British Boogie Woogie Pianist Confronted by CCP Amidst Livestream: X Has Thoughts (and Encouragement)
http://twitchy.com/tertullianus/2024/01/22/british-boogie-woogie-pianist-confronted-by-ccp-amidst-livestream-x-has-thoughts-and-encouragement-n2392028
The CCP is at it again, folks. Dr. K, Brendan Kavanagh, was accosted by CCP tools during one of his livestreams where he plays boogie-woogie music on public pianos around the UK. He is well known in music circles for encouraging public appreciation of the art and often has members of the public join in his upbeat tunes. Things take a turn for the worse in this particular encounter when a group of people holding the Chinese Communist flag come up to him and request that he stop filming. The group that Brendan points out around the 2:45 mark in Ian's attached video, comes up around the 9:21 mark and tells him to stop filming. The discussion becomes heated around eleven minutes in, when the Chinese people threaten him with legal action, and goes off the hinges when he points out that the UK is not Communist China, and they accuse him of racism. Things go downhill from there.
Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) ~ Full video of Brendan Kavanagh's livestream, the British pianist who was accosted by CCP agents who called the police on him for filming them in public. They are now trying to pressure YouTube into removing the video with their faces on it.
Video ~ http://twitter.com/i/status/1749288812227051981
Of course, the police get called and Mr Kavanagh has to inform them of British Common Law. Eventually, the Communists shuffle off to do whatever it is they were doing for Chinese National TV, and Dr. K continues his livestream, significantly more irritated than before. (This writer just thinks it adds a different bounce to his tune)
He's going on British talk show, Talk TV, tonight, so we'll see if anything further comes of this particular encounter, but encouragement and sympathy poured in from Ian's post.
almost_anything (@uncontent_ends) ~ Why are police in UK who know it's 100% legal to film in public telling someone it's not?! This woman should be fired for being too stupid to uphold the law at a bare minimum.
The UK police are becoming more and more abysmal. No doubt about it.
Audrey (@AudreyStach) ~ The confrontation starts at the ~9:12 mark. I’m shocked the police handled the situation this way. Unsure who Brendan Kavanagh is, but he seemed to handle the situation well. Way to stand your ground.
We would certainly recommend following him on the socials. He is fabulous, and you won't regret it, Audrey.
Yeah ... he IS a DAMN GOOD piano player, that's for sure!
Eric Laurine (@elaurineSGVData) ~ I didn't know who Brendan Kavanagh was before this. Glad I do now! This is one of the best examples of civil disobedience from @brenkav and how to execute it perfectly I have ever seen! Simply badass @brenkav! #FreeSpeech The piano playing is awesome too!
Queen Velvet (@TMIWITW) ~ It’s funny watching communists explain what they think rights are.
Unfortunately, it's less funny watching the police start to agree with them.
Mark Jaklovsky (@Jaklovsky) ~ I can understand why they didn't want to be recorded. Enjoying time in a foreign shopping mall during Chinese New Year in top brand clothes not a good look for #ccp officials while half their countrymen struggle on $400 a month and contend with a draconian society.
Mark makes a good point here.
From what we hear from Brendan, some of the underlying context is that these were party members filming a travelogue of some sort for Chinese national TV and were being escorted by (likely armed) guards who couldn't be searched by the British due to 'Diplomatic Immunity.'
While this writer doesn't care that the guards were armed, in a society that doesn't have the same protections we enjoy in America, it adds a whole new layer of complexity to the situation.
We wish Brendan Kavanagh well, and hope that he continues to grace us with Boogie-Woogie vibes from across the pond.
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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