Michelle Obama's Life Inspires Jazz Epic

As First Lady Michelle Obama finishes the summer with the rest of the First Family at Camp David -- a post vacation vacation, following their Martha's Vineyard stay -- comes some FLOTUS news on three fronts, including a new jazz work inspired by her life.

*A new jazz composition about Mrs. Obama had its world premiere in Chicago on Tuesday at the Spertus Institute. It was commissioned by the Jazz Institute of Chicago and won a rave review in the Chicago Tribune:

"Though some minor flaws need to be addressed, Chicago flutist Nicole Mitchell's 'Honoring Grace: Michelle Obama' emerged as a significant addition to the rapidly growing oeuvre of Obama jazz epics.

"Unlike most of them, this one represented a feminist statement, in that a leading female composer attempted to view Barack Obama's ascent from Michelle Obama's perspective, as well as her own.

"At certain junctures in this work, singer Dee Alexander -- assuming Michelle Obama's voice -- cried out: 'How could I know?' How could she have anticipated, in other words, that the man she married would become a symbol to millions?"

Mrs. Obama personally is jazzed about jazz. In June, she hosted the first White House "Jazz Studio" as part of an on-going music series she is overseeing.

"Jazz has been a part of my life since I was a little girl," Mrs. Obama said at the White House event. "My mother's father, who we call 'South Side,' before there was room-to-room speakers, he had a speaker in every house, in every room in his house, and he played it 24 hours a day at the highest volume he could put it on. And that's how I grew up in my household. At Christmas, birthdays, Easter, it didn't matter, there was jazz playing in our household."


*President Obama and the first lady are featured in four upcoming Rodale magazines in stories touting the Obama White House drive for a health care overhaul and healthy living in general.

Mrs. Obama, according to the New York Times, will be in Rodale's Women's Health talking about health care reform and "keeping down calories in the White House kitchen," among other topics. She'll be on the covers of all four magazines, including Children's Health and Men's Health, and in Prevention she'll talk about her workout, eating and sleep habits.

There's no copy out yet -- just the tout in the NYT that the White House packaged the Obamas for Rodale's publications.


*Japan's incoming first lady, a former actress, said she shares a "sensibility" with Mrs. Obama, whom she has never met. She also wants to star in a movie with Tom Cruise.

The new Japanese prime minister will be Yukio Hatoyama, 66, who will formally be elected to the post when the Japanese Diet meets later this month. His wife is Miyuki Hatoyama, who talked about Mrs. Obama in an interview with the Kyodo News Agency.

"I think she is so natural and has a kind of sensibility similar to mine. If I can have the chance to meet her, I would look forward to it," Miyuki said.

Well, she will probably have that chance. The world leaders are coming to the United Nations the third week of September for the opening of the 64th Session of the U.N. General Assembly. The Obamas will host a reception in New York for all the chiefs of state and their spouses.