Submitted by David Alpern, Jul 12, 2007 23:45

Mr. Ivry's bio of my friend Wilfrid Sheed is, sadly, out of date. Homes in Key West and North Haven/Sag Harbor are both sold and Sheed resides in a Southampton medical facility, though the same spirit that got him through polio, cancer and addiction to prescription medicine prevails.

Ivry's ear is also tinny on the larger spirit of Sheed's latest book, "The House That George Built," which is a celebration of the songwriters whose works set feet tapping and hearts soaring in the decades from just before to just after the two World Wars, and still echo today in a surprising number of weddings, anniversaries, musical elevators, and --God Help Us-- even "American Idol" compettitions and Rod Stewart collections.

Whatever any of us may think of "God Bless America," it WAS ubiquitous in the days and weeks after 9/11--and a hell of a lot easier to sing than "The Star Spangled Banner." Ivry also misses Sheed's early warning that his book is something of a "bull session, with assertions meant to make people fume, sputter, argue --and focus-- on the music he and so many others still love, to better appreciate why these melodies linger on.

David Alpern

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