You know the old saying from Physics, "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." Well, this week is particularly true with the recent events in pop culture, at least the stuff I see. for me the big one is...
1. Journey! One of my all time favorite bands has renewed visibility due to "Don't Stop Believin'" being used for the final moments of the Sopranos. This may be the only time the band has a shot at a half decent comeback...but new singer Jeff Scott Soto has just left the band. So much for performing the song live for anyone anytime soon.
It's likely they will pick another singer to sound like Steve Perry and in a way that's too bad. Journey needs a new direction at this point, but on their nostalgia tours they aren't paid based on creativity but how much they can sound as they did twenty years ago. That being the case, they won't be choosing my number 1 pick to replace Perry: Michael Bolton!
Yes, it's that "Can I Touch You There?" Michael Bolton. Bolton had Journey produce and perform on three songs of his Hunger CD (1987) and they sounded great together. Bolton's gravelly voice would change the sound of classic Journey material and encourage them to stress newer material. On top of that, the publicity would be tremendous.
My second pick would be Kevin Chalfant formerly of The Storm. The Storm was the best Journey knock off band of all time (it included three former Journey members) and came the closest to capturing (not a Journey pun) the classic sound. Chalfant was overlooked before due to rumors of writing incompatablility and not wanting to give credibility to The Storm as a band. If he got the position, Chalfant would ace mimicking Perry placing Journey in a good spot for the next round of nostalgia shows. Chalfant is also releasing a CD of Journey cover songs called FLy 2 Freedom (2007). If anyone doubts this guy's knack for Journey material, check out http://www.cliquerecords.com/ to hear clips of the upcoming CD. If Chalfant gets it, it would be like when Pierce Brosnan finally became Bond.
At any rate, it's great that "Don't Stop Believin'" keeps coming up in popular culture. Journey has been and always will be the "people's" band and never get any respect from the Rock press. The continued success of the song proves their influence and talent was much greater than they received credit for.
2. Dustin Diamond and Celebrity Fit Club - Dustin Diamond continues his campaign to be the worst grown up child star ever. His behavior on Celebrity Fit Club has sabotaged his castmates and defined him as a bigger assh*le than anyone could have imagined. He does it all for attention and he's got mine, which makes me hate him more. Which means I will be watching the series finale of Fit Club. I guess he wins for now. Damn!
3. Paris Hilton - She almost bought her way out of prison! Poor Paris, she has to spend 25 or 45 days of her life not being the richest, shallowest person alive. I don't doubt her psychological stress, finding out you're just like everyone else when you've been told different through your entire existence is certainly rough. I still don't feel sorry for her though. Unlike most people who go to prison, Paris will leave jail as wealthy as she went in and go back to her high maintenance lifestyle with the world back under her feet where it belongs.
4. The Summer movies are coming and the previews are giving me mixed feelings! Bruce Willis returns in Live Free and Die Hard (or something like that. Maybe Live Hard and Die Free?) The other three movies were so strong I find it hard to believe a 4th could be as good. Transformers' trailer went beyond underwhelming to the point it was just sad looking. If you've seen one CGI robot, you've seen them all. Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer looks promising until you remember how lame the first movie was.
Well, that's it! You win some and you lose some. Tomorrow I'll get to see The Police for the first time since 1983. That's so 80's!
1 comment:
I think that Michael Bolton would be a great choice for Journey. He could add a bit of metal to the band, like in his Blackjack days. If only he remembers how!
Otherwise, Journey wouldn't want him. Weren't they unhappy with the "poppy" direction Steve Perry took them? Creatively, I mean. I'm sure they were happy with the money.
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