Recreational weekend TV Sedation...
Getting into the music, or trying to, on PBS...


Being sorely in need of some meager reason to exist today, I absent-mindedly turned on the TV this afternoon, and in this case, being absent-minded was a good thing; because I accidentally hit the MUTE button on, which shieled my basic sensibilities from the shrillness (and silliness) of "American Idol Rewind", which, I suppose, is a reunion of sorts, of people who've won the Idol contest in the past. Hmmm. That must make them yesterday's news now. And, I saw young bodies squeezed into tight-fitting jeans, singing songs that were written before most of them were born. Prancing around the stage like they're oh, so hot. And relevant. And original. And blahhhhhh...I got to thinking, "these guys are nothing compared to the singers of yesteryear, harrumph..." and proceeded to bask in the comfortability of yet another mistaken assumption...

For, it was not long afterward that I tuned in PBS...OH BOY, ANOTHER FUNDRAISER, AREN'T THOSE FUN??? Anyway, there was a program which I thought would provide me more ammunition for my argument, "them old singers are better than today's singers"...it was a reunion performance of a bunch of the old big-band singers. Tony Martin, for instance. He's 94 now, and he came out of retirement to perform. Oh my gosh, now I have an idea of what Paul McCartney might sound like when he's 94, and Paul, well, if you sound like that...well, I'll still buy your records, but if you don't want to make any more of 'em when you're that age, well, I'd understand. But there are a lot of great singers from days past. And ROBERT GOULET is not one of them! After all these years, he still has a voice that can peel paint. To dream the impossible dream, indeed. Ack. He's still a lounge-lizard smarmy singer who doesn't have a rhythmic bone in his body. Geeze. And maybe there's not a lot of difference between Robert Goulet and the stuff that's on American Idol. Wonder how ol' Simon would feel about Robert?

Then out came Kay Starr, bless her, to sing "Rock and Roll Waltz"...well, on PRINCIPLE alone, I hate that song. Rock and Roll Waltz, MY HEINIE!!! And Kay, well, she's kinda going the way of Tony Martin. Jerry Vale, who presented the program segments, didn't even sing; I guess after he heard Tony Martin, he thot, "well, thanks, but no thanks". And, Patti Page still can carry a nice tune, but I'm sorry, I guess I wasn't in the mood for "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window"...I used to like the song as a kid, but it just sounds painfully irrevelant to anything in my life these days. I guess I've gotta grow old my own way; I can't do it their way, huh? Although, one song touched me deeply: Ed Ames' "My Cup Runneth Over". Ahhhhh....what a wonderful song that is, and Ames sounds almost BETTER now than he did then. So, there's hope; maybe Paul McCartney at 94 years of age will sound just fine, as he does today at 65. I sure hope so.

After that oldies-moldies concert, PBS aired a more current program; Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings, the founding members of the Guess Who (remember them?), doing a bunch of the old hits. Bachman and Cummings had evidently had some big disagreements and split up back in the day. They began with a watered-down version of "American Woman", and I thot, "oh my god, they can't rock anymore"...but things got better; as the show went on, they did more of the rock & roll stuff. But still, think about it...Burton Cummings, lead singer of the Guess Who, singin' the same ol' "you know I'm gonna leave, you know I'm gonna go" at the end of "American Woman", and admittedly, some of his high vocal range is GONE...which also happens with age. Or how about Randy Bachman still doing "Takin' Care of Business" (he started BTO after the Guess Who had initially run its course); I've heard that song oh, so many times, but yet the old chords and the driving rhythms still have that ol' primal appeal. Rock and rolllllll.....................

A part of me thinks these old guys look SILLY playing rock and roll music, but, what else is there to do? Life goes on, after all. Thing is, they were honestly taking pleasure from making music, and maybe that's what it's all about, no matter what type of music, or anything else, is being created. I don't like the fact life slows us down and makes us lose our edge. I absolutely hate that part of it. But I do know this: no matter how old I may become, "Please Please Me" by the Beatles still excites me just as much as it did long ago. "Takin' Care of Business" still makes me wanna rock; Grand Funk Railroad still brings a smile to my face, and rock and roll in general causes my soul to leap forth, even if my body can't do that anymore. I am not a great guitar player by any means, but after 30 years, the instrument has never lost its appeal, and playing is one of the most pleasurable things I can do. And, 94-year old Tony Martin took the same pleasure in the song he sang, even if the voice faltered a bit...so it comes full circle. And we just keep on keepin' on...'cause there really ain't nothin' else we can do.

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You can see I try to respect all music and all performers...but there ain't no way can these ears ever make it all the way through a Robert Goulet song. Nope, nope, nope. Although, I do have one of his songs in my record collection; his version of "Camelot". Although I wonder why...