/07, Thursday through Sunday is $87.00 9% tax for 1-2 ppl, per night. The rate still includes the FREE Deluxe Continental Breakfast

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Help Us Stand

Still Think 9/15 is Just Public Relations?
By Kit Lange

The Muslim American Society will be in D.C. on 9/15 in full force. These people aren’t playing around.

It is imperative that we stand up to them and every other anti-American group that will be there on September 15th. Our troops and our nation can settle for no less than victory in Iraq and Afghanistan…and we as Eagles can settle for nothing less than victory on the home front.

We have fewer than forty days until GOE III, and our coordinators are working hard to overwhelm Washington, DC, with thousands of Eagles. We KNOW you are coming in unprecedented numbers, and we are bound and determined to make sure this event, which is crucial to the continuing support of our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, is an unqualified success.
Please send us your most generous contribution as soon as you can. You may donate through PayPal or by check made payable to GOE and sent to: GOE; Box 291; Chocowinity, NC 27817.

Marshals Needed

We are seeking volunteers for both the 9/10 and 9/15 events. If you are attending either, please let us know!

Get the GOE I DVD!
Copies are $15 for one, $12 for each additional copy. Shipping is $5. To order, make a donation for the total amount and then send us an email giving us an address and quantity.

Get the Official GOE T-Shirt! Designed by the Army veterans and fellow Eagles over at Ranger Up, these shirts are 100% made in the USA. Men's and Women's styles available. 20% of all proceeds go directly to GOE, so you'll be helping us continue our mission of countering the anti-American Left!

Once you have the T-shirt, make sure to find an event where you can wear it! Stop by our forum and meet other Eagles, read about what we stand for, and subscribe to our RSS feed.

Fallen But Never Forgotten

By Kit Lange

Kory Wiens and his dog Cooper are my desktop wallpaper, a reminder that teamwork, sacrifice, and service to country are paramount.

The first military working dog team killed in action together since the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were laid to rest together July 18.

Cpl. Kory D. Wiens, 20, of the 94th Mine Dog Detachment, 5th Engineer Battalion, 1st Engineer Brigade of Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and his partner, Cooper, were killed July 6 by an improvised explosive device while on patrol in Muhammad Sath, Iraq. They had been in Iraq since January.

The cremated remains of Wiens and Cooper, a Labrador retriever, were buried together at Salt Creek Cemetery in Wiens’ hometown of Dallas, Ore., at the request of his family, said Master Sgt. Matt McHugh, the family’s casualty assistance officer.

“Kory referred to Cooper as his son, that’s now much of a team they were,” McHugh said.

Read the whole story.

It is men like these that we honor as Eagles. Let us never forget them, and never stop doing whatever needs to be done to see that they are treated as the heroes they are.

Powered by ScribeFire.

This post has been filed under Guest Authors on August 19th Comments (0) / RSS

After-Action Report: 17 August 2007, 1800 Hours Washington, NC

By Kit Lange (A REAL FRUIT CAKE!)

The Moonbats assembled in Washington, NC sank to a new low yesterday. As usual their crowd was small but larger than the week before. The Eagles responded to the call of battle and once again we had to chase their coward asses down the street since they do not want to stand in front of us and defend ‘who the hell knows’ their position.

The City of Washington was putting on a “block party” of music, food and dancing for the young people of Washington. I dare say there were a good thousand plus of teens, parents and the citizens of the wonderful city of Washington in attendance.

And then came the ROLLING THUNDER of Jacksonville, NC Chapter on their beautiful bikes accompanied by wives and friends. They also had many lady riders as well. What a beautiful sight to hold. They cruised by with their flags flapping in the breeze, their stereos blaring the Marine Corp Hymn, Anchors A Weigh, Star Spangled Banner and many others songs.

The Moonbat Scumbags were absolutely blown away. They were mortified! They had the pangs of fear sweep through their bodies and I think one of them peed in their pants. After a couple of “gun runs”, er… passes!, they parked their beautiful steeds of steel and walked up to our position on the line in their full regalia and hats.

I started laughing when the Moonbats came together in a huddle and I heard one exclaimed “Holy Sh*t” they are coming up here to get us. I think I could speak for the whole crowd of Eagles saying how proud we were to be an Eagle and a Vietnam Vet and see these brothers and sisters coming up to join us at our battle line.

It was better than seeing the Cavalry save the day!Now for the sad part of the evening. This demonstrates the MoonBat Scumbags will resort to anything. Because they were vastly outgunned, they begin to grab young people and anyone who would listen to them to recruit them on the spot to counter the Eagles. They especially went after the young people. They put these young teens IN FRONT OF THEM TO PROTECT THEMSELVES….! Just like the NVA would put innocent children and women in the front lines knowing the Americans would not fire on innocents!

How damn low can you get. Now the sickening part!

Many of the young people rode by blew their horns in support of the Eagles. Some wandered across the street and were mobbed by the Moonbats to sign their petition. Of one group of teens (5 in number) were conned into holding up signs for the Moonbats; “TEENS FOR PEACE” and the real low one a young lady probably sixteen years old holding a sign “FU*K BUSH”. The other disgusting sign was shown by a young lad, maybe 18-20 “POT FOR PEACE.”

Most of the Eagles on the field last night are fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers. Imagine yourself recruiting children to stand in front lines to protect yourself and then display signs of filth and disrespect. These Moonbats have NO HONOR, NO RESPECT, NO LOVE OF CHILDREN AND NOTHING ELSE but their own personal greed and stupid, moronic code of hate.

I am more proud of being an Eagle than ever before. All of us out there should be proud. We will win! We will see the face of America change. Our fathers generation screwed it up and we are going to fix it. I cannot imagine how much our brothers on the Wall are proud of us. If we could see them for day, I think they would say, “Well Done”.

LOOK OUT MOONBATS. YOUR DAY OF RECKONING IS AT HAND!EAGLES UP, CLAWS OUT, INBOUND FOR THE PREY!

This post has been filed under After Action Reports on August 19th Comments (5) / RSS

Rep. Murtha’s office hangs up when asked about the Haditha Marines

By Kit Lange

Eagles, check this out…it’s every anti-American moonbat’s friend, John Murtha. Look what he had to say about the Haditha Marines…nothing.

This post has been filed under Intel on August 18th Comments (2) / RSS

More Details on the Eagles of Valor Dinner

By Kit Lange

The Eagles of Valor dinner is an event to honor Veterans of all wars and Service Members of all military branches. Veterans and Service Members are invited to a night where they, as true American “Action Heroes” and Patriots, are treated like “American Royalty.”

The dinner is a four-course plated affair with white glove appetizers and a full open bar. Business Dress is appreciated.

Speakers at the event* are the following:

* Captain Larry Bailey, USN (ret.)Former Navy SEALChairman, Gathering of Eagles

* Mrs. Beverly Perlson (Band of Mothers)Mother of Active Duty 82nd Airborne Paratrooper; currently on fifth deployment in Iraq.

* Keynote speaker: US Naval Institute CEO, Gen. Tom Wilkerson

*Emcee for the evening is Mr. Chris Hill, Gathering of Eagles National Director of Operations

In addition to providing a night of royal treatment and inspiring speakers, the event will host a Silent Auction. All proceeds raised from the Silent Auction will be donated to a scholarship fund for Children and Family Members of Fallen Soldiers.

Please join us for this memorable event!

This post has been filed under Fundraising on August 17th Comments (1) / RSS

Web Banner for Operation Eagle Justice

By Kit Lange

Let visitors to your blog or website know you’ll be standing proudly in D.C. on the 15th of September as a member of Operation Eagle Justice! Download the following banner and be counted. Also available in the GOE Media folder, where I’ve put up some flyers and new posters!

This post has been filed under Media on August 17th Comments (5) / RSS
CPL Rob Smith on The Front Line Tonight

By Kit Lange

Marine CPL Rob Smith will be back on the show tonight, live from Iraq where he’s a fire team leader with a Regimental Combat Team. It was a great show when he was on last, so we’ll check in and see how he and his boys are doing. Feel free to call in and ask him a question. 646-915-9926…show starts at 10 PM Eastern. Listen here!

This post has been filed under Briefings on August 17th Comments (0) / RSS

Eagles on Traveling Wall Escort Duty in Ohio

By Kit Lange

Contributed by Luke Patrino, GOE State Coordinator, Ohio

First, I want to thank all the law enforcement agencies that helped make the escort a safe ride for all who took part: The Ohio State Highway Patrol, the Wood and Henry Co. Sheriff’s Departments, and the Napoleon Police Department. A huge thank you to these public servants.

More then 600 motorcycles left Napoleon Harley Davidson and rode to North Baltimore, where we met hundreds more at The Wall. The 8 mile caravan traveled north on I-75 to Route 6. As soon as we turned west on Rt. 6 we started seeing people waving flags sitting in their front yards and cheering as we rode by. The 30 mile ride on 6 showed the true American Spirit here in the heartland. I had tears in my eyes as thousands cheered and waved at us riding by. Hundreds turned out as we passed through Weston and McClure. When we arrived in Napoleon our route through the city was lined with supporters.

All this on a Thursday morning and afternoon, I wonder if anyone went to work yesterday.

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Virginia


ROLLING THUNDER®, INC., CHAPTER 1 VAPres. Junior Payne
P.O. Box 2984
Winchester, VA 22604Tel 540-722-5653
Cell 540-327-5653
Website: www.rollingthunderva1.com


ROLLING THUNDER®, INC., CHAPTER 3 VAPres. Arthur T. Foss
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ROLLING THUNDER®, INC., CHAPTER 4 VAPres. Newell Butts
P.O. Box 11136
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Tel 434-349-3371
Website: www.rollingthunderch4va.com


ROLLING THUNDER®, INC., CHAPTER 5 VAPres. Richard M. Walton
4001 Grizzard Dr.
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Tel 804-640-1333http://rollingthunderch5va.com/


http://www.rollingthunderch4va.com/awareness_run.html


BACK TO OUR SIDES AND SOME ADDITIONAL IDEAS


Submitted by davidswanson on August 10, 2007 - 5:50am.

Activism - Protests

OutOfIraq

There is something else we can try. If you've given up on staging marches and rallies, or if – like me – you haven't but you want to try something else as well, and if you've given up on lobbying Congress as pointless, or if – like me – you haven't but you want to try something else as well, and if educating your fellow citizens as to exactly how completely corrupt the whole system is seems like an incomplete answer, and if staging a general strike or taking over the capital only seems like a good idea if you can get millions of others to join you, there is another approach that can be taken right away by a single person, a small group, or a crowd.

You can counter recruit, counter the corporate war profiteers, and counter the media. Talking to high school and college students and career counselors about the reality of the military, done at the smallest or largest scale, helps to deny the military the troops it needs to occupy foreign lands and kill. Of course, the military pushes back, raising the top age for recruits (now at 42), promising bigger bonuses (now at $50,000), and lowering various qualifications.

Ultimately, the military can push back by instituting a draft. But that could also lead to much greater resistance. Corporations profiting from the pretended "reconstruction" of Iraq, from the control of Iraq's oil, and from the use of weapons and mercenaries, can be protested and influenced. Bechtel chose to stop bidding on contracts in Iraq rather than endure further protest. And the media can be resisted through the creation and promotion of independent media, through criticism and protest, and through campaigns targeting advertisers.

A guide to engaging in these tactics and training others to do so is found in a new book called "Army of None: Strategies to Counter Military Recruitment, End War, and Build a Better World," by Aimee Allison and David Solnit: http://ww.couragetoresist.org/armyofnone They present this approach, as everyone on the left always presents their approach, as the only one of any use. I disagree. I think the various approaches work together.

I think the marching and lobbying help move the public to the point where more people will resist recruitment. I think countering recruitment helps recruit peace activists of all sorts. And I think that we have to model democratic behavior as part of defining a vision for the future, if nothing else. We have to publicly demand the behavior we want from our elected officials if only to deny them the argument that we never asked. And we have to envision a world in which one day citizens are able to influence politicians directly.

Most of "Army of None" is devoted to counter recruitment, and the book makes an ideal guide for anyone interested in that project. Among other things, it provides the basic facts about the usual lies recruiters tell. For one thing, most recruits won't actually get $50,000 or anything close to it. In fact, nothing a recruiter promises a recruit means anything at all, because every military contract includes these lines:

"Laws and regulations that govern military personnel may change without notice to me. Such changes may affect my status, pay allowances, benefits, and responsibilities as a member of the Armed Forces REGARDLESS of the provisions of this enlistment / re-enlistment document."

In other words, the rest of the contract means nothing, and only those two sentences and a signature actually matter. The rest, like much of what comes out of recruiters' mouths, is lies. The New York Times reported that one in five U.S. Army recruiters was under investigation in 2004 for offenses ranging from "threats and coercion to false promises that applicants would not be sent to Iraq."

In addition to educating potential recruits and assisting them in finding more positive career options, citizens can actively counter recruitment by protesting or impeding recruiting operations. One of the more creative ways to do this is for that dwindling portion of the population that is not qualified for recruitment to attempt to enlist. Raging Grannies and other groups of women have tied up recruiting stations and attracted attention by attempting to sign up, refusing to leave, and risking arrest. What are the raging grandfathers waiting for?

Although "Army of None" does not suggest it, I would recommend another tactic as well. Get to know the recruiters and offer to help them with their job. Take a stack of brochures and blank contracts from them. And whenever you encounter a pro-war demonstrator, offer to help them sign up. "Hey Hey What about you? You look under 42!" is a chant that has been known to silence the most obnoxious voices. The point is not, of course, to actually recruit anyone, but to expose the hypocrisy of war proponents and call attention to the question of exactly who is being recruited.

If you want to get involved in countering recruitment and in supporting members of the military who refuse to serve in illegal wars of aggression, go to http://www.couragetoresist.org

To get involved in this movement face-to-face, check out the following upcoming events:

Veterans for Peace ConventionAugust 15-19 in St. Louishttp://www.veteransforpeace.org

Book Release and Project Kick-Off for "Army of None"August 30 in Oakland, Calif., 6:30 – 9:30 p.m.Club Oasis, 135 12th Street

Week of action in Washington, D.C.
September 15: March and massive die-in
September 16: truth in recruiting training and congressional lobbying training
September 17 National Truth in Recruiting Day
September 18 Congressional Challenge Dayhttp://grassrootsamerica4us.org

There is actually a major peace event planned for Washington, D.C., for just about every day in September. This has caused a lot of people great distress, judging from the Emails I get asking me to combine all the events into one day (as if I had some way to do that!), but I think the variety of the ongoing events may be advantageous. We'll try to keep track of them all here: http://afterdowningstreet.org/events

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Great David, and also we can consider this. ..

Submitted by laserflight on August 10, 2007 - 12:49pm.

FYI here's a letter I'm sending around to Congressfolk, the media, and so-called "progressive" orgs like MoveOn who are just now putting their toes in the impeachment waters. Please use if you see fit. Blessings, thanks for all your dedication, and good luck to us all!Kim

http://groups.google.com/group/WeThePeopleLeadNow?hl=enI hope you know about the May 9 Presidential Executive Order

(http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070509-12.html ) in which Bush declared that if there is a National Emergency (which he alone defines) he can take unchecked Unitary Executive Power.

Marjorie Cohn, law professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego and author of "Cowboy Republic" has written an article ( http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/23128/print) presaging the possibility that Bush/Cheney could use the May 9 Executive Order to actually suspend the 2008 elections indefinitely.

One wonders, have you connected these dots? Certainly no one could reasonably put this outrageous trick past an Administration that has on false premises (and to serve their own greed for power and money) created the ongoing bloody nightmare in Iraq and now want to attack Iran. If you can integrate this possibility (and please, for the sake of the country, try HARD to do so) you can mobilize your efforts around impeachment leading to indictment NOW. There's really no time to waste!