Radio Sweethearts

When Matthew wakes up in the morning, he’s kind enough to turn on Morning Edition. Because I’m usually still mostly asleep while this happens, sometimes I have a hard time telling if I’m dreaming the news stories or if they’re for real.

A few days ago, I woke up to a story about Lady Gaga as a fascinating performance artist and feminist icon. On Morning Edition. If there’s a time of day that one shouldn’t have to deal with Lady Gaga, it’s during Morning Edition.

Nevermind that she’s wearing a red latex Victorian gown to meet the queen (and is surrounded by what looks like a middle school concert band in bulletproof vests), Lady Gaga is an artist.

Shana Naomi Krochmal’s Morning Edition story praises Ms. Gaga as an absolutely scary and very powerful performance artist.

Given Lady Gaga’s background in performance art, I wonder if this whole thing is all just a big, crazy, elaborately costumed performance piece. What if the joke is on us, and she’s gotten rich by pretending to be a lace covered, possibly male pop star. If it is all a show, it’s totally brilliant.

The music at the end of the story is also kind of brilliant. I wonder if she’ll continue in a Freddy Mercury direction – she totally should, as it was kind of awesome.