I just love the American spirit of racing. It feels just great to get involved with that.

The spirit of graft and of lawlessness is the American spirit.

I think that in a piece like this the American spirit is strong, and it appeals to that. But it?s not a battle cry, and we don?t send anyone off to a foreign country.

The season is a celebration of the American spirit. When you are planning a season, there is always a certain atmosphere surrounding you. We were aware of this fervent patriotism, and we wanted to address that. But there are different approaches to patriotic music other than the Sousa marches. For instance, our first program will be 'New York, New York,' celebrating the spirit of that wonderful city.

Emerson then incarnated the moral optimism, the progress, and the energy of the American spirit.

Some of the spirit of the celebration and this city is African-American and Creole, and we?re missing a lot of that now. Some people just disappeared.