Mr. Sun kindly provides a link to my "top 10" apparatus mentioned below. He also comes up with a briliant aperçu: "If classical music isn't dead, it's at least jumped the shark." For those who don't know, "jumping the shark" is web-generated lingo for long-running TV shows that enter their decadent stages by introducing ridiculous plot devices — for example, Fonzie waterskiing over a shark on Happy Days or the "it was all a dream" season on Dallas. (The genius of Alias is that it has jumping the shark as its premise.) These credibility-destroying moments are usually the work of self-absorbed, burned-out teams of writers. Thanks to Mr. Sun, I think I finally understand what happened in twentieth-century music: we jumped the shark. But, hey, we're still on the air.
