Kennedy Center now requires National Anthem to be played before symphony concerts

When will they remove the Kennedy statue in the lobby?

I attended a concert of the National Symphony Orchestra Oct 9 at the newly Trumpified Kennedy Center, that onetime bastion of non-partisan celebration of music and the arts.   It was probably the smallest crowd I have ever seen at an NSO concert, the concert hall was a third full at best.

My jaw dropped when the first violinist walked out before the conductor and led the orchestra in a standup rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.  There was a smattering of applause afterwards, but mostly stunned silence.  I have been attending classical music concerts in many countries for many years, and I can testify that playing the national anthem before a symphony concert just isn’t a thing.  Baseball games, yes.  Symphony concerts, no.   Not even in Russia or in other tinpot dictatorships.    

I feel sorry for the musicians, who looked thoroughly embarrassed to me.  They certainly didn’t decide to do this on their own, and I suspect their jobs are hanging by a thread.  They did a very good job on the program of Schubert, Berg and Johan Strauss.  Too bad more people weren’t there to hear it, but somebody seems determined to drive even the few remaining patrons away. 

These people make my blood boil.  These lying, thieving racists are trying to co-opt the symbols of our nation and hold themselves up as somehow more patriotic than the rest of us while they destroy every pillar of our civil society.   We sink lower with every passing day.