The Sound of Music

I am going to take the moral high ground here for a moment, go out on a limb, and dare to challenge an award-winning mini-series on Home Box Office. But first, I need to give you a little background so you'll know where I'm coming from.

In my opinion, this country's moral fiber has degraded these past eight years under the guidance and tutelage of Bill Clinton and his supporters. That's all I'm going to say about it. If you agree with me then read on; if you disagree with me, you may as well stop here and not waste your time reading the rest of this.

If you've read any of my previous articles, you know that I fairly eclectic tastes when it comes to music. I like just about anything with a beat or a good melody or neat lyrics. But I only have one soundtrack from a movie or musical. After watching the movie "Fame" back in the early 80s, I bought the soundtrack album. There were only two songs in the movie that I really liked, "Dogs in the Yard" and "I Sing the Body Electric." I don't play "Fame" very often; maybe once every two or three years, but each time I hear those two songs they bring back memories of the scenes from the movie. I suppose that's why we buy the soundtrack to a movie or musical, to remind us of the scenes we really enjoyed.

I was cruising Amazon.com this week to see what's hot and what's not, and I noticed that the soundtrack from HBO's "The Sopranos" is super-popular. There were 17 customer reviews of the album, plus an editorial review. Here's what reviewer Jason Verde had to say: "HBO's Mafia masterpiece "The Sopranos" is a remarkable television series-it's witty, creative, and truly unique."

I've only watched three episodes of "Sopranos," and it is remarkable. In three episodes, I saw felony assault and battery, several homicides, oral sex, nudity, and fornication, and I heard the "F" word used more times in one hour than I did during seven years in the Navy. And that was just the women! Somewhere along the way, I missed the wit and creativity for which "The Sopranos" won so many awards. So, I have to conclude that it won the awards for those euphemistic buzzwords "adult language and adult situations," and nudity, sex, and violence.

Look, if you, as an adult, want to watch "The Sopranos," that's your right as an American citizen "rocking in the Free World." I'm not trying to get the show banned or boycotted, but Jeez, a soundtrack album? What scene comes to mind when you hear "Gotta Serve Somebody," the ex-con being serviced by the nude dancer at the nightclub? What image do you see when the track "It's Bad You Know" is playing? The guy crushed and run over by an SUV in the parking lot? Or maybe these songs bring back memories of the really touching scenes, like the Soprano family sitting at the kitchen counter shouting obscenities and four-letter words at each other? Is HBO naïve enough to think that kids aren't watching this show, or don't they care?

Lately, television has gotten so crude that Alice and I don't even watch the major networks anymore. For a while, we watched a lot of PBS, Discovery, and TLC. All TLC seems to be showing any more are programs involving natural and manmade disasters, hospital emergency rooms, and EMTs giving first aid to gunshot and knifing victims or people maimed and crippled in other accidents. And this is supposed to be entertaining? Do doctors, nurses and EMTs really watch these shows when they're not responding to calls?

If you don't think sex and violence permeate our society, consider this: the Arts and Entertainment channel is airing a show called "Sex in the Bible." Now hold on a minute; is there nothing sacred anymore? Sure, I know the folks in the Old Testament got it on quite a bit. You had the usual problems with fornication, adultery, incest, masturbation, men with women, men with men, men with sheep, but that's because there wasn't a lot to do back then. There was no television or radio, no books or magazines, no bands. And the weather was always too hot, too cold, too wet, or too dry. But all of this went on in the Old Testament, not the New Testament. We're talking about a pre-Christian world. Why, even the Hebrews toned down their life styles in the New Testament, and they never accepted Christ. Maybe there's a message in that, folks. If non-Christians believe that gratuitous sex and violence aren't good for us, then why is our country, which was founded on Christian principles, hell-bent on allowing the media to bombard us, and worse, our children, with every vice imaginable?

Okay, I'll come down from that moral high road now. You see I can't stay on that road very long. I'm human, just like you, and Lord knows I don't lead a saintly life. But I'm not a hypocrite either. I watched "The Sopranos" because Alice happened to see it one night when she was watching TV with our 21-year-old son. It was one of those great fornication scenes, I guess, and later that night Alice asked me to talk to Scott about the show. She wanted him to know that what he saw was not two people making love, it was just two people having sex, and that love, marriage, and family can offer so much more than that.

Well, that's all I have to say about that. Alice is coming in the door and I need to put on her favorite CD, "The Best of Andrew Lloyd Weber." We'll hum along and picture scenes of Jellicle Cats, Mister Mistoffelees, Rum Tum Tugger, Macavity, and Grizabella on her journey to the Heavyside Layer. There will be no images of sex, violence, or profanity, just the sound of music.

Fish or Cut Bait is a kanoe.com exclusive from Bob Ciminel. Bob is a transplanted Yankee and amateur author who lives in Roswell, Georgia, northeast of Atlanta. Bob is originally from Pittsburgh but became an honorary Southerner when he married the former Alice Bourne of Rock Hill, South Carolina in 1971. Bob and Alice have lived south of the Mason-Dixon Line for the past 22 years. Bob has been gainfully employed by the commercial nuclear industry for the past 29 years and is a project manager with the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations in Atlanta.