Johnny "John" Rzeznik is the New Paula Abdul.

Qualler here, giving the Blogulator a brief respite from Ben Affleck talk. PSYCH, I totally saw Reindeer Games this weekend on Cinemax, and it was awesome. I mean, how can you go wrong with Gary Sinese with long hair, some machine guns, the eminently likeable Ben Affleck and his in-movie girlfriend Charlize Theron who is taken hostage by the skeezy-looking Sinese, and some "dark humor" in which the Holiday season isn't quite what it seems, not quite as full of, say, "reindeer games" as it may? I'm shocked that Ben Affleck's acting career is at a standstill. But anyway...

The reason I wanted to rap at you was to discuss Fox's new reality musical TV program, The Next Great American Band. Like Fox's most popular reality musical TV program, this show features three judges -- one whom is a pushover who loves everything he hears, one who has a little street edge but also likes lots of stuff, and one British guy who's a total douche. Yes indeed, Johnny (or "John" as he likes to be called now) Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls plays the role of Paula, Shiela E. plays the role of Randy, and Ian Dickson plays the role of Simon (different, though -- he's Australian.) It is indeed a formula for puke-tastic commentary in which Mr. Goo Goo loves everything anybody ever does and the crowd boos when any type of criticism is instilled upon anyone ever. (What is wrong with our generation that can't accept criticism? These kids are so spoiled these days.)



Here were a few "noteable" bands who played on Friday:

THE CLARK BROTHERS
OK, so get this -- we got a group of three brothers, right? So it's like The Jackson 5, or Hanson, etc. You get the picture -- we've got some built-in appeal. Now, here's the twist -- they play AMERICANA! And that stuff is HOT, like ever since O Brother Where Art Thou came in. But they're not, you know, too ugly, so the ladies will like 'em. And, if we take their traditionally mid-tempo songs and crank the tempo up to 11, we'll have a hit on our hands. Well, the judges seemed to agree with this assessment because Goo Goo goo-gooed all over them.

TRES BIEN
Somehow, having a band that plays traditional Strokes-lite-sounding indie pop makes a band "very familiar with the sounds of the '60s" according to New Zealand native host Dominic Bowden. I'm still not sure why they are from the '60s, but I liked their "we're a high school band that doesn't take themselves too seriously as artists" vibe. I mean, I don't know anybody who would take themselves so seriously in a high school band...c'mon, kids, you're not that great. Nope, certainly neither Chris nor I were involved in high school bands...



DOT DOT DOT
In this week's performance, Chicago band Dot Dot Dot described their sound as "rock mixed with power-pop." Hey Dot Dot Dot, check the Chris definition of musical genres -- power-pop includes rock. To me, these guys were a mixture between AFI and The Local Bar Band Around The Corner. And by AFI, I mean the lead singer stole everyone from AFI's haircut, which is scary because he looks like he is at least 35. I found that they played at Summerfest 2K7 in Milwaukee -- did anybody happen to see them this year? Below is a clip of their rehersal in an earlier episode -- our judges are in full force here as well (listen for one of my personal favorite phrases, "they work hard, but play hard, too!"):



Overall, I look forward to more episodes of this show on Friday nights, as it is a good time filler before going to see movies like Dan in Real Life in the theaters. But that is for another day and another time. Next Monday -- a review of the increasingly-each-time-I-see-the-trailer-good-looking indie music biopic about Joy Division, Control.

This entry was posted by Unknown, on Sunday, October 28, 2007. You can leave your response.