"At a celebration for President Bill Clinton's fiftieth birthday, at Radio City Music Hall, in 1996, Simon, terrified of following Smokey Robinson, invited the entire horn section to let her have it. 'They all took turns spanking me,' she says, 'During the last spank the curtain went up. The audience saw the aftermath, the sting on my face. I bet Olivier didn't do that.'"
Out Oliviering Olivier. Larry, the emblem of acting. What is Carly telling us? What pain is in performance? Carly adds: "the pain is the hierarchy." Canetti writes "Every command consists of momentum and sting." We hear the song, the performance, the show. When is the show about us? Are we so vain? The sting of the secret command swells our vanity. We are not spanked but witness the sting on the face. Our vanity grows. The show is for us. This is the hierarchy. Who spanks? Horn section, the backup, the "wall of sound" for casting the voice. The sting is transferred from sound to voice to ear, and the spectacle - the stage - is the tracery of the transfer. They let her have it and the audience sees the aftermath. How we wish the curtain went up a little earlier. Please let us share the scene, the scene before the scene. Spanking performance: Were the horns in hand? Did they blow as they beat? The secret performance that is the performance. The audience listens - whack slap - they wish they let her have it. Sound is drama of transfer is secret sting. And what of Bill Clinton?
