Steve Schwartz wrote:

>Sic transit.  Liberace was a pianist of sorts, specializing in "light"
>classics and novelty pieces like "Kitten on the Keys," neither of which he
>did particularly well.  He had a huge following during the Fifties, was
>somewhat eclipsed by rock and roll.

And a lot of other stuff.

Meaning no criticism of Steve, whose opinions and conclusions (snipped)
about Liberace are valid and well thought out, isn't it interesting to
compare his evaluation of the man to mine.  I am much more sympathetic to
him than Steve and I give him more credit for his musicianship than does my
esteemed colleague.  I wonder, and this is just a curiosity, if these are
based on mine and Steve's different orientations (I assume that Steve is
straight, and as I have said, I am not.) Do I think more highly of Liberace
because I am gay? Does Steve think less of him because he is straight? It's
highly possible.

Here is a more legitimate example.  I adore the music of Benjamin Britten.
He is my hero and I forgive him many of his faults (and he had a few)
because he was one of the first successful openly gay musicians.  My
initial attraction to him is that we had our orientation in common and
he was a role model for me in many ways.

It would make for interesting discussion to see how personalities of our
favorite music figures influence our like or dislike of their music!

Kevin