Surviving the Disney Channel?

Next up on my list was a new sketch comedy show for tweens on the Disney Channel -- "So Random". I've tried watching episodes of tween shows on Nickelodeon ("True Jackson, VP") and Disney ("The Suite Life...") before, but have never talked about it here. Truth be told, Meaghan and I absolutely love most things Disney, but the garbage they spew on to their TV channel is universally terrible. I haven't seen anything on it in the last 5-10 years that's even been close to good. Ahem. Let me amend that. I hadn't seen anything...

To talk about "So Random", I'll have to start with a not so brief but hopefully interesting history lesson. It all starts with another Disney Channel show that debuted a couple of years ago, "Sonny With a Chance". Yes, the name is terrible. "Sonny" shares a common setup to a lot of other Disney shows (analogies include: "Hannah Montana":Miley Cyrus, "Lizzie McGuire":Hilary Duff, "Wizards of Waverly Place":Selena Gomez -- if you don't recognize any of those names then you're living under a much larger rock than I am) in that it's primarily a vehicle for its leading lady. In this case, that lady is the star of the Disney Channel movies Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2, Demi Lovato. More on her in a bit, but first "Sonny".

"Sonny With a Chance" is the story of a girl from Wisconsin (Sonny Munroe) who is hired to join the cast of a Hollywood-based teen sketch comedy show called "So Random". It starts out primarily as a fish out of water story as Sonny has to adjust to the strangeness that is life in show business as part of a hit show. Complicating that is the fact that they share a studio with the #1 teen drama in America, Mackenzie Falls. Needless to say, the casts of the two shows do not get along... at all.

The ringleader of the people at the Falls is its star, the greatest actor of his generation, Chad Dylan Cooper (hilariously played by Sterling Knight -- remember that name). Most shows that feature a show within a show (or in this case, two shows within a show) fail miserably when they attempt to show anything from it -- "Studio 60" I'm looking at you here -- but that's not the case with "Sonny". Yes, the "So Random" sketches are hit and miss, but so is SNL. Sketch comedy is hard to do right. "Mackenzie Falls", however, is pure comedy gold as it single-handedly takes the mickey out of every CW show ever created. Behold!


In season 2 of "Sonny", the focus shifts to the burgeoning relationship between Sonny and Chad, exploring the regular hazards and pitfalls of dating as a teen as well as the complications that arise when those teens happen to be famous celebrities on competing shows. I didn't think I'd ever say this, but I'm proud to say that I've seen pretty much every episode of "Sonny with a Chance" and it's actually quite good. Sure, the acting can be a little rough at times, but those are the hazards when your cast is young and inexperienced. In particular, Lovato (who was only 16 when the first season was filmed) has a tendency to talk loudly and try to get through scenes by flashing her megawatt smile. Thankfully, she improves quite a bit in season 2 and blends into the show much better.

So if it was so good, why is a real version of "So Random" now on the Disney Channel? What happened to "Sonny" season 3? Well, the answer to that lies with its star. Demi Lovato is first and foremost a musician, not an actor. Prior to doing research for this piece, I hadn't heard a single song of hers, but now that I have it's not all that bad. It certainly tops trainwrecks like Ke$ha and the aforementioned Cyrus. She reminds me a little bit of a young Kelly Clarkson. Hopefully, she's able to grow into her voice in the future. This song in particular, "La La Land", from her first album is a catchy little earworm that I haven't gotten out of my head for the past week. Please take a listen and pay attention to the lyrics (which she actually wrote) as they're important to the tale I tell.


Ah... ain't naivete grand? The gist of the song (for those who refused to listen to it) is that even though she's knowingly stepping into the Hollywood hype machine, she's going to stay the same person she's always been. I think Mmes. Spears and Lohan (among others) might be able to offer a differing opinion. I actually think it's pretty appalling the way our culture treats young people in show business. It's almost as if it's designed to completely chew them up and leave them a frail shadow of the person they once were, after extracting every last penny of revenue from them, that is. Add to that the endless line of kids (and their parents) looking to get rich and famous and you can see why the individuals don't matter. There will always be someone there to replace them.

It's complicated enough being a kid in the first place. Add in the fact that you're expected to be a role model to other kids and everything you do is in the public eye, captured by tabloids or Internet gossip sites, and the pressure can be absolutely astounding. Interestingly enough, many of the best episodes of "Sonny" deal with these very issues, so not only was Lovato living them out in real life but she was play-acting them a second time over for her TV show.

In Lovato's case, she quickly became popular with the tween crowd from her TV roles and her albums. As I'm writing this, she has nearly 3.5 million followers (dubbed "Lovatics") on Twitter. Think about this for a minute. How many people are you or I even going to interact with in our lifetimes? She has 3.5 million people watching her every move on the Internet. After messy public breakups with childhood BFF (and fellow Disney star) Selena Gomez and boyfriend Joe Jonas (of the Jonas Brothers), it was only a matter of time before something was bound to go wrong.

And go wrong it did. While on tour in South America in late 2010, she punched out one of the Jonas Bros. (her tour mates) backup dancers. This was quickly followed by her leaving said tour and checking herself into a medical treatment center to deal with eating and self-harm issues. After receiving treatment and being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Lovato recently reemerged to begin work on her third studio album, which is due out some time this year. She's also been hired to write editorials for Seventeen magazine in an effort to help other young girls cope with problems like the ones she experienced. I hope everything works out for the best, but that brings us back full circle to "So Random".

Left without a star for "Sonny", Disney was forced to make a decision: cancel it entirely, or do something else with all of the actors under contract. Hence, the new sketch comedy show. It features all of the other main actors from "Sonny" along with a variety of musical guests and guest hosts, much like a little 20-minute version of Saturday Night Live. Is it any good? As with the sketches from the show within a show, it's hit or miss. Without any compelling characters or ongoing storylines, though, there's no real reason for me to watch it.

Now that Lovato is in the public eye again, will "Sonny With a Chance" ever return? It's doubtful, and that makes me sad. But maybe, if we're lucky, she'll make a guest appearance on "So Random". I'd probably tune in for that.

A Little Musical Theater

I know this is nearing 5 years old now, so any self-respecting fan of "How I Met Your Mother" and/or Les Miserables has probably already seen it, but I can't resist posting it here. I discovered it while doing some YouTube research for a future post.

For those familiar with the original Broadway cast recording of Les Mis, I really dig how much they're channeling Terrence Mann and Colm Wilkinson in this. I also find the reactions of the other HIMYM cast members on the sofa to be hilarious.

Music to Work By

Today I bring you two music-related items to either brighten or darken your day depending on your mood.

First is a new lip dub that the people of Grand Rapids, MI made to protest their inclusion on a list of America's Top Ten "dying cities" published earlier this year in Newsweek. I heard about this on NPR yesterday, and it's definitely worth a view. The amount of coordination that was necessary to pull this off is awe-inspiring.



Second, I bring you Dmitri Shostakovich's tortured and riveting String Quartet #8. Written in only three days in 1960 after he was diagnosed with polio and forced to join the Communist Party, it's a dark tour de force and ranks among my favorite classical pieces. I first heard this a year ago when the string orchestra at Meaghan's high school played an arrangement of it. If you're not on the edge of your seat by the end of the 2nd movement (the end of the first video), then you have no heart.

Josh Ritter

"Ridiculous and touching, like all good art." Josh Ritter was talking about the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD, but he may have well been talking about his own music. After all, it takes a certain amount of ridiculousness to write and perform heartfelt songs about mummies or love in a missile silo at the dawn of WWIII.

Last Thursday night, we went to see who is probably the best songwriter in America that absolutely no one knows about perform with the Minnesota Orchestra. As expected, it was a brilliant 90-minute set featuring some of the best songs from Ritter's last three albums. Any time you combine elite musicianship with great songwriting, it's bound to be a good experience.

In the past when I've posted about music, I usually just let the music itself do the talking. I'll not change anything now. For those of you who get mix CDs from us on a semi-regular basis, it's likely that you'll have heard one or two of his songs before, but don't let that stop you from giving him another listen.

Here's his latest album, "So Runs the World Away". Standout tracks for me include the aforementioned mummy song "The Curse" and "Another New World", an epic about Christopher Columbus's final expedition to the North Pole with a dash of Poe thrown in. However, I encourage you give the whole thing a listen.

Other great songs from previous albums:
"The Temptation of Adam"
"Girl in the War"
"Come and Find Me"

He's got some uptempo stuff, too, but I can't find any studio recordings of that stuff online. If you like what you've heard here, I urge you to check out more through whatever means you do and spread the word.

Pulp

One band that often finds its way into my CD player is Pulp. One of the biggest bands in Britain in the 90s (along with Radiohead, Blur, and Oasis), Pulp never quite hit it big over here in the States the way the others did. Quite possibly too raunchy for radio here, they have a way of tickling my funny bone that not many other bands have. Rather than spend a lot of time talking about the music, I'll let you just listen to various selections from throughout their existence instead.

*I apologize in advance for the videos that aren't official music videos or live performances, but I wanted you to hear as much as possible.

Early Years: Pulp had a lot of different lineups and sounds in their first few years, some good, some bad. These are two of their better songs from that era.
Little Girl (with Blue Eyes)
They Suffocate At Night

His 'n Hers: Pulp emerged for good in 1994 with this pop album.
Lipgloss
Babies
Do You Remember the First Time
Razzmatazz

Different Class: Their 1995 follow-up is one of the greatest albums of all time: 12 tracks, all single-worthy.
Mis-Shapes
Pencil Skirt
Common People
Live Bed Show
F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E.
Underwear
Bar Italia

This is Hardcore: 1998's turn into darkness, my personal favorite.
The Fear
Dishes
Help the Aged
This is Hardcore
A Little Soul
Like a Friend

In recent years, frontman Jarvis Cocker (yes, that's his real name) has gone solo with a successful 2006 album. It features Running the World from the closing credits of Children of Men, one of the best anti-politician anthems ever.

Enjoy.

Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous

It's probably about time that I use some posts talking about the music that's passing through my CD player these days. Apologies to those of you at work that have already heard portions of this album, I'll come up with something new for next time.

Rilo Kiley is an LA indie pop band most well-known for its female lead Jenny Lewis. She started out in Hollywood as a child actress, most known in nerd circles as Fred Savage's mysterious red-headed companion in the Nintendo film The Wizard, before moving on to a music career.

Their third album, "More Adventurous" came out back in 2004 and landed on a lot of the year's best album lists, crowning them as indie darlings in the process. We've had it for awhile, but it's spent a lot of time languishing on the shelf until now. I'm a fan because a lot of the songs are musically clever without sounding too slick. There's a lot of unique ornamentation that makes choruses and verses distinct, as opposed to the bland repetition you typically hear on the radio. For example, notice how "It's a Hit" has three verses (all different) before ever hitting the main refrain. Yes, the lyrics can get a tidge angsty, but that comes with the territory sometimes.

In total, Rilo Kiley has four albums as well as Jenny Lewis' two solo albums. I'll probably be tracking more down in the future.

Listening Station:
"It's a Hit"
"Portions for Foxes" - just a bit, as seen in the pilot of Grey's Anatomy... who knew?
"More Adventurous"/"Ripchord"/"Portions for Foxes" - from an in-studio performance at our local NPR station. Sorry you have to suffer through the interview portion. Click the "Listen (128k mp3)" link for an iTunes style playlist.

There are a bunch of YouTube concert videos if you look around, but you can hear the crowd better than the band on most of them so I won't bother linking.

Nicole Atkins and the Sea

I don't normally talk a lot about music (as evidenced by the fact that I had to create a new category just to write this), mostly because although I like music I often just don't know what to say about it. I'm going to do my best to tell you about a new artist that Meaghan and I saw a couple weekends ago at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis.

The band we actually went to see is The Raveonettes, a Danish noise surf duo with 60s sensibilities. They're one of my favorite groups, and did not disappoint. If you want to hear what they sound like, check out their old Columbia Records site or their MySpace page. I'm not here to tell you about them, though.

One of the groups that opened for them was Nicole Atkins and the Sea. Nicole Atkins is a singer/songwriter from just outside Asbury Park, NJ (home of Bruce Springsteen), and the Sea is her Brooklyn, NY based backing band. From the very first note to the end of their rocking set closer, we were completely blown away by her voice. In reading I've done since the show, I've seen it compared to greats like Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, and Roy Orbison, and they're not lying. It was completely refreshing to hear someone who can actually sing, unlike most of the weak-voiced waifs that litter today's pop landscape.

We bought her EP "Bleeding Diamonds" at the show, and it's almost as good as the live performance was. Unfortunately, the vocals and arrangements are a little more subdued on the studio recording than they were in person. Rather than have me ramble on poorly, here are a few places you can go to check out their sound.

Official Site - click the Launch Jukebox record in the upper right
MySpace
YouTube - music videos & videos of live performances (unfortunately the YouTube quality obscures the depth of her voice)

To hopefully get the full live sound, check them out on Letterman tonight (Tuesday - 10/30). If you like what you hear, think about getting their major label debut "Neptune City" through whatever means you normally acquire music. It's out in stores today.