Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Smooth Move


This morning's Province features a profile of cellist Peggy Lee, who is performing in town tomorrow night. Lee, as it turns out, is a fan of the now-defunct HBO series Deadwood, as are all people of taste and wit, and she compares her style of composition for her latest work to the trademark style of dialogue on the show .

In the piece, she is quoted as saying:

"I just loved the whole thing of the series--the intensity, the writing, the look and feel...And I kind of likened the points where a character would go off on a long rant in the same way that a soloist will make an extended statement like that rather than merely a segway between movements in the song."

A "segway," of course, is an over-hyped two-wheeled personal conveyance, and although it does move you around, it won't carry you between movements in a song. For that you need the more conceptual, but less expensive, "segue."