“Each age, it is found, must write its own books; or rather, each generation for the next succeeding. The books of an older period will not fit this.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

“You think I’m dead but I sail away on a wave of mutilation.”
—Pixies, “Wave of Mutilation”

Black Francis of the Pixies during the Doolittle tour, Chicago, 2009. Photograph by Charlie Clark.

Are the Pixies old, or is the story of their music just beginning?

I found myself pondering this question during last night’s sold-out concert at Hammerstein Ballroom, in New York City, which doubled as a 20th-anniversary celebration of the band’s indispensable album Doolittle. The Pixies played the album front-to-back, framing it with a few B-sides—some “so obscure we had to learn them”—and then capping the night with an encore of favorites from other albums.

But back to the question.

Physically, the band’s members are more honest than most rock musicians about the passage of time and all of its crimes: all three male members are bald or nearly so, and the female member, Kim Deal, appears to have assumed the shape of an R. Crumb fantasy object. But none has lost a step when it comes to performing: David Lovering still bangs out beats with the precision of a German-made appliance; Joey Santiago still knows how to kindle a heartbreaking solo from the spark of a single bent note; Kim Deal still offsets her loping, liquid bass tones with ethereal vocal leads and harmonies; and Black Francis remains a voice-box virtuoso, producing previously unheard sounds through an alchemy of shrieks, guttural whispers, and metallic tunefulness.

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Britain’s Duchess of York and her eldest, Princess Beatrice, braved a torrential downpour to attend a charity ball at London’s Natural History Museum. The event raised more than $123,000 to help build a family house for Zambian orphans. Clearly determined not to have a repeat of the Royal Rajasthan gala affair, the Duchess hit the right note with her tastefully dramatic neckline.

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Chelsea Clinton wearing Oscar de la Renta to the School of American Ballet’s Winter Ball in New York City, March 5, 2007. From PatrickMcMullan.com.

Now that Chelsea Clinton has announced that’s she’s engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Marc Mezvinsky, who will design the bridge-to-be’s wedding gown? If family ties have anything to do with it, then all signs point to Oscar de la Renta.

Until Jason Wu came along, Oscar had all but been elected the District’s official dressmaker. De la Renta designed Laura Bush’s 2005 inauguration gown and Jenna Bush Hager’s 2008 wedding dress, and he’s outfitted Nancy Regan too. But it’s a closet full of Oscar that has made Chelsea’s mom, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, one of Hill’s haute dressers. Not only did Hillary select a shimmery gold long-sleeved Oscar gown for the inaugural balls after Bill Clinton’s swearing-in in 1997 (the First Lady turned to de la Renta after receiving less-than-rave reviews for her 1992 inauguration choice: a purple crystal-encrusted Sarah Phillips number) but she also sported a pink and gray embroidered Oscar frock to President Barack Obama’s evening inauguration balls. That was after she wore a royal-blue Oscar outfit for Obama’s daytime swearing-in ceremony. Other notable Oscar getups that Hillary has worn in the spotlight include a teal suit with a pearl choker for her speech at the Democratic National Convention leading up to Bill’s 1996 election and a taupe 1996 Election Night suit. And who could forget her pantsuits on the 2008 campaign trail? They clearly spelled O-D-L-R.

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