Remarkable.
I have been fortunate. Having started a jazz festival in 2010, I began to meet and then get to know quite a few stars of the jazz stage. Their names will be kept private, not wanting to embroil them in politics. Except for one.
My friend Chuck Redd, a consummate performer sitting or standing behind either the vibraphone or a drum set, was at the beginning of a parade of stars and band leaders who said “count me out”. The President had decided to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The performing arts community was rebelling.
Chuck Redd is not only a terrific performer, he is a notable gentleman. Not a flame thrower and to my knowledge not active in politics. Beyond his talent, he is also a man of integrity.
In the aftermath of Chuck’s move, a much younger jazz artist called me asking for advice. He had received a call from a person booking performers for the Center in 2026. What he asked me was, should he do? We had an interesting discussion; I signed off with “weigh the decision carefully as its implications are likely to last for three years.”
As I type, it is the first full week of February. The news is filled with immigration attacks, further Epstein disclosures, potential attacks on Iran, and yet another partial shutdown of the government. Lost in the rhetorical debris is the impending two-year closure. COVID shut it down for two years, and now Trump is doing the same. Our President dictates. He wants everybody to know his will is supreme.
The Kennedy Center’s forerunner began its life in 1958 when Congress acted to create a National Cultural Center. The Act was signed by President Eisenhower. Two months after President John F Kennedy was assassinated, in November of 1963, Congress renamed it the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Congress, if you will, founded what became the Kennedy Center. And now, on a bipartisan basis, it should assume control of its opening and/or closing. If the Trump edict is not overturned and it will probably not be, performing artists will once again be denied a stage. In the meantime, the President is talking about staging an Ultimate Fighting Championship on the White House Lawn.
Members of Congress will stand for reelection this year. We get to voice our pleasure or displeasure. Any Member who, by his/her actions or inactions, allows the President (Self-appointed Chairman of the Kennedy Center) to shut down the Center should look for a new job this November.
Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.
One Response
Chuck did the right thing. The “Trump” Kennedy center is being closed because a large number of performers have followed his lead. They literally have nobody of note to grace their stages. The Washington National Opera, Philip Glass, The Martha Graham Dance Company, Magpie (they are doing a show of Phil Ochs songs at Seekers Church in DC on the 21st, the date they had been scheduled to play the Millenium Stage,) Hamilton, Rhiannon Giddens and many others have refused to perform under Trumps name. The center should, and probably will, remain closed until the desicration of Donald Trump is removed!