Pete Simon

The Crystal Method — Trip Like I Do — 2:58 to 3:22

Smashing Pumpkins — Through Eyes of Ruby — 6:57 to end

Paul Simon — Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes — 4:45 to 5:22

Ash — Darkside Lightside — 2:09 to 5:00

Zwan — Jesus, I / Mary, Star of the Sea — 7:35 to 8:50, and straight on ‘til morning.

Do you hear a harpsichord?

• Yes: it sucks.
• No: good.

Separate are the worlds of music and performance. Michael Jackson’s music, well, it’s catchy enough, but it’s not the full picture. Jackson used the music as a platform for his stage persona. It wasn’t just the moonwalk, it was this extraordinary person who literally lived in his own world. What propelled MJ beyond super-stardom to super-nova-stardom was the steady investment of his person into his stage persona.

There’s also the tendency to describe performers as artists because it’s sexier, or maybe less menial. But a person willing to live their stage persona before the public on a steady and innovative basis, that person is indeed an artist, a meticulous one.

It wasn’t clear from her first single “Just Dance” that Lady Gaga was much more than a souped up Britney or Agulara or Shakira or any formula bottle blonde with decent vocals/production. But the videos told a different story. Lady Gaga had a story to tell and was hellbent on being different, and famous for it. She cites Rilke and Warhol in interviews, and dresses in forgery-proof styles.

For me, the point came home strong after frequent listening to her “Paparazzi” and then watching the video:

There are more WTF moments going on here than a Japanese game show.

The desperate starlet is literally hobbling her way on a sequin covered crutch towards the objective of fame. Her strange, unquenchable thirst for fame exists as tangeably in the real world as it does on video. The drive is one essential ingredient to Michael Jackson’s worldwide fame, the outlandish personality another.

Unfortunately, Jackson fell victim to his surreality. He died with a frail hand clasped on a rung of the latter he’d been climbing all his life. He needed the fame, and clearly, Lady Gaga does too. She’s in it for life.

Dear Musicians,

I have 61+ keys, so please feel free to use more than one at a time while “composing” your bullshitty, hunt-and-peck hooks.

Cheers,

~Keyboard