Nihil Obstat! Bob posts to VleeptronZ and doesn't have to eat an Italian cold cut grinder while connecting to the Internet!

By all means click on the images!

We're in Chatham, Massachusetts USA, in a tiny 2-storey cottage on the shore of Mill Pond, at the end of Eliphamet's Lane (I don't know who Eliphamet was). If I had a sailboat -- there are about 20 moored in the Pond -- I could sail a mile under a drawbridge, through Stage Harbor, and (if I were suicidally insane) would be merrily sailing on the Atlantic Ocean.

At night about every 20 seconds the beam from Chatham Lighthouse flashes across the Pond. At dawn and sunset there are deer, big bunnies, leaping fish, Canada geese, and long-legged wading shorebirds. The cottage was originally a clam shack, where clam and oyster fishermen would bring their haul in; the cottage is surrounded by about a million oyster shells. We've seen a black bird dive straight down from quite a height to fish. A few meters down the shore is a full-blown boatyard which returns its repaired boats to the water down a ramp of brown rusted railroad tracks by a slow winch.

Some idiot has a motorboat moored in the pond, and though he/she/it has never used it while we've been here, the idiot flies Old Glory from the mast day and night, rain and shine.

Well, idiots can love our Flag too. Who am I to say that it's unpatriotic to wear the Red, White and Blue as a thong or bikini?

New neighbors moved into the cottage next door two days ago, a couple from Long Island with a very new baby named Julia, I think short for Juliana. Just after sundown as I was outside having a smoke, I heard the young mother sing a lullabye to put Julia to sleep. In the dark it was beautiful and haunting. The next day mom was kind enough to write the words for me:

Los pollitas dicen
pio pio pio
cuando tienen hambre
cuando tienen frio

and my Spanish is just excellent enough to translate a text intended for the infant Julia, who perhaps knows how to say "Papa" and "Mama":

The little chickies say
pio pio pio
when they are hungry
when they are chilly

I hope my request for the lullabye has not made mom self-conscious about singing at night. Today if I see my neighbors I'll ask her the Spanish word for lullabye.

ATTENTION ALL PROTESTANT
DIVINES READING THIS POST:

Our cottage neighbors live on the eastern half of Long Island, and drove here by taking the ferry across Long Island Sound to New London, Connecticut -- just as I did 10 years ago.

Of course I was riding shotgun in a black hearse with a dead body in the back that reeked mildly of formaldahyde. Other than that, our ferry trip was exactly like theirs.

S.W.M.B.O. found this cottage for our week on Cape Cod via an Internet ad which promised us Wi-Fi. At first it seemed our laptop was receiving the Wi-Fi signal, but demanded a Secret Password, which the cottage owner had neglected to give us. We had important e-mail business to do when we arrived, and ended up having to drive 5 miles west to a highway D'Angelo's Sandwich Shop with a huge sign that said

FREE WI-FI

and conducted our business while eating submarine sandwiches and clam chowder. Yesterday S.W.M.B.O. spent 40 minutes on the phone with Todd and Tifani at the cable company, and managed to get the fucking Internet working, so this essay is largely an exercise in proving once again -- like my backpack train trip through Quebec and the Maritimes -- that I can roam Planet Earth dragging my laptop AND post to my blog. Nihil Obstat.

The map with the Sea Serpent in the Atlantic Ocean was also created here on Mill Pond. The light green state (technically a Commonwealth) is Massachusetts; brown is Connecticut; the darker green is the USA's smallest state, Rhode Island.

Besides Chatham, the map shows Wellfleet, which is the centerpiece of our trip, because it still has a Drive-In Movie Theater; and Provincetown, which is the only Honky-Tonk place in all of upscale, chi-chi Cape Cod. Provincetown is one of the USA's homosexual Meccas, and its airport has direct flights to another, Key West, Florida.

My brother in Maryland is having a bit of a Health Speed Bump, and I may at any instant have to disrupt my holiday and dash down to see him. From here I'll take the bus to Kingston, Rhode Island, where I can catch AMTRAK's premier medium-speed train, the Acella, to DC. The USA is the world leader in slow, unreliable trains.

I still like trains more than I like flying. A lot more. Unless the plane is very tiny and screwy and the flight is somewhat terrifying, like the Short-Take-Off-Landing on the island of Saba (cf. YouTube, keyword: Saba), which has Earth's shortest airstrip (not counting drug-smuggling airstrips). If the pilot fails to stop in the very short length, the plane falls over a cliff and all aboard crash on ocean rocks about 300 feet below.

Okay, I'm gonna post this crapola now before the cottage is struck by lightning, the power and the cable go out, and we are electrocuted.

~ ~ ~

Enjoy first run double features every night starting May 23rd at the only Drive-In Theatre on Cape Cod. Built in 1957, the Wellfleet Drive-In hosts a 100' x 44' screen, and a state-of-the-art FM stereo sound system that decodes modern sound tracks. Don't have a radio? That's OK! Mono original speakers are available for your listening pleasure. There's a playground and snack bar too!The Wellfleet Drive-In Theatre is open from late April through mid September.

Fri. June 5th thru
Thurs. June 11th
UP
Rated PG for action and peril
8:35pm
&

STAR TREK
Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence and brief sexual content
Starting approx.
10:25pm

PSYCHO BEACH PARTY (NR)
&
OFFICE KILLER (R)
$12 per person
NO theatre passes accepted
NO discount coupons accepted
A NIGHT AT THE DRIVE-IN!!!
Thursday, June 18
Movie at Dusk
Fri. June 12th thru
Weds. June 17th
UP Rated PG for action and peril
8:40pm
&
STAR TREK Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence and brief sexual content
Starting approx.
10:30pm

We're outta here / Berlusconi and his Girl Scout troop

Publicke Notice

Okay, in a few mnutes we are Out Of Here, we going to Cape Cod for 1 week.

We got the laptop, and if the entire Vleeptron community will pray and burn incense, maybe I can keep posting and even get e-mail, like I did on the crazy backpack train trip through Canada last year.

I don't think they sell il Smutto on the Cape, which is a bummer, but if anybody gets any more hot new photos of Noemi and Berlusconi's Girl Scout troop camping out and roasting marshmallows, please send them to me.

new photos of poolside yoga class in Sardinia / Grazie Mensch-on-the-Ground!

Click, gets bigger.

I guess I've been a little embarrassed to mention one of the publications of the Agence-Vleeptron Presse intergallactic media empire, but here it is, il Smutto, A-VP's Italian supermarket checkout tabloid.

I might have kept it a secret, but we have received this day, from our mensch-on-the-ground in Mitteleuropa, these very excellent long-range telescopic photographs of Villa Berlusconi on Sardinia during a recent get-together with the Prime Minister hosting several young ladies, apparently including his new young friend Noemi Letizia.

Il Smutto yelled STOP THE PRESSES! and is now bringing you these interesting poolside photographs. I don't know who the old man with his Bratwurst hanging out is, and I don't know who the nude young lady is. Your guess is as good as mine.

I don't think the woman is Mrs. Berlusconi, but I could be wrong. I don't think she was invited to this party.

I hope you can read Italian. If not, check out the nude young babe and the old dude with his schwanz flapping around, and make up your own translation.

I think our Mensch-on-the-ground is really maturing as a photo-journalist. He is beginning to have an acute appreciation of What News Is.

Il Smutto wishes to caution its readers not to jump to any hasty conclusions about the goings-on at Villa Berlusconi. There could be a variety of perfectly innocent explanations for these things -- a sudden fire drill, or yoga and exercise classes.

Il Smutto is available at all finer supermarkets in Italy, in the Santa Pasta neighborhood of Ciudad Vleeptron, and in markets all over lo Stato di Mangiare.

the Chabad-Lubavitcher way to Peace in the Middle East / stfu you Holy Schmuck

Comment (apparently later deleted) to the story below on the e-edition of The Jewish Daily Forward:

Robert Merkin
Thu. Jun 4, 2009

There's a Chabad House down the road from me, and I've always wondered why it gives me the creeps, and why I always hit the gas pedal to speed past it.

I am grateful to Rebbe Manis Friedman for clarifying why the Chabad-Lubavitch Kult gives me the creeps and makes me break the speed limit to make it recede swiftly in my rear-view mirror.

Arabs, Palestinians, Muslims are children of God, and thus my brothers and my sisters. May we all, as the Vulcans say, Live Long And Prosper, in respect, brotherhood, shalom, salam and Peace.

To borrow the texting patois of youth, I sincerely hope Rebbe Friedman will stfu. He is one sick schmuck, and at the most fragile moment I have ever witnessed for Planet Earth, he slimes us all with poison, kerosene, hate and drek.

Keep his Jonestown Talmud far from me, my community, my neighbors, my planet. You can put Holy Lipstick on a chazer, but he's still a chazer.

==================

Jewish Daily Forward (founded 1897)
English-language weekly
New York City USA
Wednesday 3 June 2009 (e-edition)
Friday 12 June 2009 (paper edition)

Popular Rabbi’s Comments
on Treatment of Arabs
Show a Different Side of Chabad

by Nathaniel Popper

Like the best Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis, Manis Friedman has won the hearts of many unaffiliated Jews with his charismatic talks about love and God; it was Friedman who helped lead Bob Dylan into a relationship with Chabad.

But Friedman, who today travels the country as a Chabad speaker, showed a less warm and cuddly side when he was asked how he thinks Jews should treat their Arab neighbors.

“The only way to fight a moral war is the Jewish way: Destroy their holy sites. Kill men, women and children (and cattle),” Friedman wrote in response to the question posed by Moment Magazine for its “Ask the Rabbis” feature.

Friedman argued that if Israel followed this wisdom, there would be “no civilian casualties, no children in the line of fire, no false sense of righteousness, in fact, no war.”

“I don’t believe in Western morality,” he wrote. “Living by Torah values will make us a light unto the nations who suffer defeat because of a disastrous morality of human invention.”

Friedman’s use of phrasing that might seem more familiar coming from an Islamic extremist has generated a swift backlash. The editor of Moment, Nadine Epstein, said that since the piece was printed in the current issue they “have received many letters and e-mails in response to Rabbi Friedman’s comments — and almost none of them have been positive.”

Friedman quickly went into damage control. He released a statement to the Forward, through a Chabad spokesman, saying that his answer in Moment was “misleading” and that he does believe that “any neighbor of the Jewish people should be treated, as the Torah commands us, with respect and compassion.”

But Friedman’s words have generated a debate about whether there is a darker side to the cheery face that the Chabad-Lubavitch movement shows to the world in its friendly outreach to unaffiliated Jews. Mordecai Specktor, editor of the Jewish community newspaper in Friedman’s hometown, St. Paul, Minnesota, said: “The public face of Lubavitch is educational programs and promoting Yiddishkeit. But I do often hear this hard line that Friedman expresses here.”

“He sets things out in pretty stark terms, but I think this is what Lubavitchers believe, more or less,” said Specktor, who is also the publisher of the American Jewish World. “They are not about loving the Arabs or a two-state solution or any of that stuff. They are fundamentalists. They are our fundamentalists.” Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League and a regular critic of Arab extremists, said that in the Jewish community, “We are not immune to having these views. There are people in our community who have these bigoted, racist views.”

But, Foxman warned, Friedman’s views are not reflective of the Chabad rabbis he knows. “I am not shocked that there would be a rabbi who would have these views,” Foxman said, “but I am shocked that Moment would give up all editorial discretion and good sense to publish this as representative of Chabad.”

A few days after anger about the comment surfaced, Chabad headquarters released a statement saying that, “we vehemently disagree with any sentiment suggesting that Judaism allows for the wanton destruction of civilian life, even when at war.”

The statement added: “In keeping with Jewish law, it is the unequivocal position of Chabad-Lubavitch that all human life is G-d given, precious, and must be treated with respect, dignity and compassion.”

In Moment, Friedman’s comment is listed as the Chabad response to the question “How Should Jews Treat Their Arab Neighbors?” after a number of answers from rabbis representing other Jewish streams, most of which state a conciliatory attitude toward Arabs.

Epstein said that Friedman was “brave” for stating his views so clearly.

“The American Jewish community doesn’t have the chance to hear opinions like this,” Epstein said, “not because they are rare, but because we don’t often ask Chabad and other similar groups what they think.”

The Chabad movement is generally known for its hawkish policies toward the Palestinians; the Chabad Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, rejected peace accords with the Palestinians. Rabbi Moshe Feller, the top Chabad rabbi in Minnesota, said that the rebbe taught that it is not a mitvah to kill, but that Jews do have an obligation to act in self-defense.

“Jews as a whole, they try to save the lives of others,” Feller told the Forward, “but if it’s to save our lives, then we have to do what we have to do. It’s a last resort.”

Friedman is not a fringe rabbi within the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He was the English translator for the Chabad Rebbe, and at the rebbe’s urging, he founded Beis Chana, a network of camps and schools for Jewish women. Friedman is also a popular speaker and writer on issues of love and relationships. His first book, “Doesn’t Anyone Blush Anymore?” was promoted with a quote from Bob Dylan, who Friedman brought to meet the rebbe.

On his blog and Facebook page, Friedman’s emphasis is on his sympathetic, caring side. It was this reputation that made the comment in Moment so surprising to Steve Hunegs, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council: Minnesota and the Dakotas.

“Rabbi Friedman is a best-selling author who addresses some of the most sensitive issues of the time,” Hunegs said. “I intend to call him and talk to him about this.”

But Shmarya Rosenberg, a blogger and critic of Chabad who lives a few blocks from Friedman in Minnesota, says that the comment in Moment is not an aberration from his experiences with Friedman and many other Chabad rabbis.

“What he’s saying is the standard normal view of a Chabadnik,” Rosenberg said. “They just don’t say it in public.”

For his part, Friedman was quick to modify the statement that he wrote in Moment. He told the Forward that the line about killing women and children should have been in quotes; he said it is a line from the Torah, though he declined to specify from which part. Friedman also said that he was not advocating for Israel to actually kill women and children. Instead, he said, he believed that Israel should publicly say that it is willing to do these things in order to scare Palestinians and prevent war.

[The Torah is the Hebrew original text of the Five Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.]

“If we took this policy, no one would be killed — because there would be no war,” Friedman said. “The same is true of the United States.”

Friedman did acknowledge, however, that in self-defense, the behavior he talked about would be permissible.

“If your children are threatened, you do whatever it takes — and you don’t have to apologize,” he said.

Friedman argued that he is different from Arab terrorists who have used similar language about killing Jewish civilians.

“When they say it, it’s genocide, not self-defense,” Friedman said. “With them, it’s a religious belief — they need to rid the area of us. We’re not saying that.”

Feller, the Chabad leader in Minnesota, said that the way Friedman had chosen to express himself was “radical.”

“I love him,” Feller said. “I brought him out here — he’s magnificent. He’s brought thousands back to Torah mitzvah. But he shoots from the hip sometimes.”

Contact Nathaniel Popper at popper@forward.com

- 30 -

Comments

Southern James
Wed. Jun 3, 2009
Had this been a Christian or Muslim cleric speaking such a load of venom, it would plastered all over the TV and the papers. I thank Moment Magazine for having the courage to expose religious nutjobs within their own ranks.

RoninTT
Wed. Jun 3, 2009

Hey Friends,

I want to thank the Forward for posting this original statement by the Chabad Rabbi! What courage! Yofi for you!

For Foxman; Shame on you! (Foxman said, “but I am shocked that Moment would give up all editorial discretion and good sense to publish this as representative of Chabad.”) Are we to take this to mean that we are not to uncover the zealots in our midst? Shine a light on them for what they truly are?

Again, much love to Forward for representing ALL jews. Not just the interest of the religious - Foxman. I am quickly loosing love for the ADL with your comments here.

Rabbi Feller, Friedman does not read the Torah I know. Yet, he assures I will never know Chabad.

yonason
Wed. Jun 3, 2009
And what's wrong with pointing out that the "morality" of Western invention is flawed? We DO need to fight them, no-holds-barred. They shoot rockets at our civilians, and people like "Southern James" could care less. Their Imams spew hatred for us and for America, and not a peep. But when we say it's time to take the gloves off, and fight like we mean it, then the little "S.J's" of the world talk about how "bad" we are. Rabbi Friedman is right, if we took the fight to them, and crushed the evil instead of trying to appease it (which, in case anyone hasn't noticed, has not only no worked but makes matters ever more worse), then peace would come swiftly. The West is destroying itself with it's foolish notions. G-d won't let Israel be destroyed, but those who are trying to destroy us, and those who aid and abet them won't survive.

And RoninTT, I don't need your "assurance" of anything, as if you were any kind of expert. Read what King David did to the Philistines of his day, and you will see Rabbi Friedman is pretty mild by comparison.

Our enemies will, as King David said in Psalms, fall into the trap they have made for us.

esthermiriam
Wed. Jun 3, 2009
Believing in Evil, it would follow... and variations on the theme are not hard to find.

Yosef ben Matitya
Wed. Jun 3, 2009
Kudos to Forward on this expose. In truth, this is no "different side" of Chabad. Chabad has refined it's "double speak" into an art. Towards the outsiders, (uninitiated jews and gentiles alike) they come across as almost christians in their "universal love", tolerance to all, etc...; they aren't God's policemen, rather God's salesmen. Among Ana'sh -anshei shlomeinu- or initiates however, they feel free to expose their fangs; be it towards the arabs, other jews who don't buy into their version of 'judaism', orthodox and others alike, zionists, officers of the IDF . Love turns into disdain and often overt outright hate!

Neil
Wed. Jun 3, 2009
This is the 2nd time in as many weeks that I hear a prominent Jew going Amalek when talking about Muslims. Recently an Israeli politician used similar terminology about Iranians. Sounds to me like hubris. And we all know what that precedes.

JMB
Wed. Jun 3, 2009
Chabad showing its true colors in public understandably due to open criticism of israel policy in some US circles they always believed what friedman is saying its just that they're venting their anger as stalwart ally US is understanding the harm these C-L extremists are doing to the US.

Akiva
Wed. Jun 3, 2009
R. Friedman can think what he wants, but in my 25 years going to Chabad shuls never have I heard this before. Now that I have it sounds like a good idea to me.

Robert
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
Rabbi Friedman shows the true face of zionism.Amazing how many posts here defend this mad rabbi.I know such Rabbis as late Elmer Berger or the Rabbi who publihes Tikkum Magazine! They are real followers of Judaism. But too bad they are in minority! On political side we have such mad men as Daniel Pieps,Alan Dershowitz,Joe Liberman Schuer the US Congress man et al.They are loud mouth and a disgrace to Jewish people.

Parave Rebbe aka Marvin Kravetsky
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
That old adage holds true .'fight fire with fire!' The black people of America have a derogatory phrase that holds true as well and especially with my Jewish Bretheren. Unce Tom Jews is a rampant malady with us Jews never mind Uncle Tom's cabin. Also remeber the English Prime Minister who said there will be,"Peace in our Time" Look what happened to the world and to the Jewish Nation of Europe! The Chabad Rabbi deserves praise and support for what he said and a very emphatic, Yash Koach!

Yosef ben Matitya
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
re:Marvin Kravetsky's posting yeah, red neck bigots, jewish bigots, german bigots, polish bigots are all the same. question is, how jewish is mannis friedman faith. what is left in it? first they discarded monotheism now they are out in the open scrapping middos. bunch of phoneys.

Moshe' Dovid ben Yakov
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
I wouldn't be so quick to criticize the Rabbi. Did anyone flinch when the Navy Seals shot dead the 3 Somali Pirates holding the American transporatation boat captian? What's the difference between that and Israeli held hostages? Hard lines have been drawn and not by Jews concerining Israel. They want us DEAD for crying out loud! That includes you Yosef ben Matitya. Judaism is not a Turn the other Cheek way of life. It is forbidden to kill but not to defend. We were given land after the Holocaust by the UN. After constant attack we Occupied uninhabbited areas or areas we had been attacked from. Palestinian refusal to ever work things out diplomatically and bitching and moaning all the while to people like you only strengthen their cry and weakens Israeli stability. Wake up and smell the coffee.

yonason
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
JUST A SLIGHT CORRECTION

"It is forbidden to kill but not to defend." -- Moshe' Dovid ben Yakov

Actually, it is forbidden to murder, which is not what the Rabbi is advocating. However, when someone is coming to kill you, you are required to defend yourself, and if the enemy is hiding behind his civilians, who may very well be just as guilty as he, there is no sin in killing them too, IF that is unavoidable.

So, I repeat to the rest of the anti-Semites and self hating Jews.... All the Rabbi is saying is that we have to go all out in letting the enemy know not to start up with us. The sooner we start valuing our lives over theirs, the more of our lives AND THEIRS we will save!

yonason
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
To tell the truth, though, I AM embarrassed by what Rabbi Friedman said, or at least part of it - the apology! Sure, I think he didn't explain himself very well in his first, and grossly misinterpreted statement. But that merely requires clarification, not contrition.

The Rebbe himself said it was unthinkable that the IDF would risk the lives of Jewish soldiers in order to save any of the enemy. He didn't want the enemy to die, but in war you have to think of yourself first. Anything short of that is a recipe for defeat.

We do not want them to die...
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/807777/jewish/Should-I-pray-for-the-death-of-terrorists.htm

...but if it comes to a choice between me and my family, and them and theirs, please G-d let it be them - until the come to their senses, and then we can truly live in peace.

Meanwhile, here's what every Jew needs to know (I hope the links I've put in come out OK)...

http://sichos-in-english.org/books/eyes-upon-the-land/01.htm

max
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
this is monstrous.

Jeff
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
Basically, Abe Foxman is saying that this story should not have been published so as not to give Jews a bad name. Is that what the ADL is for? To protect the image of Jews, kind of like - i don't know, not allowing us to see the daily murder and starvation of Palestinians because it may make the Jews look bad? I see how it works, now. Abe has no problem conflating everything that happens in a day with the latest scourge of anti-semitism, but shed some light, tell the truth about the dark side of Judaism, and it's suddenly "hands off"?

David
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
So there you have it: The crazy statements of this extremist rabbi expose in public what many Chabad people usually keep hidden for PR reasons, along with their belief that the Lubavitcher Rebbe is the risen Messiah.

And we have a few of (a) the vile supporters of these views posting here too, along with (b) the usual crowd of ignorant people flirting with antisemitism ("the Zionists expose their true colors" etc, of course forgetting that Chabad is DEFINITELY NOT a Zionist group, while "the Rabbi who publishes "Tikkun" IS a Zionist). Don't bother posting here, the readers of the Forward are politically liberal and not interested in your hate. So Yonason, Robert etc GO AWAY.

Menahem
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
My most heartfelt thanks and congratulations to The Forward for publishing this: I already started forwarding the article to my mailing list, both here and abroad. I can only confirm that I heard with my own ears this type of language from Chabadniks.

Ben
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
As a Jew, I say unhesitantingly that Jesus was a better rabbi than Mr. Friedman, and that perhaps he should read some of the man's sermons.

Menahem
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
I just want to add, after reading some of the comments, that the Rebbe held different views, largely misinterpreted or intentionally disfigured by some of his followers. After all, we must bear in mind that he always spoke Yiddish: every word is translated (and at times "betrayed"). A very sad case of a very enlightened leader betrayed by some of his own followers/epigons.
Holly
Thu. Jun 4, 2009Rabbi Friedman has created a massive PR disaster for Chabad.
Arvin Khadr
Thu. Jun 4, 2009it's fortuitous for the world that everyone see what Israel is really about, and that's murdering women and children with WP weapons it buys from the U.S. (EDO CORP) and uses with abandon in Gaza and elsewhere, even though it's a WAR CRIME to do so.

Robert Merkin
Thu. Jun 4, 2009I think my earlier comment about this Holy Meshuge has been deleted.

Wasn't I warm and cuddly like the Rebbe?

I'll re-post my comment on my blog:

http://vleeptronZ.blogspot.com

but I thank The Forward for this astonishing story, and hope The Forward will let me say again:

Arabs, Palestinians, Muslims are children of God, and thus my brothers and my sisters. May we all, as the Vulcans say, Live Long And Prosper, in respect, brotherhood, shalom, salam and Peace.

DO NOT READ THIS

DO NOT CLICK

The New York Times
Tuesday 2 June 2009

U.S. Accidentally Releases
List of Nuclear Sites

by William J. Broad

The federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked “highly confidential,” that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation’s civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons.

The publication of the document was revealed Monday in an online newsletter devoted to issues of federal secrecy. That set off a debate among nuclear experts about what dangers, if any, the disclosures posed. It also prompted a flurry of investigations in Washington into why the document had been made public.

On Tuesday evening, after inquiries from The New York Times, the document was withdrawn from a Government Printing Office Web site.

Several nuclear experts argued that any dangers from the disclosure were minimal, given that the general outlines of the most sensitive information were already known publicly.

“These screw-ups happen,” said John M. Deutch, a former director of central intelligence and deputy secretary of defense who is now a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “It’s going further than I would have gone but doesn’t look like a serious breach.”

But David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a private group in Washington that tracks nuclear proliferation, said information that shows where nuclear fuels are stored “can provide thieves or terrorists inside information that can help them seize the material, which is why that kind of data is not given out.”

The information, considered confidential but not classified, was assembled for transmission later this year to the International Atomic Energy Agency as part of a process by which the United States is opening itself up to stricter inspections in hopes that foreign countries, especially Iran and others believed to be clandestinely developing nuclear arms, will do likewise.

President Obama sent the document to Congress on May 5 for Congressional review and possible revision, and the Government Printing Office subsequently posted the draft declaration on its Web site.

As of Tuesday evening, the reasons for that action remained a mystery. On its cover, the document seems to attribute its publication to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. But Lynne Weil, the committee spokeswoman, said the committee had “neither published it nor had control over its publication.”

Gary Somerset, a spokesman for the printing office, said it had “produced” the document “under normal operating procedures” but had now removed it from its Web site pending further review.

The document contains no military information about the nation’s stockpile of nuclear arms, or about the facilities and programs that guard such weapons. Rather, it presents what appears to be an exhaustive listing of the sites that make up the nation’s civilian nuclear complex, which stretches coast to coast and includes nuclear reactors and highly confidential sites at weapon laboratories.

Steven Aftergood, a security expert at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, revealed the existence of the document on Monday in Secrecy News, an electronic newsletter he publishes on the Web.

Mr. Aftergood expressed bafflement at its disclosure, calling it “a one-stop shop for information on U.S. nuclear programs.”

In his letter of transmittal to Congress, Mr. Obama characterized the information as “sensitive but unclassified” and said all the information that the United States gathered to comply with the advanced protocol “shall be exempt from disclosure” under the Freedom of Information Act.

The report details the locations of hundreds of nuclear sites and activities. Each page is marked across the top

HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
SAFEGUARDS SENSITIVE

in capital letters, with the exception of pages that detailed additional information like site maps. In his transmittal letter, Mr. Obama said the cautionary language was a classification category of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspectors.

The agency, in Vienna, Austria, is a unit of the United Nations whose mandate is to enforce a global treaty that tries to keep civilian nuclear programs from engaging in secret military work.

In recent years, it has sought to gain wide adherence to a set of strict inspection rules, known formally as the additional protocol. The rules give the agency powerful new rights to poke its nose beyond known nuclear sites into factories, storage areas, laboratories and anywhere else that a nation might be preparing to flex its nuclear muscle. The United States signed the agreement in 1998 but only recently moved forward with carrying it out.

The report lists many particulars about nuclear programs and facilities at the nation’s three nuclear weapons laboratories — Los Alamos, Livermore and Sandia — as well as dozens of other federal and private nuclear sites.

One of the most serious disclosures appears to center on the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, which houses the Y-12 National Security Complex, a sprawling site ringed by barbed wire and armed guards. It calls itself the nation’s Fort Knox for highly enriched uranium, a main fuel of nuclear arms.

The report lists “Tube Vault 16, East Storage Array,” as a prospective site for nuclear inspection. It said the site, in Building 9720-5, contains highly enriched uranium for “long-term storage.”

An attached map shows the exact location of Tube Vault 16 along a hallway and its orientation in relation to geographic north, although not its location in the Y-12 complex.

Tube vaults are typically cylinders embedded in concrete that prevent the accidental formation of critical masses of highly enriched uranium that could undergo bursts of nuclear fission, known as a criticality incident. According to federal reports, a typical tube vault can hold up to 44 tons of highly enriched uranium in 200 tubes. Motion detectors and television cameras typically monitor each vault.

Thomas B. Cochran, a senior scientist in the nuclear program of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a private group in Washington that tracks atomic arsenals, called the document harmless. “It’s a better listing than anything I’ve seen” of the nation’s civilian nuclear complex, Mr. Cochran said. “But it’s no national-security breach. It confirms what’s already out there and adds a bit more information.”

An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to attribution for the publication of the document.

A version of this article appeared in print on June 3, 2009, on page A18 of the New York edition.

- 30 -

Share your thoughts.
Read All Comments (175) »

June 03, 2009 6:37 am
I'm just anxious to see how Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart respond to this!
— Sam H., Warner Robins, GA

2.June 03, 2009 6:37 am
As Walt Kelly's Pogo said, back in 1972: "We have met the enemy and he is us."
— Ruth Klein, Rego Park, NY

3.June 03, 2009 6:37 am
"Highly confidential" is a bit of puffery. For classification purposes, there is “confidential,” Secret,” and “Top Secret.” Code word access may be added as needed. Anything else is meant to impress the reader or listener. You have to remember our government once classified a double recurve bow as “Secret.” It has routinely classified embarrassing information even when that action is expressly forbidden.

This is the equivalent of releasing a phone book. Where are the “PATRIOT Act” munchkins to lead us away from such an unpatriotic act? What a bunch of stuff I routinely spread in my garden.

— Arthur, Gloucestre, MA

4.June 03, 2009 6:37 am
"...the United States is opening itself up to stricter inspections in hopes that foreign countries, especially Iran and others believed to be clandestinely developing nuclear arms.."
Is grammar important here, namely that only countries that are currently developING nukes will be pressured, and not countries, like Israel, which have already developED nukes clandestinely? (note: no split infinitive)
— mystic, new york city

5.June 03, 2009 6:37 am
This security breach is totally outrageous. Homeland Security and the FBI should fully investigate this compromise of US national security. That people working for our government would publicly release such a sensitive, classified document is beyond comprehension.

I hope our national security people can figure out some way to undo the damage, but the answer is also beyond my comprehension.

What to do with those responsible for this mess also is a question. How about operating tour buses to national monuments in Washington, DC, and the environs, including the FBI, Pentagon, CIA, and other buildings critical to US national security, where they can repeat to visitors over and over again why it is so important to guard US national security.
— rayleeqwooted, New York, N.Y.

6.June 03, 2009 6:37 am
I would be rather surprised that this is actually a "screwup"...I think the Obama Administration just don't think terrorism is a threat as yet.
— Southernlight, Australia

7.June 03, 2009 6:37 am
God, I thought I was reading the Onion for a second
— laura, Louisiana

8.June 03, 2009 6:37 am
This is scary stuff. The only thing I can think of that approached this was the Chicago Tribune's story during the Second World War about the breaking of the Japanese military code. Luckily the Japanese didn't subscribe to the Trib. Makes you wonder if much of our survival actually depends on pure luck.
— Jeff, Sacramento, CA

9.June 03, 2009 6:37 am
How unbelievably stupid! With one blunder the work of countless measures has been erased. Who needs spies, when the government will just release Highly Confidential reports? The Rosenbergs were executed for turning over information to the Soviets that was worth a tiny fraction of what was just released.
— Martin, San Francisco

10.June 03, 2009 6:37 am
Are you kidding me? How is something of this nature released "accidentally"? This does not give me confidence in the people that are supposed to be safeguarding government information. This should be investigated and the person responsible should be forced to resign. Incompetent people should not be allowed to be in charge of such matters.
— mm, toyko, JP

11.June 03, 2009 6:37 am
Do you really believe that this was released by an accident?
I know that accidents happen -- but it's not the case here. I think that there's more to this story.
— Leonardo, Queens, NY

12.June 03, 2009 6:37 am
How about a link to the report?
— Smith, Warsaw

13.June 03, 2009 6:37 am
Accidentally? Sorry, but the odds are against government information of such importance leaking in error. Billions of dollars worth of contracts are now going to go out to relocate and enhance security at these places. This "oops" will ultimately result in our nuclear research, production and storage facilities becoming harder to verify, spy on and plot against. This one act will force large-scale changes that would otherwise be politically and fiscally unjustifiable. It seems too brilliant to be a dumb accident.
— BMajor, NYC

14.June 03, 2009 6:37 am
Ti's a strange world. Obama supporters state that the supposedly inadvertent release of this information is insignificant. Others seem to have quite the opposite opinion. Regardless, not to worry, Mr. Obama's self-proclaimed omnipotence will quell the possibility of any anamolies impacting our national security.
— Larry Stewart, Littleton, CO

15.June 03, 2009 6:37 am
that's bad, pretty dumb
— greenfuzz, brooklyn

16.June 03, 2009 6:37 am
Re: "The information, considered confidential but not classified,..." ????

"Classified" includes confidential, secret and top secret categories of information.

Is author of the news article responsible for the misstatement or was the misinformation provided by an incompetent government source?
— Bob Walton, Ft Meade

17.June 03, 2009 6:37 am
Thanks, Bush!
— Brian, NY

Recommend Recommended by 1 Reader 18.June 03, 2009 6:37 am
At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy loon, I must confess that whenever I hear about leaks -- particularly in DOD- and Defense-related matters -- I immediately think, with great unease, of the inevitable contingent of "burrowers" left behind by the Bush-Cheney Administration.
— AWessel, Vancouver, BC

19.

All Editors' Selections » EDITORS' SELECTIONS

June 03, 2009 8:01 am
It's doubtful the entire federal government released the report. Rather, an inattentive, careless, angry, or otherwise-motivated federal employee or two released the report. If this bureaucracy works like the ones I've experienced, the employee(s) in question will probably remain nameless, face no consequences, get a raise, and be promoted, most likely to a position in Homeland Security.
— Cordelia28, Astoria, OR

20.June 03, 2009 8:01 am
Good to see the adults are in charge.
— John, Currently Russia

21.June 03, 2009 8:01 am
One of the most critical issues of our times is getting serious about safety issues regarding nuclear power, nuclear weapons, and the makings of either. Gaffs resulting in confidential information leaks does not bode well, neither did the temporary loss of some of our weapons in transport recently. Our new computer czar will hopefully have the issues regarding computer technologies that are controlling much of our nuclear capabilities, (power or weapons) at the top of the list, in terms of priorities. These computer networks need to be heavily protected and monitored, as does any sensitive information about nuclear sites, unless it is information that the public needs to know for their safety.
— MissViolin, Portland, Oregon

22.June 03, 2009 8:01 am
Look at them ... This shows the safety and security standards of USA. I think they are working on another great conspiracy against Muslims or their Enemey state.

After this, if any thing happen in USA because of there own negligence, i hope they will not blame MUSLIMS or others outside USA.
— RAJA ADEEL, Pakistan

King Kong -- Jean-Luc Ponty's sublime interpretations of Frank Zappa

Clickety-click, it gets bigger.

Buy or illegally d/l or shoplift this album. Go instantly to Paradise. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200.

I don't know who or where Román García Albertos is, but he appears to be Cyberspace's High Exalted Priest and Grand Krigat of the music of Frank Zappa.

Something Wonderful happened in the recently concluded 20th Century, and Román devotes his life and soul to keeping it alive. I nominate Román for the Nobel Music Prize.

*+*+*+*

Jean-Luc Ponty - King Kong
King Kong. Jean-Luc Ponty Plays The Music Of Frank Zappa

(Jean-Luc Ponty, LP, [World] Pacific Jazz ST 20172, May 25, 1970)

1. King Kong 4:54
2. Idiot Bastard Son 4:00
3. Twenty Small Cigars 5:35
4. How Would You Like To Have A Head Like That
(Jean-Luc Ponty) 7:14
5. Music For Electric Violin And Low Budget Orchestra 19:20
6. America Drinks And Goes Home 2:39

October 6-7, 1969
Whitney Studios, Glendale

Produced by Richard Bock
Engineer: Dick Kunc
Composed and Arranged by Frank Zappa
"How Would You Like To Have A Head Like That" Composed by Jean-Luc Ponty

1. King Kong 4:54

Jean-Luc Ponty electric violin and baritone violectra
George Duke electric piano
Gene Estes vibes & percussion
Buell Neidlinger bass
Arthur D. Tripp, III drums
Ian Underwood tenor sax

2. Idiot Bastard Son 4:00

Jean-Luc Ponty electric violin and baritone violectra
George Duke electric piano
Wilton Felder fender bass
John Guerin drums
Ernie Watts alto & tenor sax

3. Twenty Small Cigars 5:35

Jean-Luc Ponty electric violin and baritone violectra
George Duke electric piano
Wilton Felder fender bass
John Guerin drums
Ernie Watts alto & tenor sax

4. How Would You Like To Have A Head like That 7:14
(Ponty)

Jean-Luc Ponty electric violin
Frank Zappa guitar
George Duke electric piano
Wilton Felder fender bass
John Guerin drums
Ernie Watts tenor sax

5. Music For Electric Violin And Low Budget Orchestra 19:20

includes Duke Of Prunes and Pound For A Brown

Ian Underwood conductor
Jean-Luc Ponty electric violin
George Duke piano & electric piano
Donald Christlieb bassoon
Gene Cipriano oboe & english horn
Vincent DeRosa French horn & descant
Arthur Maebe French horn & tuben
Jonathan Meyer flute
Harold Bemko cello
Buell Neidlinger bass
Milton Thomas viola
Arthur D. Tripp, III drums

6. America Drinks And Goes Home 2:39

Jean-Luc Ponty electric violin and baritone violectra
George Duke electric piano
Wilton Felder fender bass
John Guerin drums
Ernie Watts alto & tenor sax

Notes & Comments

King Kong King Kong (German Release)

* LP, [World] Pacific Jazz, ST 20172, May 25, 1970
* LP Liberty Records
* LP, Liberty/UA GmbH LBS 83375 I, Germany, 1970
* LP, Liberty/EMI Italiana 3C 054-91651, Italy
* CD, Blue Note Records/Capitol CDP 0777 7 89539 2, July 13, 1993

Original Liner Notes

If Zappa were writing the notes, he would surely warn you immediately of the total lack of commercial potential. He is not alone in his awareness of the value of reverse psychology. I am so concerned about the success of this album that I wouldn't dream of recommending it.

Necessity was the mother of Jean-Luc Ponty. Nothing truly new had happened in jazz violin - well, nothing that made any impact - since Ray Dance joined Duke, almost 30 years ago. Dick Bock was the mother of collaboration. "I'd heard more and more about Frank Zappa in jazz circles. Then Frank played me some of the "Hot Rats" album, which he was still working on. It was hard to pigeonhole; just fascinating instrumental music. Then I took an acetate of Jean-Luc to Frank's house. A few days later Jean-Luc played on a "Hot Rats" track. (Not available at this counter; try Bizarre Records.}

As Ponty and Zappa promptly developed an interest in each other's music the concept of a collaborative project was born. Frank was particularly concerned) with the development of an extended orchestral work, a formal piece tied to no one idiom and allowing Ponty interludes of expressive freedom. Music For Electric Violin and Low Budget Orchestra (a title decided upon, one suspects, after Zappa had asked Bock for a 97-piece ensembles is illustrative of Zappa's mastery not only of composition and orchestration, but also of transition. It emerges not as a segmented series of ideas arbitrarily linked together, but as a securely integrated whole that moves with almost subliminal subtlety from one tempo, meter, mood or idiom to another, and from reading to blowing; from the opening bassoon figure to the demonic closing violin passages in 7/8, it sustains the validity throughout its multi-textured duration.

The long work was conducted by Ian Underwood, former alto saxophonist and keyboardist with the Mothers of Invention, possessor of a bachelor's from Yale and a master's from Berkeley in piano and composition.

"Don Christlieb is one of the best bassoonists around, especially for the avant garde," says F.Z. "He has played Stockhausen and does regular concerts of contemporary music." He is also the father of Pete Christlieb, one of Hollywood's brightest new jazz tenor saxes.

Arthur D. Tripp, III, formerly the Mothers' percussionist, spent two years with the Cincinnati Symphony. {Zappa: "He really gets into those meters.") Buell Neidlinger, a premature jazz avantist, played with Cecil Taylor and Gil Evans in the 1950s. "He's with the Boston Symphony now," says Frank, "but I had to fly him out of there -- he's the only man I can think of who could play the bass part on the long piece."

Of the compositions on side one, it need only be said that they place Ponty in settings generally closer to jazz lit that term is still capable of definitions, the first three being basically in three and composed by Zappa. The Ponty number (composed by Jean-Luc, in four, arranged by Zappa} is the easiest blowing track, a G 7 vamp that provides a base for some of his most resourceful and unpredictable shifting of phrases, dissonant concepts and hard-swinging, post-Stuff Smith execution.

For me, the blowing on "How Would You Like To Have A Head" Like That constitute Ponty's best work in the album. For Zappa, Jean-Luc's peak is reached on "Idiot Bastard Son." For both of us, George Duke is a phenomenon throughout all tracks. "I'm only surprised," Frank comments, "that he didn't happen sooner." He certainly has happened now, with a little help from friends Bock and Ponty, on earlier collaborations, on records and in person.

Analyzing the overall performances, one could point out a number of details, like the ingenuity of the slowed-down pulse at the climatic point in "King Kong", the tight teamwork between Ponty and Ernie Watts on "Cigars," Ernie's solo and Zappa's wah-wah assertions on "Head." One would be wasting one's time, since they are all clearly enough recorded to be heard without lectures or blackboard illustrations.

A final word must be added, though, for the brief closing track on side 2, "America Drinks And Goes Home" has a put-on flavor, a quixotic rhythmic and melodic quality almost a touch of the Zeitgeist of Cabaret. John Guerin was allowed total freedom, George Duke gets into the feel of the piece, which, as Frank says, "suggests a bunch of drunks leaning up against a bar." The galloping finale brings the work to a disarmingly abrupt end. Like "idiot Bastard Son" and "King Kong," this was previously recorded by the Mothers. Just as it mirrors the growing unification of all musics, the Ponty-Zappa fusion shows that if you team a freaky French fiddler from over there with a master of the bizarre and the guitar from over here, what might seem to invite double jeopardy produces double sgenius.

-- Leonard Feather

*+*+*+*

Composed and Arranged by Frank Zappa
"How Would You Like To Have A Head Like That" Composed by Jean-Luc Ponty

How Would You Like To Have A Head Like That?
From: Patrick Neve

Try singing the title of this song along to the Jean-Luc Ponty composition.. it fits perfectly!

From: Peter ^Ùberg

Yes, I've always wondered if there might be a version with lyrics lurking somewhere.

From: Paul Hinrichs

It's so we can analyze them without there ACTUALLY being any lyrics. In this case, IMO, "head" is used in the vernacular musical sense, like, you know, the main theme.

What Makes This An Essential Album, by Michael Gula
From: Michael Gula

It contains the ONLY recording of "Twenty Small Cigars" that tells us how the tune goes after the fade-out on the Chunga's Revenge album.

When I first heard George Duke's solo on King Kong, I said to myself, "Wow! That guy is fantastic! Wish Zappa would hire guys like him to play in his band!"

Additionally, the version of "America Drinks And Goes Home" includes a delightfully intoxicated-sounding "new" section written by FZ which you will hear nowhere else... the "lopsided" rhythmic gyrations in the "new" section of "America Drinks and Goes Home", just before the vocal interjections. What the hell *are* those things? Pay special attention to the way Duke and Johnny Guerin play on that track. Ponty barely has a presence there...Duke and Guerin OWN that track!

"Low-Budget Orchestra" is an early version of the piece available on Studio Tan/Läther--comparing the two versions is a fascinating pursuit. It alone is worth more than double the price of the CD.

What about the lovely version of "Duke of Prunes" that pops up for no obvious reason in "Low Budget Orchestra!" Just listen to the way Duke phrases his solo. Pure genius!

And tell me honestly now, Weren't you surprised when you first heard the "missing" measures in "Low Budget"...right around measure 53? To this day when I hear the Läther version I expect to hear them there! I wish FZ had explained why he took those measures out.

And it has my absolutely favorite version of "Pound For a Brown" (not even mentioned in the track listing) in the close of "Low Budget Orchestra." Again, listen to Duke's wild, atonal "mutant" jazz solo during the handclapping section.

Essential, absolutely essential for anyone interested in Zappa!

Different Versions Of The Back Cover
From: Ken Walter

The LP version was not on Blue Note (I believe the "Cantaloupe Island" reissue was) but on World Pacific Jazz Records (ST-20172).

There are at least two versions of the back cover, one with two photos that included FZ and one with two different photos. The original copy I bought in 1974 had the Zappa photos. Did he make Ponty remove the photos at some point? There is an interview where he really disses Ponty somewhere.

I wonder if FZ got mad at Ponty and made him change the photos?

The CD reissue had no photos.

The German Release
From: Kristian Kier

Some facts about the [German release of the] King-Kong LP:

Artist: JLP
Title: King Kong
Label: Liberty / UA GmbH
Order Number: LBS 83375 I
Matrix Numbers: 83375A / ST-26172-2 83375-B (handwritten)
Both sides have "Made in Germany" stamped between the outrun grooves.
Country: Germany
Year: 1970

The three blue pictures on the back are the ones including Zappa, btw.

Jean-Luc Ponty, Canteloupe Island

Canteloupe Island

05/31/76 LP Cantaloupe Island (Blue Note BN-LA-632-H2)

Personnel (Sides One/Two)
Jean-Luc Ponty- violin
George Duke- piano
Gene Estes- vibes and Percussion
Buell Neidlinger- bass
Arthur D. Tripp- drums
Ian Underwood- tenor sax
Wilton Felder- bass
Ernie Watts- alto and tenor sax
John Guerin- drums
Frank Zappa- guitar

Arranged and conducted by Frank Zappa

Personnel (Sides Three/Four)

Jean-Luc Ponty- electric violin
George Duke- electric piano
John Heard- electric bass
Dick Berk drums

Tracklist:
Side 1-KING KONG, IDIOT BASTARD SON, TWENTY SMALL CIGARS, HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE A HEAD LIKE THAT.
Side 2-MUSIC FOR ELECTRIC VIOLIN AND LOW BUDGET ORCHESTRA, AMERICA DRINKS AND GOES HOME.
Side 3-FOOSH, PAMUKKALE, CONTACT.
Side 4-CANTELOUPE ISLAND, STARLIGHT, STARBRIGHT.
Liner Notes

JEAN-LUC PONTY
by Leonard Feather

The role of the violin in contemporary Improvisation has been an anomaly from the early years of this century. Until a few years ago, lt was classified under "miscellaneous Instruments" in any discussions, or popularity polls, that dealt more fully with such long established components of the orchestra as the trumpet, saxophone, trombone and clarinet. This somewhat derogatory pigeonholing could be ascribed, at least in part, to the technical demands involved in developing any true mastery of the Instrument. Another reason may have been the lack of job opportunities, particularly for black musicians.

Despite such problems, the violin played a more important part in jazz during the ragtime era than lt did after the official arrival of the jazz band. In many areas, the violinist was considered a logical choice to lead an ensemble. When Duke Ellington opened at the Cotton Club in 1927, this auspicious turning point in his career was marked by the appointment of the violinist to stand in front of the ensemble, a move presumably designed to impart an air of respectablllty. This innovation was short-lived, as Duke quickly showed his personal capacity for leadership.

For a long while the violin was regarded not only as a symbol of dignity but also as something vaguely exotic and perhaps non-American. lt is not without significance that the late Eddie South (1904-1962), one of the first great jazz violinists, undertook some of his extensive studies in Budapest, and that a distinct gypsy strain ran through much of his work. lt is remarkable too that of the five violinists elected to the top places in Downbeat's Fortieth Annual Readers Poll at the end of 1975, four were European born. Admittedly, one of them, Joe Venuti, spent only a few years in his native Italy before his family settled in Philadelphia; yet his heritage may weil have something to do with the development and nature of his talent.

The characteristics inherent in Venuti's work are even more dramatically evident in that of Stéphane Grappelli, who recently enjoyed belated acceptance among American audiences during his first tour of this country at the age of 68. Similarly, Michal Urbaniak, who ran second in the voting to Grappelli's third, brought with him something quite personal and influential when he left his native Poland and settled in New York a couple of years ago. But the artist who best symbolizes the full emancipation of the violin from miscellaneous Instrument to vital voice in today's music is the soloist from Arranches, Normandy, France. who occupied the poll's top slot, Jean-Luc Ponty. (The American born violinist, in case you are curious, was Jerry Goodman, who flnished in fourth place.)

The son of two academicians (his father taught violin, his mother, piano). Ponty began his studies at the age of five. Little over a decade later, he attended the National Conservatory of Music, where he won a prize. After two years wlth the Concerts Lamoureux classical orchestra, he made the transition to popular music, working as a sideman with the Jef Gilson band from 1961-4.

lt was not until he enjoyed a surprise success at the Antibes Jazz Festival in the summer of 1964 that he decided to stay in jazz on a full-time basis. The next years found him on the festival circuit, from Monterey (1967 and 1969) to Montreux (1972). Especially prestigious was an appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1974. During this time he was involved wlth a series of artists representing diverse aspects of the American scene: Frank Zappa, George Duke, Mahavishnu, the first two of whom are represented in the present collection.

Zappa, by the time of his association with Ponty, had become an influential figure in an area too broad to be categorized by any such term as rock. Not for nothing was his group known as the Mothers of Invention. lt was dear to Zappa that necessity, in effect, was the mother of Jean-Luc Ponty, for nothing truly original had happened to the violin since the formative years of Stuff Smith and Ray Nance.

The man who brought them together was Dick Bock. the founding father of Pacific Jazz Records, a label whose influence had been pervasive throughout the 1960s. "I had heard more and more about Frank Zappa in jazz circles," he told me. "Then Frank played me some of the Hot Rats album on which he was still working. lt was hard to classify; just fascinating instrumental music. Then I took an acetate of Jean-Luc to Frank's house. A few days later Jean-Luc played on a Hot Rots track." As the two men fast developed an interest in each other's music, the concept of a collective project was born. Frank was particularly concerned with the development of an extended orchestral work, a formal piece tied to no one idiom and allowing Ponty interludes of expressive freedom. Music for Electric Violin and Low Budget Orchestra (possibly Zappa decided on this title after asking for 97 musicians and winding up with eleven men and a conductor) illustrates not only his mastery of composition and orchestration, but also of transition. lt emerges not as a fragmented series of ideas arbitrarily linked together, but as a securely integrated whole tbat moves with almost subliminal subtlety through various tempos, meters, moods and idioms. and from formal, written music to free-flowing blowing. Throughout its multitextured duration, from the opening bassoon figure to the demonic 7/8 violin passages at the end, this validity is retained and sustained.

lan Underwood, a former alto saxophonist and keyboard solist with tbe Mothers of Invention, who conducted this work, came to the project as the owner of a bachelor's degree from Yale and a master's from Berkeley in piano and composition.

Zappa, particularly impressed with the work of Donald Christlieb, described him to me as "one of the best bassoonists around, especially for the avant garde. He has played Stockhausen and does regular concerts of contemporary mosic." In recent years, Don's son, Pete Cbristlieb, has leapt to national prominence as a member of the Tonight Show band and soloist with Louie Bellson.

The drummer on this track and on King Kong, Arthur D. Tripp. III, formerly was a regular percussionist with the Mothers, but also spent two years with the Cincinnati Symphony. As Zappa commented, "he really gets into those meters." Buell Neidlinger, bassist on the same two tracks, was with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the time of the recording, but Zappa observed, "I had to fly him out here --- he's the only man I can think of who can play the bass part on the long piece." A forefather of the New Music, Neidlinger played with Cecil Taylor and Gil Evans in the 1950s.

Such tracks as King Kong, Idiot Bastard Son, and Twenty Small Cigars find Ponty in contexts that are generally closer to jazz than most of Zappa's work. This is true also of How Would You Like To Have A Head Like That?, a Ponty original arranged by Zappa. This it the most straight ahead blowing track of the Set, a basic G 7th vamp that provides a foundation for some of Jean-Luc's most resourceful and unpredictable shiftings of phrases, dissonant concepts and hard-swinging post-Stuff Smith execution. For me, the playing on this track constitutes Ponty's outstanding contribution to the session.

Zappa feels that the violinist's peak is reached on Idiot Bastard Son. For both of us, George Duke is a phenomenon throughout every track. "I am only surprised," Frank told me, "that he didn't happen sooner." Duke certainly happened here, with a little help from friends Bock and Ponty, and in the years since this session distinguished himself throughout collaborations with Don Ellis, the Mothers, Cannonball Adderly and Billy Cobham, in addition to leading various groups in person and on records.

There are many surprises on these first two sides. Note particularly the ingenuity of the slowed-down pulse at the climactic point in King Kong, tbe tight teamwork between Ponty and Ernie Watts on Cigars, Ernie's solo and Zappa's wah-wah assertions on Head. A special word must be added for the brief dosing track on Side Two, America Drinks And Goes Home. This has a put-on flavor, a Quixotic melodic and rhythmic quality, almost a touch of the Zeitgeist of Cabaret.

John Guerin (later to gain renown as a member of the L.A. Express) was allowed total freedom; George Duke toughs his way through the piece, which Zappa says "suggests a bunch of drunks leaning up against the bar." The galloping finale brings the work to a disarmingly abrupt end. Like Idiot Bastard Son and King Kong, this was previously recorded by tbe Mothers.

The seemingly unlikely fusion of these two men --- the freaky French fiddler from over there teamed with the master of the bizarre and the guitar from over here --- resulted not in double jeopardy but in double genius. Less complex and equally effective in a more easily accessible way are the products of Sides Three and Four, recorded live in Hollywood.

The scene was "Thee Experience," known primarily as a rock club. For Ponty and for Dick Bock it was a calculated risk to book the new king of jazz violin in a show among rock acts; however, there was a strong contingent of musicians in the audience. Tbe ovations received by Ponty were an augury of things to come.

George Duke's composition, Foosh, is a minor vamp that provides an ideal point of departure for Jean-Luc. His work here reminds us again of a statement he made many years ago: "When I play, I don't think of the violin, but of jazz, of music. I don't especially want to be a violinist, but a jazzman." At one time a saxophonist himself, he named Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman among his preferred musicians.

Pamukkale is a camposition by Wolfgang Dauner, the Stuttgart born pianist who rose to the forefront among German musicians in the 1960s. lt is notable for the ad lib introduction in which Ponty and George Duke conduct a sensitive dialogue before John Heard (the bassist with Count Basie's orchestra in recent years) and Dick Berk, a member of the Cal Tjader quintet for the past six years, ease in almost imperceptibly as the performance slips into a steady tempo. Duke's gentle solo here provided a reminder that he was one of the first true masters of the electronic keyboard.

Jean-Luc's original composition, Contact, is a simple yet rhythmically tricky theme on which he improvises with baffling complexity against the rhythm section's steady four-beat pulse. There are overtones not only of Stuff Smith but of Michael White, the noted San Francisco violinist who came to jazz prominence around the same time as Ponty. The theme is based on the traditional 12-bar pattern, but so obliquely that you would hardly know it.

Canteloupe Island is, of course, one of the great Herbie Hancock standards, originally recorded for Blue Note on a memorable session with a quintet that included Herbie. Much of the flavor of the original interpretation is retained in Jean-Luc's version, with particularly sensitive support from George Duke.

Jean-Luc recalls: "From the first notes, the first chords, I knew that playing with a musician like George Duke would be a great experience." George himself, remembering a partnership that began in the spring of 1969 and lasted through most of that year, says, "When we started playing our first nightclub date at Donte's, neither of us had heard the other, yet we got so excited with each other's playing that we didn't want to stop. lt was a once-in-a-lifetime feeling. Jean-Luc heard things in my playing that inspired him, and often I simply wanted to lay back completely and just listen to that violin wail!"

Starlight, Starbright is notable for a joyful, free-form roller coaster ride by Ponty and Duke. The performance cooks at a very fast tempo, though after about five minutes the rhythm is partially suspended as Ponty builds a rare tension, during a passage of improvised interplay with his colleagues, before picking up the beat again. Toward the end the spotlight turns to Dick Berk. The young drummer had recently arrived on the West Coast from New York and was already proving himself equally adept in rock and jazz. Re was a regular member of the George Duke trio in 1969-70. John Heard, incidentally, worked with George almost continually whenever the trio was in action between 1964 and 1970.

In the years since these four sides were committed to tape, the career of Jean-Luc Ponty has assumed a more definite direction. Today his values are somewhat different: he works in the setting of a hard driving rock band, and has taken to doubling on the violectra and autoharp. Without implying any qualitative comparison, it is safe to say that the musicianship and creativity he had already achieved when the present four sides were recorded has shown an impressive durability. For anyone who is into violin music in general, or Ponty in particular, Canteloupe Island offers an essential reminder of one of the most important phases in a brilliantly innovative career.

LEONARD FEATHER
Author of The Pleasures of Jazz.
Horizon Press

From: ebay seller "records2"

Jean-luc Ponty canteloupe island.blue note reissue series. Originally recorded on [World] Pacific jazz while ponty was with the mothers of invention. 1976 nm/nm/nm.good liner notes gatefold.A hard to find lp 23 years old.

From: TTrocc7007

Patrick, Looks like you found one of the re-issues. The set you have re-issues two (at that time) out-of-print Ponty LPs. Canteloupe Island is the first LP of the re-issue. It's Ponty's small trio with George Duke on keys recorded as I recall circa 1966 in Los Angeles. The second LP of the set is a straight re-issue of the FZ produced King Kong LP. This version came out sometime between 1976 and '77 if i recall correctly. -Tom Troccoli

All compositions by Frank Zappa except as noted
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This page updated: 2006-04-10

cityscape with flowers

Click, prettier things happen.

This photograph was taken by the American poet Sharon Dolin, who obviously is voyaging around España. Four of her poems are HERE.

Buildings in Córdoba apparently compete for this sort of public presentation. Ms. Dolin posted photos, poems, and her thoughts about España on the blog

thebestamericanpoetry

Okay! Let's light this candle! / National Ignition Facility in California ready to zap world's largest superlaser array

Oh please click the images to make them larger.

The heck with CERN's Large Hadron Collider.

We got THIS!

There is no danger that the new National Ignition Facility will create a Black Hole or Strangelet and destroy the Earth, as many (well, six or seven) fear the LHC will.

Rather, as the story below suggests, some believe the NIF's superpowerful laser array will incinerate and vaporize spectacular amounts of federal taxpayer money indefinitely. It has been reliably incinerating huge sums for many years.

But the PLAN is to focus

192 = 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 3

enhanced lasers on a tiny region at the center of the target chamber, to superheat and implode a pea-size pellet of heavy hydrogen (deuterium), causing the hydrogen nuclei to fuse into helium, releasing usable energy. The physics are those of the interior of a star, or of a thermonuclear explosion, but controlled.

Okay, let's light this candle!

=============

San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco, California USA
Sunday 31 May 2008

Livermore Lab justifies
big laser project

by William J. Broad, New York Times

In a dry California valley, outside a small town, a cathedral of light is to be dedicated Friday. Like the cathedrals of antiquity, it is built on an unrivaled scale with unmatched technology, and it embodies a scientific doctrine that, if confirmed, might lift civilization to new heights.

"Bringing Star Power to Earth," reads a giant banner that was recently unfurled across a building the size of a football stadium in Livermore.

The $3,500,000,000 site is known as the National Ignition Facility, or NIF. For more than half a century, physicists have dreamed of creating tiny stars that would inaugurate an era of bold science and cheap energy, and NIF is meant to kindle that blaze.

In theory, the facility's 192 lasers - made of nearly 60 miles of mirrors and fiber optics, crystals and light amplifiers - will fire as one to pulverize a fleck of hydrogen fuel smaller than a match head. Compressed and heated to temperatures hotter than those of the core of a star, the hydrogen atoms will fuse into helium, releasing bursts of thermonuclear energy.

The project's director, Ed Moses, said that getting to the cusp of ignition (defined as the successful achievement of fusion) had taken some 7,000 workers and 3,000 contractors a dozen years, their labors creating a precision colossus of millions of parts and 60,000 points of control, 30 times as many as on the space shuttle.

"It's the cathedral story," Moses said during a tour. "We put together the best physicists, the best engineers, the best of industry and academia. It's not often you get that opportunity and pull it off."

In February, NIF fired its 192 beams into its target chamber for the first time, and it now has the world's most powerful laser, as well as the largest optical instrument ever built. But raising its energies still further to the point of ignition could take a year or more of experimentation and might, officials concede, prove daunting and perhaps impossible.

For that reason, skeptics dismiss NIF as a colossal delusion that is squandering precious resources at a time of economic hardship. Just operating it, officials grant, will cost $140,000,000 a year. Some doubters ridicule it as the National Almost Ignition Facility, or NAIF.

Even friends of the effort are cautious. "They've made progress," said Roy Schwitters, a University of Texas physicist who leads a federal panel that recently assessed NIF's prospects. "Ignition may eventually be possible. But there's still much to learn."

Moses, while offering no guarantees, argued that any great endeavor involved risks and that the gamble was worth it because of the potential rewards.

He said that NIF, if successful, would help keep the nation's nuclear arms reliable without underground testing, would reveal the hidden life of stars and would prepare the way for radically new kinds of power plants.

"If fusion energy works," he said, "you'll have, for all intents and purposes, a limitless supply of carbon-free energy that's not geopolitically sensitive. What more would you want? It's a game changer."

NIF is to fire its lasers for 30 years.

Like the dedication of a cathedral, the event Friday at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is to be a celebration of hope. Officials say some 3,500 people will attend. The big names include Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Energy Secretary Steven Chu (whose agency finances NIF) and Charles Townes, a Nobel laureate and laser pioneer.

In preparation, workmen washed windows and planted flowers on the lush campus, the day auspiciously sunny.

Moses, who runs science programs for high school students in his spare time, broke from his own preparations to show a visitor the NIF complex.

In its lobby, he held up a device smaller than a postage stamp. This is where it all starts, he said. From this kind of tiny laser, beams emerge that grow large and bright during their long journey through NIF's maze of mirrors, lenses and amplifiers.

The word laser is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. And each particle of light, or photon, is amplified, Moses said, to "around 10 to the 25th" photons. Or, "10 million, million, million, million."

10^25 = 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

A nearby stand held a thick slab of pink glass about the size of a traffic sign - an example of an amplifier. NIF has 3,200 in all. Moses said the big step occurred when giant flash tubes - like ones in cameras but 6 feet long and 7,680 in number - flashed in unison to excite the pink glass. Laser photons then zip through, stimulating cascades of offspring, making the beam much stronger, such amplification happening over and over.

Photons moving in step with one another is what makes laser light so bright and concentrated and, in some instances, so potent.

Moses picked up a mock capsule of hydrogen fuel. It was all of 2 millimeters wide, or less than a tenth of an inch.

"It heats up," he said. "It blows in at 1,000,000 miles an hour, moving that way for about 5 billionths of a second. It gets to about the diameter of your hair. When it gets that small, that fast, you hit temperatures where it can start fusing - around 100,000,000 degrees centigrade, or 180,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit."

Hairnets, hard hats and safety goggles were donned before entering NIF proper. Repeated steps on sticky pads pulled dirt from shoes. Dust is NIF's bane, Moses said. It can ruin optics and experiments. He said the 33-foot-wide target chamber was evacuated to a near-vacuum, much the same as outer space - a void where light can zip along with almost no impediments.

Moses said the team fired the laser only at night and did maintenance and equipment upgrades during the day. "This is a 24/7 facility," he said.

The previous night, he said, the laser had been fired in an effort to improve coordination and timing. The 192 rays have to strike the target as close to simultaneously as possible.

The individual beams, he said, have to hit "within a few trillionths of a second" of one another if the fuel is to burn, and be pointed at the target with a precision "within half the diameter of your hair."

The control room, modeled on NASA's mission control in Houston, was buzzing with activity, even though some consoles sat empty. Phones rang. Walkie-talkies crackled. The countdown to firing the lasers, Moses said, took 3 1/2 hours, with the process "pretty much in the hands of computers."

The operations plan for NIF, he added, is to conduct 700 to 1,000 laser firings per year, with about 200 of the experiments focused on ignition. There is no danger of a runaway blast, he said. Fusion works by heat and pressure, not chain reactions. Moreover, the fuel is minuscule and the laser flash extraordinarily short. During a year of operations, Moses said, "the facility is on for only three-thousandths of a second," yet will generate a growing cascade of data and insights.

Next on the tour, after more sticky pads, was the holy of holies, the room surrounding the target chamber. It looked like an engine room out of a science-fiction starship. The beam lines - now welters of silvery metal filled with giant crystals that shifted the concentrated light to higher frequencies - converged on the chamber's blue wall. Its surface was dotted with silvery portholes where complex sensors could be placed to evaluate the tiny blasts.

"When it's running," Moses said, "there's a lot of stuff at the chamber's center."

Despite the giant banner outside and its confident prediction, it is an open question whether NIF's sensors will ever detect the rays of a tiny star, independent scientists say.

"I personally think it's going to be a close call," said William Happer, a physicist at Princeton University who directed federal energy research for the first President George Bush. "It's a very complicated system, and you're dependent on many things working right."

Happer said a big issue for NIF was achieving needed symmetries at minute scales. "There's plenty of room," he added, "for nasty surprises."

Doubters say past troubles may be a prologue. When proposed in 1994, the giant machine was to cost $1,200,000,000 and be finished by 2002. But costs rose and the completion date kept getting pushed back, so much so that Congress threatened to pull the plug. Today, critics see the delays and the $3,500,000,000 price tag as signs of overreaching.

Moses, who was put in charge of NIF a decade ago in an effort to right the struggling project, said that a decade from now, as NIF opened new frontiers, no one would remember the missteps. He compared the project to feats like going to the moon, building the atom bomb and inventing the airplane.

"Stumbles are not unusual when you take on big-risk projects," he said.

Moses added that the stumble rule applied to cathedrals as well.

Having grown up in Eastchester, close to New York City, he noted that the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, was still under construction after more than a century. Is it worthwhile, despite the delays?

"Of course it is," he said. Taking on big projects that challenge the imagination "is who we are as a species."

This article appeared on page A-23 of the San Francisco Chronicle

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