I have a few different things I’ve watched and listened to that you might want to check out.
“I Want My M-TV” Documentary on A&E. This ninety-minute show tells stories on how things fell into place to start the channel back in 1980. We see the growing pains, the development of new artists and how established stars became even bigger deals once they took to making music videos. The story of how the M-TV people got Mick Jaggger and Pete Townshend to do promos for the struggling operation is a really cool one. So throw on your parachute pants, dig out a Swatch or two and feather out your hair for a fun trip through the 1980’s and beyond.
“I Want My M-TV” tells us things we didn’t know about the iconic 1980 upstart and brings us plenty of memories too.
A couple weeks ago Bruce Springsteen released “Letter to You” which is the title track of a new album he has coming out October 23rd. The mid-tempo song is O.K. and while there are other new tracks to check out, Bruce is also tagging three never before released tunes written over forty -five years ago. The whole set of songs was recorded live in the studio with the E Street Band in a short span of days. Considering how tainted and over produced Springsteen’s more recent albums have been, this is good news. Still, the magic will be in the songs themselves. Can a seventy-one year old Bruce Springsteen still write material that reaches fans? That’s the question I wait to answer.
New Springsteen music starts with the title track “Letter To You.”
Remember the band Semisonic? They brought us the late 90’s hit “Closing Time” and “Chemistry” which in my opinion was their best song. Well, after many years away from each other the trio is back with new music. Last week CBS’ Anthony Mason interviewed Semisonic lead singer and writer Dan Wilson. I saw and heard more about the guy’s other impressive songwriting credits. (Adele, Dixie Chicks & Carole King among others) We’re never too old to hear new music from a band.
SINATRA REMEMBERED– If you want to kick it ‘Old School’ then try out Netflix’s Frank Sinatra documentary “All Or Nothing At All.” Plenty to learn there to from one of popular music’s greatest.
THE VOW – Every Sunday night I watch “The Vow” and by the end of the hour all I have to say is, ‘Wow!’ The Vow is a nine-part true crime series on HBO revolving around the sex cult NXIVM and its leader Keith Raniere. So far there’s been five episodes seen and this story is nuts. We’re talking about women and men dedicating themselves to a bizarre regimen of sacrifice, mind control and forced labor. Oh, and the women starved themselves to impossibly skinny weights and allowed themselves to be branded with the initials of Raniere and his co-conspirator former “Smallville” actress Allison Mack. Yes, I said BRANDED, not tattooed but branded!
“Dynasty” actress Catherine Oxenberg helped produce this series as her own daughter India was deep into the NXIVM organization. There’s more to learn about what went on in this twisted cult that makes the weirdness of Scientologists seem like the Boy Scouts.
Meat isn’t always murder– Finally, if you catch Mc Donald’s current TV commercials, the voice describing the food is that of character actor Brian Cox. So? Well, the actor describing the tasty sizzling meats from Mickey D’s is the guy who played Hannibal The Cannibal Lester in “Manhunter.” This was a few years before Anthony Hopkins made that role famous in “Silence of the Lambs.” So just picture people eating Hannibal Lecter describing burgers from Mc Donald’s and you get an odd juxtaposition.
Currently, actor Brian Cox narrates the tastiness of Mc Donald’s meaty burgers.
And here’s Brian Cox as the first creepy Hannibal The Cannibal Lecter in the late 80’s movie “Manhunter.”
NEXT BLOG- An appreciation for Season 10 of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”