Jewel tonight at Mystic Lake Casino

Singer-songwriter Jewel, shortly before her departure to Valhalla.

Once upon a time, a bucktoothed Alaskan trunk-dweller was writing socially relevant prose poems on guitar and piano.

So, whence the tube top?
The bitterest irony of Jewel's brief attempt at sex-crazed pop idol is the fact that her sexual appeal was infinitely greater when she was trying half as hard. There's scarcely a boy or girl who wouldn't agree that Jewel was a greater sex symbol when she was strutting a Hane's V-neck and blue jeans, and penning the songs that scored our collective adolescences.

But, we don't fight a war with the army we want, we fight with the army we have. So says Rummy, and we can transpose that directly upon Jewel's career. It may be a decade and a few image switches since the seminal Pieces Of You (she has bounced back into a country western career, and pictures that prove her turn as a pop idol have wisely been swept under the carpet).

But there simply must be some of that plucky, blushing songwriter left beneath all those neon pink micro minis, especially now that she's bounced from synth dance back into a country career from whence she came. Is it a chance worth taking on a Mystic Lake ticket price?

Who can say. Take a look at this video from Woodstock '99. Proof that you can fall long and hard in just one decade of freefall.