Frank Loesser, Songwriter

Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great American songwriter, Frank Loesser. In his Powerline post, Scott Johnson adds his perceptive commentary on this event, as one would expect when he ventures into the world of music. Johnson's entry includes several media links as well as a tribute from Mark Steyn, who in another life is a first-rate authority on musical theater and the Great American Songbook. Enjoy.

For more information on Loesser's life, legacy, and more, go here.

The Speech

In October 1964, I was a freshman at the University of Maryland. For years, I had always hoped to live in or near Washington and take in the Potomac Fever that swirled around the seat of American politics. In that year - the first of eleven years in DC - my presidential candidate was none other than Barry Goldwater. He would go on to lose the election the following month, but his campaign did give the American voters an opportunity to see Ronald Reagan launch his political career on a national stage. The vector has become known as "The Speech." I never heard it. In fact, I never read it, but Scott Johnson's blog entry on Powerline gives all of us a chance to explore this important event. The link includes a video of the speech and links to the text and a five part discussion on Peter Robinson's Uncommon Knowledge. Robinson is joined by Mark Steyn and Rob Long. For political junkies, it doesn't get much better.

I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major Generalist

If there is one writer who can wrap popular culture, contemporary politics, and historical perspective into an entertaining and superbly written piece, that writer is Mark Steyn. I think he outdoes himself in this NRO post where he discusses the growing feeling that Barack Obama is perhaps quite detached from much of his surroundings. Here's a sample:

No doubt my observations about Obama’s remoteness from the rhythms of American life will be seen by his dwindling band of beleaguered cheerleaders as just another racist, right-wing attempt to whip up the backwoods knuckle-dragging swamp-dwellers of America by playing on their fears of “the other” — the sophisticated, worldly cosmopolitan for whom France is more than a reliable punchline. But in fact my complaint is exactly the opposite: Obama’s postmodern detachment is feeble and parochial. It’s true that he hadn’t seen much of America until he ran for president, but he hadn’t seen much of anywhere else, either. Like most multiculturalists, he’s passed his entire adulthood in a very narrow unicultural environment where your ideological worldview doesn’t depend on anything so tedious as actually viewing the world.

And here's the visual that is a perfect capture of Stein's point, one driven home oh so well in his title.



May Gilbert and Sullivan live forever.

Frankly Steyn

Mark Steyn should be a national living treasure for Canada, the place of his birth and citizenship. Where else in this world can you find encyclopedic knowledge of popular music, Broadway and the Great American Songbook; incisive, reasoned political commentary; and a fiercely entertaining writing style all in one person? The polymaths do lurk among us, but I doubt most of them have extraordinary communication skills. Steyn seems to qualify, though I don't know the full scope of his knowledge. Whatever the case, he provides us with a superb analysis of the dangers of neutrality for western powers in this piece, brought to my attention by Gaius at Blue Crab Boulevard.

Sondheim

The Internet. How did I live without it? Ordinarily, there's no way I would have known today was the 79th birthday of Stephen Sondheim. Power Line's Scott Johnson helped me avoid this oversight with a tribute to Sondheim and some valuable links, including one to the unsurpassed Zero Mostel singing Sondheim's "Comedy Tonight," from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962). Sondheim wrote both words and music to this memorable piece of entertainment. Frankly, I have to agree with Mark Steyn that Broadway pretty much died somewhere around BC, that is "Before Cats" or, to put a date on it, about 1982. As one of the stars in the last wave of traditional musical theater in America, Stephen Sondheim has provided us with a wealth of extraordinary music and entertainment beginning in 1957 with his lyrics for West Side Story. Though some may scoff at the idea, I think musical theater is a significant measure of American cultural character and deserving of serious study. I wouldn't have said that thirty years ago when I was blinded by academic arrogance. Today, I know better, so I trust that Sondheim has enjoyed his day and taken some pleasure in knowing and reflecting on the happiness he has brought to us in the past half century.

The illustration for this post comes from my coveted copy of the original Broadway cast recording of West Side Story. I've owned this recording for about 50 years and would put it up against any remastered CD anytime, anywhere.

Steyn on the House Stimulus as Self-Abuse

You may not agree with what he says, but you can't escape the fact that Mark Steyn is one of the most entertaining observers of the political stage. His latest column is a must read critique of the House "stimulus" bill as an economic prophylactic guaranteed to put the nation on the road to serfdom. Blue Crab Boulevard provided the link.