J. Bradford DeLong's Grasping Reality with a Prehensile Tail

The Night They Raised America Up: The Invention of Memory and Tradition

"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" is not repeat not repeat NOT a reconstruction-era southern lament. "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" is a song written in 1969 by a Canadian--never mind that Ralph J. Gleason (in the review in Rolling Stone (US edition only) of October 1969) wrote "the rhythmic structure, the voice of Levon and the bass line with the drum accents and then the heavy close harmony of Levon, Richard and Rick in the theme, make it seem impossible that this isn't some traditional material handed down from father to son straight from that winter of 1865 to today. It has that ring of truth and the whole aura of authenticity..."

Thus Robbie Robertson incites the ire of Ta-Nehisi Coates, who believes that we have very different memories of the Winter of '65, and don't need to invent Robertson's particular one:

Ta-Nehisi Coates: What you see above is the train of Rebels fleeing the city, as the Union troops enter from the other side. I was thinking about the Richmond yesterday, and The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."... I'm told that it's a great song, and I don't so much doubt this, as I doubt my own magnanimity. I'm reminded of one of my father's favorite quotes, "The African's right to be wrong is sacred." Or Aaron McGruder's line, "I reserve the right to be a nigger." I can no more marvel at The Band then a Sioux can marvel at the cinematography of "The Died With Their Boots On." I wouldn't fault the man who could, but it's not me My empathy is a resource to be rationed like all others. My right to be wrong is sacred. My right to be a nigger is reserved. I started to play the song yesterday, and stopped myself. Again, I was angry. Again, another story about the blues of Pharaoh, and the people are invisible. The people are always invisible....

The expectation that someone else will tell your story for you, will write your ballads for you, will reconcile your history for you, is foolish and vain.... I'm no Robbie Robertson, but I do carry the words of my old, magical people:

I have just returned from the city of Richmond; my regiment was among the first that entered that city. I marched at the head of the column, and soon I found myself called upon by the officers and men of my regiment to make a speech, with which, of course, I readily complied. A vast multitude assembled on Broad Street, and I was aroused amid the shouts of ten thousand voices, and proclaimed for the first time in that city freedom to all mankind. After which the doors of all the slave pens were thrown open, and thousands came out shouting and praising God, and Father, or Master Abe, as they termed him. In this mighty consternation I became so overcome with tears that I could not stand up under the pressure of such fullness of joy in my own heart. I rested to gain strength, so I lost many important topics worthy of note.

Among the densely crowded concourse there were parents looking for children who had been sold south of this state in tribes, and husbands came for the same purpose; here and there one was singled out in the ranks, and an effort was made to approach the gallant and marching soldiers, who were too obedient to orders to break ranks.We continued our march as far as Camp Lee, at the extreme end of Broad Street, running westwards. In camp the multitude followed, and everybody could participate in shaking the friendly but hard hands of the poor slaves.

Among the many broken-hearted mothers looking for their children who had been sold to Georgia and elsewhere, was an aged woman, passing through the vast crowd of colored, inquiring for one by the name of Garland H. White, who had been sold from her when a small boy, and was bought by a lawyer named Robert Toombs, who lived in Georgia. Since the war has been going on she has seen Mr. Toombs in Richmond with troops from his state, and upon her asking him where his body-servant Garland was, he replied: "He ran off from me at Washington, and went to 'Canada. I have since learned that he is living somewhere in the State of Ohio." Some of the boys knowing that I lived in Ohio, soon found me and said, "Chaplain, here is a lady that wishes to see you." I quickly turned, following the soldier until coming to a group of colored ladies. I was questioned as follows:

"What is your name, sir?" "My name is Garland H. White." "What was your mother's name?" "Nancy." "Where was you born?" "In Hanover County, in this State." "Where was you sold from?" "From this city." "What was the name of the man who bought you?" "Robert Toombs." "Where did he live?" "In the State of Georgia." "Where did you leave him?" "At Washington." "Where did you go then?" "To Canada." "Where do you live now?" "In Ohio." "This is your mother, Garland, whom you are now talking to, who has spent twenty years of grief about her son."

I cannot express the joy I felt at this happy meeting of my mother and other friends. But suffice it to say that God is on the side of the righteous, and will in due time reward them. I have witnessed several such scenes among the other colored regiments.

Late in the afternoon, we were honored with his Excellency, the President of the United States, Lieutenant-General Grant, and other gentlemen of distinction. We made a grand parade through most of the principal streets of the city, beginning at Jeff Davis's mansion, and it appeared to me that all the colored people in the world had collected in that city for that purpose. I never saw so many colored people in all my life, women and children of all sizes running after Father, or Master Abraham, as they called him. To see the colored people, one would think they had all gone crazy. The excitement at this period was unabated, the tumbling of walls, the bursting of shells, could be heard in all directions, dead bodies being found, rebel prisoners being brought in, starving women and children begging for greenbacks and hard tack, constituted theorder of the day. The Fifth [Massachusetts] Cavalry; colored, were sfill dashing through the streets to protect and preserve the peace, and see that no one suffered violence, they having fought so often over the walls of Richmond, driving the enemy at every point.

Among the first to enter Richmond was the 28th U.S.C.T. better known as the First Indiana Colored Volunteers. . Some people do not seem to believe that the colored troops were the first that entered Richmond. Why, you need not feel at all timid in giving the truthfulness of my assertion to the four winds of the heavens, and let the angels re-echo it back to the earth, that the colored soldiers of the Army of the James were the first to enter the city of Richmond. I was with them, and am still with them, and am willing to stay with them until freedom is proclaimed throughout the world. Yes, we will follow this race of men in search of liberty through the whole Island of Cuba. All the boys are well, and send their love to all the kind ones at home."

Chaplain Garland H. White, 
28th USCI, Richmond, Virginia,
April 12, 1865; CR, April 22, 1865

White's letter can be found in the book A Grand Army Of Black Men (p. 175.) For the serious civil war nerd, this book, a massive collection of letters written by black soldiers during the War, is indispensable.

Then again, maybe Robbie Robertson is saying something else. Virgil Cain may say so, but we all know that the real killer of Cain's brother Abel wasn't no Yankee stranger from afar, was he?

K.T. Tunstall...

Rest in Peace...

---

And Jacqui Cheng:

Internet groans under weight of Michael Jackson traffic - Ars Technica: The passing of pop icon Michael Jackson affected numerous services across the Internet in major ways Thursday evening. As fans and onlookers tried to locate and pass on news, various sites were pushed to their limits, with Google describing the incident as "volcanic"...

When Deterrence Fails! "Wuthering Heights" Version

Rohan Maitzen writes:

Musical Versions: I was recently reminded of the Kate Bush song “Wuthering Heights.” I’ve learned, through the very scientific methods of chatting with friends and reading responses to posted videos on Facebook, that the song is haunting to some, unpleasantly whiny to others, and just plain weird to still others (actually, I expect all Kate Bush songs evoke at least this wide a range of responses). As it happens, I like “Wuthering Heights”...

and he posts a youtube version.

We must, in response, climb the ladder of esalation or lose all credibility when we make threats in the future. That would be intolerale.

So we escalate. If Rohan will post the white-dress version of "Wuthering Heights," we will in retaliation post:

The Puppini Sisters:

And Placebo:

There's No One as Irish as Barack Obama

Edith Piaf "La Vie en Rose" Blogging

Walter Jon Williams of Angel Stationreviewing the movie (with spoilers), and he links to:

• Marion Coutillard singing Non Je Ne Regrette Rien
• Edith Piaf singing Non Je Ne Regrette Rien
• Edith Piaf singing Hymne à l´Amour
• Edith Piaf singing La Vie en Rose

• Edith Piaf and Marion Cotillard side by side

• Trailer

Wedding Blogging

Patrick Nielsen Hayden informs us that Fred Clark and his S.O. are now Slacktivist and Slacktivixen, which is an honourable estate, instituted of God in the time of man's innocency... which holy estate Christ adorned and beautified with his presence, and first miracle that he wrought, in Cana of Galilee; and is commended of Saint Paul to be honourable among all men: and therefore is not by any to be enterprised, nor taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly... like brute beasts that have no understanding; but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God; duly considering the causes for which Matrimony was ordained... (i) for the procreation of children, to be brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord, and to the praise of his holy Name... (ii) for a remedy against sin... [for] such persons as have not the gift of continency might marry... [and] for the mutual society, help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity...

Memory Errors...

This is bad. What I have thought for a long time--nigh on thirty years--was the theme from "The Magnificent Seven" is actually the theme from "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly."

OK. Now then: What is the theme from "The Magnificent Seven"?

Uhoh. This is very bad. I had thought that was the theme from "Bonanza."

So what is the theme from "Bonanza"?

I thought that was the theme from "Gunsmoke."

I dare not go any further...

A Song of Religious War, Abuse of Prisoners, Ethnic Cleansing, and Similar Light Topics

A little history lesson, about the 45:

Source: David Robertson Photography: http://www.dwrobertson-photography.com/gal_loch_arklet.asp

Andrew Lang : Poems of Andrew Lang : THE BONNIE BANKS O' LOCH LOMOND:

There's an ending o' the dance, and fair Morag's safe in France,
And the Clans they hae paid the lawing,
And the wuddy has her ain, and we twa are left alane,
Free o' Carlisle gaol in the dawing.

So ye'll tak the high road, and I'll tak the laigh road,
An' I'll be in Scotland before ye:
But me and my true love will never meet again,
By the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

For my love's heart brake in twa, when she kenned the Cause's fa',
And she sleeps where there's never nane shall waken,
Where the glen lies a' in wrack, wi' the houses toom and black,
And her father's ha's forsaken.

While there's heather on the hill shall my vengeance ne'er be still,
While a bush hides the glint o' a gun, lad;
Wi' the men o' Sergeant Mor shall I work to pay the score,
Till I wither on the wuddy in the sun, lad!

So ye'll tak the high road, and I'll tak the laigh road,
An' I'll be in Scotland before ye:
But me and my true love will never meet again,
By the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

In the New Yorker, Sasha Frere-Jones says that we should all patronize Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings.

Rainy Grey Afternoon Female Vocalist Blogging

Rainy grey afternoons are so rare around here, they must be savored appropriately:

Rilo Kiley, "Silver Lining":

Bonnie Raitt, "Angel from Montgomery"

Alison Brown, "Angel"

Liz Phair, "Divorce Song":

Perhaps the Best Argument for the Destruction of the Music Companies Ever Made

DymaxionWorldJohn

Cogitamus: The Music Industry's talking points: "Hey, we're obsolete.": via Matt, the RIAA gives consumers holiday advice:

Watch for Compilations that are “Too Good to Be True": Many pirates make “dream compilation” CDs, comprised of songs by numerous artists on different record labels who would not likely appear on the same legitimate album together.

So, if you see an album with all of your favourite artists on it, performing the songs you love, for the love of God don't buy it -- it's probably pirated!

, this is their press release.  And in it, they explicitly state that pirates are putting together products that people want more than the legitimate variety.  This, of course, is why teenagers should be sued in to penury, rather than something as revolutionary as the music industry putting together its own compilations that people want to buy.

Rilo Kiley: Silver Lining

Very much worth listening to:

Rilo Kiley: Silver Lining.

Perhaps the most interesting thing is that I would never have heard of them had I not, bored, picked up the Elvis Costello "Music that Matters to Me" CD at Starbucks.

Take Me to the River...

BoingBoing stuffs us into the Wayback Machine and sends us back to Rome in 1980, and the Talking Heads

France has Been Our Friend for 240 Years (Lafayette We Are Here Department)

Scott Horton:

"Beaumarchais’s Gift": Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, in a letter dated August 10, 1777 to unnamed American friends (S.H. transl.):

Sirs, I feel compelled to advise you that the vessel l’Amphitrite, with a displacement of 400 tonnes, will sail with the first good winds for the first port in the United States that it is able to reach. The cargo of this vessel, destined to you, consists of 4000 rifles, 80 barrels of gunpowder, 8000 pairs of shoes, 3000 wool blankets, as well as several engineering and artillery officers, not to mention a German baron, namely a certain aide de camp of Prince Heinrich of Prussia [Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben]; I think that you can make him a general, and I remain your humble and devoted servant...

George W. Bush took America to war with Iraq. When France, and most of the rest of Europe, said “do as you like, but we’re not going with you,” Bush and his political allies in the media (this means Fox News, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Weekly Standard and the usual talk radio suspects) launched a major campaign of vilification against the French. Bill O’Reilly and a troop of radio commentators—the same ones who beat the drums of war for an invasion of Iraq—urged a boycott of French goods. What impact did this happen? In the U.S., public opinion about France plummeted, and in France, public opinion about the U.S. plummeted. And how did it affect business? The British Centre for Economic Policy Research reports:

From February 2002 to March 2003, France’s favourability rating in US public opinion polls fell from 83 percent to 35 percent. Very negative attitudes towards France became common even among college educated Americans with high levels of income, so they were likely prevalent among managers. Using data from 1999-2005, we find that the worsening relations reduced US imports from France by about 15 percent and US exports to France by about 8 percent, compared to other Eurozone or OECD countries.

Of course, this behavior on the side of American opinion leaders was juvenile or worse-—it reflected primitive demagoguery. The French position was that U.S. intelligence did not sustain its case about WMDs in Iraq (which, by the way, is now established as the inescapable truth). But the French had also had their fill of colonial adventurism in the Middle East and had no interest in any more. Notwithstanding these considerations, however, France was actually very close to the U.S. position in the war on terror—-eager to cooperate with the U.S. and accepting of U.S. tactics employed. In fact, among the continental European powers, none has proved quite so close to Bush and his approach in waging a war on terror.

What was gained by the cries of “Freedom Fries” and the taunts of “cheese-eating surrender monkeys”? Nothing. And much was lost. America marks its revolution on July 4, and France does the same ten days later. This proximity on the calendar is important for many reasons, because these two revolutions and the messages they brought to the world were dependent, one upon the other. The Founding Fathers fully appreciated that America’s independence was won with the protection and support of France. And after it was won, the generation-long military struggle between France and Britain allowed America to consolidate its independence and make it not ephemeral but permanent.

So for this week, it’s time for Americans to forget O’Reilly and his friends and to remember Lafayette. And Beaumarchais, who took time out from working on Figaro to raise funds, guns and recruits for his friends, the American insurgents (see Quote for the Day). For as the barber of Seville says, “One should mind one’s own business... unless one has anxiety that one’s neighbors will bring him harm.”

Impeach George W. Bush. Impeach him now.

Matthew Yglesias Is Insecure!

Matthew Yglesias worries:

Matthew Yglesias: The Starbucks Factor: Is it a bad thing that Feist's The Reminder is on sale in Starbucks? I'll admit that when I saw the album there I was disturbed. Upon a moment's reflection, though, this is just snobbery. I don't like the idea that, in the future, if I praise Feist this may indicate to other people that I'm the sort of person who gets his music recommendations from Starbucks rather than the sort of person who knows a lot about Canadian indie music...

It's too late, Matt. You have revealed that you are the kind of person who fears that other people may think that you are the kind of person who gets his music recommendations from Starbucks.

It would be much better for you if you were to fear that you might be turning into the kind of person who fears that other people may think you are the kind of person who gets his music recommendations from Starbucks.

Matthew Yglesias Complains About the Quality of Nearly-Free Ice Cream

He complains that Leslie Feist's new album is not quite as good as its predecessor:

I've been a little disappointed by Feist's new album The Reminder which doesn't really live up to the brilliance of Let It Die. That said, we're talking about a very high standard here and some of it is quite good, including "1, 2, 3, 4"

This is complaining about nearly-free ice cream. "Not quite as good as 'Let It Die' is still very, very good indeed...

Justina Golden's Flos Regalis

My wife's college friend Justina Bradford Golden (one of Dar Williams's voice teachers) gave us a copy of her early music album, Flos Regalis, when we went through Amherst. It's truly excellent. And my favorite his her... unusual version of the Ellington/Russell standard "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" as it might have been performed for Richard III York...

Flos Regalis, a CD by Justina Golden and friends!

Get your own copy of Flos Regalis:

John Stifler says: http://www.justinagolden.com/oldies.html

"But Captain Jack Will Get You High Tonight..."

"But Captain Jack will get you high tonight..." Is it just some strange attachment on my part to 1970s-Suburban-Youth-Long-Island-Angst music? Or is "Captain Jack" by far the best thing in music that Billy Joel ever did?

Songs That Are Much Better in Their Cover Versions XXIV

The BeeGees' "Inside and Out," as by Feist:

Why Oh Why Can't We Have a Better Press Corps? (Yet Another New Republic Edition)

If Franklin Foer wants his New Republic to rebuild its reputation, he needs to get rid of Peter Beinart. Just saying.

Here's Peter Beinart:

Time to close ranks in defense of free speech: Last week, I went searching the liberal Web for discussions of Idomeneo. The Deutsche Oper, a Berlin opera house, had recently canceled the Mozart classic because it feared Muslims would react violently to a scene featuring Mohammed's severed head. Germans declared that free speech was under siege. The New York Times covered every wrinkle. Right-wing websites buzzed. And, on the big liberal blogs, virtual silence.

If pressed, most liberal bloggers would probably have condemned the opera house's decision. But they didn't feel pressed. Blogging thrives on outrage (see, for instance, my colleague Martin Peretz's outraged blogging on the affair at tnr.com/blog/spine), and the Idomeneo closure just didn't get liberal blood flowing. And why is that? Perhaps because it didn't have anything to do with George W. Bush...

Peter Beinart plays two games of intellectual three-card-monte here.

The first game of intellectual three-card-monte is, of course, Beinart's criticizing people he does not name not for what they do not say. It is one thing to complain about what people say about the issues they discuss. It's another to condemn them for what they do not say about not-very-important-issues they do not discuss. It's a big world. Ars longa. Vita brevis. To blame people for not discussing a not-very-important event that you think they should be discussing--well, that's why people like Peter Beinart need editors to cancel their pieces and keep them from making even bigger fools of themselves.

The second game of intellectual three-card-monte is, of course, Beinart's claim that a classic opera written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was canceled. I can assure you that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart never wrote a note of music for a scene in which the severed heads of Poseidon, Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed were pulled from a sack. Never. Not a note. Beinart could--if he wanted to be honest--say that Hans Neuenfels's version of Idomeneo, which adds a non-canonical scene in which the heads of Poseidon, Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed are pulled from a sack was canceled. And we could then argue about whether that cancelation was a good thing. (I would say it was not a good thing to cancel the opera.)

But that's not what Beinart says, is it?

New Republic. Death spiral. Engaged in.

PULL UP, FRANKLIN FOER!! PULL UP!!

Someone Left the Cake Out in the Rain...

Yet More Jimmy Webb Song Blogging:

Macarthur Park/Jimmy Webb:

Spring was never waiting for us, girl
It ran one step ahead
As we followed in the dance

Between the parted pages and were pressed
In love's hot, fevered iron
Like a striped pair of pants...

One of the many great beauties of the song is that the schmaltziness of the metaphors and similes is so extreme and unbelievable that they deconstruct the ideas of "schmaltz" and "kitsch." Nobody could use these metaphors with a straight face. Yet the narrator of the song somehow does

She Was 21/ When I Left Galveston...

Memo to self: Only trained professionals should be allowed to shop the iTunes movie store... and in this, I am not a trained professional.

Go to said store looking for Richard Harris's version of "Macarthur Park." Emerge with songwriter Jimmy Webb's version. And with both Jimmy Webb's and Glenn Campbell's versions of "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman," and "Galveston."

There's a story--is it true?--that Jimmy Webb doesn't like Glenn Campbell's version of "Galveston": that in the song Webb wrote and the song Webb sings it is clear that the soldier will not make it back from Vietnam to Galveston, and in Campbell's version it is pretty clear that he has a good chance of getting back home...

The Internet Is Useless!

It cannot answer a simple yet urgent question: why isn't K.T. Tunstall's "Suddenly I See"--the opening credits song--on "The Devil Wears Prada" soundtrack album?

The Devil Wears Prada Soundtrack @ Movie Music . com: Music by various artists for the 2006 movie. Released 7/11/2006 on the Warner Bros label, catalog number 44383. Tracklisting:

1. Vogue - Madonna
2. Bittersweet Faith - BitterSweet
3. City of Blinding Lights - U2
4. Seven Days in Sunny June - Jamiroquai
5. Crazy - Alanis Morissette
6. Beautiful - Moby
7. How Come - Ray LaMontagne
8. Sleep - Azure Ray
9. Feelin Hypnotized - DJ Colette
10. Tres Tres Chic - Mocean Worker
11. Here I Am - Keenan, Tamra, David Morales
12. Score Suite - Theodore Shapiro

Cultural Consumption and Identity in 18th Century Germany

Gerry Feldman invited Michael North to come up from his temporary home base at the Getty Museum to talk:

Cultural Consumption and Identity in 18th Century Germany : Monday, February 27, 2006 Time:4:00PM Speaker:Prof. Michael North (Professor of History Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University, Greifswald) Location:201 Moses: Description:The lecture will discuss culture and consumption and the issues of luxury and taste in Germany at the turn of the nineteenth century...

Absolutely fascinating. The nugget that fascinated me the most was this. I think I understood it properly:

If, in the late eighteenth century (if you were rich--solidly bourgeois) you wanted to get the score of a piano sonata by Karl Philip Emmanuel Bach, it was easy: C.P.E. Bach sold subscriptions and partnered with publishers to make money off of selling scores. He was, among other things, an intellectual property entrepreneur. On the other hand if, in the middle of the eighteenth century, you wanted to get the score of one of Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg Concertos... you needed to know and be owed a favor by the Kapellmeister of some small princely state who knew and was owed a favor by the Kapellmeister of Frederick the Great and so had a copy of the score that could be recopied by hand. C.P.E. Bach was in lines of business that J.S. Bach was not.

I suppose this explains why we have only the St. Matthew and St. John Passions. Surely J.S. Bach wrote St. Luke and St. Mark Passions too, didn't he?

We Hear and Obey

Elvis Costello tells us to go listen to Rilo Kiley. Very good advice.

Grand Opera

Is there a better passage in the classical opera repertoire than "Signore, ascolta!"-"Non piangere, Liu"-"Per l'ultima volta!" in Puccini's "Turandot"?

Tyler Cowen's Bliss Point Is...

Tyler Cowen's bliss point is (a) eating 85% dark chocolate while (b) listening to "Don Giovanni" with (c) his wife seated on his lap (d) while blogging. (I should work his daughter into it too, but cannot figure out how to do so.)

Me and Susan Tedeschi

Don't get me wrong. I like the music that Susan Tedeschi does enormously. But, still, I have to ask: Is it legal to do what she does without a Janis Joplin license?

Things That Shouldn't Work But Somehow Do

Strangely successful:

WAKE THE DEAD : Welcome to the WAKE THE DEAD website -- home of the World's First Celtic All-Star Grateful Dead Jam Band. The way this hot Northern California septet blends Celtic traditional music and the songs of the Grateful Dead is delighting Deadheads, folkies, jam band fans, and adventurous music lovers alike around the world.

Pop Music!

Wow! The San Francisco Chronicle's Joel Selvin badly needs a new and different life:

'American Idol' champ Clarkson struggles to the finish line in local headlining debut: Kelly Clarkson was not having a good night. Instead of presiding triumphantly over an amphitheater full of screaming teens anointing her a true pop goddess, she cut off the electric guitars and hobbled into the finale. Her voice in shreds, she dropped the key and slowed the beat for the climactic performance of her big hit, "Since U Been Gone." She sang, but without any vitality, flat and listless. She left most of the singing to the audience, parading around the stage holding the microphone out to the crowd, who happily supplied the chorus. Clarkson looked ragged, drained. What should have been a victory lap looked like a forced march.

The song has been the biggest pop hit of the year, rescuing 23-year-old Clarkson from the footnote oblivion of having been the first winner of TV's "American Idol." Clarkson arrived for her Bay Area headline concert debut Sunday at UC Berkeley's Greek Theatre to be greeted by a larger-than-expected crowd of more than 6,000 enthusiasts who were screaming her name in unison -- "Kell-lee" -- before she took the stage.

She apologized for her voice after the raw edges showed on a ballad. She talked about having the next day off (after the show she did, in fact, cancel a concert scheduled for Santa Barbara). She nevertheless pulled off the frenzied final chorus of Annie Lennox's "Why." But she was not happy. She made her three guitar players switch to acoustics and tried to regain her equilibrium. Rather than stop the show, she said, they would soldier on. "We'll try to have the same good time," she said, "only at a lower key."

With a hit that big on the charts -- and the limited shelf life of pop hits -- her agents can be forgiven for having her do more than four shows a week this summer. But her gymnastic vocal style calls for a sturdy athleticism that she couldn't summon Sunday. Her big numbers rely on ringing choruses she drives home with blasting, trumpet-like high notes, and, her voice gone, she didn't have other resources to fall back on, as a cunning veteran might. She is, after all, a relative newcomer who owes her fame to winning a talent show on television three years ago, and she was already widely presumed to be washed up. Her surprising career resurrection comes from Swedish songsmith Max Martin, the man who brought you Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys and who has been having a hard time buying a hit himself recently.

Clarkson managed to separate herself from the machinations of the evil geniuses behind "American Idol" -- the ones who made her sing "A Moment Like This" and star in the movie "From Justin to Kelly" -- and she apparently sought out this new career strategy for herself. She has clearly long placed her faith in the work of makeup, hair and wardrobe professionals, although the stylist that picked out the impossibly low-cut knee pants and halter-top outfit didn't do her any favors.

She exuded a certain cheery charm, a becoming modesty that suits her talents, a willingness to please that is always attractive in an entertainer. Her wholesome exuberance is more tomboy than sexy. But waving at fans in the front rows during dramatic passages of a song might be taking the giggly, girlish thing a little too far.

There were moments tinged with promise -- a Joplinesque rasp on the edge of a soulful ballad, a sweet turn in her voice in the country-pop of Rascal Flatts' "I'm Movin' On" that suggested early Ronstadt. But largely she stuck to cookie-cutter teen pop that really wasn't all that interesting or memorable, save for the big hit, of course, which is a great, glowing, gleaming piece of pop cheese Clarkson is likely never to see the likes of again.

We took the Twelve-Year-Old to the concert at Berkeley's Greek Theatre. No, she was not listless. No, it did not look like a forced march. Yes, she has some excellent material to work with. Yes, she has very good taste in the cover songs she chooses. We saw a twenty-two year old realizing as she got into her set that her voice that night couldn't carry the belt-it-out vocal strategy of her new album, and trying to regroup and adjust so that she could do a set that would (a) please her fans, while (b) not straining her voice too far. We saw a remarkably professional twenty-two year old.

She has a voice. She has range. She has presence. She has 160,000 people who have seen her this summer. If she gets good vocal coaches who will help her save and develop her voice, she could do very well.

Joel Selvin, on the other hand.... He needs to get out of town--get out of the music-covering business--before he does himself serious damage.

Unusual Juxtapositions

Note to self:

Turning the "shuffle" function on on an iPod that has Bach's St. Matthew Passion loaded onto it can produce some interesting juxtapositions:

Then saith Caiaphas... "Didn't I make you feel like you were my only man?"

The Missing Apple

Atrios directs us to a review of a non-existent record album:

The New York Times > Arts > Music > Music | Bootleg Review: The Lost Apple: In 2002 and 2003, Fiona Apple recorded what would have been her third album, 'Extraordinary Machine.' Its producer, Jon Brion, has said that Ms. Apple's label, Sony Music's Epic Records, shelved the album because it didn't hear potential hit singles. An Epic spokeswoman said, 'Fiona has not yet delivered her next album.' Lately, what purports to be the full album, 11 songs, has been leaked onto the Internet, where - despite the efforts of Sony's legal department - a simple search will find multiple sources of downloads. The album is an oddball gem.

Its producer, Mr. Brion, is fond of instruments that huff and plink and wheeze, as he showed in his soundtrack for 'I {sheart} Huckabees.' Epic may have been discomfited that Ms. Apple's collaboration with him doesn't sound anything like what's on the radio now. As a songwriter, she's the same Fiona Apple who sold millions of copies of her first two albums; she's still sultry and sullen, obsessing in detail over why her romances went wrong and teetering between regret and revenge. Her vocals smolder like torch songs, then boil over with rage and accusations. But this time, the music doesn't always mope with her.

The album sets the 21st century aside. The beats are often waltzes and oom-pahs, not hip-hop or punk; the arrangements are full of cellos, horns, bells and vintage keyboards. Ms. Apple's piano and voice are still at the center of the music, but now orchestras and show bands sprout around her, adding layers of whimsy and artifice. Ms. Apple has always placed herself somewhere between confession and entertainment, but in songs like 'Window' or 'Better Version of Me,' the carnival bounces and mock-Hollywood glitz put a cartoonish frame around her traumas, giving them a brand-new perspective.

Had it been released, 'Extraordinary Machine' would have been a fine counterbalance to a pop moment full of monolithic, self-righteous sincerity. As it stands, mysteriously leaked and proliferating, the album is an object lesson in how an Internet that's not controlled by copyright holders can set artistic expression free.

When Collaborative Filtering Programs Attack!

Michael Berube writes:

Michael Bérubé Online: I bought "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" from Amazon.  I’m not sure why I did it.... [O]ver the short term, that purchase was a terrible mistake.  For weeks afterward, folks, I was presented with Amazon e-mails telling me that the people who’d purchased Goodbye Yellow Brick Road had also purchased the whole Parade of Lite Horribles, from Rod Stewart to Billy Joel to Phil Collins to Michael Bolton Himself.  Panicking, I quickly ordered all of Brian Eno’s ambient albums as well as some Soul Coughing to throw Amazon off the scent...

On the Radio

Madeleine Peyroux just sang an absolutely amazing version of "You're Going to Make Me Lonesome When You Go" on the radio...