Deutschland Be-Bop, Talkin' Shop, and the Return of the Pop Princess

I have spent the last 3 days talking to people from Germany. Everyone is doing just about the same. Most of my friends there are straight and have families and that is cool, but Europe is odd. There is always the sense that any relationship is possible because people are far more mature and realistic about their inner emotional selves (it is how German's express their inner selves that leaves you wondering); but, you still are not a man unless you are married. Well, at least in Southern Germany. In the North it is a little bit different . . . but in all honesty, there seems to always be this distinction between places in every country of North and South. A linguist from Holland swears there are books on the subject. I don't need one though, I have grown up between the North and South all my life.

Speaking off marriages and real men, is Whitney really divorcing Bobby Brown? Maybe she caught a glimpse of her own reality show.

I love Whitney.

Anway . . .

talked to my friend, the north German musicologist. He is the only gay one in the bunch. We had a chat about hip-hop and how to put on a conference. He knows nothing about the first, but everything about the second. We had interesting conclusions. He said the problem is going to be the money. That seems to be the problem with all things in Academia. He also looked over a proposal I had given him. He said that he did not want to sound discouraging about my conference idea but blah, blah, blah . . .. Why do academics also try to make things so painless and are so concerned about ones feelings? I guess it has to do with one's need to nurture talent, but in the end, I have worked outside of the university system enough to want to just roll my sleeves up and work. There is something to be said about how we conduct business in the Ivory Tower. Something about the type of work we do and issues of objectivity and subjectivity keeps the lines fuzzy. Correction is alway so ephemeral, there is always something else to comment on 5 minutes from now. I guess I just have issues. I have been oscillating between the two worlds so long I become impatient with each one now.

PS
The problem with Britney Spears is that she became a legend before the cards were marked by the judges. Aretha is the Queen of Soul, Whitney is the true Pop Princess and Mary is the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul. Now that Spears' teeny bop banter has been spliced to reveal that she is just an industrial strength sweet confection manufactured by the spin machine, I feel sorry for her. All those reviews and pop critic cats were feeding at the trough in the late 90's, hailing her as baby Madonna, when in fact she just pushed envelopes with her stylized videos and performances but few emotional buttons through her voice. Madonna was busy riding her ray of light into the middle aged afternoon sun, defiantly anti-cabaret (she left that to Celine Dione) and distinctly British (with a Scandinavian producer) when high pop critical society (shame on you Michael Musto and Rolling Stone) pushed Britney onto us with her Lolita sexuality causing every American father to hypervenilate during the MTV awards. I wished Whitney would get back into the saddle and do the Natalie Cole thing but faster and harder, pushing air up and through scared vocal cords, belting like a 1st alto at sister Mary Walker's family church off some dusty road between Bessemer, Alabama and a county line, looking 20 pounds heavier and fresher.