Blink182 To Reunite

There are reunions, and then there are reunions. Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker reunited on stage at the Grammys two nights ago to present the award for Best Rock Album, and subsequently announced they would be reuniting to perform as Blink182 again. How is that going to work out?

Bands are constantly breaking up, changing members, and reuniting, so this move is right in line with what's normal in the music industry. But reunions are tricky. It's like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. Most of the time the creative spark, the chemistry, that allows a group of three or four people to churn out good new music seems to last from three to six years. Then interests start to diverge, personalities to clash, and that's the end of it. Putting the pieces back together doesn't mean the mojo will come with them.

Which is probably why most reunions are more about cashing in on nostalgia, and on the greater disposable income of a core audience that has grown up. (See The Eagles, The Spice Girls, The Rolling Stones... oh, wait, they never officially broke up. No matter. It's the same principle. People go to Stones concerts to hear their old songs, not the new ones.)

Perhaps the new incarnation of Blink182 will beat the odds. But if they don't it won't necessarily matter, because they won't have needed to.

Grammy Winners

What an amazing turnaround the Grammys have had. Nobody used to care that much about them. Of the all the major awards and their award ceremonies --the Oscars for film, Tonys for live theater, and Emmys for TV-- the Grammys had the least cachet, the least cultural relevance. Sound Opinions rock critics Greg Kott and Jim DeRogatis have noted on a number of occasions they were like that from the start; the music industry's Old Guard established them in 1958 to promote "good music." Meaning music other than rock 'n roll, that abomination teenagers were listening to.

The Old Guard's battle and war were lost long ago, their territory overrun. All that's left is the castle they built in hopes of defending it. Being as they are immobile and heavy, castles don't adapt fast or easily. But the Grammys are obviously trying, and perhaps are finally getting somewhere.

Or not. Here are some of this year's winners. You decide.


Record Of The Year
* "Please Read the Letter," Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

Album of the Year
* Raising Sand, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

Song of the Year
* "Viva La Vida," Coldplay

Best New Artist
* Adele

Best Electronic/Dance Album
* Alive 2007, Daft Punk

Best Rock Album
* Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, Coldplay

Best R&B Album
* Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Hudson

Best Rap Album
* Tha Carter III, Lil Wayne

Best Country Album
* Troubadour, George Strait

Best Contemporary Jazz Album
* Randy In Brasil, Randy Brecker

Best Coffee, Best Coffee Maker

Rating products and services can be kind of a mug's game, but Consumer Reports gets it close to right most of the time. Even if there is better stuff out there than whatever they rate as "Best," or worse stuff than what they rate as "Worst," if you follow their recommendations you'll certainly avoid buying junk.

With that in mind, their testers have some ideas for you about coffee. Eight O'Clock Coffee won out over 19 other brands with a "very good" rating. CU described the taste as a "complex blend of earthy and fruity," which one hopes doesn't mean the beans went into the package unwashed. The competition included top national sellers like Folgers and Maxwell House (admittedly, these are sort of the beverage equivalent of cardboard targets), and specialty blends like Caribou Coffee's Colombia Timana, Kickapoo Coffee's Organic Colombia, and Starbucks' Colombia Medium.

Any home brewing java junkie knows the coffee maker is almost as important as the coffee bean. Here again, CU has it covered. They give the nod to the Michael Graves 12-Cup Coffeemaker as having the best combination of price ($40) and quality (high water temperature, programmability). Second place went to the Melitta Take2 at an even more affordable $25.

Of course, none of this matters if you're satisfied with a teaspoon of instant stirred into a cup of nearly boiling water.

The Musician Died, The Music Lived

It's not officially a national day of remembrance, but maybe it should be. Buddy Holly died in a plane crash 50 years ago today. Fans still like to call it The Day the Music Died.

As poetic as that sentiment is, I can't quite agree. The music hasn't died. Not so long as we're still listening to it, and musicians are still finding inspiration in his simple but affecting melodies and lyrics. Very few of us leave such large footprints or cast such long shadows by age 22.

He left us with a lot. Imagine if you can What Might Have Been if Holly had lived to leave us more. I'd like to think he would have continued writing good songs on into the early 60s, perhaps single-handedly keeping that era's music from becoming as hopelessly lame and bloodless as it was. The mid to late 60s would have presented a problem; in those years rock started branching out into complex orchestration, social commentary, and of course drugs. Not exactly his milieu. He probably would have been viewed as a bit passe, behind the times, not relevant anymore. His star would have gone into eclipse.

And then rebounded in the 1970s. (Which it did in fact, though in this alternative universe version Don McLean has no reason to write "The Day The Music Died" and thus doesn't have a hit. No matter. That's not a big sacrifice.) After the Holly revival died down in, let's say in the early 1980s, he'd have settled onto the nostalgia circuit and earned a comfortable living there. And then, who knows, the late career resurgence of his contemporaries Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison might have inspired one or even two more albums worth of brilliant material.

We can never know. But we've got what we've got, and that will have to be enough.

What, Those Guys AGAIN?

Super Bowl XLIII was much closer than most people expected. The Arizona Cardinals came back from a 13 pt deficit to take the lead with time running out. But the Pittsburgh Steelers sucked it up and went on a nearly 90 yard drive to score the winning touchdown with 35 seconds left. It came on a tiptoe catch by Santonio Holmes in the corner of the end zone. Steelers QB Ben Rothlisberger could not have made a better throw; there were three Cardinal defenders around Holmes.

So, now the Steelers have six Super Bowl wins, more than any other NFL franchise. What where the others?

Super Bowl IX: Steelers 16, Vikings 6
Special teams and defense carried the day. The Steelers scored on a safety in the second quarter, and put themselves in position for a touchdown when the Vikings fumbled a kickoff.

Super Bowl X: Steelers 21, Cowboys 17
It was the Terry Bradshaw - Lynn Swan show. They only hooked up four times, but one of them was a 64 yard touchdown bomb. Dallas made a good showing of it, with Roger Staubach throwing two TD passes, but the Steelers' defense was too much.

Super Bowl XIII: Steelers 35, Cowboys 31
The arm of Steelers QB Terry Bradshaw carried the day, firing four touchdown passes. Two to Lance Stallworth, one to Rocky Bleier, and one to Lynn Swann. Franco Harris ran 22 yds for another. The Cowboys again made it a tight contest, scoring two touchdown in the last seven minutes, but the Steelers recovered their second attempt at an onside kick.

Super Bowl XIV: Steelers 31, Rams 19
The Steelers' era of dominance came to a close with a shaky performance. But a win is a win. Terry Bradshaw shook off three interceptions to rally his team from behind twice. Once in the third quarter with a 47 yd. touchdown pass to Lynn Swan, and again in the fourth quarter on a 73 yd. pass to Lance Stallworth.

Super Bowl XL: Steelers 21, Seahawks 10
Sorry Steelers fans. This one should have as asterisk beside it, because the officials gave the Steelers some big breaks. There was the first quarter offensive interference penalty against Darrell Jackson that wasn't, nullifying a Seattle touchdown. And the fourth quarter holding penalty against offensive tackle Sean Locklear that wasn't, costing Seattle field position on the Steeler 1 yd line. And the illegal low block called against Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck that was in fact an attempted tackle. Each of these came at pivotal junctures in the game. But in ten or twenty years no one will remember any of that, so it goes down as a win.

Super Bowl XLIII: Steelers 27, Cardinals 23
No need for a recap, because we've watched it already. But here goes: Steelers controlled the first half, closing it out with a 100 yd. interception return for a touchdown to go up 17-7. Cardinals rally from 20-7 to take a 23-20 lead with under 3 min to go. Steelers score to reclaim the lead, then force a fumble in the closing seconds to secure the win.

Land of the Lost

We just can't wait. We just can't tune in and simply let the Super Bowl commercials come when they come. We have to have previews of the commercials. Previews of commercials! Next there will be adverts for the upcoming commercials, previews of the adverts for the commercials, adverts for the previews of the adverts for the previews of the commercials... well, you get the idea. Eventually, an entire year will be devoted to promoting Super Bowl ads.

But that's not what I wanted to write about. I noticed that on the list of spots airing during the game (OK, if you must you can view them [Here], there will be one for Land of the Lost. If you grew up in the 1970s, you will remember this as a live action drama that aired on Saturdays along with a whole bunch of cartoons. The premise was that three modern people somehow get sucked back in time -or into a parallel universe, it wasn't important- and have to survive somehow. In those pre-CGI days the special effects gave it away as a low budget production. It was obviously shot in a studio filled with fake trees and bushes, and was a bit mixed up about what kind of critters lived on earth when; our temporally displaced adventurers found themselves dealing with Jurassic-era dinosaurs (crudely animated models) and ape-like human ancestors (actors in raggedly furry suits). Even so, it wasn't too bad if you lowered your expectations.

The updated version stars Will Ferrell, Danny McBride and Anna Friel. Which means it retains the premise of the original and nothing else. By all appearances it's now a comedy with as of high production values you could want. There is no reason for films like this to get made, but then, there is no reason for them not to. Why not take a property that was played more or less seriously the first time and camp it up? The viewing public bought into LotL once, and continues to buy into Will Ferrell. Never mind that the two pieces don't really fit. It will probably find an audience, get consumed like a fast food combo meal, and leave no further trace of itself after two weeks. Or perhaps a month tops. Might not be too bad, if you lower your expectations.