Cultural Appropriation and "Old Man River" at Karaoke

• 46:54Tim reads an article about cultural appropriation and TikTok video going viral about slang, wondering why it matters at all.
• 47:26There's something weird about white millennial women opening fried chicken restaurants, but it should be allowed—Portland took it too far closing burrito stands.
• 47:55Tim's singing problem: as a former child actor and singer, cigarettes and hard living left him able to sing only one song well.
• 48:24That song is "Old Man River" from Showboat, traditionally sung by Black performers, which is why singing it at karaoke raises the cultural appropriation question.
• 49:06Tim performs "Old Man River" live to illustrate his point about being able to hit the notes and convey the emotional weight of the material.
• 50:34If Erykah Badu sang "Danny Boy," nobody would call it cultural appropriation because of the oppression hierarchy, but that's a bad way to order society.
• 52:42Fusion food works because chefs take French techniques and Asian flavors—cultures should add to each other, like the defunct Les Papilles in Manhattan.
• 53:57When a young white girl raps badly, people cringe, but singing "Old Man River" at karaoke would show genuine understanding of pain and material.
• 55:38Tim wonders if he should have sung "Old Man River" to his ex-roommate, a situation she apparently interpreted very differently than he did.
• 56:13Two people witnessing the same event can have completely different experiences—like eyewitness testimony in murder cases, which is often unreliable.
• 57:06Tim's roommate accused him of leaving out leftovers that attracted maggots and flies—he categorically denies this and may sue for defamation over the claim.
• 57:29The maggot allegation is untrue, and Tim refuses to stay silent about being falsely accused of this.

Erykah Baducultural appropriationOld Man RiverShowboatLes Bernardin