Ignorance is bliss, pretty much, when it comes to pop culture.

Even before my TV died I was pretty isolated from the incessant inanity and mindless chatter of the popular media.

But I am a political beast, and when the worlds of politics and pop culture admix or worse, procreate, it can be hard for even me to escape being caught up.

So it was with the candidacy of Alaskan governor Sarah Palin for the vice-presidency. Faithful readers with short-to-medium length memories may recall my thinly veiled jab at the populist Ms Palin in the form of my song, “A Thousand Lies (Bridge to Nowhere).”

But, the election cycle being over, I might have been blissfully unaware of the latest Palin family drama, the breakup of Sarah’s pregnant 17 year old daughter from her once-much-touted fiance, um… what’s his name?

Still, my blissful ignorance was pierced when the media feasted on the break-up of two 17 year olds, sending it to the very top of Google’s aggregated news page. (However briefly.) And a day or two later, trapped in the supermarket line, the tragic dimensions of this shattered love affair were hammered home by one tabloid headline after another.

Clearly, this was news of national import.

Maybe I was still feeling the afterglow of in the wake of my song about another teen pregnancy gone muy complicado, the mandolin-driven “Lyin’ Cheatin’ Baby Daddy Dog Little Boy.” Maybe I just wanted to drain the last little drop of juice out of the Palin story as that senior stateswoman of trailer trash politics goes into what will no doubt be a chyrsalic transformational hiatus.

So, imagine my disappointment when the story of the young lovers breakup dropped off the front pages of even the tabs like the leaves off an overwatered Ficus.

Another shot at the big time gone… like snow on the water… so to speak.

lyrics
Bristol, Don’t Go

There was a time when I knew everything
just about a year ago
there was a time when you wore my ring
and now it’s lyin’ there in the snow

I thought it would always be you and me
and I thought it could always be so
I thought tomorrows were all just like today
but, now, Bristol, babe, I just don’t know

Bristol the future’s not ours to hold
I can feel it slipping away
Bristol I thought I owned the world
now the world owns me today

The bigger the dream the smaller the dawn
I barely woke up today
I know I’ll find a way to go on
at least it’s what I say

Bristol the future’s not ours to hold
I can feel it slipping away
Bristol I thought I owned the world
now the world owns me today

(C)2009, TK Major