THE BARD'S TALE

I ADORE the fantasy history stories about bards, especially how bards had immunity from retaliation.

Life in a small town can lack really excellent music, especially prior to recorded music. If you cut off a bard's head for singing an obnoxious song, then you would not have anybody to play at your daughter's wedding.

So an unspoken deal was made. The bard was allowed a few songs which reminded the king (actually little more than a warlord) that he was not omnipotent. But the rest of the night would be light, fun, excellent music.

One of the reasons the king allowed such liberties was that the king got 'cred' for hosting such amazing entertainment. The king also got a sense of what his people were secretly thinking by listening to the 'protest' songs.

Live music is still appreciated, especially at milestone events.

I am ashamed that our musicians will not play for our new president. I think that 'shunning' is a useless tactic. Without access to our president, how can we convince him that he is wrong?

Elizabeth Ferguson has NAILED the solution. She will sing for our new president, if she can sing "Strange Fruit". This is a win, win, win. She and Trump win by getting publicity. We all win by rehearing old songs that we should rehear.

I vote for Billy Joel singing, 'We Didn't Start the Fire",