Concert for Diana

This weekend was a godsend because for the first time in months, I didn’t have to work. That buoyant feeling of release was incredible. So I spent a lot of time reading (I finished two books) and watching Netflix DVDs (Midnight Express and The Death of Mr. Lazarescu). On Saturday I finally went to the Corcoran Gallery in DC to see their modernism exhibit, and aside from inwardly bitching about their high entrance fee (when half the museums in DC are free, you do tend to get spoiled), I really enjoyed myself. And I managed to snag a parking space right outside the museum. No small feat!

I was rooted to the sofa on Sunday as I watched the full six-hour Concert for Diana. It seemed to be a smashing success, and I’m very sorry I couldn’t be there. I tried—really, I did. I was fully prepared to fly to London solely for that concert. But every time a fresh batch of tickets was released to the public, they sold out before I could snag one.

Disappointments:

• Fergie didn’t piss herself while performing. I’ve seen shots of her with a wet crotch on stage, and I was hoping that she’d follow suit yesterday, because I don’t know if there’d be anything hotter on earth than seeing someone pissing herself while performing in front of the future king of England. Sadly, Fergie let me down. And she lip-synched, too, which I thought was disgraceful. Her performance slot should’ve gone to a performer who is actually capable of singing live.

• That trainwreck Amy Winehouse didn’t perform. I wanted to see her slurring and staggering her way across the stage, and maybe even rip off her shirt to carve “Diana” into her stomach with a piece of glass.

• Robbie Williams didn’t join Take That for a surprise reunion. What, he had something better to do than to sing in front of a billion people worldwide?

• Kanye West didn’t scream “PRINCESS DIANA DIDN’T CARE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE!” while on stage. (Of course she cared about black people; I just wanted him to re-enact his awesome “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” tirade from way-back-when.)

• Most shocking of all: Elton John didn’t perform “Candle in the Wind ’97.” I was all set to brutz my way through it but never got a chance. I know he swore he’d never do it again after Diana’s funeral, but rumor has it that William and Harry asked him to perform it at the concert, and what better reason does he have to break his vow than a request from Diana’s sons? It’s not like he was asked to perform it on freaking American Idol. Wills and Harry should arrest him for treason and throw him in the Tower of London.

Aside from those issues, I thought the concert was superb. I loved the “Diana & Me” clips played between performances, as well as the childhood home movies shown at the end. The performers were great and it was a lot of fun to see William and Harry grooving to the music. The entire occasion was a marvelous, unique memorial to their beloved mother.

Yes, I’ll admit it: I liked Princess Diana. Well, obviously I did, or I wouldn’t have sat through a six-hour TV concert on a gorgeous, pristine summer day. Okay, no, Diana wasn’t the brightest bulb in Britain. And some of the stories of her being hysterical and manipulative—and perhaps a tad unstable—probably carried some degree of truth. But at her core she had a genuinely good heart. She cared about people and their problems and wanted to do something to brighten their lives. She took a bad situation (a loveless marriage; cold, distant in-laws; constant, crushing hounding by the press) and turned it into something positive (raising awareness of important issues, such as AIDS, homelessness, and land mines). She dragged the issues of eating disorders and self-injury out of the shadows by publicly sharing her personal experiences with them. She gave the royals a softer, more modern face by dancing at rock concerts and taking her kids to amusement parks and McDonald’s. She exposed her kids to life beyond their “ivory tower” (as she called it) by taking them to homeless shelters, soup kitchens, AIDS wards, and streets with heavy homeless populations. Above all, she truly loved her kids—she didn’t keep them at a polite distance as so many of the other royals do with their children. She loved them and treated them like…well, royalty. Diana may’ve been flighty, neurotic, and lovelorn, but she was still a good person and a phenomenal humanitarian, and she died far too young.

To celebrate the concert I drank English cider in the Diana memorial mug I bought during my second-to-last London trip. I would’ve eaten British food, too, if I’d had any on hand!

This has nothing to do with Princess Diana, but I saw a very cool blurb in the most recent issue of GDUSA magazine:

Revenge of the Nerds

Avant-nerdism is gaining steam and will hit the mainstream in 2009. “Avantnerdiwhat?” you ask. Zandl Group researchers, the ultimate trendspotters, define avant-nerd as a stylish, cool, or social person who engages in nerd culture with a full awareness of the irony of his or her behavior. Irma Zandl says that avant-nerds are the new creative class and that they possess a “compact, eco-friendly, quirky, and smart” aesthetic. Avant-nerds tap into retro styles and reflect a European sensibility. They ironically re-appropriate nerd culture, transforming the formerly nerdy into something cool. The aesthetic is influencing fashion, industrial design, and interior design, Zandl adds.

Lord almighty, those are my people! I hope this trend takes off!!!


song heard most recently before posting:
Vedete? Lo son fedele—Giacomo Puccini