Wittgenstein, Mahler, Detroit

Farsighted readers will recall that my old friend "Red", who lives in Detroit near Wayne State, had an issue with a shotgun a couple of years back. He cranked off a few rounds in an empty house to celebrate Easter and, long story short, was let off with a warning by LE. 

Red's House

Now he's taken to listening to Mahler at the DSO and posting things like, "Mahler 3. Gonna try not to weep like a baby."

Wittgenstein Hated Mahler

Wittgenstein had this to say about Mahler.

If it is true that Mahler's music is worthless, as I believe to be the case, then the question is what I think he ought to have done with his talent. For quite obviously it took a set of very rare talents to produce this bad music. Should he have written his symphonies and then burnt them? Or should he have done violence to himself and not written them?
          Ludwig Wittgenstein, Culture and Value (67)

Detroit's population has declined from a peak of 2 million in 1950 to less than 700,000 today. Some 25% of its houses are derelict and awaiting demolition. Wild dogs roam its streets and empty highways.

I will visit the Motor City in August.

LSP

Kwame Goes Down!

Kwame

As packs of wild dogs roam the once thriving streets of America's Motor City, former Detroit Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, has been sentenced to 28 years in the slammer.

Dog Pack

An estimated 50,000 dogs run wild in the streets of Detroit, abandoned by their owners and free to run through a city that's fast reverting to the wilderness from which it came. Now bankrupt, the nation's former automotive capitol is an urban wasteland of abandoned homes, blighted blocks and empty highways, with the few citizens that remain living in fear of savage dogs, crackheads and corrupt politicians.

Free Kwame

Part of the blame falls at the shackled feet of one-time Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, a rising political star who sank beneath a sea of old-skool graft and coke-fueled parties at his mayoral mansion. 

Well Done, Government

Judge Nancy Edmunds, who handed down the lengthy jail term, accused the Kwame administration of "devastating corruption" and stated that "That way of doing government is over."

Get it On

Well you never know. 

I like Detroit but I don't see it "coming back." Sorry, hipsters.

LSP