POP KILTER

The Monkees were a major part of my pop culture upbringing and an early introduction to rock and roll for so many Generation-X’rs. I would rush home from St. Patrick’s Separate School at the end of the day just to see the Pre-Fab Four’s show. And even though I personally was a Mickey Dolenz fan, Davy Jones owned the hearts of the group’s female fan base. Davy Jones passed away this morning. He suffered a heart attack in Florida. He was 66. I remember my father mocking me and questioning why I liked the show and the music. It was clear from the beginning that inspiration for The Monkees was born from the fanatical success of The Beatles – and that The Monkees were ‘cast’ in their roles as members of a band. In the sixties, there was little appreciation for their music by the industry – partially because Jones and Dolenz along with Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork had little to no control over the music. That would change. Nesmith and Tork were musicians. Jones, like Dolenz, was predomina...

Simon Cowell might be a genius. The inventor of the square haircut and the white v-neck tee-shirt has come up with another swell idea. The former “American Idol” nasty is proposing a sing-off – between the winners from his old show, his current show “The X-Factor” and “The Voice.” I might have to gouge my ears out with a spoon before this makes it to air. But it is reminiscent of Battle of the Network Stars – and that’s a good thing. Battle of the Network Stars first aired in 1976 and starred people like Adrienne Barbeau, Melissa Sue Anderson and Pat Harrington Jr. competing is a series of physical challenges like volleyball and the baseball dunk while Howard Cosell commented on the ‘action.’ This is something I would watch. The cast of The Big Bang Theory challenging How I Met Your Mother to an inflatable kayak pool-paddle race. Charlie Sheen and Ashton Kutcher in foam sumo suits. CSI: Vegas versus CSI: Miami in the wheel barrel race. Now that’s good television. Captain Gabe Kaplan –...

While the world mourns Whitney Houston, you might have missed the passing of some other people who didn’t fall into the same fame-category as the Queen of Pop. Director Zalman King died after a long battle with cancer. He was 70-years-old. You might not know him but you probably know his work. He was best known for movies like “9½ Weeks” and the Showtime series “Red Shoe Diaries.” I never knew what to make of that show. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I was 12-years-old and told explicitly that I wasn’t allowed to watch it. Veteran filmmakers Andrew Wight and Mike deGruy died in a helicopter crash in Australia while working on a documentary for James Cameron. There is a horrible irony to this end – falling from the sky. Stuff they have worked on in the past included underwater documentaries for the ‘Titanic’ and ‘Avatar’ director. And Bill Hinzman succumbed to cancer at the age of 75. He may not have been a household name, but he did almost everything in show business; cinematogr...

I don’t know if there was ever a time when I thought listening to Whitney Houston was cool. In the eighties, her music and her videos were the essence of pop. And for a young man growing up with hair that was a little too long exploring everything from Springsteen to Def Leppard, Houstin wasn’t on my musical roadmap. It was reported today that the singer died. She was only 48-years-old. Only 48. Certainly the latter part of her life stole the spotlight from what was an impressive career. Her torrid relationship with Bobby Brown, her reported drug use and consequent abuse, and the questionable decline of the state of one of the most powerful voices in music – it all became almost more listenable than her music. It’s always a shame when someone so young and so talented dies. But a couple of things flew through my mind as my smartphone sung out a tone telling me and the world that she was gone. First she was labelled by the press as the Queen of Pop. The King of Pop was dead. Now, the Que...