Several years ago I attended the 40^th birthday party for Robin Finck, the guitarist of Nine Inch Nails. Ten of us were crammed into a small booth in a nondescript restaurant in Sherman Oaks, California. The guy sitting next to me asked: What do you do? Not wanting to play the academic card I said I’m the lead singer and lyricist of the Americana Desolation Punk Rock band Crying 4 Kafka. I write songs like Give Sodomy A Chance. When he stopped laughing he said I’ve written an opera about oral sex. We shook hands and exchanged addresses. His name is Thomas Ades. The Wall Street Journal describes him as one of the most important composers working today. His opera, Powder Her Face, has been performed in the Royal Opera House (London) and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.