Harpsichords for Revolution!

People often ask me: What’s it like to live in the San Francisco Bay Area?

Well, at last, I’ve finally found the perfect answer. From now on, I’ll just send them this link. Yes, it really is what it seems to be: a harpsichord concert intended to incite a socialist revolution.

This is an actual listing for a real event happening this Sunday in Oakland.

The flyer for the event (click on the picture to see it full size) states in no uncertain terms: “A Harpsichord Recital and Lecture — Come take part in a new revolution sparked by ancient music!”

What’s it like to live in the San Francisco Bay Area? Here’s the equation:

Pretentious cultural snobbery + delusional communist fantasies = an overwhelming sensation of smugness and superiority.

Below is an unedited cut-and-paste of the full listing. No further comment necessary:

La Revolution!
August 21st at 7p.m
510-451-5818
Humanist Hall
390 27th St.
OAKLAND-DOWNTOWN

La Revolution is a harpsichord recital and lecture that works to inspire the audience to take immediate action in dealing with our economic crisis and global disasters. Early music performer and political activist, Vibeka Lyman, has probed the concept of what it takes for people to act politically and after spending a year in France, she has returned with some convincing ideas. Experiencing the culture, where strikes are a regular occurrence, she came to realize that freedom to express ones emotions, including anger, is needed for people to hit the streets.

We live in an American culture of emotional repression where anger and other emotions are not allowed to be used freely.

In the Paris general strike of 1968, a single unrelated event sparked the revolt; men were not allowed to bring home women to their dorm rooms, and out of this small protest, a larger strike unfolded. President, Charles de Gaulle eventually went into exile and several social changes were reached.

Ms. Lyman believes the theory that events that unleash emotion in society such as the grocer, Mohammed Bouazizi, in Tunisia who set himself on fire, that brought on the Egyptian revolution, are what it takes for a strike to take place. She hopes that her concert, a dynamic performance of composers: Couperin, Chambonnieres, Scarlatti, Froberger, and Johann Sebastian Bach, will create such an experience in her listeners. Vibeka has performed on the keyboard for over 30 years and has experience with learning with some of the best teachers in the Bay Area and in Paris. Baroque music has been scientifically proven to heighten creative thought in the brain, and this concert is an effort to enhance people’s thinking as well as their enjoyment.