Thought Process
High Notes and Misdemeanors BY KATE MOONEY ’08
Henry Bloomfield ’11 crafts opera from the pages of the Mueller Report By now, most Americans have heard of the Mueller Report, the massive tome detailing former Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and President Trump’s alleged obstructions of justice. But far fewer have actually read it, or know what to make of the nearly 500-page, heavily redacted historical document, which ultimately failed to provide evidence of crimes sufficient to indict Trump. Instead of the political bombshell some had expected, the report became a cultural moment, inspiring memes and dramatic interpretations, including star-studded live readings from the likes of Larry David and Kevin Kline. Henry Bloomfield ’11 also saw salvageable material among the ruins and wrote and recorded Ongoing Matter , a 29-minute operatic concept album using language culled from the text as lyrics and set to original composition, which he describes as a “hybrid of upbeat-offbeat pop and industrial funk.” “I just found it fascinating that there was this phrase ‘The Mueller Report,’ and that everyone has heard of this thing but no one has read it,” the 31-year-old says. “I wanted to breathe life into it, with my own imagination but trying to let the words—the absurdity and the deceit and corruption—speak for themselves. It didn’t need much of a nudge.” Bloomfield was also looking for an artistic challenge, a prompt of 14
FOOT PATROL
Mister Rogers’ Neighbor BY KATE MOONEY ’08
A memoir from Francois Clemmons ’67 recalls his time with the children’s television icon francois s. clemmons ’67, a grammywinning opera singer, founder of the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble, and the actor best known for portraying Officer Clemmons on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, has now added memoirist to his list of accomplishments. He released his first book, Officer Clemmons: A Memoir, in early May, which he feels was very good timing. “People are reading more—and this is a period of time when people want to know the truth,” Clemmons says on a call from Middlebury, Vermont. The former Alexander Twilight Artist in Residence and director of the Martin Luther King Spiritual Choir at Middlebury College, Clemmons, now retired, has kept busy during quarantine. He is already working on his next manuscript, a book of nonfiction essays; participating in Black Lives Matter protests; and singing, always—even on the phone during interviews. Clemmons breaks out into “Far Away Places,” a favorite he sang with his mother while growing up and which inspired a love of travel, both literal and figurative, as he sought refuge in music and in the unconditional love he found in friendship with Fred Rogers. Officer Clemmons chronicles a gay Black man’s lifelong search for a sense of belonging. “It’s a story of a young musician,” he explains, and of a place “where a young black boy can go to learn to be gay,” which Clemmons felt was missing in his formative years. Growing up in Alabama, and then Youngstown, Ohio, with an abusive father and stepfather, and a mother who couldn’t accept his sexual orientation, Clemmons spent years holding in his pain and denying his true sense of self. But from an early age, he learned that music gave him an emotional refuge. Clemmons writes of his early bond with his grandfather, with whom he sang during his early childhood in Mississippi. His grandfather had a cane, which he convinced Clemmons— then nicknamed Little Buttercup—was the
COURTESY OF HENRY BLOOMFIELD
FALSE VIBRATO
sorts that would force him to look outside of himself for inspiration, and found Mueller’s text “ripe with content.” The Manhattan-based composer was immediately drawn to the “inherent drama” of the document, citing lines like Donald Trump Jr.’s email reply to a Russian intermediary promising dirt on Hillary Clinton, “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer,” that struck Bloomfield as a wonderful pop lyric. The ready-made storyline and cast of characters screamed “operatic, in that ‘Tommy,’ the Who tradition,” he says. Bloomfield saw an opportunity to interpret the text thematically, rather than linearly. The final product is an eight song concept album; listeners play the 29-minute recording straight through, or listen episodically. Bloomfield vocalizes each “cast member” and includes vocal clips of the men themselves. He also plays keyboards, bass, and drums and is joined on a few tracks by guest string and horn players. Bloomfield first read the book in November 2019, taking notes and looking for stand-out lines, and then again, a second time, to organize the language into emotional and contextual categories. The first track, “Honest Loyalty,” plays like a catchy-synthy pop romp reminiscent of George Michael’s “Faith,” treating the Comey-Trump back and forth of “I need loyalty, honest loyalty” like a negotiation between lovers. “A Drunk/Drugged Up Loser” takes a darker dip, employing lawyer Robert Costello’s disingenuous words to Cohen, “Sleep well tonight you have friends in high places,” as a menacing chorus. “The Villain of His Story” plays like a time-out, spotlighting Michael Cohen’s court testimony; listening, one can imagine a solo actor on stage, singing his tale. While Ongoing Matter might sound like an ambitious quarantine project, Bloomfield actually wrapped recording in late February. While he’s uncertain what next iterations the album might take, for now, he is just happy to have completed his take before the next Mueller Project visionary inevitably does. He likened his work to “The Black Clown,” Langston Hughes’ 1931 poem that included musical directions on the opposite side of the page, which didn’t see a staged performance until 2018 at Lincoln Center. “Somehow, it literally took [almost] 100 years for anyone to take the directions that literally were etched on the page,” he jokes. “I’m not in any rush.” Until then, you can listen to it at ongoingmatter.com.