Rock Star: INXS
I'm not a big "reality TV" person. I'm not a big TV person, unless it is news or C-Span or movies. But, I have been intrigued by two new music-based reality shows.
The first was "Hit Me Baby One More Time," a contest show where a bunch of bands who had hits from the 80s perform their famous song and then another song from today, and the audience then picks the band which wins the night.
Not surprisingly, the audience lacks taste in a big way. They honestly didn't pick the best performances on the couple of shows I saw. For example, the audience picked that buffoon Vanilla Ice over Tommy Totune, The Motels, and The Knack. I mean, be real. The still beautiful Martha Davis was great after all these years. The Knack were as good as they always were. And, "867-5309" was as crisp and clear as it always was. Then, the fool white rapper hit the stage. Please. Pathetic.
Another problem with the show is that not all the original band members appear in the contest. For example, when Missing Persons was on, only Dale Bozzio was reportedly on stage [Sorry babe, no Warren Cuccurullo, who supposedly told Duranies on their site that he was going to be playing Bozzio, sigh]. Davis was the only one from her band. At the same time, The Knack had three of the four original members, which was cool and show the whole band solidarity thing [Sidebar: "My Sharona" is allegedly on President George W. Bush's iPod. Can you imagine the president riding around on his bike or jogging to the lyrics, "Never gonna stop, give it up. Such a dirty mind. Always get it up for the touch of the younger kind"? I guess it is no worse than Sen. John McCain or Ambassador Alan Keyes slam dancing to Nine Inch Nails ...]
This then brings me to the other reality show, "Rock Star: INXS," which aired tonight for the first time and will air on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Originally, I wasn't too keen on this program, being a huge INXS fan. I have all of their records and I've probably saw them four or five times, at least. The very last time I saw them was at the cavernous Matthews Arena when they were touring for the brilliant "Full Moon, Dirty Hearts," with the amazing Catherine Wheel in support.
In fact, when I heard about the INXS reality show, I assumed the worst, as noted here in a column I wrote for The Winchester Star last summer: ["Summer music doldrums"]. I mean, how can you even conceive of such a silly thing. Why would serious artists subject themselves to such a trivial sideshow circus? The show is even hosted by Brooke Burke, that dingbat calendar model, so you know it has the potential of entering the ridiculous, not unlike anything on E! But then, poof, there is Dave Navarro, formerly of the Jane's Addiction and the Red Hot Chilly Peppers, helping out, attempting to give the show some cool cred [Why didn't they have babe Carmen Electra hosting this thing? Dave could have probably gotten her the gig ...].
In the end, the show wasn't half bad. Sure, the whole "rock star" thing is a bit annoying; singers should strive to be good songwriters before trying to be rock stars, but that would defeat the whole purpose of the "reality show" now wouldn't it. But most of the performances were pretty good. The side comments were funny and despite the whole geared-for-the-teen market thing, it wasn't a wasted hour of TV. I will definitely consider watching more of the show. But I am beginning to miss the days of the very bad unfunny sitcom.

Some other stuff
The Times of London is reporting that the terrorists involved in the commuter bombings used military explosives: ["Terrorist gang 'used military explosives'"].

They also believe that the materials used were not home made but sophisticated military explosives, possibly smuggled into Britain from the Balkans. “The nature of the explosives appears to be military, which is very worrying,” said Superintendent Christophe Chaboud, the chief of the French anti-terrorist police, who was in London to help Scotland Yard.

Question: How did "terrorists" manage to get access to "military explosives"? Second question: Is Al Qaida, the alleged terrorists involved in this plot, hanging out in the Balkans? At this rate, Al Qaida are either everywhere or they are just the target of record for now. There isn't any proof this is Al Qaida, yet the American press is blaming it on Al Qaida!
While I'm not a huge fan of Media Matters, they have been doing some great work about the media's reaction to the London bombing. They totally eviscerate FoxNews on the site of late, including quotes and clips of their hosts saying the most outrageous things, like this, from managing editor Britt Hume: "... my first thought when I heard" about the attack "and I saw the futures this morning," was "Hmmm, time to buy." Or this one, by the Big Boob [oops, sorry, that was Show] host John Gibson: "By the way, just wanted to tell you people, we missed -- the International Olympic Committee missed a golden opportunity today. If they had picked France, if they had picked France instead of London to hold the Olympics, it would have been the one time we could look forward to where we didn't worry about terrorism. They'd blow up Paris, and who cares?" Wow, lots of sympathy there, eh? But, not shockingly, there are a lot of folks here in America who think the same thing, unfortunately.

It's over, it's over, it's over!
This is worth a quick read: ["Redstone: Age of Media Conglomerate Over"]. I could have told you that all that consolidation was a bad idea. Hmm, now that I think about it, I did!

Hello Mark!
Mark Jurkowitz of the Boston Phoenix now has his own Media Log: ["Media Log 2"].

Making use of one's self
Bush's daughter Barbara is going to South Africa to work with people with AIDS: ["Bush daughter working in S. Africa"]. Let's hope this gives her a good dose of humility. There is always hope.
This weekend, at a family event, my cousin's wife was telling us about her trips to Afghanistan for contract work for a big construction firm. When she got home from the first trip, and my cousin was complaining about the house they just bought and the small problems it has, she said, "We live in a castle ..."
So, there is hope for the little Bush just yet. Lastly, while none of us are perfect, you have to wonder about "staff editors" who misspell George. :-) Although, it is Zimbabwe.