SabbatiBlogue

Dirk Powell on CBS

Dirk Powell is a Louisiana treasure and a national force. He's a multi-instrumentalist who plays in several kinds of music, most notably old-time and Cajun. Dirk has a brand-new recording studio where he has already produced albums such as Feufollet's Tout un beau soir.

This news comes from Louisiana Folk Roots, where Dirk is a board member:

Dirk Powell will be appearing on the David Letterman show this Monday, May 3rd playing with Loretta Lynn and Jack White. He will also be performing with them on CBS' Early Show Tuesday, May 4th. Watch if you can.

Désolée II

Okay, bon, je suis plus calme qu’hier.

Je ne sais pas encore s’il est juste que je demande pardon, en tant qu’Anglo et Américaine, pour le sketch raciste de Conan O’Brien. Mais je le refais en français : Je demande pardon quand même et j’ai hâte d’ajouter qu’il y a beaucoup d’Américains qui apprécient la culture québécoise, et beaucoup plus qui l’aimeraient s’ils la connaissaient.

Pour changer le sujet: Il a fait du soleil aujourd'hui: excellent.

Désolée, profondément désolée

I'm so mad I probably shouldn't post anything. But it's been 24 hours and I'm still mad. And forgive my English. I'm too steamed to write in French.

Conan O'Brien's show last night featured some of the most bigotted material I have ever seen in public. It was masquerading as comedy, but it was not funny. Comedy sometimes crosses the line. This was never on the good side of that line. Insulting people in their second language so that "we" anglos can watch and laugh at those being insulted... And the stupidest tiredest emptiest meanest insults! I'm afraid I can't quite be coherent. I watched this last night with my jaw dropped, hoping I wasn't seeing what I saw. There was also a bit of sexism and antifat non-humor, and garden-variety (or playground level) homophobia. I hope that O'Brien is made to apologize fifty ways to sundown. In fact, and I don't say things like this lightly, I hope he loses his show.

There are so many negative aspects to this. First, a pretty fabulous ethnic group was slandered by a comedian with a big following. Does this behavior become more acceptable then? I hope not. Second, every insult leveled at the Québécois--insular, tiresome, hostile, monolingual, and smelly--was in fact personified and performed by the Americans on video. Especially the smelly--this comedy stinks.

I have worked fairly diligently in my career to open the eyes of American students to the richness of the diverse world around them. And I have worked to make known the particular treasure that is the francophone culture of our continent. I reach maybe fifty students a year with this perspective. It was disheartening to see Conan O'Brien reach hundreds of thousands in just a few minutes with the opposite message.

I don't know if it's helpful for me to apologize. But I want to write le tout Québec to say how sorry I am that this happened. I am mortified at this behavior from such a visible American. I know his mama raised him better.

Care to throw vegetables at the Grammys?

Darn. I was hoping to be regaled with Lane-Prose or Tina-Prose about how much the Grammys sucked. But maybe they sucked so bad or were just so plain uncool in advance that the Veggies didn't watch.

In the absence of enthousiasm from Eat Your Vegetables, I offer this, quoted from the Edmonton Journal, concerning the nonworking microphone/Céline Dion incident:

It was a painfully awkward moment -- Dion's mouth was moving, but her voice sounded like a panicked American man -- until she was handed a new microphone. She could've stormed off in frustration, but she pulled off a graceful performance.

I love the rich critique of unitedstatesian hegemony implicit in "panicked American man." While watching Céline with that voice coming from her, I thought it was a drag queen. But with the second mic she sang a good song. Several commentators asserted that although they are non-fans of Céline, they admired her professionalism in that moment and she sang really well. I myself was impressed and even moved, although I detest her singing style.

Questions remain:

Why am I mucking up Lane & Tina's blog with Céline Dion?

Will I be able to pull off a backtrack? Will I be deleted?

Why am I the only one to put the accent in Céline?

What the samhill does this have to do with my sabbatical? Most specifically, why is there a "Television" category on my SabbatiBlog?

Don't let television happen to your sabbatical, may you get one soon. A sabbatical, not a television.