“There is nothing more compelling than a human face who is communicating. I don’t think there is anything more compelling on TV than flipping the channels and seeing Mr. Rogers lean forward and go, ‘I like this, do you?’ It stops me every time, because there is somebody at home there.”
— Emmy-winning former “Guiding Light” headwriter Nancy Curlee, speaking to Soap Opera Weekly in 1994 about what ails the genre. (The point she goes on to make is that soaps thrive when their foundation is real emotions and real events. Speaking of which, my thoughts about the unfathomably tragic “GL” cancellation are forthcoming, I swear.)
I’m still positively reeling over CBS’ announcement today that they are yanking “Guiding Light” off the air after 72 continuous years, and I’ll have my thoughts on that news just as soon as I’ve fully gathered them. In the meantime, there’s another full slate of new releases to close out the month of March in high style, kids. Waste no time digging in:
I’m not sure whose ridiculous idea this was: that fabulous trumpeter extraordinaire Chris Botti schedules a two-night stand last fall at the world-famous Boston Symphony Hall, invites a who’s-who of his all-star pals — among them Sting, Josh Groban, and Aerosmith’s fearless leader Steven Tyler — to play along, and fails to include his gorgeous muse Paula Cole, with whom he has created so much terrific, passionately brilliant music over the past four years? (Worse yet, he invites that pitiful fourth-rate “American Idol” runner-up Katharine McPhee to take her place! Is he kidding me with this?!) I’m trying to hard not to pass judgment on Live in Boston before I’ve even heard a note of it, but what an unspeakable outrage is the setlist of this concert recording on the face of it! Color me physically offended by this blatant foolishness!
“A peanut butter and jelly sandwich can’t be anything but peanut butter and jelly. Creamy peanut butter and crunchy peanut butter can never, ever be a PB & J.’’
— New Hampshire State Representative John Cebrowski, resorting to an infinitely nonsensical (if not outright stupid) food analogy in order to (attempt to) explain how same-sex marriage defies the natural order of the universe. (A bill to legalize same narrowly passed the New Hampshire House of Representatives today, and apparently this goofy tirade was the best Cebrowski could come up with off the top of his head to voice his opposition. And while I’d be willing to wager that he didn’t sway many with his metaphorical outrage, I reckon he sure made some folks hungry.)
Of all the ridonk, useless “deluxe editions” to which we’ve been subjected of late, this relatively busy week brings one whose original album — a genuine modern classic — actually merits the upgrade. Read on:
Obviously emboldened by the brilliantly triumphant ’80s mix
“That’s who I am. I’ve got a King James in one hand and a Crown and coke in the other. I think we all know Jesus didn’t turn the water into Dr. Pepper.”
— country artist John Rich (of Big and Rich fame), explaining the title of his brand new solo record, Son of a Preacher Man. (And, no, don’t get y’all’s knickers in a twist: Rich does not cover Dusty Springfield on this album, although, if he had decided to, it certainly would’ve lended severe credence to Sherry Ann’s long-standing belief that both Big and Rich, umm, play for my team.)
All apologies for the tardiness of this week’s record store report: my day job schedule for the remainder of this month is jus’ crazy, so let me apologize for the spotty posting which will surely result from my need to earn a living. Thankfully, the pickins are mighty slim this week, which gives you a perfect chance to revisit last week and catch up on anything you might have missed in that jam-packed madness. (If you need a clue for where to turn first, let me just scoop my forthcoming review of Kelly Clarkson’s latest album by saying simply this: I’m thinking of a word; the word is dynamite.)
Do I already proudly own every last track — Counting Crows’ untouchable 1994 classic “Round Here,” Hole’s 1999 stomper “Malibu,” or 3 Doors Down’s elegant 2002 heartbreaker “Be Like That” (which featured a true star-making vocal performance from Brad Arnold), or Oasis’ 1996 gem “Don’t Look Back in Anger” (which unfortunately was overshadowed by the behemoths — “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova” — that preceded it on the radio) that deserves its placement on Buzz Ballads 2? Damn straight I do. Is that going to prevent me from shelling out the ten or so bucks required to purchase this album, which manages to wrangle all the aforementioned tuneage (and so much more untold brilliance!) onto one shining, beautiful, eminently listenable disc? The hell you say!
“You are almost there.”
— a strangely compelling proclamation, tacked onto the beginning of a link-filled comment advertising something to do with sapphires and such, which got stuck in the Buzz’s spam filter. (These bright little inspirational gems show up in the spam filter at least once a day, and I must confess, I’ve come to look forward to whatever gleaming platitudes, no matter how banal or trite, lay in wait for me each time I open it. I’m easy. Sue me.)
After sleepwalking through the past several weeks, we’ve finally got a release slate we can really sink our teeth into. While we wait to see what gifts this week’s lineup of music has in store for us, allow me to throw out this question for discussion: am I the only one who thinks the new U2 record
After Eric Clapton (whose incredible, stripped-down versions of “Layla” and the devastating “Tears in Heaven” notched their album sales of ten million-plus and won their performer a wagonful of Grammys) and Mariah Carey (whose impromptu cover of The Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There” became a radio supersmash) showed the network what a commercial goldmine it had on its hands in the early ’90s, a spare and intimate appearance on “MTV Unplugged” suddenly became a mandatory promotional tool — within a pair of years, Neil Young, Nirvana, 10,000 Maniacs, and Melissa Etheridge all had turned in landmark performances — and for many, a nifty li’l comeback vehicle. Take the case of Rod Stewart, who reunited with his former Faces partner Ronnie Wood for an acoustic set and unwittingly hurled his career back into orbit. Thanks to a startlingly fine cover of Van Morrison’s “Have I Told You Lately,” upon which — to the surprise of more than a few — top 40 radio immediately leapt, the resulting live album, entitled Unplugged… and Seated, went on to move more than three million units stateside and produced two additional hit singles (a reworked version of his early classic “Reason to Believe” and a raucous cover of Sam Cooke’s “Having a Party”). Unplugged returns this week in a special expanded edition which contains two bonus tracks — including a radically reinvented take on his 1989 smash “Forever Young” — as well as the original television broadcast, which finally makes a belated debut on DVD. And trust your Uncle Brandon, here if nowhere else: if only for Stewart’s priceless rendition — which can now be enjoyed aurally and visually, natch! — of Tom Waits’ unspeakably magnificent “Tom Traubert’s Blues (Waltzing Matilda),” this is worth the purchase price. (And memo to MTV, Natalie, and/or whomever else may be in charge of this: I’m still waiting for the aforementioned 10,000 Maniacs episode from 1993 — the recording of which
“I like to create things from all that I’ve seen, and witnessed. That becomes more frustrating when you don’t have an outlet. You can sit and write at home, you can do all this stuff, and you think, ‘What am I doing? I’m writing for nothing, because nobody’s interested in what I’m saying, nobody’s interested in what I’m thinking.’ And it can become very, very difficult… because creating is a very solitary act. And it’s very lonely. And you think nobody’s gonna hear you, until someone does. And then they do, and then you worry the next time. What keeps you alive is creativity. That’s the life force. So that can’t leave you…. You’ll be up and down, but I’ll just say this much: take your ego and put it over here, and just witness. Don’t be it: don’t be a failure, don’t be not perfect… just witness. Witness your behavior, witness your feelings. And those will change, as everything does.”
— Academy Award-winning actress Goldie Hawn, shootin’ the bull with the students of Inside the Actors Studio
Not much going on out there this week, except the biggest band in the free world returns from a five-year hiatus. Yippee-ky-yay, kids.
Remixes of recent smashes from Britney Spears (the thrilling “Womanizer”), David Archuleta (the hilariously addictive “Crush”), Pink (“So What” if it’s brilliant fun?), Coldplay (“Viva La Vida,” 2008’s song of the year, if you take the Grammys’ word for things), and the infinitely irritating Katy Perry (“Hot & Cold,” a song that makes A smile broadly urry time it pops up on the radio, which is unspeakably often) highlight the latest collection from Thrive Records, Total Dance 2009.
