Elton ’n’ Bjork, &c.

[Valin]

National Review: Jay Nordlinger

2/12/13

 

Did you see this dose of news? “Chinese authorities have hardened their line on foreign musicians, after Elton John infuriated them by dedicating a performance to outspoken artist and activist Ai Weiwei.” (For the full article, go here.) Good for Elton John. Best news I’ve heard since Bjork, the Icelandic singer. Do you remember? At the end of a concert in Shanghai, she sang a song called “Declare Independence” — and yelled “Tibet!” several times. Afterward, the Ministry of Culture declared, “We shall never tolerate any attempt to separate Tibet from China and will no longer welcome any artists who deliberately do this.”

 

Oddly enough, I cited Elton John — Sir Elton — just the other day. Cited him approvingly, too. For National Review, I did a piece on lip-synching (as I think I mentioned in a column last week). I quoted what Sir Elton said at a 2004 awards ceremony. His colleague Madonna had been nominated in a “live act” category. And Sir Elton ripped her: “Since when has lip-synching been live? Anyone who lip-synchs in public onstage, when you pay 75 pounds to see them, should be shot.”

 

Now, that sounds like something the Chinese Communist Party would do (although torture, over a period of weeks or months, seems to be their preferred method). *But Sir Elton was not speaking literally, rest assured.

 

(Snip)

 

 

* More's the pity.