26 September 2010












I've written before about the mirror effect of Anglophilia -- Brits who are obsessed with America. In just the last couple days, the media came out with two fascinating interviews touching on this. On NPR, Robert Plant spoke about his love of the American south, which he continues to explore. Like Jagger and so many others, they knew they owed everything to the geniuses in Memphis, the Delta, etc. and payed homage when they could. The fascinating part is that my generation heard their take, assumed they invented it and became obsessed with life in Manchester, Leeds, etc. And thought rock and roll had to be sung with an British accent. In thgis weekend's Times Mag, Deborah Solomon interviewed Phil Collins, who turns out to be Motown fanatic and a collector of objects from the American frontier, including stuff from the Alamo and Davy Crockett. Funny world.


Photo of Robert Plant from Ella Mullins

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