Hate Mail

Oh, dear.   Do I have to cite Quincy Jones again?    Yeah, what he said. 

Update Hate:  I don't know anything about the accusations against James Levine other than that article.  If he's accused of something illegal, indict him and try him.  If he's guilty of a serious crime I have no problem with giving him a prison sentence.  I wonder if fans of rock musicians would consider the behavior reportedly rampant among them to be as bad as Levine.  

Considering where you brought this from, the guy's stand on lowering the age of consent - as I recall he's written on his blog complaining that 15 isn't too young and considering that's the age of the victim in question when he claims the first incidence happened - his bringing this up is incredibly hypocritical.  

I don't think it's ever acceptable for a teacher to come on to a student or a mentor to a protégé.  I'm amazed if what they're saying is true there wasn't trouble over that domineering behavior decades ago.  I'd never have put up with it, even when I was 15.  I dumped a teacher over him trying to change my hand position in a way I thought would be damaging.  If one of them told me I had to choose between my mother and him I'd have told him to go soak his head. 

James Levine is one of the finest conductors of the post-war period but art is only art even at that level, it's not a license to commit crime.  But you need a trial with evidence tested before deciding there was a crime.