“It girl is a term for a young woman who possesses the quality It, absolute attraction.
“The early usage of the concept it in this meaning may be seen in a story by Rudyard Kipling: ‘It isn’t beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It’s just It.’
“Elinor Glyn lectured:
“‘With It you win all men if you are a woman and all women if you are a man. It can be a quality of the mind as well as a physical attraction.’
“The expression reached global attention in 1927, with the film It, starring Clara Bow.”
It fills the niche language requires for an often inexplicable phenomenon of desirability.
Shania Twain became the IT girl of country music in 1997 withthe (pre-released sexy videos and the actual) album release ofCome On Over.
Come On Over became the “best-selling studio album of all time by a female act in any genre,” the most popular country album ever with global sales of more than 40 million copies.
According to Wikipedia: “The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and stayed there for 50 non-consecutive weeks. It stayed in the Top Ten for 151 weeks.”
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This is a video of Shania Twain describing the title song and the album:
Nothing Shania Twain has done since has equaled the commercial success of the Come on Over album and analysis of its success continues to be a source of considerable speculation.
There is, for example, the observation that the album’s success was largely a result of the brilliance of her producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange–called by everyone Mutt.
Mutt
Co-wrote the Come on Over songs
Arranged for startlingly erotic videos
Insisted on Shania’s especially effective and previously unequaled video wardrobe
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I interrupt the thread by exposing you to more Shania message with the surprisingly static video:
“If you wanna to touch her, Ask” the number nine cut on Come on Over.
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Mutt
Married Shania
Fathered her son born (in all places for a country music performer) in Switzerland
“In August 2001, their son Eja (pronounced ‘Asia’) was born. On 15 May 2008 a spokesman for Mercury Nashville announced that Twain and Lange [Mutt] were separating after Lange had an affair. Lange began seeing Twain’s best friend, Marie-Anne Thiebaud. The couple divorced in June 2010, and Twain is now married to Thiebaud’s ex-husband Frederic.”
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Here for the hell of it is another static video of what appears to me to be a feminist song, Shoes, co-written with Mutt.
Shania sings:
“Men: have you ever tried to figure them out? Huh, me too, but I ain’t got no clue: how ’bout you? Men are like shoes, made to confuse. Yeah, there’s so many of ’em, I don’t know which ones to choose….”
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To return to the consequences of Shania’s Coming Home success, when Mutt left questions remained,
Did Shania have the song writing talent to succeed without Mutt?
Could she wear clothes designed to look especially provocative in heavily marketed videos?
Could she refine and foster her feminist message and encourage others to follow her lead?
After a two year hiatus between albums, Shania released Up, a good album with a dreadful cover song (the only bad song she has ever released).
Impatience in fans for a sequel to Coming Home reached the point where one Philadelphia Country Music Station (whose devoted listeners consisted primarily of fans who had never ridden a horse nor could tell the difference between a soybean and a corn field) ran a contest. The winner obtained a free trip to Switzerland for the purposes of hounding Shania and asking her when she would finish the new album.
The album Up was widely regarded as a failure selling only 20 million copies globally compared to 40 million for Come on Home.
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Here is Shania Twain in 2003 demonstrating her post-Mutt star quality at the Michael Jackson spot at the Super Bowl, singing from both albums:
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Shania Twain remains productive and exceptionally desirable as she continues unrivaled as the Queen of Country.
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This leads one to ask: What is country music?
Shania Twain, whose first name was purchased by her former husband Mutt, never wanted to be a country performer. He goal was rock.
Now, a wide variety of singers have raised the crossover questions.
Is it country?
Is it rock?
What kind of music is it?
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The arbiter of course is Kris Kristopherson who declared definitely,
“If it sounds like a country music song, it’s a country music song.”
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Now would be a good time to describe The pantheon of country royalty which includes Shania’s place in the pantheon and the role of Country Music as cancer therapy. You may have been wondering when I will get around to this subject.
In the next posting The pantheon of country royalty we will start with Tim McGraw, the undeniable current King of Country.
Here is Taylor Swift, undeniably country–her first solo performance was at a rodeo–, paying tribute to the King by singing the song that brought her fame:
Tim McGraw
–30–
Joel Solkoff
Copyright 2013 by Joel Solkoff. All rights reserved.
Sexiest female performer in the history of country music
Writer of astonishingly intimate songs telling men what women want sexually and otherwise
Mentor to a talented array of female country musicians with a strong feminist agenda
There is a video where Shania Twain sings out her instructions to men not to touch without asking, but if they ask.
If the answer is Yes: See the sexy video for what you get.
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As a child, Wikipedia reports, Shania Twain lived in poverty in Canada.
“Twain had a hard childhood in Timmins. Her parents earned little and there was often a shortage of food in the household. [Twain] did not confide her situation to school authorities, fearing they might break up the family. In the remote, rugged community, she learned to hunt and to chop wood.
“Twain started singing at bars at the age of eight to try to make ends meet, often earning twenty dollars between midnight and one in the morning performing for remaining customers after the bar had finished serving.
“Although she expressed a dislike for singing in those bars, Twain believes that this was her own kind of performing arts school on the road.”
Shania Twain has said of her childhood ordeal:
“‘My deepest passion was music and it helped.
“There were moments when I thought I hate this. I hated going into bars and being with drunks.
“I loved the music and so I survived.”
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To get a true understanding of Shania Twain’s significance as the most effective star-power communicator of What Women Want, we must of course first go to the United Nations. The year is 1975.
The occasion:
After worrying about everything else, the UN finally decided that the role of women in the world was important [surprise!].
This was the UN authorized and official song of the International Women’s Year.
This is Helen Reddy performing I am Woman in 1975.
\Wikipedia contains the following Helen Reddy’s account of the significance of her first hit song:
“I couldn’t find any songs that said what I thought being a woman was about.“I thought about all these strong women in my family who had gotten through the Depression and world wars and drunken, abusive husbands.
“There was nothing in music that reflected that.
“The only songs were ‘I Feel Pretty’ or that dreadful song ‘Born A Woman.’ (The 1966 hit by Sandy Posey had observed that if you’re born a woman ‘you’re born to be stepped on, lied to, cheated on and treated like dirt….)
“These are not exactly empowering lyrics.
“I certainly never thought of myself as a songwriter, but it came down to having to do it.”
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The accomplishments of the U.N. year was creation of Womenwatch.
“Womenwatch,” defines itself as, “the central gateway to information and resources on the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women throughout the United Nations system, including the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Secretariat, regional commissions, funds, programmes, specialized agencies, and academic and research institutions.”
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Despite the U.N.’s good intentions as I write today young women are being sold into slavery in Monaco and throughout northern Africa. Their illegal importation as inexpensive prostitutes in Spain has become so significant a problem that London’s Financial Times reports on it regularly.
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Depending on one’s views on the relative effectiveness comparing international principles to music, Helen Reddy’s legacy has reaped astonishing results for all of us who have come to country music in large part because of the earthquake-like significance of Kris Kristopherson’s role as a country singer. Worth a trip to the library is a reading of an old New York Times Magzine profile of Kristopherson. The article reported that Kristopherson quit the Army Academy at West Point to sleep on the streets at Nashville only to discover to wide surprise:
There is a market for long long country music–for songs that have something to say.
Consider this recording of Sunday Morning a song that was an astonishment to have been recorded at all let alone become a best seller. (“Long songs don’t work here in Nashville, son.”)
There is, for example, Shania Twain singing: Honey I’m Home.”
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It is getting late. I realize that I will not get to everything I want to say in this posting, especially the therapeutic effect of country music. Ever since Freud asked the question What do women want? the answer is not apparent to those of us who are men. My tribute to Shania Twain will end temporarily. Look for Shania Twain Tribute 2 coming on this site.
I hereby conclude by providing two music videos:
–30–
-Joel Solkoff
Copyright 2013 by Joel Solkoff. All rights reserved.
Of all my many preparations for surgery–including signing up for Premium Spotify [worth it]–creating a valid Living Will exercised far too much time.
I can and may list the valid rationale for having a Living Will, which here in Pennsylvania is called officially a Durable Power of Attorney.
Durable means (as lovers of the English language are encouraged to deplore) limited.
The person selected to execute my living will can only take care of my health care decisions–decisions I have listed in advance (see below) and which She, as it turns out, may only make following my explicit instructions (see below) and is not allowed to vary from my instructions at all.
My agent does not have authority to act for me for any other purpose unrelated to my health care. All of my agent’s actions under this power during any period when I am unable to make or communicate health care decisions have the same effect on my heirs, devisees and personal representatives as if I were competent and acting for myself.
To tell the truth, I would much rather watch a Shania Twain video than go through the gut-wrenching process of picking the person who will turn off the plug if I emerge from surgery a rutabaga.
Here is the video I would rather see than execute a Living Will.
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The problem with going into surgery which I knew would be successful (and indeed the surgery was successful) was encountering flak from a variety of sources.
One of these sources was my elder daughter Joanna, who has two honor degrees in nursing and is convinced–perhaps rightly so–that she knows everything.
Joanna insisted that she be the one to pull the plug.
In April I had had the foresight to executed a previous Living Will at my hospital bed, but once out of bed and back and forth to New York for reasons I will not explain (or may) I had to change the document.
For one thing, the April Living Will made the assumption that it was unfair to ask my daughters to perform such a task; my friends would spare them the guilt of pulling the plug. This assumption was wrong and in a way I cannot quite describe demeaning to them.
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In preparing for August surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering with the Living Will, I thought I was just going through the motions.
Then. Joanna said, “[Expletive deleted] I am a nurse. If anyone should pull the plug it should be me. Anyway, I would not be pulling the plug. I would be telling someone else to pull the plug.”
Meanwhile, my friend Pinhas had complained that in April he had been made second in line to pull the plug and wanted to be first; plus, my April number one batter up was afraid she did not have the medical knowledge.
Finally, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center required (actually requested–it is optional) an updated Living Will plus other relevant documentation I will bother you with.
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My wishes. Clearly, some of my wishes did not matter at all. Others did, but not now–meaning not before August 8th and my kidney operation.
The primary reason I was filling out a Living Will was because I wanted to please the Administrators at the hospital where I was about to have surgery. If they saw that I was a responsible enough citizen to fill out the expletive deleted form, they would decide I was a right guy, guaranteeing some slack later when I behaved poorly–as I did.
I really and truly did not want anyone to take the document seriously. It was one of a list of items on my clipboard, the least important, and one that took up attention from more important things (which I will list for you eventually, but can be summed up with this video from Bessie Smith) :
Here is a salient excerpt from the Pennsylvania Living Will form, which is a lot simpler to fill out than you might expect:
I direct that my health care providers and others involved in my care provide, withhold, or withdraw treatment in accordance with my directions below:
If I have an incurable and irreversible (terminal) condition that will result in my death within a relatively short time, I direct that:
I be removed from any artificial life support or any additional life-prolonging treatment. ______ my initials
I not be artificially administered food and water, realizing this may hasten my death. ______ my initials
I not be provided any comfort, care and relief from pain, including any pain reduction medication, if the effect would be to prolong my life. ______ my initials
If I am diagnosed as being in an irreversible coma and, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, I will not regain consciousness, I direct that:
I be removed from any artificial life support or any additional life-prolonging treatment. ______ my initials
I not be artificially administered food and water, realizing this may hasten my death. ______ my initials
I not be provided any comfort, care and relief from pain , including any pain reduction medication, if the effect would be to prolong my life. ______ my initials
If I am diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state and, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, I will not regain consciousness, I direct that:
I be removed from any artificial life support or any additional life-prolonging treatment. ______ my initials
I not be artificially administered food and water, realizing this may hasten my death. ______ my initials
I not be provided any comfort, care and relief from pain, including any pain reduction medication, if the effect would be to prolong my life. ______ my initials
Regarding item 1, I answered: “I be removed from any artificial life support or any additional life-prolonging treatment“
Item 2, I answered: “I not be artificially administered food and water, realizing this may hasten my death.”
Item 3. I answered: “I be removed from any artificial life support or any additional life-prolonging treatment.”
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Time for another video:
http://youtu.be/SoJkxNa6v14
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The PA Living Will form states what I told the form I wanted. Period. See:
“My agent’s powers include, but are not limited to:
“Full power to consent, refuse consent, or withdraw consent to all medical, surgical, hospital and related health care treatments and procedures on my behalf, according to my wishes as stated in this document…”
Other language makes clear: My Agent has no choice but to pull the plug because that is my wish as stated in this document.
The fact that none of my would be agents realized that they had no power at all to effect my major decisions was of no concern to them. What was of concern to them was my welfare. They love me. They want what is best for me. Instead, I had to spend time explaining this expletive deleted stuff to them and the more I explained the more frightened they became until, naturally, a discussion began about my funeral. [I do not want a funeral; I want a Democrat elected governor of Pennsylvania next year.]
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Perhaps a photograph unrelated to anything might prove useful here:
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Naturally, the situation became complicated. Naturally, for me. Naturally, for the situation.
I was preparing for an operation in New York on August 8th. Why was I worrying about a durable power of attorney in Pennsylvania when the operation was happening in New York AND Memorial Sloan Kettering requested I provide a valid New York State form?
Not the same form, of course. That would be too easy. The New York State form is entitled, “A Health Care Proxy.” The proxy delegates someone to be my health care agent: “In the event I have been been determined to be incapable of providing informed consent for medical treatment and surgical diagnostic procedures.”
Enter a useful attorney whom we will call Hadley V.Baxendale, a moniker he likes. Hadley had three recommendations:
1. Since I live in Pennsylvania and have been hospitalized several times in this Commonwealth, a valid PA Living Will is a good idea.
2. The New York form is limited in stating explicitly the powers an agent can have. Link the two documents for New York so the New York agent is required to follow the more detailed directives in the PA form–having the two notarized together which I did at the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge where I temporarily stayed before and after the surgery. I handed that two-in one document in on Surgery Day to someone entirely covered in white who said, “Thank you. I will put it in your folder.”
3. Hadley said, “There is room in the PA form for additional instructions. Let me begin by asking you the following questions.” I minded answering each question. The Aristotelian/Talmudic logic behind legal–especially good legal–thinking drives me crazy. So, I had to answer how much of a vegetable I was willing to be before I was willing to have someone pull the plug. What percentage of postoperative disability I was willing to take. And other tranquil questions designed to put me in the mood for surgery.
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Time for another song.
http://youtu.be/QwIYrx6Bqe0
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The upshot was that because they were actually present and available my younger daughter Amelia and my sister Sarah Schmerler were designated NY Health Care Agents for me.
Amelia first. Sarah if Amelia were unavailable.
Both spent my operation time weeping at the old Whitney Museum just before Renzo Piano creates his magic and builds a New Piano Whitney. I have seen a photograph of the two together waiting in front of a sign explaining Piano’s future vision, but can not find the photo. Alas.
This is unfortunate because I could then explain that while each were waiting with their iPhone ringers on in case a major medical decision was required in their capacity as my Agents, Dr. Russo figured out how to close the wound all by himself.
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One more song and then a conclusion (I hope). Brief (I hope).
http://youtu.be/uOQwdRMTKEk
Certainly, having a Living Will is an excellent idea. It is not an excellent idea when you are going into the hospital and have an excellent chance of survival. Then, having intense discussions about your wishes if you are incapacitated beyond redemption takes on an unfortunate side trip past where you want to be and what you want to talk about with your loved ones.
Here is a photo of my sister Sarah getting in shape to be my alternate Health Proxy. Did the enormous time involved in, for example, notarizing the Pennsylvania document in PA and two days later notarizing the New York document (with notarized PA) document attached and also notarized–gathering two witnesses each time. My appreciation to my Rep. in the Pennsylvania House Scott Conklin for making his office available for that purpose. [The Democrats could win the governorship with the right team. Conklin ran for lieutenant governor in the last election and lost. I hoping that he will run as a running mate with Allyson Schwartz and win.] {Whoops. I got off subject.}
A non-partisan thanks to Lorrainne Katt, Manager of the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge where I lived with Amelia, my daughter, as my caregiver. Lorraine in short order assembled a notary, another witness and signed the document herself.
This is Amelia several months ago drinking happily in Spain.
Amelia arrived in New York on Monday evening in time for the rules instruction at Hope Lodge where she took up residence as my health care provider that evening. The next day we…The following day, a meeting with Dr. Paul Russo, my surgeon, a wonderful physical therapist, and an intense examination to make sure I would not die under the knife–intense.
Then…Thursday brought the surgery. Would never have discussing all the paperwork have helped me through time that followed the operation. Absolutely.
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Another unrelated photo courtesy of the Morgan Library and Museum:
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A man’s gotta do what a man’s got to do.
I am thinking of me in this role. Filling out a Living Will is certainly a grown up thing to do. It is not a good idea to leave family and loved ones guessing about one’s intentions. The best way to do it is when there are no health issues involved. At nearly 66 years old, I should have been grown up enough to fill out the farm during a pacific time when asking family and loved members their thoughts did not bring out the intense emotion this exercise did.
Perhaps, the lesson of the angst of the Living Will taught me how to be a grown up. Perhaps.
Before Arlo Guthrie sings all the words to Alice’s Restaurant, I would like to thank Law Depot www.lawdepot.com This online service provides forms that fit the requirements of the PA Living Will form and NY’s Health Care Agent form. Each can be easily modified or modified only to include names and addresses. A great service.
“It girl is a term for a young woman who possesses the quality It, absolute attraction. 
