EDITOR’S NOTE: The Super Devil’s features Brendan Skwire, of Brendan Calling fame, on the upright bass. Brendan has, um, strong opinions about a lot of things, and earlier this week he took Mann Music Center president Catherine Cahill to task for the pianist they booked for a July 27th performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto In D Minor.
BRENDAN CALLING: Dear Mann Music Center President Catherine Cahill: Congratulations on this year’s upcoming concert series! Like many 
Philadelphians, I relish the summer season, when my family and I can enjoy a few evenings of classical music under the stars at Fairmount Park. I’m especially looking forward to opening night, featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. My young son is spending the summer with me this year, and we look forward to introducing him to the Philadelphia Orchestra. However, there’s one night we will NOT be attending the Mann: July 27, 2010. That’s the night that you’ve invited noted war criminal, torture-enabler, and footwear enthusiast Condoleezza Rice to perform the middle movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D minor. Like millions of other Americans and hundreds of thousands of Philadelphians, I am disgusted by Rice’s role in lying the nation into war, approving the torture of POWs and suspected terrorists, and leaving the city of New Orleans to drown while she shopped for shoes (her boss was eating yummy cake with Senator McCain: leadership at its finest). MORE