Actually, offending critics may not hurt as much as one would think.  We
often play the game (as do many arts marketeers) of using critics' words
in our advertising when they are favorable to us and dismissing them (the
critics) as not knowing anything when they are unfavorable.  One example
of a critic making a piece he tried to break (avowedly from a different
political, social, and economic environment) comes from Offenbach's
"Orpheus in the Underworld" which went practically unnoticed until a critic
panned it as disrepectful (possibly even sacrilegious) toward revered
antiquity.

And as far as politics goes, it's a rare bird who can get away with what
Mozart did by thumbing his nose at one group of politicians and then
getting snapped up by another.  The often sassy servants that populate
his operas (e.g., Figaro, Despina, Leporello) have proven their
indispensibility to the betterment of the human spirit.

As for anyone biting the hand that feeds them (and I do not include
offending oversized egos in this category), there is simply no excuse
for it.

And I must have missed something in here somewhere.  Which Lew are we
talking about? (feel free to answer this one privately if you so desired)

Aaron J. Rabushka
a much better composer than he is a politician and feeling no regrets for it
[log in to unmask]
http://www.cowtown.net/users/arabushk/