Happy Halloween

Mabel the Bumblebee wishes everyone a very happy Halloween:

Next Stop Connecticut

Rather than actual blogging, this space threatens to devolve into nothing but publicity for my conference papers. (Part of my World Domination Tour '08, with stops in Virgina, Connecticut, Los Angeles, and Nashville.)

Happen to be in Connecticut this Sunday? At this year's annual meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, I am giving a paper on the Orioles. It's part of a panel organized by my friend and fellow blogger Kariann on "Popular Music History and the Body." Kariann is speaking about the 1960s bossa nova dance craze, and Rachel DeWitt will be discussing burlesque dancing. The panel is co-sponsored by the Gender and Sexualities Taskforce, and by the Popular Music Section. It's from 8:30 am - 10:00 am on Sunday, October 26, on the campus of Wesleyan University. The best part is that we are scheduled to do this in Memorial Chapel, so you needn't feel guilty about missing church to attend.

Choreographing the Black Bourgeoisie: Masculinity and Sincerity in Live Performances of the Orioles

The early R&B vocal group the Orioles is often credited with launching the musical style later known as doo-wop, especially with their 1949 crossover hit “It’s Too Soon to Know.” A smooth romantic ballad featuring the hugely popular Sonny Til as the lead vocalist, the song turned the Orioles into objects of adoration for African American teenagers, and their live performances often became frenzied scenes of adulation. This paper will analyze these early performances, looking at them in the context of the emerging African American middle-class after World War II, the so-called “black bourgeoisie” famously critiqued by E. Franklin Frazier in the mid-1950s. Crucial to the success of the Orioles within this environment was their performance of masculinity, which in turn hinged upon creating a convincing affect of “sincerity.” Drawing upon methodologies from Performance Studies, I use interviews, recordings, and contemporary coverage in the black press to examine this affect through various artifacts of their embodied performances: hairstyles, costumes, stage choreography, and vocal gestures. In a historical moment where the newly-invented category of “rhythm and blues” had yet to coalesce into a coherent musical style, the Orioles helped create an alternative to the more aggressively sexual masculinities emerging out of jump blues. Their choreography of masculinity would become highly influential on popular music of the later 1950s and 1960s, in musical scenes such as that of Motown.

Dear god, I think I misspelled "bourgeoisie" when I submitted this abstract.

Bernstein in Virginia

Doing anything this Saturday? Happen to be driving through central Virginia? I'm giving a paper at the fall meeting of the Capital Chapter of the AMS. It's at Randolph-Macon College, and I appear to be speaking at the oddly precise time of 2:50 pm. It's a surprisingly good program overall; I forget that on the east coast, AMS chapters tend to be more vigorous than those in California. (It has to do, I imagine, with the geographic proximity of musicology programs in the East.) My paper is on Bernstein's second symphony, The Age of Anxiety, and more broadly on Bernstein's relationship with the symphonic tradition of Copland et al. This is the first time I'm airing my work on Bernstein in public, so wish me luck.

Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue

Your Sunday evening moment of zen:


Mitch Miller, 1963.

I've never followed Miller's career beyond the end of my dissertation (1954), where he was the impresario behind "Come on-A My House" among other great hits. My adviser introduced me to this truly frightening spectacle from later in his career. What would Hans Eisler say about this mass song?

College Music

The Philadelphia Orchestra recently had a "College Night." It was a nice idea in some ways--up to two tickets could be reserved online, and as long as you flashed your college ID at the door, it was free. (Of course, I wonder why this event is only limited to college students, when those younger people who are not in college might perhaps be even more in need of free tickets, but don't mind me, I get grumpy like that.)

But basically a good idea, and as the above-linked Inquirer article says, it's one of many such activities the Orchestra has been engaged in recently, trying in reinterest the city in classical music after the long somnambulance of Christoph Eschenbach's reign. (Memo to the NSO: really?) Definitely worthy. A bunch of my students went to this concert as one of their required attendances at a performance of ye olde classical music. For the most part, it seemed to have gone well. The band played Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra and Tchaikovsky's Tempest overture, both fine choices for the occasion, interesting and challenging. But the middle work of the program was....Haydn's Sinfonia Concertante in B-flat major.

Don't get me wrong. I love Haydn. I have spent many a happy hour sawing away on my viola through the string quartets. The late symphonies are divine. There's a lot of great scholarship on Haydn. Yadda yadda yadda. But...if the Philadelphia Orchestra think this particular piece is a good piece to introduce college students to the glories of classical music, or even just to the glories of eighteenth-century music...well, I'll let my ellipses speak for themselves.

Gossip Girl Liveblogging 2.5

Ah, an evening of Blair and the gang, accompanied by a tofu hoagie for dinner. What's in store for this evening, I wonder?

8:01 For a moment I thought I was watching Project Runway. By the way, ever notice that Blair's mother is played by the poor man's version of Sally Field?

8:05 Mapplethorpe is the artist who "took pictures of naked guys"? I guess you could say that. Does this mean that Lily is modeled after Patti Smith?

8:06 FYI, the Yale English Department has nothing to do with admissions at Yale.

8:10 Doretta, Blair's maid, is kind of coming into her own this season. I'm hoping for a secret romance between her and Dan. That's out of your comfort zone, Danny boy.

8:14 This is not going to end well, Danny Boy. FYI.

8:15 How does Rufus know Blair?

8:20 I know they are Chuck's thing, but I've dated twins, and they're nothing special. Even once you marry them.

8:23 Poor little J. Wait, did that sign say "Constance Gillard School for Girls?" Does Jenny go to a different school or something, because whatever school they went to is as coed as they come.

8:28 Little J! What are you doing! Get back to school!

8:30 I want to take this commercial break to clear up a little misconception from last episode. It has been widely noted that Blair rejected some poor little girl because her family summered in the Adirondacks, rather than the Hamptons. This is actually a misconception on the show's part, one repeated in many other television shows about wealthy New York, like Sex in the City and Real Housewives of New York. It is true that the Hamptons is currently the most important summer spot for New Yorkers. However, to owe allegiance to the Adirondacks is actually a sign of old money, rather than the Hamptons, which unlike the Adirondacks is more forgiving of new money. Just FYI.

8:38 Oh Rufus. Poor Rufus. Little J about to be expelled, and Dan in jail. Awesome.

8:39 Are we surprised that Mr. Bass destroyed the Mapplethorpe? We are not.

8:41 I get a little tired of Shakespearean plotlines that depend upon miscommunication and misread intentions. You know? It would take Little J about five seconds to say something along the lines of, "Blair sabotaged your show, Eleanor."

8:50 Why is it that criminals in shows like Gossip Girl, like Dan's cellmates, always look like bad motorcycle villains from the 1950s?

8:52 If I were Rufus, I would send Little J to Miss Porter's. It's hard to get in trouble in Farmington.

8:56 Maybe my dissertation would be much better if I spent a night in jail. No?

9:00 Ooh, college weekend next episode! wheee!

Good Steps

I've complained before about how The Nation was backing off on music criticism after the death of their longtime critic, Edward Said. So I just wanted to note that the trend seems to be reversing: in recent weeks we've had David Schiff reviewing a production of Peter Grimes, and the ever-fabulous Daphne Brooks writing a smart piece on Amy Winehouse. Keep up the good work! Now you just need to hire a permanent music critic, and you will be back in my good graces.

Incidentally, do you subscribe to The Nation? If you are a leftie like me, you should. I'm probably biased by my romantic attachment to print culture (and cheap newsprint at that) but I think it's important to support what few institutions for intelligent left political discourse we have left. The Nation can often be supremely annoying, but it's easy enough to skip over Alexander Cockburn's weekly nostalgia for the Cold War in favor of Patricia Williams, Katha Pollit, and one of the best book review sections in the business. Plus, Calvin Trillin, deadline poet! And it's cheap: $32 for a year's subscription.

Bailing out what?

"A solution the markets will have confidence in."
--Sen. Judd Gregg (R, NH)

What does it say about capitalism that "the market" is referred to as a person, with thoughts and feelings?

Book Searching

You know what is on my technological wish list? I wish that if I owned a copy of, say, The Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, I could go online to somewhere like GoogleBooks or Amazon, and easily search the entire book, rather than just a limited preview. You know, like there could be some way to prove you owned the book, and weren't trying to steal it or anything, and that you just needed to search it because you are bad at notetaking.

The end.

Gossip Girl Liveblogging: 2.4

I'm late, I'm late! Getting to Gossip Girl on time is difficult these days, since I work until 7pm on Mondays, and the stupid veterinarian I work for takes forever to finish up. I've missed ten minutes; let's see if I can catch up.

8:12 What is Blair wearing?!! Did Tim Burton direct this episode?

8:15 There is something very weirdly fake about the way the characters in Gossip Girl use their cell phones to take pictures. Ever notice that? It's as if they are all discovering the camera phone feature for the first time, and are trying desperately to look nonchalant about how cool it is.

8:16: Lily, Lily, Lily. I forgot all about you.

8:17 If I wanted to leave a message for someone who had a butler, I think in real life that butler would probably take the envelope from me by hand. I don't think the butler would let me lift up a priceless crystal ashtray and use it as a paperweight for a message, and then let me go exploring in the house. Especially if the butler knew the mistress of the house was mistressing her step-son in the next room.

8:21 Such is the state of my life right now that during the commercial breaks, I am reading an article on Machaut I assigned to my students for tomorrow. It is possibly the most boring article on Machaut ever written, I am realizing. Although, as a bit of unsolicted advice for Josh Schwartz, the "Kyrie" from the Messe de Nostre Dame would work much better as a soundtrack than all this annoying emo. The music in this series has really gone downhill, don't you think?

8:27 Blair is much prettier when she is crying, no?

8:29 I am really, really looking forward to Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist.

8:32 Don't do it Vanessa! If you start confiding in Jenny, clearly it will be on Page Six tomorrow.

8:34 Serena can really be amazing some time. How is it that Dan is such a weenie?

8:35 This one's for Aimee, who is reading this liveblog but not watching. Blair speaking to her Lordly boyfriend: "Isn't it awkward juggling two women, James? Me and Catherine--or do you prefer, 'Mom.'" See what you are missing?

8:45 Wait, I didn't catch that--what did Chuck put in the martini glass? And why does Chuck carry a mysterious blue goo around with him all times?

8:47 Lily and Rufus nostalgically blurring the lines of their friendship? Dan and Serena misunderstanding each other? What next; Blair and Nate not having sex? Maybe the producers are making up for the absurdity of the Duchess story line by repeating every story line from last season.

8:54 Oh that's right Nate, you've never kept secrets from close friends in order to "help" them.

8:59 Well, that episode was a bit...tumultuous. As I often say, I prefer GG when it avoids histrionics and just enjoys the characters and the lush set dressing of the Upper East Side. Too much plot gets a tiring. Oh, and what's with the "promotional consideration" ads for music heard in the episode? Dear god. Although, as a bit of personal trivia, I went to college with the guys in MGMT.

Well, good night and good luck. I need to turn off the TV before One Tree Hill comes on. It might come as a surprise, but I do have some standards.