Dakota Beacon

I’ve heard just about enough complaining about Robert de Niro, Katie Perry, Leonardo di Caprio and their silly and often outrageous behavior and their assuming of positions of leadership, especially among younger people. It’s our own fault!

Some people wonder why I’ve suddenly decided to feature great performances. It’s my “Sunday Special” thing. It’s not really that sudden for me. I grew up loving music of all kinds, I studied music, dance, even twirling batons! The performing arts have always been vital to me.

A lot of people in America, especially among conservatives, feel disdain toward the arts in general. I know some people who are perfectly sensible about everything else and yet, when it comes to movies, music, dance, art, even reading poetry or novels, there is a complete disconnect. It’s not just me – even someone as prominent as Mark Steyn has commented on this phenomenon. We are supposed to be too occupied with the so-called “important” things, like politics, to waste time reading novels or attending the ballet.

Unfortunately this climate of disregard for the arts has had a terrible and deep effect on those politics we think are so important. Our neglect of the arts and entertainment has crippled the conservative movement and diminished its future. The arts are important. Think about young people – our future, if you will – are they more likely to binge watch a Netflix series or go to a movie or country or rock concert . . . or to read the Wall Street Journal or National Review or even the other side of things – like Mother Jones? Right. They will be soaking up the culture, such as it is, not challenging their minds with the free classes from Hillsdale College or reading The American Conservative, right? So all we have accomplished through our conservative snobbery has been to hand our culture over to those least capable of doing it justice. And then we castigate them for it. And we lose the battle for the hearts and minds of the future. I’ve alluded to this before, but it bears repeating. When Stalin had to choose where to exert the most influence – over industry, transportation, military, etc., he chose to spend a lot of his energy on controlling the culture – the media, education, the arts. His was the lasting influence during the nascient Russian force of the 20^th Century. He was shrewd enough to know how important the culture really is in building a lasting empire. He recognized that you influence people most effectively through the culture.

Does turning up our noses at our cultural legacy make sense? No, not to me it doesn’t. It would do conservatives a world of good to read Tolstoy or listen to Beethoven or to see a great performance by a musician or dancer. So I’ve decided that at least once a week – Sunday – it will be my task to find something wonderful for you. Last week I found young Anastasia Tyurina. If you missed it go back and find it and watch! You will be glad you did, trust me on that.

Today I have something totally different but equally lovely. I did not see the movie, The Deer Hunter. It was, I guess, a very bittersweet story. I will try to watch it sometime if I can find it. But I have heard the beautiful music from the movie by Stanley Myers. Today I am linking a performance by a young Croatian guitarist, Ana Vidovic. As a bonus I will also link a duet. Her older brother, Viktor Vidovic, is an esteemed guitarist in his own right and a composer. They will play a piece written by Viktor.

So – first light the fireplace or some candles, go get yourself some coffee, some fragrant tea or or hot apple cider or cocoa or pour yourself a glass of wine, get comfortable and just listen. Here it is – the “Cavatina” from The Deer Hunter and a duet. There’s no better way to spend a November afternoon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr9mirFYuVE b

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-xPphdpeOQ and – what the heck – here’s one more from Ana

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwjX-m4LkYk

(Please excuse and skip the commercials – just part of bringing this stuff to you.)

Let’s take back our culture. It’s too good to leave it to the Left! There are those who would even try to erase it. There are those in the world who actually believe that music should be banned, but this is our culture. And it’s worth defending.

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