A very intriguing story, indeed. But first I recall another one published in TNR some years ago about a rock band that was imprisoned either in Prague or Moscow before the collapse of the glorious socialist revolution. But I can't find it through our search engine, either because our search engine is not up to the task or my brain doesn't remember enough of the essentials to bring up the reference. Here: more uncertainty. The article was written either by the president of Oberlin whose name I forget or it was a review of a book written by that same Oberlin president. I see him before my eyes, I have his name on the tip of my tongue. But I just can't remember. Maybe some of you recognize about whom I talking. Anyway, the intriguing story for today, called "Trapped Notes," by Noam Ben-Zeev in Haaretz, is about musicians who are in terror of the regime they live under, beatings and imprisonment at the worst, simply being censored out of the culture, at best. The occasion for this article is the third Freemuse world conference held recently in Istanbul. This itself is a good muse or good news, at least about Turkey where the struggle for freedom is dicey, given that the Islamist regime presently in power goes back and forth on what draconian rules it will enforce and what not. Ben-Zeev recounts truly sorrowful tales from Turkey itself, Cyprus, Algeria, Belarus, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, China and on and on, including a mixed account from Lebanon. And then he tells a story he'd heard about America. That, after 9/11, security concerns were used to censor and silence musicians. "Apparently black lists of hundreds of forbidden performers and songs have been distributed to over 1,000 American radio and television stations that broadcast to millions of people every day." Who made up the black list? Who enforces it? I am afraid Ben-Zeev has been taken in. He lists some of the songs that have been "blacklisted." Elvis' "Devil in Disguise," Steve Miller's "Jet Plane," Cat Steven's "Peace Train," John Lennon's "Imagine," and Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Waters." Another song Ben-Zeev mentions is "Dancing in the Streets" by Marvin Gaye and two other collaborators. I know I've heard "Bridge over Troubled Waters" and "Jet Plane" on the radio in the last 10 or 12 days. And, as for "Dancing in the Streets," just look it up on google. There are more than one million links to just this song. And haven't you heard this song at least a million times? So this part of the Haaretz article is bullshit.