"If Gaga is to maintain her distinctiveness, she'll need to preserve her orientation toward art as kids putting on a show. It's what connects her performance of fame to Andy Warhol's vision instead of Simon Cowell's. She's been derided for constantly citing the Pop pioneer, but the connection is real. Having gotten her start in the bohemian enclaves of downtown New York City-"
Um, listen up, Ann Powers. Lady Gaga is a number of interesting things, but a time traveler to New York City's long-gone history she is not. We imagine she knows some amazing things! But probably not enough physics to construct a time machine back to 1985.
Yeah...
Meanwhile, why do I feel like Gaga isn't one to take advice from critics?
Can't read my, can't read my, no he can't read my Ouija board...
Unless by "bohemian enclaves of downtown New York City" she meant "NYU in 2005"?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM51qOpwcIM
I know...
See also:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b2C20qN4Ps
How that stretch of Bleecker Street is bohemian I have no idea.
There's something I find irritating about referring to her just as "Gaga", as if that were her last name and "Lady" were her first name. Does the New York Times refer to her as "Ms. Gaga"? It's not as bad as how the BBC calls 50 Cent just plain "Cent" after the first reference, but still.
Fair, but it's always been like that...especially with bands. It is a lazy assumption that readers will tire of seeing THE ROLLING STONES over and over again in an article. Stones, Zeppelin, Floyd, but never Rolling, Led or Pink (though certainly, you could refer to 50 Cent also as 'fifty' though strangely, one might go with Rhymes over Busta. It's a personal choice, I guess?
It is irritating to an extent, but at least they don't adopt the first name of musical pseudonomic entities as if they were best pals "Pink and I were hanging out, smoking a marijuana cigarette and discussion the true meaning of the word 'Hamburger'"
I think she means back when David Cross used to be at Pianos. And maybe that store with the crazy reverse box-mirrors. Those early Strokes shows -- there was just such an energy there.
"Time machine back to 1985" is the new "Time machine from 1985 to 1955". Hence I see a remake of Back to the Future here. A very unfaithful remake. (Remember the part where they think Marty McFly is a Martian? Well, she only has to go back to 2000 for that.)
I'm thinking of the South Park "Prehistoric Ice Man" episode from 1999, where they find a dude who was frozen in ice in 1996 and gets freaked out by Marilym Manson on TV. And then I picture this in Ms. Gaga's future.
Shit, I'm referencing SP and the Onion in a single post. Y'all probably think I have Cheetos dust in my neckbeard.
Damn, no hyperlink tag? What the hell, Awl. http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28771
FRAUD
She used to hang around The Slide, so if you consider a gay bar to be a bohemian enclave ...
I mean, like, at least she wasn't hanging out at Splash or Pieces.
There's no way she hasn't been to Pieces a few times.
I call shenanigans.
Even in spite of all the Gaga-fellatio going on in the article, I actually really liked this interview. Especially "I find that men get away with saying a lot in this business, and that women get away with saying very little," which isn't necessarily an original thought, but it's well-put and applies to a lot of situations outside of just "this business". Basically I'm glad she's stepping outside of her safe zone of monosyllabic 'mysterious' answers to questions and actually articulating thoughts and things.
You're racist against people who think in monosyllables.
Nah, I'm racist FOR people who don't!
I hate that kind of interview. If pop artists are smart, why do they keep putting out dumb shit?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOwaUtFzkLE Worst. Interview. Ever.
Strongly agree! I like her so much better when she compares her music to pineapples.
Powers makes broccoli seem like Borges by comparison. She'll be around being wrong for years after Madame Gaga's left the stage.