rock and roll musings by Tim Byrnes

Of Dolls and Divas: She Got a TV Eye On Me

     It snowed here in Fowler on Easter Sunday, which leads me to thinkin' that when he rolled back the rock and stepped out the cave, our lord and saviour didn't see his shadow. OK, OK, I'll give god and her sales staff a rest and write about music. I spent much of this winter snowbound and housebound watching way too much television. What can I say, radio out here sucks (can't even pull in NPR!) so my window into the musicx world lately has been limited to MTV. VH1, CMT and PBS.

     All I can say is thank Lester for PBS!

     Between 'Austin City Limits' and 'Soundstage' I've lately seen performances by the always incandescant Leonard Cohen, an embarrising display of assumed superiority from Chris Martin and his lackeys in Coldplay, a Bill Laswell-organized musicfest featuring a transcendant Pharoah Sanders and a heartbreakingly dissapointing Buckethead. Boy, if that boy ever writes an actual song he might have something, but right now he's just another weedwhacker w/a bucket on his head.

     'ACL'  was also my introduction to the Killers, who I was prepared to write off as just another bastard son of Green Day, but was won over by their humorous anthemicism and million dollar choruses. Sounding ever more like Roy Orbison as produced by Bowie on their new 'Sam's Town' CD, these guys are keepers.

     'Soundstage', last month, aired an hourlong performance by the rconstituted New York Dolls which made this old man very happy. Johannsen and Sylvain, still dapper at the ripe old ages of 106 and 109 respectively, were joined by the 30 year Johnny Thunders in training Steve Conte (he was in the ill fated Sid Vicious Experience along w/Artie Kane and Jerry Nolan, 2 ex and now dead Dolls back in 77 where I saw them through a drunken haze at Max's those many years ago) and a backline of session guys who knew not only the notes, but the spirit of the old tunes.

     And the old tunes sounded better than ever thanks to 21st century sound technology and the fact (I'm guessing) that no one on stage was trung out on heroin. What was surprising to me was the strength of the new tunes. In a just world (HA!) 'Take a Good Look at My Good Looks' would be a hit, as well as 'Beuty Shop'. Maybe some hip, young band (Killers, can ya hear me?) will take the Dolls along as opening act on a major tour, thus giving America and the world a chance to see what it missed the 1st time.  The Dolls are still a Rolling Stones you can respect, it's just a shame so few of us know this.

     Anyway while PBS offers long form, live looks at artists as vaied as Leonard Cohen and the New York Dolls. most of my music now comes from the short attention span mainstreams of MTV, VH1 and CMT. CMT, or Country Music Television, and as a result Country Music itself, has become like the Great Southern Rock Graveyard where most new acts seem to worship at the feet of all that is Skynyrd and seem to go no further back. Having never been a fan of Southern Rock, I'm left cold by most new country acts - 'old' country acts like Cash, Jones, Nelson, Haggard and Hank have always been punk rock anyway, right?- and, as a radical atheist/leftist you pretty much know where I stand on the whole Dixie Chicks/Toby Keith divide. However there's a song from a movie starring the oafish Keith called 'Broken' sung by newcomer Lindsay Haun that's just flat out beautiful. Great song, great performance and even the video appearance of not only Keith but Burt Reynolds (!) can't detract from the song's power.

     On the MTV/VH1 tip, I don't know. Maybe I've seen them so many times my critical thinking is shot or maybe I'm mellowing w/age (again HA!), but some of my favorite songs of late have been by bona fide megapop stars. I guess when one is removed from the underground, one finds what one can to love above ground. In any case I've got to say that both Fergie and Christina Aguilera have brightened many a morni9ng w/their latest vids - and yes, I'm watching w/the sound on.

     1st up, Fergie. I love the Black Eyed Peas and I suspect that Will I. Am is the brains behind 'The Duchess' too because, like B.E.P., you have to wade through some crap to get to the meaningful ( ".... right here we got terrorists living w/the FBI and the CIA, the Crips and Bloods and the KKK) but man, it's some catchy-ass crap! So after wading through the ear candy of 'London Bridge' and 'Fergalicious', the patient listener/viewer is rewarded w/"Glamorous", a pop gem about being famous and remembering 'back in the day'; a promise to not be changed by the "   glamorous, the flossy flossy'. She also thanks her fans, which to my knowledge hasn't been done in song since 'Saturday Gigs' by Mott the Hoople (ahhh, now there was a band). The Glamorous vid itself is like 3 vids in one, intelligently cut and constructed and featuring my favorite line of the week courtesy of guest star Ludicris: 'Plus I gotta keep enough lettuce to support yr shoe fetish' w/honorary mention going to : ' If you ain't got no money take yr broke ass home'.

     Now as far as Christina Aguilera goes, this'll probably shock any regularreaders left but right now she's my early pick for Artist of the Decade. No, really. From the ultrapop of 'Genie in a Bottle'', the haunting 'Beautiful',the bouncy 'What a Girl Wants' to new stuff like 'Hurt', 'Candyman' and her AMAZING performance of 'This is a Man's World' at the Grammys, she's consistently hit the mark again and again balancing the playful, the professional and the powerful w/equal measure of chops and grace. In a popworld of damaged divas like poor Britney and that Queen of Pitch-Correction Beyonce, Aguilerea shines as a massive talent and the obvious heiress to Madonna's 'throne'.

     And, as is the case w/Fergie and Madge, let's face it: the woman is fine.

Posted by: timbyrnes at 17:37 | link | comments

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