Is music worse off for having made it on primetime TV??

The Giants take the Bowl & I remember how much I hate TV


If my grandfather were still alive, I'm sure he would've been shouting like never before last night -- especially when the Giants made that great catch in their final rally, one toe hanging onto the sideline to complete the pass before cascading out of bounds.


Hell, if my grandfather were alive, he probably would've gotten out of that black armchair to do a little dance in his TV room... The Giants won the Superbowl. I don't think this ever happened in all those years he sat, shouting at the screen through my childhood.


Like most musicians, or intellectuals, or recent transplants to Texas, I mostly pretend to love football. What I REALLY LOVE are shows like Friday Night Lights, where football is only a pretext for delving into humanity and small town life and our hopes and dreams.


But I do understand the game enough to know that that was quite a game last night. It did come down to the 4th quarter. It wasn't a blowout like so many Superbowls I've seen.


The TV that surrounded it, on the other hand, was so damn manufactured.


What do you have when you string Madonna, C-Lo, MIA, Nikki Menage, and 1,000 gladiators together?? ... A shitshow, a fake parade, anything but music.


Madonna imitating Lady Gaga (who was originally imitating Madonna) is too much to bear. The stunts overshadow anything resembling melody or rhythm or authentic emotional expression.


Where is the Madonna of my youth? I'd like her to stay edgy or young, or become something entirely different I can respect (which I believe she has but mostly keeps hid). I know rock stars can't stay the way they were, nor can they endlessly keep creating art as relevant as their heyday, but must they go out in a parade of cashing-in capitalism?


Madonna then -- http://youtu.be/ftXHKfbXeBM



Yes, that's right. Let me say it.... in the year of the 99%, so much shameless capitalism, the selling of everything, at any price, and pretending that shows like The Voice are actually how musicians make it today, but copping to some caricature in front of a canned audience, is INSULTING!


You know why people love football? Because getting your ass kicked on a field is real. It's visceral. No matter how two-dimensional some of these celebs may act off the field, when the clock's running, they have to bring it.


But musicians in the year 2012? No, I guess not.


Almost makes you wish MTV had never happened. Almost makes me embarrassed ever to have loved some of these stars (ahem, MIA, did you have to?). Is it so hard to descend gracefully into a world of slightly less recognition? Or slightly older & less hyper-sexualized existence? Or music over stunts? MONEY IS EVERYTHING to these artists, and you know it.


I'll give props to the clap-stomp beat of the marching band, but the M's on their shirts, we idolize on the altar Madonna makes me gag. & Like a Prayer will forever remain a killer song, but one that should be performed at the Apollo or some Southern black church with a gospel choir, where music can still move you.


After last night, I'm so ready to return to my TV-less apartment, turn my amp up to 10, and make some music. You know the kind that rumbles in your belly, and takes you by storm, and is there, without costumes, moves you all the more because you hear it, you feel it, you don't have to see it on a HD screen.


Madonna now -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be7FG5DPWKY





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MY FRIENDS ARE GROWING UP & SHOWING UP ON LATE NIGHT TV

First it was my friend Baron Vaughn on Conan O’ Brien. Baron was always a comedian who was going places, but I just remember him cornering people in my living room in Brooklyn to try his jokes on them. Maybe he still does this at parties. But suddenly, he looks like a man comic instead of a boy comic.

Then Stephen Squibb, another fixture in my Brooklyn apartment, showed up on Keith Olbermann this week. Stephen was always super academic, heart-on-sleeve, with fly-away hair.

Here he is talking about the arrests in Occupy Boston. Despite what I’m guessing is a pretty high stress, high emotion, low sleep situation… he sounds unbelievably articulate and thoughtful. Lead my revolution!

STEPHEN DISCUSSING OCCUPY BOSTON ON KEITH OLBERMANN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os4oxWbGXv0

Suddenly, he’s gone from a guy who could talk about political movements and social theory to someone who’s doing something. I’m so proud of my friends!

It’s strange. I leave New York to pursue my dreams, and my friends did too. And within just two years they start popping up in really awesome places.

It’s like they’re laying the rungs of this awesome ladder that I too will climb up.

Fuckin’ hard work & a lot of heart. That’s what it takes.

Ps—You know why they’re arresting people in New York & Boston? Because they’re afraid the message is actually taking hold and starting to spread. They were willing to indulge a bunch of kids getting their yah-yahs out, but now it’s getting a little real.

Think about the cost of education, healthcare, and how many jobs in this “strong Texas economy” are really minimum wage jobs, then ask yourself if we as a country are really investing our money in ourselves, our people, our futures?

Watch In the Time of Butterflies (free on hulu) if you’re feeling the revolutionary spirit – based on a book by Julia Alvarez about three sisters who helped topple the Dominican dictator Trujillo.

But we’ll leave you with a laugh…. Thanks, Baron.

MY FRIEND BARON VAUGHN ON CONAN

http://teamcoco.com/video/baron-vaughn-wishes-he-was-in-plane-crash

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Tour Photos: NYC- As Dark Lit & Lovely as Ever

We here at Please, Please Me headquarters are finally recovering from the SxSW plague, sweeping that scruffy indie rock boy (crashing in the living room by the amps) dust out & reveling in SPRING in TEXAS.

Over the next few weeks, we'll be rolling out the awesome footage we collected on the Winter '010 tour. If you missed it...East Coast, Pacific Northwest, then Colorado en route back to Austin.

It all started in New York City! Where else...Neither blizzards nor back pain from hauling guitars onto subway platforms could stop the rock.

Thanks to David Bowles from MTV for capturing the magic at the Living Room.

(Will Berlind-piano, Ryland Kelly-upright bass, John Brodeur-drums, Matt McDonald-trombone, All of You-kazoos!)

Photos: 1) setting up, 2) audience kazooing on Cannonball (nyc still holds the record for # onstage), 3) me drumming & singing on Runaway Train (how long before a reviewer compares me to Levon Helm??), 4) the band, incl. Josh Wise (electric guitar on record) 5) Me showing off a red-shot kazoo (matches the Living Room walls!)

THANK YOU NYC! SEE YOU SOON.