Brandon's Buzz

September opens with a bang, courtesy of a marvelously likable freshman television series and a hotly-anticipated reunion album from one of the most memorable (and missed) relics of the ’90s.  No sense in wastin’ time on pleasantries; let’s dive right in:

One of network television’s most pleasant diversions from this past strike-crippled spring, The thirteen-episode Complete First Season of ABC’s light-hearted charmer Eli Stone makes a most welcome arrival on DVD this week.  Starring the ridiculously adorable Jonny Lee Miller as a noble lawyer who, thanks to a pesky brain aneurysm, begins experiencing ill-timed hallucinations — many of which involve pop singer George Michael (who makes numerous appearances throughout the course of the season, including a terrific outing in which he is sued for promoting promiscuity through his music) — Stone is bolstered by a fabulously eccentric supporting cast, including Victor Garber and the priceless Loretta Devine, whose superbly-rendered sarcastic line delivery goes miles toward grounding the series through a great many of its outlandish flights of fancy.

The series returns for a second season in mid-October, and since it’s not yet clear whether or not King George will continue to be involved — don’t let me ruin anything here, but let’s just say the first season finale gave all the storylines a good bit of closure — it’ll be interesting to see if (and how) Stone is able to reinvent itself.  My beloved A, who finds television to be the root of all evil, fell head over heels for this show — go figya, that! — and if you’re able to get past its Ally-McBeal-with-a-penis premise (which, at times, can become unbearably cutesy), chances are you will as well.

He was on one of the “Making the Band” seasons, and he’s cute as all get out; outside of that, Donnie Klang is an intriguing mystery. But his work on “Band” apparently impressed Diddy enough to offer him a record deal.  Hence, Just a Rolling Stone, Klang’s debut album.  The song samples make him sound vaguely Timberlake-ish (big surprise, that, after Jesse McCartney’s breakout summer mining that very same vein of ore). All I can say: he’s certainly got the look for it.

Oscar-nominated actor Terrence Howard — so brilliant in Hustle and Flow, and the lone bright spot in dreary films like Crash and last year’s The Brave One — is now boldly attempting to conquer a whole other genre of entertainment, as he this week releases Shine Through It, a jazz-inflected jaunt into John Legend territory.  A massive question mark on this one, but are you as sad as I am to see there’s no cover of “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” included herein?

The first solo artist signed to Starbucks’ Hear Music two years ago (following the ill-fated all girl band Antigone Rising, who promptly fell off the planet after their debut flopped), Sonya Kitchell is back this week with her sophomore outing, This Storm. Kitchell is currently touring with Herbie Hancock, and the Amazon version of Hancock’s latest record, River: The Joni Sessions (the Joni Mitchell tribute project that was 2008’s surprise Grammy winner for Album of the Year) has Kitchell playfully covering “All I Want” as an exclusive bonus track.  (Get it; it’s easily that record’s best song.)  The girl is definitely one to watch.

One of the most revered singer-songwriters of his (or any other) era, Rodney Crowell trudges even deeper into the folk-flavored sound that has informed his most recent efforts with his fourteenth album, Sex and Gasoline.  Since inexplicably falling out of favor with country radio in the mid-’90s, following an impressive string of top ten classics (many of which were obviously inspired by his stormy marriage to Rosanne Cash, who herself managed to wrestle art — 1993’s The Wheel, for starters — from those ashes), Crowell has bravely insisted on blazing his own peculiar path musically, regardless of its commercial appeal (or absence thereof); he’s the kind of maverick who keeps the often-staid Nashville scene infinitely more interesting.

You might not know his name, but his songs have been covered by the likes of those woeful Dixie Chicks (the staggering “Travelin’ Soldier,” the song that — ain’t this ironical? — was number one on the crunchy charts the week that ignorant heifer Natalie Maines decided she was demolish her commercial career, just for the hell of it), George Strait (“Desperately,” not to be confused with Michelle Branch’s masterwork of the same name), and that supercouple Tim and Faith (the wrenching “Angry All the Time,” which, it deserves to be noted, the songwriter and his wife perform to much greater and more credible effect), and Bruce Robison returns this week with The New World, his seventh full-length album.  Robison’s married to the sensational Kelly Willis — which certainly puts theirs in a dead heat with Steve Earle and Allison Moorer’s as Nashville’s most talent-packed household — and while is sound is country through and through, it’s certainly worth a look-see.

Former Beach Boy (and, evidently, lifetime musical ambassador for southern California) Brian Wilson continues his amazing career renaissance with That Lucky Old Sun, which features Wilson’s own unique take on the oft-covered title track, one of the American songbook’s great standards.  Don’t doubt that the man’s still mad as a hatter — psychotropic drugs’ll do that to you, yeah? — but don’t forget that most of the true geniuses are.

The week’s marquee release?  It’s gotta be The Block, the long-awaited reunion project from the now-fortysomething New Kids on the Block.  Having been dormant since their 1993’s disaster Face the Music, despite numerous reconciliation requests, the boys — two of whom (Joey and Jordan) moved on to various degrees of solo prosperity, and another of whom (Donnie, natch) found surprising success as an actor — are now strapping, gorgeous men who have come to terms with their bubblegum past and are ready to prove they’re more than a punchline.  The set’s lead single “Summertime” was a delicious slice of pitch-perfect pop, and I know I can’t be the only who’s dying to see if they can extrapolate that sense of sexy fun out to album length.  I’m biased, true enough, but I say odds are better than good.

names dropped with reckless abandon: "Eli Stone", A, Allison Moorer, Antigone Rising, Brian Wilson, Dixie Chicks, Donnie Klang, Faith Hill, George Michael, George Strait, Herbie Hancock, Jesse McCartney, John Legend, Joni Mitchell, Jonny Lee Miller, Justin Timberlake, Kelly Willis, Loretta Devine, Michelle Branch, New Kids on the Block, Rodney Crowell, Rosanne Cash, Sonya Kitchell, Steve Earle, Terrence Howard, Tim McGraw, Victor Garber