Danger. Sacrifice. Passion.

The Music is Ongoing™ t-shirt was originally 1-color ... white type reversed out on a black field.

The message "The Music is Ongoing™" was conceived while we were still chuffed about Stanley Romanstein's assurances that the chorus was 'cherished', and by his attempt to elicit the robotic chanting of: 'Negotiations are ongoing.'  Cherish this, I thought, with a gesture I don't normally use outside a car.

When contract negotiations stopped being 'ongoing' ... it was Cyn who said it first: whatever happens, the music has to go on.  The ASO was, suddenly, being commoditized by the people who had pledged themselves to preserving the artistic future of the orchestra.   The Music, an ineluctable necessity for all of us, became irrelevant, a side issue, not even a talking point.

That's when the word "Music" on the t-shirt went red.

Throughout the ensuing painful month, the musicians put the music first.  Locked out of their hall, they brought the music out into the community.  The art that shapes them as individuals, as an ensemble, ultimately gave them courage to safeguard their artistic integrity.  What they elected to sacrifice, what they chose to protect, determined the outcome.  If there is going to be any more line-drawing in the sand, it will be done by the ASO musicians:  this far, and no farther.

They're back.  But make no mistake.  This is not a whipped, demoralized orchestra inhabiting the ghost of an old one.  ASO musicians are used to making sacrifices.  They are intimately connected with the transforming passion of music. Danger of losing their livelihoods is, perhaps, a new experience for some.   Members of the ASOC understood clearly the enormity of the threat and are committed to insuring that this travesty, perpetrated by ASO management and WAC, never, ever happens again.

I have to say (rubbing hands together) ... I am really looking forward to the ASO's next performance.