Adventures in the Life of Lady Soul

First of all, let me extend my congratulations to Ms. Aretha Franklin on her recent engagement to William Wilkerson.  I understand the couple is planning a wedding this summer in Florida with a reception to be held on a private yacht.  Catharine and I will be very pleased to attend.

But wait, there's more Aretha-related news!  As you may have also heard, Franklin is starting a kind of singing contest in order to find an opera singer worthy of being signed to her record label (and, presumably, mentored by Franklin herself).  In a bizarre justification given to NPR, Franklin says, "Some of the older classical singers like Jessye Norman, Leotyne Price, and Barbara Hendricks are retiring, they're not singing anymore, and I'd like to see some younger singers come along and take their place."

Indeed, Price has been retired since 1985.  But even weirder is this idea that, unless Aretha finds some new singers, there won't be anyone around to sing opera.  As imperfect as it is, Franklin is aware of the fact that there is an extensive vocal training infrastructure in this country, right?  That the streets of New York are awash in trained young sopranos eager to sing the classical repertory instead of working as waitresses and nannies?

So maybe Aretha is unsatisfied with this system and is going to use her money and influence to give attention to young singers in ways that the more conventional structures haven't been able to do.  But I actually like the idea better that she, in fact, lives in her kind of celebrity bubble and actually has no idea that thousands of students are enrolled in vocal performance degree programs.  It's kind of like when Prince released a song a few years ago called "Cinnamon Girl."

Obviously, "Cinnamon Girl" is a bizarre and racially problematic title.  It was also used as the title for a iconic rock song written by Neil Young, which features Young's droning one-note guitar solo (which I actually kind of love).  Surely Prince was aware of this song, right? 

The other explanation is that both Prince and Aretha are fully aware of the antecedents their work is engaging with, but they feel they don't even need to acknowledge these things whatsoever, that whatever they are doing is so obviously superior that whatever came before is just irrelevant.  Certainly that's an attitude of arrogance, but why else do we have pop stars? 

Happy Anniversary

I promised a few dissertation excerpts, and this seemed like a particularly appropriate one today. Here's a passage from my chapter on historical consciousness, after I talked about attending a concert in 2008 which re-created The Beatles' White Album to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its release in 1968. 

"In fact, the period of my fieldwork found me in the midst of quite a few 40th anniversaries for some of the iconic events of the 1960s and 1970s.  In 2009, the 40th anniversary of the release of the album Abbey Road was marked by a similar concert at the festival.  Several Beatles tribute bands around the world also took the opportunity to recreate the Beatles’ final concert on the occasion of its 40th anniversary, in January of 2009.  And the 40th anniversary of the release of the rock opera Tommy by The Who was also marked by several tribute bands playing the album in its entirety.  This historical consciousness that these anniversary concerts seem to be both partaking in and helping to construct is unlikely to go away once the current spate of anniversaries passes, however.  It seems all but certain that the early years of the 2010s will feature many '45th anniversary' performances of events from the late 1960s before ramping up for '50th anniversary' celebrations at the end of the decade."

The festival in question here is Abbey Road on the River, a Beatles tribute band festival held every year over Memorial Day weekend in Louisville, KY--now with a sister festival held over Labor Day weekend in the Washington, D.C. area.  AROTR has a strong presence on Facebook.  Here was an announcement they posted on their status today about this year's festival: 

Sometimes it's nice to know that I'm not making this stuff up.  Anyway, Abbey Road Live! is a phenomenal band, and they're also very nice guys--I interviewed them for my fieldwork.  Sounds like it should be a great show. 

You Say You Want a Revolution

I just finished reading Patti Smith's Just Kids, a book Robbie gave me last year for Christmas.  (We returned the favor and gave him a copy of it this year for Christmas.)  It took me a year to read it because I was, well, busy with other things.  I also knew hardly anything about Patti Smith and my interest wasn't immediately piqued.  But I'm glad that I took it with me over the holidays and that I finished reading it.  It made me want to listen to some Patti Smith records and look at some Robert Mapplethorpe photos, which, I assume, was the book's goal.  One thing near the end interested and amused me, though, especially because it connects with some of the concerns of my research.  

Describing her newly-formed band, Smith writes:

"We imagined ourselves as the Sons of Liberty with a mission to preserve, protect, and project the revolutionary spirit of rock and roll.  We feared that the music which had given us sustenance was in danger of spiritual starvation.  We feared it losing its sense of purpose, we feared it falling into fattened hands, we feared it floundering in a mire of spectacle, finance, and vapid technical complexity.  We would call forth in our minds the image of Paul Revere, riding through the American night, petitioning the people to wake up, to take up arms.  We too would take up arms, the arms of our generation, the electric guitar and the microphone."  

Pretty remarkable rhetoric.  This is at the top of page 245.  Near the bottom of that page, Jane Friedman introduces Smith and her band to Clive Davis.  On page 247, Smith signs a record contract with Davis.  Just saying.