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Home , Dmitri Shostakovich, Gabriel Kahane, Oregon Symphony

LIVE RECORDING PROJECT: emergency shelter intake form FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2018, 6 PM

by LUTOSŁAWSKI SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2019, 7:30 PM SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2019, 2 PM MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2019, 7:30 PM

Carlos Kalmar, conductor Johannes Moser,

Witold Lutosławski Cello Introduction Four Episodes Cantilena Finale Johannes Moser

Biography

Moser’s discography with his exclusive A dedicated chamber musician, Moser label pentatone has won multiple is a regular at festivals including the awards, and November 2018 saw the Verbier, Schleswig-Holstein, Gstaad release of his most recent disc featuring Kissinger, Colorado, Seattle, and Brevard the Lutosławski and Dutilleux . music festivals. In the 2018/19 Season, Moser was Artist- Renowned for his efforts to expand the in-Residence with the Bournemouth reach of the classical genre, as well as his Orchestra, Royal Scottish passionate focus on new music, Moser National Orchestra, Berlin Radio has recently been heavily involved in Symphony Orchestra, and the Oregon commissioning works by Julia Wolfe, Johannes Moser Symphony, undertaking a diverse range Ellen Reid, Thomas Agerfeld Olesen, Johannes Kalitzke, Jelena Firsowa, and Johannes Moser last appeared with the of projects including concerto and solo Andrew Norman. on January 14, 2019, performances, education and outreach when he performed Shostakovich’s activities, and a chamber orchestra tour Throughout his career, Moser has No. 1 with conductor directed from the cello. been committed to reaching out to all . Other highlights of last season include audiences, from kindergarten to college and beyond. He combines most of his German-Canadian cellist Moser Moser’s debut with the Vienna concert engagements with masterclasses, has performed with the world’s Philharmonic and Oslo Philharmonic school visits and preconcert lectures. leading orchestras such as the Berlin orchestras, the World and European Philharmonic, , premieres of Andrew Norman’s Cello Moser plays on an Andrea Guarneri , Chicago Concerto, and two trips to Australasia Cello from 1694 from a private Symphony, bbc Philharmonic at the including a tour with the New Zealand collection. Proms, London Symphony, Tokyo nhk Symphony Orchestra followed later in the Symphony, and the Philadelphia and season by concerts at the Australian Cleveland orchestras with conductors of Festival of , Melbourne the highest level. Symphony Orchestra, and in recital at the Sydney House. Throughout the concerto, Lutosławski In the Cantilena, soloist and orchestra WITOLD LUTOSŁAWSKI presents soloist and orchestra in near- briefly reconcile their musical argument 1913–94 constant conflict. Many, including before the full orchestra asserts its Rostropovich, heard the concerto as a overwhelming sonic power. The Finale, Cello Concerto struggle between the individual and wrote Lutosławski, features “a sort of composed: 1969–70 external oppressive forces, e.g., an challenge between the cello and the first oregon symphony artist working under the watchful, orchestra, after which the cello – playing performance censorious eye of the Soviet state. The three very rapid sections – is ‘attacked’ by letter Lutosławski sent to Rostropovich different small groups of instruments. instrumentation: solo cello, piccolo, – at Rostropovich’s request – explained Finally the orchestra prevails… after which 3 flutes, 3 oboes, 3 clarinets, bass the “certain musical situations” with the cello moans a lamentation… instead clarinet, 3 bassoons, , descriptive language meant to help the of a gloomy disappearing conclusion that 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 , , cellist interpret the music. For his own one might have expected, a short and fast timpani, bass drum, orchestra bells, part, however, Lutosławski rejected coda… recalls the beginning of the work, small cymbals, snare drum, suspended Rostropovich’s metaphor about the or rather its bright atmosphere…” cymbal, tambourine, tam tam, solo cello. When Lutosławski provided drum, tom-toms, , whip/ comments for the premiere, he took clapper, , , piano, harp, pains to describe the music in detail, but and strings deliberately avoided any non-musical estimated duration: 25 minutes interpretation of the work. Presumably, Lutosławski wanted listeners to come to their own conclusions and evaluate the “I can’t guarantee I will play it well, but concerto on purely musical terms. I certainly will play it often.” – Mstislav “The concerto consists of four movements Rostropovich, urging Witold Lutosławski to played without a break: Introduction, write him a cello concerto Four Episodes, Cantilena, and Finale,” The late cellist/conductor Mstislav Lutosławski wrote. “In the Introduction, Rostropovich did more to expand I examine the note D, repeated at one cello repertoire than any other cellist. second intervals in an expressionless When Rostropovich died in 2007, at manner as a moment of complete the age of 80, his obituary noted more relaxation, or even absentmindedness… than 100 new works for cello that passing on from the state of Rostropovich had inspired, encouraged, absentmindedness to that of concentration and/or commissioned. Many of the and the other way round is always abrupt… 20th century’s greatest composers The last moment of absentmindedness is wrote for Rostropovich, including slightly different from the previous ones, Dmitri Shostakovich, , with dynamic differences, grace-notes, etc. , , and It is as if the cello, having been forced to Witold Lutosławski. perform monotonous, boring repetitions, were trying to diversify them in a naïve, “I needed more than a year and a half silly way. At this moment, trumpets to bring this Concerto to a successful intervene to stop the cello and shout out conclusion,” Witold Lutosławski wrote an angry phrase. in his program notes for the premiere. “I sent the pages to Rostropovich “After a five-second pause, the cello begins bit by bit as they were drafted. I also the first Episode, inviting a few instruments wrote him a letter explaining the to a dialogue… Brasses put an end to it, form my concerto was taking, using a as they did at the end of the preceding vocabulary more literary than musical. movement. Other Episodes unfold in a I have done it purposely in order to similar manner. Their character is always make certain musical situations in the grazioso, scherzando [pretty or joking], score clearer and more suggestive. But or the like. Only the interventions of the it does not imply any literary or extra- brasses are serious and will remain so musical meaning…” nearly until the end of the piece.” OREGON SYMPHONY • CARLOS KALMAR, MUSIC DIRECTOR

LIVE RECORDING PROJECT: emergency shelter intake form FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2018, 6 PM

Carlos Kalmar, conductor Alicia Hall Moran, mezzo-soprano Holland Andrews, Gabriel Kahane, and Holcombe Waller, chorus of inconvenient statistics Maybelle Community Singers

Gabriel Kahane emergency shelter intake form

I. what brings you here? II. the chorus of inconvenient statistics III. where did you stay last night? IV. if you answered yes to “living with family” V. have you ever been evicted? VI. certainly we can all agree VII. have you received any income in the last thirty days? VIII. do your co-workers know that you have lost your home? IX. are you eligible for a section 8 voucher? X. has your physical health caused you to lose your housing? XI. a brief history of the subprime mortgage loan crisis XII. have you ever been denied a lease or loan? XIII. thank you for completing this form

THIS CONCERT IS BEING RECORDED! Please note that this concert is being recorded for future release. We ask patrons to be as quiet as possible during the performance, and to refrain from turning pages until movements are complete.

ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL

emergency shelter intake form LEAD RECORDING SPONSORS Anonymous Scott Showalter Karen & Bill Early The Standard Jim & Karen Halliday Robert and Barre Stoll Fund of the Tige & Peggy Harris Oregon Community Foundation Robert & Janis Harrison Nancy & Walter Weyler William & Flora Hewlett Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Homer Williams Holzman Foundation/ Renée & Irwin Holzman

Oregon Symphony Biographies

An avid theater artist, Kahane has appeared twice at the bam Next Wave Festival, in 2014 with the critically-lauded staged version of The Ambassador, directed by Tony-winner John Tiffany; and returning in 2017 with 8980: Book of Travelers, directed by Daniel Fish. He is also the composer-lyricist of the musical February House, which premiered in 2012 at the Public Theater. Alicia Hall Moran Gabriel Kahane A graduate of Brown University and two- Alicia Hall Moran – mezzo soprano and Over the last decade, Gabriel Kahane has time MacDowell Colony fellow, Gabriel lives composer – conjures from the sonic quietly established himself as a songwriter in , ny. molecules of and jazz a all his own, grafting a deep interest in creative world entirely her own. storytelling to a keen sense of harmony The Her latest album, Here Today (2017), was and rhythm. His major label debut, Ambassador, a study of Los Angeles seen released to high praise with transcendent through the lens of ten street addresses, was vocal performances that travel easily from hailed by Rolling Stone as “one of the year’s jazz club to symphony hall. All About Jazz very best albums.” raved, “I may not know from which depth of her soul Alicia Hall Moran summoned Gabriel has collaborated with a diverse array Here Today, but I do know that it will negate of artists, including Paul Simon, Sufjan any and every imposter who tries to take Stevens, Andrew Bird, Blake Mills, and Chris Holland Andrews its place.” Her ice-skating operatic project Thile, the front man of Punch Brothers, for Breaking Ice: Battle of the Carmens on the whom Kahane opened fifty concerts in the Holland Andrews is an American extended- 2018 Prototype: Opera/Theatre/Now Festival, U.S. in 2015 and 2016. As a composer, he technique vocalist, composer, and performer resulted in a New York Times feature. Moran has been commissioned by (among others) who works across Europe and the United made her breakout debut in the Tony- the American Composers Orchestra, the States. Andrews is a musician who combines winning revival The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall, influences from contemporary opera, covering for Audra McDonald on Broadway A Far Cry, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, musical theater, and experimental genres and starring as Bess on the celebrated 20-city and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, with such as ambient and . American tour, leading the Los Angeles Times whom he toured in the spring of 2013, Andrews focuses on collaborations in , to laud her: “Moran finds the truth of the performing Gabriel’s Guide to the 48 States, theater, and film, in addition to composing character in her magnificent voice.” an hour-long cycle on texts from the wpa solo works, oftentimes under the stage name American Guide Series. Other orchestral A natural collaborator, her sensitivity and Like a Villain. Their vocal style is known to highlights have included solo appearances skill have been tapped by artists across traverse a vast terrain of textures ranging with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, disciplines including visual artist Carrie from opera and jazz to throat singing. Their Colorado Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Mae Weems, curator Okwui Enwezor, composition style is marked by a multitude of Orchestra, and The Knights, with whom choreographer Bill T. Jones, and guitarist Bill dense vocal layers and textures, which weave Gabriel recorded his orchestral Frisell. Artist residencies include Isabella together a sprawling emotional tapestry that Crane Palimpsest following a performance at Stewart Gardner Museum, MASSMoCA, commands space for both dissonance and Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall in 2016. and National Sawdust. Solo commissions intimacy. Holland sings in and composed include ArtPublic/Miami Art Basel, Museum Later this year, will the music for the critically acclaimed of , The Kitchen, Histories release Book of Travelers, an album and stage dance piece “Unwanted” by choreographer Remixed/Art Institute Chicago, Brooklyn piece written in response to an 8,980-mile Dorothée Munyaneza, a work that has Youth Chorus, River To River Festival, and railway journey that Gabriel embarked received accolades from , Poetry Society of America. upon beginning the morning after the 2016 Le Monde, La Repubblica, The Financial Times, presidential election. Other recordings and The New Yorker, and continues to be In March 2019, Carnegie Hall presents performed at festivals worldwide. Two Wings: The Music of Black America in include The Fiction Issue, a disc of Kahane’s chamber music featuring string Migration, a collaboration between Moran Holland Andrews is based in Portland, or. and vocalist ; and her husband, the acclaimed jazz Dream Job, a duo recital disc with pianist- Jason Moran. composer ; and Where are the Arms, Kahane’s sophomore lp as a songwriter.

orsymphony.org | 503-228-1353 Biographies

The Maybelle Community Singers are delighted to be participating in this collaboration. It has given them an incredible sense of pride. One choir member commented, “I showed up to this community. I showed up to this choir and look what happened. Look what can happen when I use my voice. Look what can happen when I come together in community: opportunities like this. We did that.” Maybelle Center for Holcombe Waller Maybelle Choir Partners: Maybelle Center Portland’s own Holcombe Waller is one Community and the for Community, Rehab Sisters, Transition of America’s most unique voices in music Maybelle Community Singers Projects, Union Gospel Mission, Sisters of theater, and he is thrilled to be a part of Maybelle Center believes that no one the Road, and Central City Concern. this premiere of a work by his good friend deserves to live in isolation. They have been Gabriel Kahane. He is a 2011 United States building community and relationships MAYBELLE COMMUNITY Artists Berresford Fellow in Music, an award with individuals in Portland’s city center for SINGERS CHIOR ROSTER which noted his mournful, folk-inflected over 25 years. Their 500+ members live in Allen Moore Kristrun Grondal style as well as his approach to music “as low-income buildings scattered throughout Amy Vanacore Laurie Smith total theater.” He is a Creative Capital artist, Old Town and Downtown Portland. Most Andre George Lilian Watt a four-time recipient of the map Fund grant, experience poverty and are at-risk for Angelique Hall Linda Jackson and a Joan Shipley Fellow of the Regional social isolation, which is intensified by Ariel Lupine Lisa Schumacher Arts and Culture Council. Waller is known mental or physical challenges, addiction, or Barbara Jacobsen Marshall Rein Barbara Whitmore Mary Ann Farley for his evening-length, theater-based trauma. Maybelle Center reduces loneliness Betty Scholten Mary Sue Richen interdisciplinary music performances, which and isolation by providing meaningful Charles Tydall Mary Miller Doyle have been presented and commissioned by connection through volunteer home visits, Chelsea Haggstrom Megan Diana the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Under the their Community Room, individual member Chris Fromal McGeorge Radar Festival at the New York Public Theater, support, and housing. The choir is one Chris Olin Melissa Madenski CJ Hainley Nell Whitman On the Boards Seattle, Yerba Buena Center example of bringing together members Clint McCune Pamela Long for the Arts, Museum of Contemporary Art (clients), volunteers, and staff from multiple Crystal Akins Rich Roberts Chicago, Centre Pompidou Paris, and many organizations into community at their Dave Smith Robert Yazdi other presenters and festivals internationally. facility in Old Town. David Hooff Sara Hainley Waller collaborates frequently, including work Debra Sh-Ghanem Sarah Lopez The inspiration for the choir came from Diana Stobaeus Sara Pelfrey with choreographers Joe Goode Performance Maybelle Center Associate Director Kristrun Gary Godorov Sasha Kreutz Group (sf), Zoe|Juniper (Seattle), and Miguel Grondal who had formed a therapeutic Jacqueline Smith Stefanie Krasner Gutierrez (New York), and work Jean Miller Marshell Hines choir (Sing Here Now) at the Alzheimer’s including music for the documentary We Were Jeff Andow Steve Aman Association for those with early dementia. Here and the two-part short film series titled Jerome Monaco Timothy Mears Growing up in a family of music, Grondal Jon Hamlin Travis Erickson The Dare Project. He has appeared as an actor intimately knew the power of music, and she Jon Ulsh Vincent Irelan in multiple films, including some particularly saw that power first-hand amongst persons Kate Fine Wilson Nybo fun ones by artist Ryan Trecartin, and he is a Kathleen Lundquist Wendy Shumway experiencing dementia. Grondal couldn’t wait contributing board member of the Portland Katherine Roberts to bring a similar concept to Maybelle Center. Institute for Contemporary Art. He recently completed a Northwest regional tour of “Notes The Maybelle Community Singers officially from the Riverkeepers,” a sung history of the launched in January of 2016 under the SOUNDS OF HOME PARTNERS high-risk transportation of fracked crude-oil- direction of Choir Director Crystal Akins 100% of your donation in the hall today will with approximately 12 choir members, by-trains through the Columbia River Gorge. go toward supporting the following partners. In addition to his interdisciplinary work, he composed of members, volunteers and staff. Central City Concern has self-released five albums on his own label, For this performance, Akins expanded the Rose Haven Day Center choir by recruiting other organizations in Napoleon Records. for Women and Children Portland’s city center to collaborate on the Up next: his activist, community-driven (irco) Immigrant and Refugee project, inviting clients, volunteers, and Requiem Mass: A Queer Divine Right will Community Organization staff from each organization. All of the premiere November 15 and 16, 2018, in San Catholic Charities of Oregon organizations involved serve individuals Francisco at Grace Cathedral as a headlining Portland Homeless Family Solutions who are vulnerable, but each with a different performance within Yerba Buena Center for Maybelle Center for Community focus, some of which are homelessness. the Art’s transform Festival.

Oregon Symphony LIVE RECORDING PROJECT: emergency shelter intake form

I. WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE? III. WHERE DID YOU STAY LAST NIGHT? What brings you here? Where did you stay last night? What happened? Check one box only: Where did you sleep last night? On the Street Have you ever had a lease in your name? Emergency Shelter Have you ever had utilities in your name? Transitional Housing Have you ever had a name on the tip of your tongue? Psychiatric Facility Hospital (non-psychiatric) Would prior landlord give you a bad reference? Hospital whose fl uorescent light A glowing reference? And whose scent of death Would prior landlord fail to mention Make you feel all kinds of nauseous, The wondrous smells That would emit from your kitchen? And from which you fl ee In a fl owered gown Have you ever owned a home? At 3am into the April dark… Have you ever lost a home? Please use the following space Jail/Prison/Juvenile Facility To draw a picture Domestic Violence Situation Of the look on a man’s face Living with Relatives/Friends When he learns he has lost his home. Living with Relatives/Friends Whose judgment of you is II. THE CHORUS OF INCONVENIENT STATISTICS Trying your patience. We are the chorus of inconvenient statistics, Living with Relatives/Friends Legislation, and relevant documents. Whose patience is being tried We do not wish to make any of you feel shitty. By you and your family. (Excuse our language— Living with Relatives/Friends We haven’t been properly socialized.) In a half-fi nished basement But, we know that you, gentle listener, Where you and your son and daughter Sitting veiled in the gauzy dark, Share a bed Did not come here this evening In which you lie awake; To be lectured or to be shamed. Listen to footsteps upstairs, Nevertheless… The breath of your children, And wonder what you did wrong… We believe that the lifeblood of art is— How shall we put it? Motel not paid for by Shelter Voucher Ambiguity— Motel not painted by Edward Hopper Whereas to beat an audience Motel whose manager looks at you Over the head with ideological claptrap Sideways with a mouthful of rotten teeth, Would suggest, ipso facto, that ambiguity A look that you can’t help but think Had been sacrifi ced in favor of Has got something to do with Making a point. The color of your skin… And yet we believe that Foster Care/Group Home In order to do justice Permanent Supportive Housing To this heady story, Place Not Meant For Habitation This gnarled complex of ideas, Car/Bus/Subway/An Embankment We must from time to time A Bridge Dispense with politesse A Forest And share with you A Ridge The cold hard facts. A Clocktower In the moon, in the sun In a room overrun With disappointment despondency, And a broken fl at screen tv screen Watched by rats enthusiastically You wonder what you did wrong… LIVE RECORDING PROJECT: emergency shelter intake form

IV. IF YOU ANSWERED YES TO On a scale of 1 to 5, “LIVING WITH FAMILY” How would you rate your Failure to vacate will be cause for If you answered “Yes” to humiliation “Living with family slash friends”, the sheriff to remove your belongings. Please complete the following: when you asked the men, How do four people sleep in a room that’s meant for two, If an eviction is A game of Tetris that can’t be won? choking on your pride, How do you explain the word “foreclosure” necessary, risk of damages or loss To your son? if you could use the bathroom What happens when your son of property shall be borne by you Wets the bed that the three of you in what had been Are sleeping in and you speak to him harshly, the defendant And he cries? until that morning after delivery And while you cannot pay for the car your home? That’s in the shop, how will you get to work by the sheriff to the place of safe-keeping. And the boys to school? Have you ever been evicted Does your pride catch in your throat? After calling the police Do you tell lies so that people don’t know? to report the blue black bruises, When you receive the call from the school To report the blue black bruises In your offi ce chair: On face, neck, chest, arms? Please pick up your son. (check all body parts that apply) Will you tell them the truth “Public nuisance,” the landlord claimed, That you had to choose: While you applied concealer Mortgage or Medical? Outside the courtroom. So if my boy is acting out, Or perhaps you didn’t call— Hit another boy in the mouth, Your bruises burnish, fester, and increase? Our catalog of loss Or did the company move to Michigan? Might have something to do with it. Did envelopes with plastic windows Does your pride catch in your throat? Pile up on the table til you found yourself Do you tell lies so that people don’t know? Balanced on steel girders? A bridge over the Delaware V. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN EVICTED? Fistfuls of pills, Have you ever been evicted? Red, yellow, pink How many times? Then a little voice, 0 • 1 • 2–3 • 4–9 • More than 10 “Either God or my grandmother,” You would later recall, If yes, how did it feel to hold the pink paper Told you not to jump. You are hereby notifi ed As you stood in the melting snow What was the last thought that the county sheriff ’s offi ce That coursed through your mind Where men in coveralls tossed your belongings, As you lay down on the sidewalk has a court order And waited to be found? Your son’s baseball trophies, your cookbooks, requiring your immediate removal Onto the pavement? from the premises.

Oregon Symphony VI. CERTAINLY WE CAN ALL AGREE But in practice makes us leery, still this, This doesn’t have to be hard— Certainly we can all agree Build it anywhere at all, That we are in the midst of a housing crisis Just not in my backyard. For which the most eff ective solution Is to build new homes at more aff ordable prices. Not in my backyard! You can understand why we gotta stay on guard. The only nagging question that remains— It’s a sacred old tradition The one that most nearly pertains— Of denying folks permission Is where these units should be erected To gain entry into our community— So that we might keep protected That is if they don’t look like you or me Our sun-drenched, gut-renovated, acre-and-a-half And have an income north of a million two or three. Victorian domains: This doesn’t have to be hard— And so we’ve written these refrains: Put ‘em anywhere at all To have shelter is a right we all hold dear But not in my backyard. As long as it isn’t built too near To our bespoke craftsman homes with their raisèd beds VII. HAVE YOU RECEIVED ANY INCOME Full of heirloom asparagus and ancient grain for our breads. IN THE LAST THIRTY DAYS? Baby, this doesn’t have to be hard— Have you received any income in the past thirty days? Put ‘em anywhere at all, If yes, please describe: But not in my backyard. Home Health Aid We’ve always loved the unwashed masses, Mortgage Broker The hardscrabble working classes, Legal Advisor So long as we can’t see or hear them Conceptual Artist ‘Cause the truth is that we fear them. Bike Mechanic Baby, this doesn’t have to be hard— Brand Consultant Put ‘em anywhere at all, Construction Worker But not in my backyard. Lemonade Stand Operator Not in my backyard! Clerk at Kroger’s We don’t wanna have to have our windows barred. Clerk at Walmart/Clerk at Fred Meyer Anywhere else is fi ne within the urban growth boundary line, Oscar Meyer Weiner Mascot Put ‘em anywhere at all, But not in my backyard Adjunct Faculty Gas Station Attendant Never mind the fact Security Guard That we live on plundered land. Human Security Blanket Those Natives whom we killed and conquered Surely understand Singer in a Band That when Andrew Jackson held out Violinist In An Orchestra His cold and bloody hand Oboist In An Orchestra They were consigning themselves Head Usher To live in squalid poverty Visual Artist On inadequate tracts bereft Sandwich Artist Of modern niceties Con Artist Like running water or electricity Escape Artist But that ain’t no concern for you or me! If you have received Non-Cash Benefi ts We believe in social justice at any price In the past thirty days As long as it don’t mean we have to make a sacrifi ce. And have still gone to bed hungry, Mixed income housing’s nice in theory You may not have been able to distinguish Between the emptiness in your stomach And your sense of resignation. LIVE RECORDING PROJECT: emergency shelter intake form

VIII. DO YOUR CO-WORKERS KNOW X. HAS YOUR PHYSICAL HEALTH CAUSED THAT YOU HAVE LOST YOUR HOME? YOU TO LOSE YOUR HOUSING? Do your co-workers know that you have lost your home? Does your body ache Do they know you have sweated through sheets Like a bright light that’s also black, In every bed you’ve slept in for the last six weeks? But no doctor, Do your co-workers know? For fear of bills You know that you can’t pay? IX. ARE YOU ELIGIBLE FOR A SECTION 8 VOUCHER? Do you worry your lip: Are you eligible for a Section 8 or Housing Choice Voucher? Rent or electricity, Have you applied for a Section 8 or Housing Choice Voucher? Gasoline or groceries, Are you on a waiting list for a Section 8 or Housing Choice Voucher? what to sell? Were you given an estimate of how long you would be waiting? Blood plasma If yes, were you told that the wait would be: Your body 3–6 months • 7–12 months • 1–2 years • 3–5 years Check all that apply The duration of a presidency A generation Sell the plasma, Eat the cookies, If more than ten years, Drink the juice, please check box labeled eternity Stumble to the car. Please make a list of the activities Rest your head You intend to pursue On the steering wheel While on the waiting list. And listen to the tape you made Be descriptive. In 2004 Be creative. You may choose to include illustrations. Regain composure Drive to Walmart Are you aware that despite having qualifi ed for this voucher, Cash the forty dollar check Intended to help low income, very low income, You received for opening a vein. Extremely low income families to acquire housing, That you and your family have only a one in fi ve chance Does your body ache Of receiving it? Like a bright light that’s also black? If by, contrast, you were a homeowner, XI. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE You would be eligible for the mortgage interest deduction, SUBPRIME MORTGAGE LOAN CRISIS Which after being capped at $750,000 Per annum (to facilitate corporate tax cuts) Um, we’re super sorry to interrupt Will still result in federal loss And we mean no disrespect, Of $50 billion dollars, (give or take) But we felt that this might be 90 percent of which will benefi t families An opportune moment to interject With household incomes greater than A brief history of the fi nancial crisis $100,000 or more per annum. Expressed through mortgages, subprime. But in order to do so In plain English, this means We must revisit an earlier time That the federal government Subsidizes housing for the middle and upper classes Of Absolut vodka, perms, and wedge salad, At a higher rate than it does for the poor. Michael Milken indicted for junk bonds, invalid, Revolutions in the , How does this make you feel? The fi rst tremors in a worldwide shock, That would leave the old guard looking pallid. But the suits on Wall Street The lenders thought that housing prices couldn’t help but rise They couldn’t be bothered, So when folks couldn’t make a payment, they’d instead re-amortize, Too busy toasting Then these loans were bought by Wall Street, cut in pieces, The new bond they’d fathered. packed, and sold, They were seemingly innocuous, the truth, though never told, An industry-wide sensation: The Collateralized Debt Obligation! Was that these new fi nancial instruments, all rated triple-A Were in fact big piles of garbage that would putrefy some day, Say you’ve got yourself a pile of diff erent loans: And when these unsuspecting folks who’d bought Aircraft-lease and credit card, vacations homes— these grand and lavish homes, Diversifi ed assets you can slice and dice They found the housing market stalled, began to default on their loans. Then repackage and re-sell for a reasonable price. You see the boom turned to a bubble, and by fall ‘07, well A means to redistribute the collective risk The bubble turned to rubble, and it pains me much to tell Into a stew of debt or better yet, securitized bisque! You that the cdos we mentioned, that hedge funds all had stashed It made markets more effi cient, at least that’s how it seemed: As seemingly good money, now one by one they crashed. The free market built as Milton Friedman had dreamed! Can you hear the bull market roar? Can you hear the bull market roar? That’s the sound of the rich buying debt from the poor! That’s the sound of the rich buying debt from the poor! And when they’ve bought it all, my friend, And when they’ve bought it all, my friend, They’ve gotta make more, They’ve gotta make more, And that’s where subprime mortgages come in! And that’s where subprime mortgages come in! For their role in fi scal meltdown, and for judgment lacked Some years pass or to be exact a decade and a few, We go from George Bush One to Bubba on to George Bush Two. You’d think you’d see the guys at Deutsche Bank and Goldman sacked, Wall Street got addicted to that cdo bet— But instead they walked with millions, golden That’s the bet that says that folks will never default on their debt. parachutes and more, Sure, the building was on fi re but they danced right through the door They needed lots of loans to feed their debt machine That turns our ious and You Owe Me’s right back into green Because although more than nine million families’ homes were lost So in the boom of new construction in the early to mid-aughts If Wall Street made a profi t, baby, it was worth the cost With McMansions in production on these grand suburban lots Cause in America, my friend, you know, we love the dollar the most, So what if folks are sleeping on the street from coast to coast? A plot was hatched behind the scenes By fatcats in the backs of limousines: Equality’s a concept for Norwegians, Finns, and Danes, They’d off er toxic lines of credit Whereas we prefer our shirts and skins, our zero sum fi nancial games, To those too poor to get it So in with Milton Friedman out with old John Maynard Keynes. By more or less any other means. Can you hear the bull market roar? Can you hear the bull market roar? That’s the sound of the rich buying debt from the poor! That’s the sound of the rich buying debt from the poor! And when they’ve bought it all, my friend, And when they’ve bought it all, my friend, They’ve gotta make more, They’ve gotta make more, So baby that’s where subprime mortgages And that’s where subprime mortgages come in! And predatory payday lenders Certain kinds of credit cards The lenders knew the fi ne print of these loans contained And a host of other strategies A mine fi eld full of rate hikes that were never explained, To empty out the bank accounts So folks who who made subsistence wages, they got loans for half a mil – Of those who’re facing stagnant wages Told to lie about their incomes on the forms they had to fi ll. Limited opportunity for gainful employment Yes that’s where subprime mortgage loans come in! LIVE RECORDING PROJECT: emergency shelter intake form

XII. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN DENIED Ensuring decline A LEASE OR LOAN? The seeds of decay Of a once thriving neighborhood Natural or artifi cially established barriers Til some impossible Sunday Have you ever been denied a lease? will prove eff ective When some nice young couple Have you ever been denied a loan? Plant a fl ag with their towheaded son, in protecting a neighborhood Varnish the fl oors, In Birmingham in 1886 Re-do the doors, in protecting a neighborhood Reinvestment’s begun. In Chicago in 1933 Bleeding Albina. and the locations within it If somehow you managed Milwaukee 1964 from adverse infl uence, namely, To take out a loan And in spite of obstruction Queens 1978 the infi ltration of business and industrial uses, You went and purchased a home Baltimore in 2007 In a calm and suburban neighborhood lower-class occupancy, Where your presence was deemed no good In Philadelphia What were the tactics and inharmonious racial groups. Used to encourage you to leave? In 2016 Rock hurled through ground fl oor window and inharmonious racial groups. In the space provided below Have you and your parents Rock hurled through second story window Your grandparents, too Please draw a straight line, if possible, Been corralled into districts Crufi cix driven into lawn and set ablaze Whose borders somebody drew A straight line from your current hardship In bright blood red greasepaint Dead animal set on line to moulder, putrefy On maps tacked to walls And lack of assets In unadorned offi ces Bomb threats, idle threats In unadorned halls? To the system discrimination Casual tyranny Bleeding Albina Waged from generation to generation The greasepaint to signify Dynamite strewn under porch and ignited That there shall not be By government and private citizens alike Any investment Prank phone calls By state or by industry You may use In the middle of the night This red grease pencil. In the middle of the night XIII. THANK YOU FOR COMPLETING THIS FORM Thank you. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for trekking from offi ce to offi ce. Thank you, thank you for enduring the long lines, The clutches of crying children, Thank you The downturned mouth of your caseworker, Thank you The bad fl uorescent lighting. Thank you Sleeping in chairs, Middle of summer, Way too much air-conditioning, Thank you for completing this form. Thank you. Thank you for enduring Under the breath comments of family members, Thank you Nights under scratchy blankets, On worn out sofas Thank you The inexperienced social worker, Breakfast and lunch at the senior center, Showers at the gym, Long hours at your job, In less than ideal circumstances, Thank you for completing this form. For enduring this and more We are pleased to inform you That tonight we can off er In a concrete church basement In the room to the right as you enter the door An emergency shelter bed. You will need to be gone By six thirty am.