He Knew All The Words

Rachel lays out just how far we’ve come in less than one-half of one term since Obama’s inauguration. And even with her appropriate nod to some liberal disappointment (raise your hand if you’re still pissed about the public option!), the list of this administration’s accomplishments is staggering.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Frank Rich uses his Times column today to ruminate on the state of marriage in the USA. After noting the recent separation of Al and Tipper Gore and recent (4th) nuptials of Rush Limbaugh—and after sincerely wishing them both happy futures—he turns to the politics of marriage:

But there is a shadow over marriage in America just the same. The Gores and Limbaughs are free to marry, for better or for worse, and free to enjoy all the rights (and make all the mistakes) that marriage entails. Gay and lesbian couples are still fighting for those rights. That’s why the most significant marital event of June 2010 is the one taking place in San Francisco this Wednesday, when a Federal District Court judge is scheduled to hear the closing arguments in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the landmark case challenging Proposition 8, California’s same-sex marriage ban. A verdict will soon follow, setting off an appeals process that is likely to land in the Supreme Court, possibly by the 2011-12 term.

I myself haven’t followed this trial all that closely—mostly out of fear of getting my hopes up. Personally I think the likelihood of the current Supreme Court (+Hagan) striking down discriminatory marriage statutes out in the states is slim-to-none. Possible, sure, but highly unlikely. A tactic of going for federal government recognition of those same-sex marriages performed legally in the five states that allow them probably would pass the Supremes. But the stated impetus behind the current case is right on, and more power to those lawyers and plaintiffs and all of us if they somehow succeed.

Importantly, Rich points out the great part of the plaintiffs argument that domestic partnerships and such that are not-quite-marriage are really no solution:

Domestic partnerships and equal economic benefits aren’t antidotes, Boies explains, because as long as gay Americans are denied the same right to marry as everyone else, they are branded as sub-citizens, less equal and less deserving than everyone else. That government-sanctioned stigma inevitably leaves them vulnerable to other slights and discrimination, both subtle and explicit. The damage is particularly acute for children, who must not only wonder why their parents are regarded as defective by the law but must also bear this scarlet letter of inferiority when among their peers.

Anyway, politics in this country have recently been rather narrowly focused—the 2008 election, the Great Recession, the two wars, the upcoming midterms, the god-damned oil leak in the Gulf that nobody can seem to do anything about. It’s really about time to get the marriage equality issue back out front and center. And I’m quite happy that it’s not in the hands of the federal government, especially given how the Obama administration and Congress together are botching their handling of the repeal of DADT. Take a quick read of the Frank Rich piece, and do me a favor—email it to a couple of people who might have forgotten that you have a personal stake (me!) in this case.

One of Richard Avedon‘s most important bodies of work is his celebrity portraiture. Large-format, minimal composition in front of a seamless, black-&-white, these pictures are iconic. I’m convinced I have more than four vinyl albums that feature cover photography by Avedon, but these are all I can lay my hands on tonight. But what a great quartet! Take a look at this—

Broadway’s Fair Julie Andrews

Wow—Julie looks so young and fresh. And a bit saucy with her fingers in her mouth. I love her heavy-gauge mock turtleneck and her kinda messy little-boy hairdo. I was torn about which track from this album to offer here. I was going to put her rendition of A Little Bit in Love from Wonderful Town, but in the end I think she overplays it a bit. Her voice is too pure for Columbus, Ohio, methinks. So here’s a more classic track, I Didn’t Know What Time It Was, by the greatest of songwriting teams, Rodgers and Hart.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Tony’s Greatest Hits Volume III

Tony’s looking suave here, with his upturned collar and him fiddling with his cuffs. A man’s man. The angle is curious—usually one would avoid a shot where the camera’s aimed upward at the subject. But it works. Not only does it give him some heightened physical stature, it reveals him as the towering figure of popular song he was at that time (make no mistake, he still is). The song from this album was an easy choice—I Wanna Be Around—a song I’ve been obsessing about lately. Oddly, I think this recording is different from the one on the I Wanna Be Around Album (which is the same as on the Ultimate Tony Bennett CD). I know that back in the day sometimes a record company would release a different take on compilations, and some artists even re-recorded tracks for their Greatest Hits comps (John Denver did this in a way I find fairly annoying). Whatever the case here, the arrangement is the same, but I can hear differences in the performance. Either way, it’s freakin’ great.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Je m’appelle Barbra

Ah, back when she was simply Baaaahbra, with the pageboy haircut and the Egyptian eyeliner eye. Doesn’t Babs look fab here? She’s quiet. Svelte. Monochrome, with combed bangs and casual bangles. She teamed up with Michel Legrand for this album and sang a mixture of old and new songs, all from the French. Here’s a track written by the young Monsieur Legrand, with French lyrics by Eddy Marnay, with the English adaptation by none other than Johnny Mercer. Barbra’s totally controlled on this track, no histrionics, no Broadway hamming nor California excesses—just that perfect perfect voice and real emotion.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Chér

Cher’s album Chér was released twice, first as this version, Chér, and then again as Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves, based on the success of that title’s single. She too is looking young and fresh, serious, though a bit vampy (a quality which, as we all know, would soon change to campy). Anyway, get a load of those eyelashes! And I pity the poor hair & makeup assistant who had to comb out those perfect long bangs. Everyone knows Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves, and many people know her lesser hit The Way Of Love from this album (the latter is one of my very favorite instances of a cover song which does not update the gender of its pronouns, which thereby creates an ambiguously bisexual context for Mrs. Bono’s heartbreak), but I’m going with an album track here that has some bounce and some grit, I Hate To Sleep Alone. On their Under The Blacklight album, Rilo Kiley perform an original song called Close Call which is obviously influenced by Gypsys, Tramps, & Thieves. So I was not wholly surprised to discover this Cher track which has the same kind of desperate anger that Rilo Kiley has made their own on so many songs. Jenny Lewis should mix a cover of this track into her live performances of Close Call. Anyway, like all of us, Cher hates to sleep alone.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Bonus!
Rilo Kiley’s Close Call:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Here’s a wonderful live sketch from Two’s Company, with Bette Davis and Burt Lahr. Really really funny… Reading that Wikipedia article linked above, I just learned that the 1952 Broadway production was choreographed on Miss Davis by none other than Jerome Robbins.

See all of today’s charts here.

This is the first ad in a long long long time that actually makes me want to eat at McDonald’s (don’t worry, I’m not going to):

One can’t imagine an ad like this airing in the United States. Though who knows? Maybe it could run in local markets in NY, SF, or LA? Anyway, it made me laugh out loud, and the look on this kid’s face is so cute.