Krin is Smacked by Janis Ian

Sometime during the week of September 14, I received an e-mail from a producer at WNYC, the NPR radio station in New York City. He wanted me to speak on Soundcheck on Tuesday, September 22. The program is devoted to all kinds of music and runs every weekday at 2:00pm. The host is John Schaefer, a very smart man and an excellent interviewer. I was being invited specifically to engage in their weekly feature, "Tuesday Smackdown." Primarily tongue-in-cheek, the segment presents a question that two guests must debate. I was first told that the question was, "Which is more important, words or music?" And I was asked to argue in favor of music. Fine. I came up with many clever reasons why the words are irrelevant and songs and operas and jazz are all about notes. A few days later I received another e-mail from the same producer, now asking me if I could argue in favor of words. It seems that they had been trying to line up Janis Ian as the other speaker, and that when they finally reached her, she wanted to take the side of the music. I did they best I could, but I think Janis wiped the floor with me. See you for yourself by pasting this link into your browser: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/episodes/2009/09/22