(The following is a brief colloquy between the blogger and his Irrepressible Demon, an frenemy of long standing with whom he has for the past year shared a most amiable détente.)

Place: The blogger's parents' den, with Comedy Central reruns playing mute on the flatscreen and Bernstein's Candide playing on his laptop (2004 concert version). His parents and brothers are out for dinner, and the blogger sits alone on the couch in his underwear.

Time: Three nights before the VOW launch party, though just as well to be nearly any night of the past seven months. The blogger attempts, rather unsuccessfully, to not check the status of launch party facebook invitations every five minutes.

The Irrepressible Demon (hereafter known as ID) enters, quietly and with utmost discretion, so that he may not reveal himself until the moment of utmost dramatic effect. The blogger sits at his computer, quietly and complacently. Pondering to himself as to why there isn't more to do three days before the Launch Party.

ID: Not many people coming are there? (chortles) Sorry, I just can't help myself. Yet another batch of stupefying pretensions from the world champion overreacher.

ET: Isn't there a puppy somewhere that you can kick?

ID: Hey, at least puppies don't have any illusions. If I kick one, it knows who's the master and who's my bitch.

ET: Nobody said you weren't a class act.

ID: This coming from the guy who types in his underwear?

ET: We'll call it even. Seriously though, isn't there a kid with cancer somewhere that you can steal candy from?

ID: Always, but cancer patients are such killjoys. Most of them don't have dreams of turning American music upside down, they don't loudly announce their ambitions so that everybody can laugh at the failed results.

ET: (trying to interrupt) Oh stop it.

ID: And they don't devote every Saturday night of the year to getting ready for rehearsal.

ET: Fuck off.

ID: Ahhh. Now we're getting somewhere. Do you even really do anything important on those Saturday nights? Or do you just stay in out of guilt for living fat off your family's dime?

ET: I'm saving money, there's no doubt of that.

ID: You're also saving yourself the embarrassment. Most of your good friends have moved away. You just don't want to face the realization that you may not have places to go on a Saturday night anymore.

ET: Nobody can be 23 forever.

ID: Hasn't stopped you from trying. Never mind that when you were 23 you were already twice that age.

ET: So were all my friends.

ID: Yeah, but they had the lifestyle for it. They moved back home, got real jobs, got married, got set up. You're now just living on a dream.

ET: You dream until the dream comes true.

ID: Aerosmith lyrics?

ET: I watched Glee this week.

ID: For a music snob, you got serious problems with taste dude.

ET: I like the show. Music isn't great but it has some great lines.

ID: Admit it, you think you're Will Schuster.

ET: I have less hair.

ID: No argument there. Will Schuster also has singers.

ET: So Sue Sylvester, what are you here to do to my infinite reserves of self-confidence tonight?

ID: Just the usual. (counts five points with his fingers) Shy kid pretending to be outgoing. Stupid kid pretending to be smart. Fat kid pretending he wants to get thin. Boring kid pretending he's funny. Lazy kid pretending to be a hard worker...

ET: (interrupting on last point) Anything else tonight?

ID: Not really.

ET: Good stuff. I'm going back to work.

ID: Not yet you're not. You haven't heard me out.

ET: You just went through your whole list!

ID: Yeah, but you're about to accomplish something so I figured I'd hammer these home a bit more.

ET: And that just tears you up doesn't it? The thought that in spite of all this, I may have two successful groups going at the same time and God knows what else could be on the horizon. It never occurs to you that...

ID: (interrupting) Oh shove it. Nobody can hear the speech this time. And why aren't you working?

ET: Because the work is basically done. Everything's now either taken care of or in somebody else's hands.

ID: You sure you don't have that email to write to that one singer?

ET: Just one?

ID: Oh yes...that one.

ET: What's the point?

ID: The point is you're worried (s)he's not practicing.

ET: I'm always worried.

ID: But you're worried you'll find out you're right.

ET: It's music. I'm always right.

ID: You keep telling yourself that.

ET: I don't need to.

ID: (flustered, last-ditch attempt) What did you want to accomplish by taking over this half-ass org anyway?

ET: Why should I tell you?

ID: Because I'm the one you're trying to prove everything to.

ET: (defeated) Alright...you won this round. I want a way forward. I don't want to say that my life has limitations. I want to show that it's possible for an adult who has the same organizational skills as his two year old cousins to not have to settle for the thought that there are things he can't do.

ID: Like get organized?

ET: Fuck you.

ID: Maybe if you had the organization beaten into you....

ET: (interrupting) We all do the best we can. But there are other things that I do well, maybe better than other people. Why can't I do these things and be appreciated for them?

ID: Noble goals sir. But how are you so special? The rest of the world settles for whatever little satisfactions they can get and make do with paying the bills and a nice cup of coffee. But you can't bother with a nice cup of coffee.

ET: Nope. Gives me indigestion.

ID: At 28?

ET: Gave me that at 21.

ID: You're too easy of a target. I'm leaving.

ET: Wait a minute. You always get me at my weakest.

ID: That's what I'm here for.

ET: Let's play fair here. If you want a good sparring partner you have to play by the rules that put me at my best advantage.

ID: Fair enough.

ET: I never wanted to do choral music. As you well know, I can't stand a lot of it. All that droning on about God and Bonnie Lasses is about as interesting as watching paint dry.

ID: So why did you do it?

ET: Because it was a way to do music. Because choral music is the easiest way to break into classical music. Every high school has at least a couple of vocal groups, so does every college. Even adults love to sing, for some reason they think droning a tune will make them feel young again. And anybody who thinks they can sing will eventually find a group desperate enough for members to tell them that they're absolutely right.

ID: And thus....

ET: I'll say it so you don't have to. Choral music is the lamest of all forms of classical music. And it will be as long as anybody thinks they can show up without prior experience, without practicing, without any sense that there is anything they need to do except show up two weeks every month and fake their parts while other people work their asses off just so that these part-time members can have the opportunity to mooch off their accomplishments.

ID: Wow. You'd make a good demon.

ET: Who in their right mind would ever want to be a choral conductor?

ID: And you think being an orchestral conductor would be any more fun?

ET: Not much. But at least amateur orchestras have to take people committed enough to tell themselves 'I want to play this instrument. I want to take the time to figure out how it works.' It works like an automatic flake filter.

ID: I do believe you are the most grizzled 28-year-old I've ever met.

ET: You don't know the half of it. But there is something you're missing in this equation of yours.

ID: And what is that?

ET: That people don't do anything differently in classical music because hardly anybody tries to be different. Most concerts are still attended by blue-haired ladies who want to hear Beethoven's 5th played exactly the same way it was when they heard Toscanini conduct it. But soon they'll be gone, and the slate will be all too clean.

ID: And you think you're going to be the one who's going to step in and rewrite the rules?

ET: No one person, no hundred people, will do that. But the day is soon coming when no living person remembers when classical music was still generally thought of as the summit of all musical achievements. And when that happens, we can start the serious work of building a new type of classical music out of the music that's popular in our time.

ID: And there it is. No matter how far you go into the 'let's engage the Phillistines' camp, you're still the same 'classical music is better' snob you were when you were 18.

ET: Oh come on, not even you believe that. Each according to what they love. No I'll probably never say that Pet Sounds is on the same level as The Marriage of Figaro. But that doesn't mean both aren't great, brilliant, and maybe even perfect, in their own ways.

ID: Isn't that more than a little condescending?

ET: I think it's realistic.

ID: And you're really going to sell classical music to the plebes with this kind of attitude? 'Your music is OK, but our music is better. Stop listening to your crap so you can be more a literate, cultural person.'

ET: That's not what I believe.

ID: Then what is?

ET: Well sure. Plenty of music from the pop traditions qualifies as art. And even plenty of the stuff that's just entertainment is worth listening to. But how many of these guys take the years of study it always takes to learn the craft, absorb the traditions, place thought behind what they do? I'll accept that Bjork and Sufjan are art, and good art too. But stop trying to feed me that MJ and Madonna are. Showpieces like that weren't art when Paganini or Liszt wrote them and they're no more art today.

ID: So you'd banish them from this perfectly cultural kingdom of yours?

ET: Not at all. I'm eagerly awaiting for the day when some composer quotes "Material Girl" in a symphony or makes "Thriller" into a full-length opera. Without Liszt we'd be missing everything in the musical canon from Tchaikovsky to Bartok. So I'm sure that Madonna will get something out of it.

ID: Good luck getting the rights.

ET: That's for another night.

ID: So you really think that Dylan and Springsteen are the great musicians of our time - as important to America as Beethoven and Wagner were to 19th-century Germany?

ET: Not necessarily. But they're at least Louis Spohrs and Karl Goldmarks.

ID: Nobody performs that crap anymore.

ET: It would be great if people rediscovered either of them. Art historians have thousands of great artists to learn about, yet in music history we're told that there are only a hundred-odd great composers. So I'd happily put Springsteen and Dylan into any concert. They're artists who compose songs that are relevant to people's lives and interests and they put enormous care into what they write. What more could you want? Are they the absolute greats of our time? Not in my opinion, but they're not so far down the totem pole that they should be ignored either. And if putting them into a program helps people to recognize music that I think is even greater, then so much the better for having them there!

ID: Y'know that's what's so odd about you. You're only half-grizzled, and what a half that is. But most people as cynical as you would have long ago given up. And yet every knock you take seems to make you more convinced than ever you're on a mission to spread some sort of funky gospel of music. You're so focused on the forest that you'd cut down every tree so that you wouldn't have to observe one. It's almost like you're convinced that you're some kind of musical messiah.

ET: Well somebody has to be.

ID: No he doesn't. The world is what it is. What do really think any of this will happen? Do you actually believe that you're going to make a new classical music out of all these hurdles? Are you blind and deaf?

ET: Actually, I can barely see what I'm typing and my tinnitus is so loud that I can't fall asleep without music.

ID: You know what I mean.

ET: I don't give a shit about what happens when I'm not there. I just want a place where I can do the things I love to do. I want sixty decent, reliable singers for whom I can arrange and compose pieces of every type of music: classical, pop; funny, sad; art, entertainment. And if I get that, I will be happy to do exactly that every day for the rest of my life. I don't want to change the world, I just want a little playground where I (and others) get to do what I love. If we have to change the way music is thought of in order to get there, then I'll make whatever little dent I can.

ID: And you really think that's worth the overwhelming risk of failure?

ET: Beats stock trading.

ID: Touche salesman...So in your pursuit of being a 21st century Mahler, how are you going to eat?

ET: Let's face it. Probably stock trading.

ID: You really are half-grizzled.

ET: And you're half-beaten.