RE: To JE: Thanks; Abyssinian event
From: J. Epstein [mailto:jeeproject@yahoo.com]
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 8:19 PM
To: Lesley Groff
Subject: Re: To JE: Thanks; Abyssinian event
From: Lesley Groff <lesley@nysgllc.com>
To: J. Epstein <jeeproject@yahoo.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 12:16:50 PM
Subject: FW: To JE: Thanks; Abyssinian event
From: Tramo, Mark Jude [mailto:mark_tramo@hms.harvard.edu]
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 9:37 AM
To: Lesley Groff
Subject: To JE: Thanks; Abyssinian event
Dear Jeffrey,
Thank you so very much for your invitation
to breakfast, which Lesley kindly conveyed via email and telephone
yesterday.
Sorry I wasn't in town - The World Science Festival
music/brain event swayed way to far from science and the vision I formulated
when the organizers first consulted me back in October. Originally, it was
supposed to take place at Lincoln Ctr, but that fell through. They managed
to get another landmark location for the event, but the deal they had to cut
with the devil (no pun intended) was that the Abyssian Baptist Church controlled
the venue. Consequently, what was supposed to be 60 - 90 mins of
neuroscience and musicology turned into a potpourri of musical performances,
church/ethnic history, fluffy patient anecdotes by Sacks, and only a dollup of
real science by yours truly - not something I wanted to be connected with.
I didn't get the minute-by-minute schedule from the choirmaster (!) until after
Memorial Day and my invitation to you, so you can imagine my surprise when I got
the rundown. [It's not just that I'm an anti-theist who would have run the risk
of saying something about the merits of hard-core empiricism and the dangers of
blind faith with Pastor Calvin Butts sitting nearby on stage! (To my knowledge,
Rev Jeremiah Wright was not going to fly in from Chicago, but there's a decent
chance Al Sharpton will be there.)]
I'm wondering what you thought of
some of these physics/math-oriented venues? The one on dance inspired by
Brian Greene's book struck me as, well, weird. Alan Alda's involved
elsewhere. Seems more like a Discovery Channel fair than a true World
Science Festival. Are you going to any of the other events?
Really,
I'm happy to come down any time to breakfast - would be great to see you again
and catch up, and I could drop in on my octogenarian mom in the Bronx
afterwards.
Peace &
Love,
Mark
mtramo@hms.harvard.edu
cellphone
781-718-6390
From: J. Epstein [mailto:jeeproject@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2008 6:51 PM
To: Lesley Groff
Subject: Re: To JE: Thanks; Abyssinian event
From: Lesley Groff <lesley@nysgllc.com>
To: J. Epstein <jeeproject@yahoo.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 1, 2008 11:10:33 AM
Subject: RE: To JE: Thanks; Abyssinian event
From: J. Epstein [mailto:jeeproject@yahoo.com]
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 8:19 PM
To: Lesley Groff
Subject: Re: To JE: Thanks; Abyssinian event
From: Lesley Groff <lesley@nysgllc.com>
To: J. Epstein <jeeproject@yahoo.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 12:16:50 PM
Subject: FW: To JE: Thanks; Abyssinian event
From: Tramo, Mark Jude [mailto:mark_tramo@hms.harvard.edu]
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 9:37 AM
To: Lesley Groff
Subject: To JE: Thanks; Abyssinian event
Dear Jeffrey,
Thank you so very much for your invitation
to breakfast, which Lesley kindly conveyed via email and telephone
yesterday.
Sorry I wasn't in town - The World Science Festival
music/brain event swayed way to far from science and the vision I formulated
when the organizers first consulted me back in October. Originally, it was
supposed to take place at Lincoln Ctr, but that fell through. They managed
to get another landmark location for the event, but the deal they had to cut
with the devil (no pun intended) was that the Abyssian Baptist Church controlled
the venue. Consequently, what was supposed to be 60 - 90 mins of
neuroscience and musicology turned into a potpourri of musical performances,
church/ethnic history, fluffy patient anecdotes by Sacks, and only a dollup of
real science by yours truly - not something I wanted to be connected with.
I didn't get the minute-by-minute schedule from the choirmaster (!) until after
Memorial Day and my invitation to you, so you can imagine my surprise when I got
the rundown. [It's not just that I'm an anti-theist who would have run the risk
of saying something about the merits of hard-core empiricism and the dangers of
blind faith with Pastor Calvin Butts sitting nearby on stage! (To my knowledge,
Rev Jeremiah Wright was not going to fly in from Chicago, but there's a decent
chance Al Sharpton will be there.)]
I'm wondering what you thought of
some of these physics/math-oriented venues? The one on dance inspired by
Brian Greene's book struck me as, well, weird. Alan Alda's involved
elsewhere. Seems more like a Discovery Channel fair than a true World
Science Festival. Are you going to any of the other events?
Really,
I'm happy to come down any time to breakfast - would be great to see you again
and catch up, and I could drop in on my octogenarian mom in the Bronx
afterwards.
Peace &
Love,
Mark
mtramo@hms.harvard.edu
cellphone
781-718-6390