Record Boy Ink:

Music Television This Week In Review...

Now and then ol’ Record Boy surfs the tube and I gotta say what a weird week it’s been for old rock stars.

First, during the Super Bowl, Ringo Starr appeared in an ad for Charles Schwab. This brought back a youthful memory of clipping out an article in the newspaper with a headline that read “Ringo says 30 ok!”  The reason for the coverage was that Ringo was the first Beatle to hit the big three-oh and back then, trusting anyone over 30 was a no-no. Ringo assured his legions of fans that turning 30 was no big deal. Come July of this year, watch for articles that read “Ringo says 60 ok!” Yikes!! Will we still need him, will we still feed him when he’s 64?

Then, last Tuesday eve whilst flipping channels, there was Bob Dylan on “Dharma and Greg”! Bob Dylan folks, sitting in a rehearsal type setting with T-Bone Burnett and a bunch of guys I couldn’t make out with “Dharma” on drums. Having missed the majority of the show, I gathered the gag was that she was auditioning to play in Bob’s band. It was funny watching it but for the next few days the idea that Bob Dylan would appear on a “cute” sitcom disturbed me. There’s something happening here and I don’t know what it is…do you Mr. Boy? I’m reminded that Yoko Ono appeared in an episode of “Mad about you” a few seasons back, but she’s not Bob Dylan. On the other hand, Dylan’s hero Woody Guthrie was a man of the people and I could picture him doing a cameo on “Dharma and Greg.” ‘This sitcom is my sitcom’ and all that. The times, they are a changin’ (9:00 Eastern and Pacific, 8:00 central).

Now y’know that I would never review a record that I didn’t listen to thoroughly, so here’s a disclaimer: I turned on VH1’s “Two of Us” about halfway through the show. Did I miss anything? Probably not. I was intrigued with what I saw, like it was a train wreck and I couldn’t peel myself away from recording the images in my mind. Other times however, I gotta admit I found it provocative. It case you don’t know, “Two of Us” is a made–for-TV movie about a fictitious (well, based loosely on a true story) meeting between John Lennon and Paul McCartney in the mid ‘70s. Paul goes to see the recently retired Lennon at his NY home in the Dakota. There isn’t a hell of a lot of discussion about music in this mockudrama but there is a lot of back and forth about the two former Beatles’ relationship. The best scene as far as Record Boy is concerned was Lennon dealing with a fan at a NY restaurant. Not just because Record Boy also has to deal so much with an admiring public wherever he appears, but because the writers captured the essence of hero worshipping and reality. Young fans turn recording artists into their heroes and are often left frustrated and angry when the artist in reality is just another shmoe like them. Sometimes the great ones are graceful in their dealings with the public, appreciative that people admire their work. Other times they are so tortured by their inner demons that they resent everything about fame and fortune. I think the portrayals of Lennon and McCartney in “Two of Us” relied a little too much on long-standing clichés (Lennon the angry gruff one and McCartney the salt of the earth) but the idea of making a movie about one day in the life of these guys was a good one. Someone should take a shot at making a better one. I don’t want to spoil the party but knowing the way VH1 programs, you’ll be seeing this movie every other time you surf past. Come together, right now, over TV.