Rock Radio ignores day parts

Something about the Beach Boys makes me cry. Whether it be "Don't Worry Baby" or "God Only Knows," I'm all teary when I hear them. Play "Wouldn't It Be Nice" while a ship is going down, as in the new Philip Seymour Hoffman movie "Pirate Radio," and I'm a sopping mess for at least a few hours.

And that's the primary strength of the movie - the music. The songs are hung on a poorly developed story of pirate radio stations sitting in the North Sea in 1966, waiting to be made illegal by the British government (one of which is a formidable Kenneth Branaugh). There's a teenage boy looking to lose his virginity and accidentally comes across his hippie father, an over-sexed DJ named Big Dave and a wedding-that-wasn't, none of which is as compelling as hearing what radio jocks sounded like back then and jamming to The Who, The New Seekers and (as I mentioned) The Beach Boys. Murray from "Flight of the Concords" injects flashes of nut humor and Bill Nighy plays the exact same Brit he does in "Love Actually." The characters - besides Branaugh's dry role - give the movie spark.

I loved it so much, I decided to wear a dress with daises all over it today.

(Not really, but I did rock to some awesome tunes.)

Strangely enough, the class I TA for listened to a DJ from the '70s, I believe, the morning before I saw the movie. The same spirit of rebellion coursed through his words as did those of The Count (Hoffman). They - those behind the tunes spun before BOB FM and other pre-programmed stations - loved music and wanted to broadcast that personality with their favorite songs. I remember listening to the KISS 10 at 10 as a middle schooler; now I listen to my iTunes on shuffle all day. I don't miss the advertising, but I sometimes miss Janet Snyder in the morning. "Pirate Radio" makes me want to support stations again...but unless it's WERG 90.5, they probably don't play what I like anyway.

Losing Lea

Congratulations, Yankees fans. You won. But I'm glad you are no longer playing so I can watch "Glee."

The beginning of last night's episode was thrilling - the prospect of hearing Lea Michele sing "Defying Gravity?" So exciting for a theater nerd (like me). And she didn't disappoint - and neither did Kurt, my favorite character.

What has been disappointing is the almost complete loss of Lea Michele's talent otherwise. At the start of the season, she sang in every episode or had a temper tantrum or fantasized about Finn. Now, she hides behind the guise of no one liking her - even though, while annoying, she's not exactly unlikeable - and has been overshadowed by Quinn's pregnancy. I wrote in a previous post that it is the characters that keep "Glee" together. I revise that now. Lea Michele was one of the reasons I started watching the show and after two weeks without hearing her latest rendition of some famous song, that's what I really wanted to hear.

Some refreshing notes, too: Wheels singing Billy Idol. The tearful scene with Sue and her sister. Tina's admission to affecting her stutter (!).

Lea Michele is my favorite, musically, and I need more of her as a viewer. But the show is really stepping up to the plate with other character development, and I would probably keep watching even without her.

Come on, though. She's so made for "Defying Gravity!"

Go read someone else

It's probably obvious: I don't update as often as I did over the summer. I'm taking in more culture - theater especially - that I ever have, but I have not devoted enough time to writing about it here. Classes have my judgmental eye carefully crafting a piece - choosing a tone, seriously considering my verb choices - and that has taken some of the fun out of my spontaneous bouts of love for Sutton Foster.

So, until the freshman in my class need less help and I don't have to stare at HTML code for hours at a time, you should read: www.thelistomania.com. It's awesome writing (that I edit sometimes, I might add, so maybe I'm biased) - snappy, profane and full of the voice - about his 151 top songs of the '00s. Before you start thinking it's just some kid spouting off about Nickelback, know that he's been making lists like this for years and has a prolific knowledge of his subject matter. And that's all evident in the individual entries. He made me a jammin' mix CD a few weeks ago of Sigur Ros, Jenny Lewis, Chairlift and a bunch of other bands I absolutely will take notice of in the future. (Listen to Chairlift's "Bruises" and see if you don't tear up thinking about being a kid and being in love.) So the List acts as two things: First, he's a dude that knows a lot about music and has some great insight. Second, he makes you remember why you used to listen to Ted Leo on repeat. Ok, and third, the List will open your eyes to some artists you missed the first time through the decade.

www.thelistomania.com - Do it.