🧵The most heated intra-conservative battle since this spring’s Ahmari-French War is about…Walt Whitman?
In May, the Atlantic ran a (hyperbolic) essay praising Whitman as the poetic voice to help Americans recognize “our own best spirit.” (1/) theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
@NRO@firstthingsmag@mark_bauerlein I have 2 observations about all this. 1st, I'm SHOCKED that nobody mentions Whitman’s importance to Breaking Bad! Gale recited “When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer” to Walter White, and his inscription to “WW” in a copy of Leaves of Grass tipped off Hank.
@NRO@firstthingsmag@mark_bauerlein More seriously, I think Ruden brings up an interesting point here: “If he *is* the nation’s greatest poet, it’s odd that he never seems to be quoted spontaneously, for the sheer powerful pleasure of it or to make an urgent point.” I think that’s true, but only to a degree: (6/)
@NRO@firstthingsmag@mark_bauerlein we quote bits here and there but (sorry, Breaking Bad) we don’t quote full lines (in part b/c he rarely rhymed or wrote in regular meter). Even in Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams and his students recite only the title of "O Captain! My Captain!"! (7/)
@NRO@firstthingsmag@mark_bauerlein But…that says as much about how we now experience poetry than it does about Whitman’s greatness as a poet. Like it or not, modern poetry subordinates music, so we’re likely to remember ideas rather than lines. (8/)
@NRO@firstthingsmag@mark_bauerlein Contemporary reviews of William Wordsworth (this thread’s 3rd WW!) praised him out that he wrote lines people recited spontaneously on apt occasions. Compare that to this review of one of America’s favorite living poets: (9) nytimes.com/2002/10/20/boo…
@NRO@firstthingsmag@mark_bauerlein That brings us back to Whitman, democratic poet: lovers of free verse claim that there’s something more accessible &, therefore, democratic about it. Maybe. But it’s less likely to be recited and shared in the oral tradition. Can't that be seen as less democratic? *FIN*
@NRO@firstthingsmag@mark_bauerlein Coda: Speaking of Breaking Bad, I’d rather hear Walt White/Brian Cranston recite Shelley’s sonnet "Ozymandias" any day of the week:
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One of the coolest things about the very cool Jim Rockford is that even though his legendary Firebird was blown up by a machine gun (fired from an airplane) in episode 1, it’s good as new for episode 2.
Episode 1 guest-starred Lindsay Wagner; episode 2 had James Woods—and Abe Vigoda! (Plus a new actor playing Rocky, Jim’s dad.)
In episode 5, a young @jamesocromwell (that guy!) appears as a tennis instructor who doesn’t much care for Jim.
When It’s Love opens with Eddie on synth and Alex tapping drumsticks w/ nearly every note. The combination adds a mechanical sound to the synth, like the tapping is part of the synth keys themselves. (1/)
My theory: Eddie was using Alex to mimic the key clicks that accompanied older keyboards. For ex., early Hammond organs clicked this way, and though it was a defect, some musicians liked the sound and later organs included a feature to replicate it. (/2) dairiki.org/HammondWiki/Ke…
Less likely, but more interesting: Eddie—a classically trained musician who named his son Wolfgang—was trying to create an exaggerated version of the click that harpsichords made, due to the wood jacks that moved inside of them.
When people talk about SNL, they don’t talk enough about band leader GE Smith, who spent much of the 80s and early 90s playing bodacious guitar and making ridiculous faces. This performance with Eddie Van Halen is a catalogue of 80s expressive excess. 1/ nbc.com/saturday-night…
Look at how much fun they’re having! Look at how much they’re amazing each other! 2/
The episode was hosted by Valerie Bertinelli, Eddie’s wife, so naturally Eddie put on some of his best guitar-god faces. 🎸 🎸 🎸 /
I have to disagree with @TimAlberta here. When I think critically about how Goldberg describes his sources, they smell fishy. He’s often vague about what knowledge they have, or the connection between that knowledge and what they say. For example,...
Sometimes Goldberg says things like his sources “have knowledge of Trump’s views.” Which could cover someone in the administration, sure; it could also mean anyone in the press pool, or anyone who watches the news. 2/
Here, Goldberg does *not* say that these knowledgeable people heard Trump say these things about GWB. It could easily mean that they know his views but someone told them he said this. Such phrasing from an experienced journalist is way too imprecise for me to trust. 3/
You know how singers will occasionally say things like, "I think you know what I'm talkin' about" after a line? It's a simple way to both vamp b/t lines and to establish a connection between the singer and listener. In one song, Donny Hathaway does the opposite...
"I just gotta say much obliged to you, Master'cause the walls of my room was not the walls of my grave  *My bed was not my cooling board (y'all don't know what I'm talkin' 'bout)*."
He was right—so I looked it up.
I thought it might be a Bible verse (b/c the next line refers to winding sheets), but it's not: it's a common phrase from African-American prayers and from the blues. (A cooling board is a board is a platform on which a dead body is placed before it's buried.)