TOPICAL TUNES. If you listen to National Public Radio, you might be aware of composer Bryant Kong's CD The Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld and Other Fresh American Art Songs, which features the singing of soprano Elender Wall accompanied by Kong on piano. Samples can be heard at the websites of NPR and Kong's own Stuffed Penguin Music.

Kong's bio describes him as a "composer, pianist, and humorist." With those credentials, he seems to have a lot in common with Ben Yarmolinsky. Co-founder of the organization Friends and Enemies of New Music, Yarmolinsky recently wrote and recorded the ditty "The Ballad of George W." His other compositions include a musical theater piece entitled April Fifteenth Blues, a "constitutional cantata" called Amendments, a "docu-opera" titled Anita (based on the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings), and The Bill of Rights: A Secular Oratorio.

Kong is based in the Bay Area; Yarmolinsky is based in Brooklyn. [Correction: Ben is based in the Big Apple. 28 April 2004] I wonder if the two of them could find enough like-minded composers to program an entire concert exploring the musical possibilities of the current administration. It'd be a gas.