I’m more and more unpleasantly impressed by the ultra en-vogue “artist” who Freddie Mercury or Queen inspired, called herself Lady “Gaga”. I won’t comment on her “message” who the great (mostly proper, less figurative) Stephen Fry understood, and not making a living from writing newspaper profiles, accepted to interview the “phenomenon”, the “leader of a generation” of whom without shame adores, because, as he and his partner know, and her critics know as well, she is the voice of the ugly, the fat, the freakish, the outsider, the gay, the lesbian and the bi.
“Gaga’s fans are marooned in a global technocracy of fancy gadgets but emotional poverty. Borderlines have been blurred between public and private: reality TV shows multiply, cell phone conversations blare everywhere; secrets are heedlessly blabbed on Facebook and Twitter. Hence, Gaga gratuitously natters on about her vagina…” – Camille Paglia
Some things are indeed inspired from the interview, which I haven’t bought the rights to transmit entirely here, on my blog, but by offering you the link to read or to hear (it was digitally recorded on the iPhone, received maybe from Steve Jobs, another world personality of whom Fry interviewed not for making a living, but from great admiration, and not of course, because they two, Gaga and Jobs are the most prominent personalities of the moment).
Gaga with Fry
It is I’m sure, an excitement to go meeting the meat bearer in The Lanesborough Hotel, “one of London’s more self-consciously luxurious five-star residences” as he named it. I still consider him a great modern talent, but I’m not admiring him as before, and that’s because unashamed “he felt that certain persons light your fire in a very special way and I am past the age of caring how good or bad that might look in the eyes of the world.” Otherwise, he understood “the message” of Gaga the artist when she wore prime rib at VMA, she was the prime rib of America, it wasn’t pork…
On the front “Home” page of FT, this freakish interview was more prominent than something I found more than interesting, Paul Theroux was launching his new book, The Tao of Travel.
Paul Theroux
I am a huge admirer of Paul Theroux, who, as the article said, is a traveler who writes and makes a living in Google Earth era. I liked a lot, finding the Earth being not so small as presented by the famous software, 🙂
The book is about places with resonant names proving a disappointment and places without glitter which were delightfully interesting. I have handy, one of his novels, My Secret History , one in which the main character is still traveling across the Atlantic, :). His style as a traveler, especially by train, is full of harmony, and very cinematic, a Grisham of non-fiction. (I was convinced at a time, that Paul Grisham writes exactly for future screening, and by the way, I like him too, I had read almost everything he wrote and I also had almost all he wrote, in that tempestuous relocation I have mentioned in some previous post, I left his books as well. I remember now that post was again with Fry, oh my, I feel incorrigible with this guy who considers “Bad Romance”, the song of his couple…)
Stevie, my partner, he introduced me to you a year ago and Stevie and I we . . . this was the time the ra ra ra thing came out, I was singing the tune in the car and I turned to Stevie and I said, “you know, this should be our song”, and he looked at me and said, “it’s called ‘Bad Romance’.” And I thought, “damn! You can have our song called Bad Romance but it still is our song anyway”. – Stephen Fry, end of interview, published in FT, May 27, 2011
I felt necessary to add the following video to this post, it is from Vimeo.
Cats in Tanks from Whitehouse Post on Vimeo.
Of course Gaga is important, more important that a book by Theroux (don’t forget to check it, The Tao of Travel), but I’m not going to tell here why. I know that Mr. Fry who acted in certain movies with message, now projects a different one, out of terribleness. Of course he doesn’t care of my judgement, 🙂 He talks of Twitter being trendy, and with an obviously evidence that he, as a lot of others don’t get it. I wonder sometimes, if, with companies like ad.ly and with the story of Charlie Sheen, maybe I am the one who don’t get it.
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Copyright © 2011 Rodolfo Grimaldi Blog – Freaky Art
Was that the interview when he said that Twitter fans were people on the verge of suicide? Or is that something I have misplaced yet again? 😀 I’m glad you wrote about this because I am just as outraged. Do you know what happened in the last episode of American idol (granted, the show was crap this year)? The whole audience gave a standing ovation to Gaga BEFORE she performed. this must be some sort of record, or a cult.. Anyway, in the same episode Beyonce (who is much more talented) gave the performance of her lifetime and she didn’t get as much attention. Even though I listen to commercial music (I admit) and follow trendy trends, I HATE it when talent goes unnoticed or when people gush about the fake and surface. Anyway, I just had to vent. Thanks for providing my outlet, haha. And keep the critic alive! 😉
I don’t remember anything of that, Fry was queering about himself a lot, and on Twitter he said that Gaga could bypass the press by using it and “isn’t that marvelous?” – stuff like that. There is a direct link to the interview, which is actually bypassing the FT submission, if you or anyone have the patience, you’ll understand exactly what I meant with every word, and still is not enough. I can talk some hours about this, but it’s misplaced. Talent – great word. I’ve ceased to watch American Idol, not have the time and patience and more… Beyonce, Gaga, Rihanna and the mighty Madonna, along with some male “artists” have an unbelievable common ground, they don’t compete actually, 🙂 You have to dig on your own to understand, 🙂 When I think it was a time when I considered Fry to be blessedly touched by genius, I’m very disappointed…
Congratulations! Your Disqus profile finally shows up, with links and everything, 🙂
Ha. Thanks. Though I am still running around confused most of the time because I have different accounts under different names and I basically turn up as different people all over the internet. A bit ridiculous really… But yeah, i used to think Fry is genius as well. Now I’m undecided..