At $12.95 a Month, Sirius Is a Steal

There isn't much to distinguish between Sirius and XM satellite radio -- unless you're a car thief. The black market in stolen Sirius receivers makes XM seem like the way to go. Unless, of course, the companies merge and both their receivers become incompatible and obsolete. Check out this report from wbztv.com

-Corny

Ticket farce...call the Police! (Darren DeVivo)

The Police recently announced their 2007 reunion tour and it included two dates at Madison Square Garden on August 1 and 3. Tickets were to go on sale to the general public this past Monday, February 19 at 9AM. I attempted to purchase my tickets online at Ticketmaster's website. I've done this hundreds of times. I was online and ready to go some ten to fifteen minutes before the onsale. At 9AM exactly, I was able to "get in the system". I got 'em, right?! No! Could you believe that two shows at Madison Square Garden were sold out in a matter of seconds?! Seconds????!!!! Maybe they were gone before they went on sale. Ya know what? The whole setup is bogus. There were more "pre-sales" that you needed to have an interpreter to help sort through them all: Best Buy customers get an advantage. Buy a "membership" to the Police's website for an additional $100 and you get early access to tickets - the price of the tickets isn't enough?! Oh, I'm sorry...you also get a laminate for the $100, too. Sting's website had some sort of deal for "insiders". This is all getting ridiculous. The fact that the tickets were never available when they were supposed to be available is beyond bullshit!! Something stinks here. A couple of years ago, the on sale date was changed WITHOUT AN ANNOUNCEMENT for Paul McCartney's most recent shows at Madison Square Garden. Let's move up the on sale date and not tell anyone...yeah, that's fair.
This Monday morning at 9AM, tickets will go on sale for an additional date - the Police will now play an August 5 show at Giants Stadium. Great...just what I love, a Sunday night show in the Meadowlands. I love sitting in hours of traffic late on a Sunday night. That's not to say having to deal with a stadium show. Of course, that's assuming I can get tickets when they go on sale. They might already be sold out...36 hours in advance.

Darren DeVivo
2/24/07

TV News -- Can It Get Any Better?

Lately, I've found it increasing difficult to keep track of all the news reports of celebrities being arrested, exposing themselves, and refusing to be buried. Is Britney in rehab or out? Here's a simple solution:

At a glance, you get the time and temp plus the status of the latest celebrity news. This frees up valuable TV news time for non-celebrity items about astronauts and four-legged ducks.

You stay classy, San Diego.

--Corny

New Arcade Fire

Tons of buzz on Arcade Fire right now, coming off last week's shows in NYC and the new album Neon Bible due March 6th. I've heard a bunch of it online over the past couple of weeks, but finally got a chance to hear the full record the other day.

I expected to be solid, but it is really a great album. Even better than Funeral, I think. It somehow manages to be both dark and uplifting, no easy task.

If you haven't gotten into this band yet, check them out on SNL this Saturday. Another big reason to watch: Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute on The Office) hosts.

Apology for the Bloggap

Hey folks,

We had a little trouble upgrading this thing but we've seen our way clear. Sorry for the gap in posting!

- The folks at WFUV

The Grammys Make Darren Puke!

I watched the Grammys last night. I wasted three and a half hours. I should have shut the television at 8:04PM. So many things about last night's program annoyed me. In a nutshell, it was a frustratingly boring program filled with ordinary performances by ordinary talent. It was a showcase of the beautiful, not the truly talented. It was the industry machine on display in all it's glory. Honestly, the only thing I was looking forward to going into the broadcast was the reunion of the Police. I wasn't expecting much from the full show itself, yet I still came away with a headache from rolling my eyes so much at what I was watching.

• First off, why was the performance by the Police so brief? I was hoping for at least two songs and maybe ten minutes. After all the hype about their reunion, all we get is one song at around three minutes. I guess we had to save room for that pointless tribute to the Eagles - THREE covers by Rascal Flatts and Carrie Underwood. Riveting.
• The best they could do to pay tribute to James Brown was to have Christina Aguilera perform ONE song. Christina Aguilera?!
• Why didn't someone shove a rag in Quentin Tarantino's mouth?
• Could they post the winners for the awards presented before the telecast any faster? To me, these awards and the winners are much more interesting than those that make the broadcast.
• Could they blow by those being honored any faster? Why bother even honoring them? If you sneezed, you missed the Doors, Booker T. and the M.G.'s, etc. They put the camera on the Doors' Robby Krieger and took it off so fast, you didn't have a chance to react.

It was nice to see Michael Brecker pick up a couple of posthumous Grammys. I was happy that Peter Frampton won a Grammy for his instrumental album Fingerprints (Best Pop Instrumental Album). Cheers to the "Jersey Boys" cast album for winning Best Musical Show Album. I love Tony Bennett, but Duets An American Classic is not a Grammy caliber album, although the competition for Best Traditional Pop Album wasn't tough (Tony won two Grammys). I know this is sacrilegious, but Bob Dylan did not deserve three awards. Modern Times is a fine album, but it is not an award worthy album. Ike Turner wins a Grammy? C'mon. It was a shame especially since it won over Dion's excellent Bronx In Blue album in the Best Traditional Blues Album category. I realize that Jonny Lang's latest album Turn Around had spiritual overtones, but was it worthy of winning in the Best Rock Or Rap Gospel Album category? I know some who had a problem with Bruce Springsteen winning in the Best Traditional Folk Album category and Rosanne Cash, and her album Black Cadillac, coming away empty handed. Finally, the thrill of the night - Donald Fagen's Morph The Cat wins Best Surround Sound Album....YES!

DDD 2/12/07

John Platt on Odetta and Dee

Please keep a couple of our favorite musicians in your prayers.

One of folk music's legends, Odetta, has been in Roosevelt Hospital on the recommendation of her cardiologist to treat an illness that hit her while she was in California last month. Now 76, she continues to tour, but her health has been frail, and since the death of her sister several years ago, she hasn't always been good about taking care of herself. She obviously won't be able to attend the Grammys in L.A., where she is nominated for Best Traditional Folk Album for "Gonna Let It Shine" (recorded on the Fordham campus for an audience of WFUV members!).

More seriously, harpist/singer/songwriter Dee Carstensen has been waging a battle against liver cancer. The wife of jazz musician Mike Mainieri and the mother of a young daughter, Dee recently received a liver transplant. Mainieri has started a journal at this website for friends and fans to keep in touch:
http://www.caringbridge.org/cb/inputSiteName.do?method=search&siteName=deecarstensen

Call The Police

In an effort to move past Corny's Mariah Carey obsession, I thought we could talk about some music. A reunion, in fact. As you may know, word came down that The Police are finally set to reunite at the Grammys on 2/11, with a tour planned for the summer.

Are you excited? Personally I've always dug The Police much more than Sting's solo stuff, but let's hear what YOU think...