Mediaboss Marketing

Zach Berg , zberg@press-citizen.com Published 10:37 a.m. CT March 28, 2017 | Updated 1:09 p.m. CT March 28, 2017

Leslie Odom Jr. performs for guests at Hancher Auditorium on Monday, March 27, 2017. Odom starred as Aaron Burr in the Broadway production of "Hamilton."(Photo: David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen)Buy Photo

Leslie Odom Jr., the singer who won last year's Best Actor in a Musical Tony for his role as Aaron Burr in "Hamilton," put on a show for Iowa City on Monday night.

The marquee star of this year's University of Iowa Lecture Committee's series of spring speakers, Odom did much more than lecture when he took the stage of Hancher Auditorium to a nearly filled auditorium built for 1,800 people.

He sang songs from his self-titled album, talked about how education got him to Broadway and addressed the controversy of the "Hamilton" cast addressing Vice President-elect Mike Pence from the stage after he had left the show.He even sang threesongs from the Broadway smash "Hamilton" that launched him into stardom.

Odom was met withraucous cheers and two standing ovations.

Leslie Odom Jr. performs for guests at Hancher Auditorium on Monday, March 27, 2017. Odom starred as Aaron Burr in the Broadway production of "Hamilton."(Photo: David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen)

"There's no me in 'Hamilton,' no Burr in 'Hamilton,' and thus no awards or fun speaking opportunities in Iowawithout the genius of Lin-Manuel Miranda," Odom said of the show's creator and the actor who played the titular role in the production that mixesrap and show tunes to tell the story of the original U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.

"Lin gave us a perfect piece of text, a perfect work of drama. It had everything: pathos and drama, joy and humor," Odom said.

RELATED: When 'Hamilton' is coming to Des Moines

During the final portion of the night, Odomwas read audience questions bySarah Tortora, chair of the UI Lecture Committee.He was asked what political statements the show makes in today's political environment.

With the question, Odom tackled the November 2016 incident when Pence attended a "Hamilton" production in New York City. Pence was addressed by Brandon Dixon, who played Vice President Aaron Burr after Odom left the show, during a curtain call.

'Hamilton' actor Brandon Victor Dixon delivered a message to US Vice President-elect Mike Pence calling on him to "uphold American values." AP

The event drew much ire from then-President-elect Donald Trump, who tweeted the following day that the "Hamilton" cast "was very rude last night to a very good man" and that they had "harassed" Pence.

"I honestly don't think I would have (given the speech) and here's why:Because I think 'Hamilton,' I think that three-hour experience is all you have to say, Odom said Monday night.I believe, truly, that if the material is performed with the generosity of spirit that it was intended to be perform with, there's no curtain call speech needed, there's nothing left to say."

"What I hate more than anything is for the show to become a partisan show, for the show to become something only one kind of person would see, because it is so beautiful and that is not the spirit in which it was created," Odom said.

Leslie Odom Jr. performs for guests at Hancher Auditorium on Monday, March 27, 2017. Odom starred as Aaron Burr in the Broadway production of "Hamilton."(Photo: David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Most of the evening was lighthearted and introspective as Odom weaved back and forth between singing songs from "Hamilton" and "Rent,"the first Broadway show he performed in, at the age of 17. From "Hamilton," he sang the show's jazzy showstopper "The Room Where it Happened" and its sorrowful ballad "Wait for it."

"I think this is the place to be tonight, isn't it," Chuck Swanson, Hancher Auditorium's executive director, said before Odomand his band started to play.

When Odomwasn't singing in front of his five-member supporting band, he moved to stage right where a simple podium stood and told about his rise to Broadway stardom. How in a kindergarten Black History Month production in which he played Martin Luther King Jr., he bounded onto the staged and shouted his lines without any fright.

He talked of his days at Carnegie Mellon University as a theater major, and how he had to spend an entire semester studying a black howler monkey named Quinton at the Pittsburgh Zoo for a project where he had to turn animal characteristics into human traits for a production.

Leslie Odom Jr. performs for guests at Hancher Auditorium on Monday, March 27, 2017. Odom starred as Aaron Burr in the Broadway production of "Hamilton."(Photo: David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen)

For an audience made up largely of University of Iowa students, Odomeven gave them advice when it comes to following their dreams post college.

"There's going to come a moment where you have to reckon with why on earth you've chosen this path. That's true for anything worth having, by the way," Odom said."I have come up with the answer: Its about connection. That's why I do it, that's why I love it. I am addicted to the connection with the audience, I am addicted to the people I'm on stage with. It's a very special presence that I can feel from doing this."

But it was the stories about "Hamilton" itself, the stories that partially explained why a Broadway show with a multiracial cast performing as the Founding Fathers went from an idea to a phenomena that sold millions of records and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, that got the audience most excited.

Sarah Tortora, chair of the University of Iowa Lecture Committee, introduces Leslie Odom Jr. at Hancher Auditorium on Monday, March 27, 2017. Odom starred as Aaron Burr in the Broadway production of "Hamilton."(Photo: David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Odom recalled seeing a sung production of "Hamilton" in its earliest stages in a theater of 150 seats inPoughkeepsie, N.Y., in 2013, three years before it came to Broadway. He remembered by the fourth song called "The Story of Tonight" that he had fallen for the musical.

"I had never seen four men of color, on a stage, singing a song about brotherhood and friendship in my life. For me, that was the revolution," Odomsaid.

"I just hope ('Hamilton') reminds you of where we've come from and where we are and the potential for where we can go. That's all I hope it does."

Reach Zach Berg at 319-887-5412, zberg@press-citizen.com, or follow him on Twitter at @ZacharyBerg.

Read or Share this story: http://icp-c.com/2nIoFN6

Here is the original post:
'Hamilton' star sings, talks Mike Pence in Iowa City - Iowa City Press Citizen

For months, one of the firmest bases of Trump support online has been the /r/the_donald community on Reddit, a sometimes-embattled community drawn together to cheer on Donald Trump first as a candidate, and now as president. But with the Trump administration making its first moves to roll back FCC privacy restrictions on internet service providers, some in that community are having second thoughts.

How does this help Americans, the forgotten man?, one user asked in a recent post discussing the resolution. How does this improve the economy? How does it make America great in any way? It's special interest swamp bullshit and Trump signing this would be the first thing he's done as president to disappoint me.

Is there any way we can get God Emperor and his advisers to veto this?

The thread opened with a reasonable summary of this weeks joint resolution, asking users what they thought of the changes. Despite the forums reputation for unruly behavior, the disagreements remained civil, with some supporting the free-market arguments for deregulation, while others saw it as a betrayal of the presidents populist-focused campaign.

Some held out hope that Trump might veto the bill, something analysts see as highly unlikely. Trump isn't attached to this, wrote a user called MichiganMaga313. This bill is Congressional. This bill is dangerous Neo Con bullshit right here. Let Trump know that you hate this and to veto it.

Is there any way we can get god emperor and his advisers to veto this? another asked. I guess this'll be a test to see if he is a real populist after all.

Reddit has a long history of mobilizing in response to moves against privacy and net neutrality, most notably in the SOPA fight of 2012. Even as reactionary or anti-feminist movements have gained more power on the platform, those general views have held firm making Trumps latest pro-ISP moves particularly awkward for some.

Even users who supported the move saw it as politically dangerous, particularly as President Trumps popularity reaches record lows. Internet privacy is the new third rail of politics, wrote a user called Islam-Delenda-Est. Taking it away looks worse than Medicare cuts, even if it is completely harmless and justified.

Link:
The Donald Trump subreddit has mixed feelings about gutted internet privacy rules - The Verge

New York Times

Donald Trump, 'Brexit,' Mosul: Your Wednesday Briefing - The New ... New York Times Prime Minister Theresa May signed a letter of notification in London on Tuesday, officially setting out Britain's intention to withdraw from the European Union. and more »

Link:
Donald Trump, 'Brexit,' Mosul: Your Wednesday Briefing - The New ... - New York Times

New York Times

California Today: Muslim Candidate Says He's 'Triple Threat to Donald Trump' New York Times The divisive and hateful agenda of Donald Trump compels me to run, Dr. Mahmood said Tuesday in an interview. I am a proud Muslim. I am a Muslim immigrant. I am from the state of California. I am a triple threat to Donald Trump. Dr. Mahmood will ... and more »

Original post:
California Today: Muslim Candidate Says He's 'Triple Threat to Donald Trump' - New York Times

The Presidents latest executive order would scrap regulations critical to addressing climate change. But would it also, as he promises, put miners back to work?CreditPHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT NICKELSBERG / GETTY

On Tuesday, less than two weeks after the White House unveiled its budget blueprint to make America great again, which proposed to reduce the Environmental Protection Agencys funding by $2.6 billion and lay off about a fifth of its workforce, President Trump took aim at the E.P.A. once more. On a dais in the Map Room of the agencys D.C. headquarters, Trump gave athirteen-minute-long speechcelebrating a new era in American energy, as thirteen incredible coal miners stood silently at his side, like shy and stocky pageant contestants. They were the physical embodiment of this new erawhite, middle-aged, clean-shaven, strongwhich was about to be signed into existence with a sweeping executive order on energy and environmental policy. Mining is what they want to do, Trump said. They love the job. I fully understand that. I grew up in a real-estate family, and until this recent little excursion into the world of politics I could never understand why anybody would not want to be in the world of real estate. To put the miners back to work, the President announced, he was lifting the moratorium on coal leases on federal lands. He was also ordering a review of his predecessors Clean Power Plan, that crushing attack on American industry.

During the speech, Trump never once mentioned climate change, although his order seems designed to cleanse the E.P.A. of what Senator James Inhofe, Republican, of Oklahoma,recently describedas all the stuff on the agencys Web site that is brainwashing our kids. This stuffclimate scienceis what drove many of President Obamas environmental policies, including theClean Power Plan, the centerpiece of his climate legacy. The C.P.P., which places limits on carbon emissions from existing power plants and would have forced hundreds to close, was the product of years of debate and negotiation between industry and environmental groups, economists, and policymakers. Many activists felt that the end result was too weak. The conflicts between environmentalists and the E.P.A. in creating the final rule for the Clean Power Plan were legion, Eileen McGurty, a former E.P.A. science adviser who teaches environmental studies at Johns Hopkins University, told me. John Reilly, a co-director of M.I.T.s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, called the C.P.P. relatively timid. But Trumps executive order, he said, is simply ignorant. The C.P.P. is crucial to helping the U.S. meet its commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement, part of the worlds eleventh-hour efforts to avoid catastrophic climate change. Its as if, Reilly said, you see a risk ahead and poke your eyes out so you dont see it anymore.

By now, avoiding talk of climate change has become an apparent point of pride in the Trump Administration. The irony of the executive order, as many analysts have already pointed out, is that it denies economic realities, too. The C.P.P., Reilly said, largely locked in what was going to happen anywaynamely, a steady decline in the demand for coal caused by Trumps beloved free market. Renewable-energy sources are becoming more competitive by the year, and, thanks to the fracking boom, natural gas has largely replaced coal as a cheaper, cleaner-burning fossil-fuel alternative. Repealing the C.P.P., Reilly predicted, will do little or nothing to help out-of-work coal miners. Even Robert Murray, the C.E.O. of Murray Energy, the countrys largest private coal company, recently said that coal jobs werent going to come back in the multitudes that Trump has promised. One economist, whoco-authored a studyof the C.P.P. in 2014a study paid for by the fossil-fuel sectortold me, I think its a load of crap that this will do anything for the coal industry. (The economist asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal.)

In the past several months, White House officials have often repeated that, whatever policies Trump implements, the E.P.A. will continue to enforce the rules that provide for clean air and clean water, as mandated by Congress. But it is difficult to see how this assurance could be true. Several studies have found that the C.P.P. itself would dramatically improve air quality. Indeed, economists have projected that the cost of implementing the C.P.P. would be recovered in public-health benefits alone, since it would reduce soot-and-smog-forming emissions. This is especially true for communities downwind of coal plants, which have been suffering for decades. According tothe E.P.A.s own estimates, the C.P.P. would help prevent as many as thirty-six hundred premature deaths, seventeen hundred heart attacks, ninety thousand asthma attacks among children, and three hundred thousand missed workdays and school days every year. Astudy published in January inEnvironmental Science & Technologysuggests that low-income communities will bear the brunt of Trumps changes. But one of the co-authors, Noelle Selin, told me that no one will be completely immune. All of us will see air-quality decline, she said. Particularly in the northeast U.S.

For years, even under the Obama Administration, environmental-justice groups and community advocates accused the E.P.A. of being too accommodating to industry interests, of ignoring their complaints, and of generally taking far too long torespond to concerns about toxic neighborhoods. But now, McGurty said, the two factions appear to be uniting against a level of deregulationunseen since the agency was founded, in 1970. For all their past antagonism, environmentalists recognize the tremendous value of the E.P.A. They are the watchdog, Lisa Garcia, an attorney with Earthjustice and a former senior adviser to the E.P.A.s administrator for environmental justice, told me. You can argue that they werent the best at it, but even a bad watchdog is better than no watchdog.

While Trumps order directs the E.P.A. to begin rewriting the C.P.P., he does not have the legal authority to revoke it outright. Environmental groups have already vowed that they will mount legal challenges to save it. And, because the C.P.P. is already tied up in litigation, the E.P.A. must request permission from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reconsider the rule. Eventually, assuming Trump is successful, an army of agency employees will be tasked with building a case against the very regulations that they spent many months drafting. When the time comes, though, such an army may no longer exist. Trumps proposed cuts to the E.P.A. budget would result in the elimination of approximately thirty-two hundred jobs.

Continue reading here:
Donald Trump and the Myth of the Coal Revival - The New Yorker