The New York Philharmonic played in North Korea this week. They played An American In Paris, my second favorite by Gershwin, just behind Rhapsody In Blue. How cool. I adore the word Philharmonic. It’s a cool word.

How cool is the whole thing? One of America’s premier orchestras moves an audience in North Korea as much as any band could. Broadcast over the entire country. How fucking cool is that? Sorry. Let’s send the Foo Fighters next. Really. That’s diplomacy. It is how to get shit started.

We, are all the same.

From US News & World Report:

“Still, the Bush administration sought to dampen expectations. The White House Tuesday all but ruled out further cultural exchanges until North Korea reveals all of its nuclear programs. And Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, herself a classically trained pianist, offered a cool assessment recently, saying, “I don’t think we should get carried away with what listening to Dvorak is going to do in North Korea.”

Bitch. Assholes.

This, while Christian Amanpour reports from Pyongyang, touring plants, machines and other disabled nuclear things.

Idiocy, bought and paid for.

You have got be fucking kidding me.

An effort to say something positive, to reach out, arrogantly squandered by our very own Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.

It will be interesting to see what Obama has in store for you. At the very least, I’m hoping he parks your ass down the road and across the street.

Drinks for my friends.

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