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Friday, January 23, 2009
Comments (24)
Showing 1-24 of 24
Hold that rhetoric...it's not as though Yo-Yo Ma is a nonmusical impostor trying to pass himself off as a cellist. He (and the other musicians) can actually perform the piece we all heard the other day. For practical reasons, what we all heard was a recording of him performing it.
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getting a paycheck does not make you a journalist. being able to play in near freezing conditions does not make you a musician. but i think think yo-yo and itzhak wussed out. i have personally played several shows in temperatures below 40 degrees. i understand the need for perfection while playing for what may have been the most watched television event of all time, but measures could have been taken to insure that they played live without incident. is ashley simpson a musician? yes, but not a good or respectable one. same goes for perez hilton as a journalist. have great journalists or musicians phoned it in from time to time? yes. have bloggers broken huge stories ahead of "real" journalist? yes. does that make one better than the other? no.
Y'know, during the whole inauguration, I sat there saying, "man those trumpets sound horrible," knowing the pain of the players' lips on cold metal straining to stay in tune. Then, Aretha sang, and I winced every once in a while, thinking "Damn, I can hear her straining in the cold to hit those notes, and her voice is sounding a little thin and reedy." And then Yo Yo and Itzhak and the rest of the John Tesh Quintet got up there and were FUCKING FLAWLESS!!!! The shit of it is, we all looked around at each other and said, "Damn, now THEY sound good." I should've known. Fucking posers.
I got to stick up for them,espicially the one wind instrument. It was cold and musicians know that weather affects the tonality of insturments. As cold as it was Tuesday, I think my ears are glad they "faked it"
Lorna-you are showing your ignorance! Yo Yo Ma and Ashlee Simpson on SNL are 2 TOTALLY different things. The atomosphere/humidity/temperature all effect the wood a cello is made of, as well as string tension. It was way too cold for the reed on the clarinet, strings on a cello, or fingers on a piano to play with acceptable quality. Ashlee Simpson fakes it because she can't sing-she doesn't know how to hit a pitch without the help of recording software in a studio. Give her some sheet music and let me know how far she gets...
This you will enjoy. http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/216593/january-21-2009/president-yo-yo-m He's the President so don't mess with him :)
I think the big lesson to be learned from this post is, actually, the difference between a blogger and a journalist: journalists are held to some sort of factual and stylistic standard, while bloggers can (apparently) post any old shit they want, about anyone they want.
Interesting comments, everyone. This story perked my ears because the level of deception involved seemed gratuitous. I understand that it was genuinely too cold to perform so why not move Yo-Yo into the Capitol rotunda or some other beautiful and tempurature controlled space then broadcast the performance on jumbotrons to the crowd outside. Why the elaborate attempt to trick us? Musical performances are imperfect. Life is imperfect. America is not so powerful that it can defy the weather. We understand this. Why attempt to pretend or make us believe otherwise?
who played what when doesn't matter because that moldy piece of shlock music from john "star wars" williams pissed all over america anyhow. this definitely fits in with the "most corporate sponsored ever in history" fakeness of the whole inauguration- thanks for the info.
"journalists are held to some sort of factual and stylistic standard" Really? Maybe back in the 1950's. One only needs to read several different sources on a regular basis to realize this statement is false. Facts are no longer checked, it appears rumor is sufficient these days to make it to press. Misspelled words and incorrect grammer are also common place in online articles. "while bloggers can (apparently) post any old shit they want, about anyone they want." Are you implying that Lorna posted lies or made-up something in this post?
If not salary or popularity, what is the measure of the success or ability of a journalist versus a blogger? It is a bit like comparing a trained musician like Yo Yo, who has no doubt spent his lifetime perfecting his skills, to someone like Muddy Waters, whose training included picking cotton and listening to his friends play the blues. Who is the real musician? I wonder who has sold the most records? It would seem that they can co-exist!
I don't get why there's an issue about Perlman and Ma, et al. They *were* playing Williams' piece live - the folks sitting near enough could hear - but everyone else heard a more in-tune version the same people had recorded a few days earlier. Where's the big deal?
Maggie, Actually, noone heard anything performed live at the inauguration no matter how close they were to Yo-Yo and company. The hammers were disconnected from the keys on the piano and Yo-Yo's bow was soaped up. No friction, no sound. Here's a link to an NPR interview with Yo-Yo where he explains all of this: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99816993
Lighten up !! It was really cold that morning. Strings consrict as well as the wood. Sound can be a real issue. I would like to see you play with your lap top in freezing weather, not easy.so go easy
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Yo-Yo Ma faked it!
Posted by Lorna Bracewell on Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 11:04 PM
Today over lunch I got embroiled in a spirited debate with a professional journalist friend of mine. The topic? Are bloggers truly journalists? As you might imagine, I stuck up for the bloggers maintaining that we're as entitled to the distinction as the next guy. My argument went something like this:
A "journalist" is little more than an observer who records and promulgates his/her observations. This is an essentially human act, not some skill unique only to a certain type of human with a certain type of training. When someone is called a "journalist" it means little more than they have the luxury of devoting 40+ hours a week to doing what the rest of us are forced to do only in our spare time and with fewer resources.
To illustrate my point, I juxtaposed the "journalist" with the "musician." I specifically invoked Yo-Yo Ma because his stirring performance at President Obama's inauguration was still fresh in my memory. I waxed on and on about Yo-Yo's innate talent and decades of training and experience and how his title of "musician" encompassed all of this. It was not a mere signifier of his liveliehood, but an acknowledgement of his special skill. Everyone has the "skill" of a "journalist." Few among us have the skill of Yo-Yo Ma.
Well, it turns out that Yo-Yo may be just another schlub after all. Due the extremely cold tempuratures, he (along with Itzhak Pearlman) pantomimed their historic performance at this past Tuesday's inaugural ceremony. That's right. They faked it, just like Ashlee Simpson did to such derision on SNL a few years back. Check out the NY Times article about the charade. Note how they don't hassle Yo Yo or Itzhak for wussing out.
I don' think Yo-Yo's treachery undermines my argument about bloggers being journalists and I don't really think it makes him "just another schlub," but it does make me proud of all the times I've risen to the challenge and performed in less than ideal conditions. Could Yo-Yo Ma belt out a four hour set in a cigar bar while 65 year old men interrupt him with sleazy come on after sleazy come on? Could Itzhak Pearlman make it through an opening set at Skipper's Smokehouse in 33 degree weather? I think not. Does my ability to do these things make me a musician? Here's my answer: Does a paycheck make you a journalist?
Tags: News, Lorna Bracewell, Commentary