[Harp-L] Raconteur: A POLITE WORD FOR LIAR
Ronnie Schreiber
autothreads@xxxxx
Mon Nov 12 12:02:23 EST 2018
Larry Adler was a great musician. After more than 60 revolutions around
the sun, though, I've come to realize that many cultural heroes often
have feet of clay when it comes to their personal lives. I've read too
much about the Doors and Jim Morrison and his abysmal behavior to people
in his life to be able to completely enjoy their music. I understand why
the Israeli Philharmonic doesn't perform Wagner. I've yet to hear
someone who knew him personally say that Paul Butterfield was a nice
person. Most say stuff like "he was a hard cat." Sonny Boy II
appropriated John Williamson's stage name because he was running from
the law.
Adler was quite self-promoting and, if you listen to the Gladwell
podcast, he was unashamed about the fact that he preferred telling good
stories to telling the actual truth. As such, I'm at least a little
skeptical about Adler's account of and reasoning for expatriating
himself from the United States. I see him as a hypocrite, the very
definition of a limousine leftist. A lifelong man of the left, he lived
well in Beverly Hills, then hobnobbed with British aristocracy after he
moved to the UK. He wouldn't live or pay taxes here, for political
reasons, yet was happy to make a very good living touring here. He was
ungrateful for the country that gave him the opportunity to pursue his
dreams. He was quick to claim victimhood for mistreatment as a Jew in
Baltimore in his youth but he abandoned his parents' Judaism and
wouldn't perform in Israel after the country moved away from socialism.
Outside of his musical talent and ability to tell a yarn, I don't find
much about him to admire.
He could play the chromatic harmonica masterfully, though.
Ronnie Schreiber
The Electric Harmonica Co.
Makers of the Harmonicaster
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