Archived in the categories to the right are two stabs in the direction of humor: “Stanley Kubrick Was My Friend, Too” and “The Gazebo of Ecstasy.” Here is another. Back in 1996, during my fidgety last months as a critic at the New York Times, I sent my editor Jim Oestreich a parody of classical music news, which he unwisely put into print. To judge from reader response, the satire was too deadpan for its own good: I received one inquiry about how to contact teenage oboe sensation Sarah Qin, one pained complaint about the alleged homoeroticism of the motets of Ockeghem. Also, the jokes had a way of becoming fact. Michael Daugherty went ahead and wrote a Jackie O opera, and at least two composers dramatized the tragedy of O. J. Simpson. (Believe it or not, someone took the Kubrick piece seriously, too.) Explanatory footnotes: 1) Kaisersaschern was the birthplace of Adrian Leverkühn in Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus. 2) Dylan McKay was Luke Perry's character on Beverly Hills 90210.
