Reality Show Recap: Not a Boy Band, Not Yet a ‘Man Band’

Misson: Man Band tracks a reality show’s efforts to restore four former boy-banders to their chart-topping glory. Rock Daily’s Reality Show Recaps will track our efforts to be sympathetic to their cause. Here’s our first report: Welcome to Mission: Man Band, VH1’s new half-hour sad-sack fest that gathers the runts of Lou Pearlman’s litter and convinces them to make a new, six-pack-abs-free, over-thirty boy band. One episode in and already we have a mutiny: Jeff Timmons of 98 Degrees (the one who wasn’t a Lachey) faces the difficult decision of whether to be involved in the project or go back to living in his parents’ house in Orange County, CA (he picks the band). You know these guys are in trouble when producers misspell their names immediately following the opening credits. Go back and check the TiVo: They spelled the ‘NSYNC member’s name wrong on the first attempt (welcome to “Chris Kirkpatirck’s House” in Orlando, FL). Sadly, this would not be the saddest part of the episode, which is reserved for Bryan Abrams of Color Me Badd, who prays to God that the Man Band works out while he pushes around giant tires at his job in Oklahoma. The last member of our all-star quartet is Rich Cronin of LFO, who sang that song about girls wearing Abercrombie & Fitch and has been battling leukemia (he’s got a regimen of meds that would impress Lindsay Lohan in his bedroom). So far the foursome have a shark of a manager and a renewed will to sing. But will anyone want to hear it? We’ve got a whole season’s worth of episodes to find out …

Published: 2007-08-08 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

The Police Opening Night in Vancouver: Their First Real Gig Since “Synchronicity”

It wasn’t more than two songs into the Vancouver B.C. debut of the Police reunion tour, that Sting felt comfortable enough with his old bandmates to make a joke. “We haven’t played together in twenty-five years,” he laughed, “and I want to introduce the band.” Of course, no introduction was necessary for the most anticipated rock tour of the summer, one that reunites Sting, guitarist Andy Summers, and drummer Stewart Copeland. “Andy,” Sting said, smiling at the 64-year-old Summers, “meet Stewart.” Unlike the Police’s last tour, in 1983, where inter-band tensions abounded, this quip brought smiles from all. They hadn’t played a full official Police concert since the Synchronicity tour, if you exclude their Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame induction, but from their opening ramped-up “Message in the Bottle” one might have imagined they never broke up. Perhaps to befit the reunion, Sting wore an ancient holey white t-shirt that he must have had since the eighties — all the better to show off his yoga-toned abs. Copeland wore a headband, while Summers was dressed in the slacks and shirts of a professional jazz musician. And if professional musicianship was always the hallmark that made the Police a success, it was again evident as they gave new life to well-known hits, removing the reggae-lilt of “Roxanne,” and replacing it with a slowed jazzier tempo. That they felt comfortable enough to re-imagine a well-known catalog shows the confidence of seasoned veterans. While it wasn’t exactly “the Police unplugged,” the frantic punk edge of early hits like “Can’t Stand Losing You” and “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” was swapped for more room for Copeland’s improvisations, and Summers tasty Wes Montgomery-style guitar solos. The extended songs also gave Sting space to widen the choruses, and he turned “Roxanne” into a call-and-response with the audience that could have come straight from the Van Morrison repertoire. Sting sang “The Bed’s Too Big Without You” as if he meant it, despite th

Published: 2007-05-29 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Live Shows

Radio Activity: The Secret Lives of NPR

What do shirtless punk icon Iggy Pop, irrepressible UK sensation Lily Allen and golden-voiced newsman Carl Kasell have in common? Well, the first two will be featured this week on NPR Music's online concert series. The 60-year-old Mr. Pop, known for his anarchic live shows, abs of steel and (at least in the old days) broken glass covered torso, has reunited with his gloriously out of control band the Stooges a spotty, but fine, new album, The Weirdness, and a current U.S. tour. Joining a roster that includes Death Cab for Cutie, The White Stripes and Cat Power as part of this performance series, these two shows—Iggy and the Stooges today Apr. 5 and Allen on Apr. 8—will broadcast from Washington D.C.'s 9:30 Club. If you miss it, you can also download select shows for free here. And Cool Stuff pinup Kasell? Well, you can generally catch him on NPR reading the news at the top of the hour (unless he's moonlighting on the game show Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me).

Published: 2007-04-05 Provider: E!Online

New J.J. Abrams Series 'Fringe' Billed By Fox As 'Felicity With Smoke-People' [Trade Roundup]

· Fox's fall schedule announcement introduces only two new shows: a comedy called Do Not Disturb (formerly The Inn), and J.J. Abrams's new series Fringe, which will air Tuesdays at 9 after House. Details on Fringe are being kept under close wraps, but based upon a slew of promotional images over at TV Week, we think it revolves around a conspiracy discovered by a quality control technician at a menthol cigarette factory, played by Joshua Jackson. Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, meanwhile, and new animated shows Sit Down, Shut Up and The Cleveland Show won't air until mid-season. Executed: Back to You, Canterbury's Law, K-Ville, Nashville, New Amsterdam, The Next Great American Band, The Return of Jezebel James and Unhitched. [Variety] · Daniel Day-Lewis may be taking over the role vacated by Javier Bardem in Rob Marshall's movie on the musical Nine. Bla bla milkshake jazz-hands bla bla. [Variety]· Jason Reitman's next movie will be an adaptation of Walter Kirn's Up in the Air, about a frequent-flyer-mile-accrual-addicted HR worker. [Variety] · Michael Fassbender, whom you might recall as the guy with a bunch of arrows sticking out of his kickin' abs in 300, will play the role of Heathcliff in John Maybury's Wuthering Heights adaptation. Bet you're sorry for dropping out of the project now, Natalie Portman! What's that? You're perfectly happy with your penis-nosed musician boyfriend? OK, never mind. [THR] · In an attempt at beefing up their interactive arm, CBS paid $1.8 billion in cash for CNET Networks. Explained Les Moonves, "As we've made the case so many times before, there's no profit to be made online, so we thought we'd dump two billion cash into this doomed, money-losing venture just for shits and giggles." [Variety]

Published: 2008-05-16 Provider: Defamer Keywords: CBS, Daniel Day Lewis, Fox, fringe, Trade Roundup, Upfronts