You Crackers Are Alright

Today is National Don't be a Racist in Your Blog Day, or something like that. Like everyday in Blogland, this is really Preach to the Choir Day, but sometimes the choir needs a sermon, too, I reckon.

This post doesn't really fall into the category of "blogging against racism," as such. I do think racism is wrong, though. Also murdering puppies. Especially cute puppies. I'll just get that out of the way right now. Feemus and his blog are against racism and harming cute puppies. I feel a Raoul Wallenburg award a-comin' my way.

This post is about Taj Mahal. The guy, not the building. I went to see Taj Mahal last week. The crowd was mostly white. There was a woman sitting next to us, a white woman, who seemed to be trying desperately to ingratiate herself with the band. She laughed loudly at everything that could pass for a joke. She shouted, "yeah, Brother!" with irritating frequency. At one point, Taj Mahal was chatting about why he likes Placido Domingo more than Pavorotti. This woman actually shouted out: "Kiri....Kiri Te....I love Kiri!" It sounded as though she would have liked to say the whole name, but couldn't remember it. Kanawa could mess anybody up.

But why this spontaneous need to say "Kiri" at all? Surely this woman didn't think that a soprano would be Taj Mahal's favorite tenor. She just had to scream out to a black performer that she liked another black performer. Even if she couldn't think of the name.

This woman was particularly egregious, but by no means unique. All through the evening, the audience laughed a little loudly at every "in-joke" and applauded a little too loudly at any reference to another balck artist. Taj Mahal's reference to "Jimi" got a huge knowing laugh, while an anecdote about Pete Seeger got a nervous chuckle. Was it ok for them to like white performers, too?

All the forced laughter at what was really more charming patter than actual jokes was deeply unsettling. What did these people think was going to happen.

I think they thought that Taj Mahal would look out at the audience and say: "You know, you white cats is ok. Let's just forget about that whole slavery thing."