lady gaga the new liberace?

To be honest with you I never thought about it, but when I heard that the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas is closing next month and the reasons given for it's demise, among others, were general loss of interest and the fact that Vegas has to keep up with the 21 year olds, comparisons were made to Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga is the new Liberace! Well, sort of I think. There are many similarities. The piano, the showmanship... they both know how to go to extremes and they love to shock, each within his/her generation. So it's only natural that when we are looking towards our own Liberace (Lady Gaga), the original one is slowly forgotten...

...Liberace and his Emmy's...

I remember the Liberace Museum in Vegas, it was one of my very first encounters with American Pop Culture. I surely was impressed by all the glitz and glamour and all at once it was clear to me that here in America, one can go this far, his/her own way and I thought that was simply amazing. Talk about inspiration! There it was right there.

Not only did Liberace have rhinestones on his wardrobe, he had cars covered with it!

For me Liberace has therefore a special place in my heart and nobody can take his place. The idea that Lady Gaga is the new Liberace is exiting, as she is showing new generations what is possible and continues the history of pop culture!