Random 10 for Nov. 27, 2007
1. Guillemots, “Never Went to Church.” A beautifully lugubrious cover of the Streets song, rendered as saddo pop by the musical progeny of those great mid-’80s British artists (Roddy Frame and Paddy McAloon, to name two leaders of two bands I mentioned yesterday — forgive me, I’m on a kick) who never really got their historical due because The Smiths’ “The Queen is Dead” overshadowed them all. (Lang takes a breath, cues the saddoes)
2. Camera Obscura, “Books Written for Girls.”
3. CSS, “Music is My Hot, Hot Sex.”
4. Ben Folds, “All You Can Eat.”
5. Ween, “Your Party.” Many people have imitated David Bowie for fun and profit, but this might be the most perfectly rendered spoof on record. This is the Bowie of “Young Americans,” getting his soul on, except Gene Ween is singing about tri-colored pasta and meat with “succulent juices.” What seals the deal here is the presence of David Sanborn, the sax man from “Young Americans,” bringing the mellow gold. Or brass. By the way, what does a blessing mean when it comes from Father Harvey?
6. New Young Pony Club, “Ice Cream.”
7. Jenny Lewis, “Melt Your Heart.”
8. Office, “The Big Bang Jump!”
9. Sonny Rollins, “St. Thomas.”
10. Jay-Z, “Roc Boys.” Sean Carter’s corollary to Ridley Scott’s “American Gangster” might not be a masterpiece on the level of “The Blueprint,” but it’s a nice corrective following the abysmal “Kingdom Come.” This is the hottest track on the disc, thanks to some killer live horns. And it’s tough on the mean streets of Anguilla.
What Would NPH Do?
Thanks to Kev, here’s the first great movie poster of 2008.
Watch It! on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007
The Charlie Browniest: If you spend the 7 p.m. hour watching garbage like “The Biggest Loser,” what does that make you? Instead, reacquaint yourself with one of the few things from childhood that stays around and continues to pay dividends: “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (7 p.m. ABC/KOCO-5).
Since it acquired the rights to broadcast the 1965 animated special — the first of the “Peanuts” holiday shows — ABC has restored some cuts that were made to make room for mersh, and paired it up with a mini-doc unfortunately hosted by Whoopi Goldberg. Nevertheless, you hear from Schulz himself and from at least one of the former kids who voiced the show. Schulz, by the way, lobbied successfully to have real kids do the voices, which is why (a) it has more charm than it would otherwise, and (2) the voice track occasionally has noticeable edits — especially when Sally talks. You love it, and the Linus sermon still gets to me. This show was disparaged when it aired for being a downer, but it’s really just a cartoon that resembles real life. Except for the whole dancing dog thing.
Reap What You Sow: Do you need something aggressively stupid in your viewing diet that is not reality TV? Of course you do — sure, you could watch that great Frontline episode “Spying on the Home Front,” (8 p.m. PBS/OETA-13) about the government’s domestic spying program (seriously, DVR da Frontline — you might get smarter during the WGA strike), but what you really need is something that won’t tax your mind but won’t make you feel like you need brain bleach at the end.
That something is “Reaper” (8 p.m. CW-34) about young underachiever Sam (Bret Harrison), who works at a big-box hardware store and learns that his parents sold his soul to the devil so that his father could survive a life-threatening illness. Personally, I thought it was horrible when my parents sold my authentic 1975 “Star Trek” bridge with the transporter that had green and red buttons to make Kirk “disappear,” but jeez.
When the bill comes due, Sam learns that he is indentured for life as a bounty hunter for escaped souls, and he reports directly to Satan himself, played by Ray Wise (Laura Palmer’s dad from “Twin Peaks”). Sam and his buddies spend each episode chasing down murderers, arsonists, Patton Oswalt and other rogues who have broken the bounds of the underworld and now walk among us. When they capture them in a mission-appropriate “vessel” that shows up in a wood coffin each week, Sam and Co. take the soul back to the true “hell on earth,” the Department of Motor Vehicles.
“Reaper” has its “meh” points, especially sidekick Tyler Labine’s Jack Black-lite routine, and the Home Depot stand-in, the Work Bench, constitutes one-too-many satires this year of Big Retail. But Wise steals the show every time with his CEO suits and evil perma-grin. Casting Wise was a genius move, and enlisting Kevin Smith as a story consultant (and pilot director) was another. This is for “Buffy” fans, Smith fans and “Heroes” viewers who think their show should develop a keener sense of humor. “Reaper” is big, dumb and nasty fun that will appeal to your inner (or outer) geek.
Quiet Riot Singer Dead at 52
Kevin DuBrow, the lead singer of huge-in-’83 pop-metal band Quiet Riot, died Sunday in his Las Vegas home. Cause of death has yet to be determined.
Here’s a clip from a 1984 Oklahoman review by Todd Webb of a Quiet Riot show at Lloyd Noble Center. It’s classic and true.
“Lead singer DuBrow, the Mel Blanc of rock, ran his caricaturish voice through a variety of difficult and demanding vocal calisthenics during the course of the evening, pouring his Alvin the Chipmunk vocals into a zebra-striped mike stand, often holding the device aloft like some great javelin.
“At other times, DuBrow would spin the versatile stand in place, high over his head, holding on as if suspended by a two-tone chinup bar. Other times he simply would clamp the overworked prop in his teeth. Quiet Riot is a visual band. Quiet Riot is not an intellectual band.”
I had a friend in Jenks back in Quiet Riot’s brief headlining days who would not stop playing “Metal Health” on his boom box no matter how much I pleaded for a return to my Aztec Camera or Prefab Sprout tape. In those days, that was the go-to cassette for suburban mullet jockeys — less refined than “Pyromania” but not as unintentionally funny as Krokus or Dokken.
We’re not fans of death here at Staticblog — the preference is for immortality, love and never-ending riches – and our hearts go out to DuBrow’s family. Bang your head quietly in observance.
Watch It! on Monday, Nov. 26, 2007
Legen — wait for it! — dary. On “How I Met Your Mother” (7 p.m. CBS/KWTV-9), Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) blanks out on all his myriad come-ons just before being invited to a Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show after-party. Few modern sit-coms are this successful at creating their own internal culture, or are as creative at deploying it. To say that “Mother” is better than the structurally similar “Friends” was at its prime would be to damn it with faint praise, but this show’s cast has genuine chemistry. And yes, it’s a traditional four-camera studio show, but it’s all in the writing and performance.
Save the Cheerleader, Save the Show — One of the few series that acknowledges and accepts that the Writer’s Guild strike is truncating the 2007-08 season, “Heroes” (8 p.m. NBC/KFOR-4) is down to its final two episodes. These will supposedly wrap up the current storyline (admittedly a lukewarm one that has only heated up in recent installments) and set things up for next season. I’m getting antsy — I mean, I support the writers’ need to receive royalties for home video (they were fools to give this up back in the late-’80s negotiation), but I don’t support the return of “American Gladiators” to fill the void left by a short “Heroes” season. Get ready for spandex!
Don’t Stop Believin’ — “Journeyman” (9 p.m. NBC/KFOR), which is not a reality show about Steve Perry and his high-pitched warbling brood (but might be in a few weeks), continues a storyline from last week about a white-collar kidnapper who gets nabbed thanks to Dan Vasser’s continual flouting of the space-time continuum. As I’ve written before, this is not “Quantum Leap” — the show works best because stars Kevin McKidd (”Rome”) and Gretchen Egolf click exceptionally well and the show explores the tough ramifications of being pulled out of your life at random moments. Also, McKidd and Reed Diamond (”Homicide: Life on the Streets”) play two of the most convincing brothers you’ll see on network television.
KDGE in Dallas completely loses its sense of “Adventure”
I just learned from my friend and colleague at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Preston Jones, that KDGE-FM in Dallas gave Josh Venable, host of the long-running alt-music show “The Adventure Club,” his walking papers on Friday.
This is sad news for anyone in Oklahoma City who used to schedule their Sunday return to Soonerland after a weekend in DFW to coincide with getting maximum time on the road with Josh. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of music and the taste to match, and “The Adventure Club” was always prime territory to hear both cool bands from Dallas and the latest imports from Britain.
But, this is how it’s going in radio now, and while it’s a bit of a cliche at this point to say it, I no longer have any reason to listen to what was once the best alt-rock station in the region. It is now indistinguishable from most of the “active rock” stations that are currently flogging twice-removed grunge to undemanding listeners.
Josh is special because he brings a sense of humor to his broadcasts that fits perfectly with the music he plays. He loves entertaining cover versions, left-field freak bomb songs that few people remember (he might be the only person in North America who dared to play Was (Not Was)’s “Hello Dad, I’m in Jail” on corporate radio), and introducing imports long before they receive an airing (if they ever do) on U.S. shores.
My fervent hope is that Josh lands either at satellite, where people pay for the pleasure of hearing great music, at DFW NPR affiliate KERA, and/or in podcasting. I’d pay to hear this guy play great music for a few hours a week.
My best wishes are with you, Josh.
