I was going to entitle this post "Originals," indexing a terrible show that was briefly on the Toronto TV station City-TV. It was hosted by City's CEO, Moses Znaimer, who is like a much more pockmarked but equally be-ponytailed Montreal Jewish version of Karl Lagerfeld. Znaimer's sub-Shatner beatnik delivery meant that the portentous intros to the week's "Original" would take up like 20 minutes of the show, and then finally we would be introduced to an "Original" like Philip Roth or something, and then he and Moses would have a creepy older Jewish guy-off until the credits rolled. In truth, it was a brilliant show.
But not nearly as brilliant as the sublime "Project Jay" on Bravo last night. I am a huge fan of this shit. First of all, Jay is a completely new species of TV star. A true eccentric, but lacking totally in affectation, Jay seems to genuinely struggle with the idiocy of the entertainment world in which he is immersed. Lacking the ego of a jackass like Ashley Parker Angel, and gifted with about 500 more IQ points, Jay is totally believable as a couch-surfing art guy who may be a few weeks away from returning to his parents' house in rural Pennsylvania. Jay reminds me of all the art-school kids I hung out with in freshman year, listening to Ozzy's "Randy Rhoads Tribute" album, drinking 40s of Fin Du Monde and making paintings of Bruce Lee... but without the slide into Prada eyeglass frames, stretch fabric buttondowns, and gym memberships. My hero! Jay is the anti-Jonathan Antin, who, Bravo commericals sadistically remind us, is coming back for a third season of brain poison... which I will compulsively watch and re-watch.
We only saw three-quarters of the show, because we were out last night and the tape fritzed out. Where were we out at, you ask, pausing to question your own grammaticality? At the Baby Dee/Weird Weeds show at the Cactus Cafe, of course! I hadn't seen the Weird Weeds since I stopped being a member over a year ago, and lemme tell you, they are fucking amazing. The best power trio since Triumph. An extra shout out must go to Nick Hennies, who has no doubt benefited from his enrollment in the Long Telegram dojo of open-fist praying mantis style shredding. (He is now a blue belt). This guy is seriously like the best drummer in rock right now. A quality he demonstrated not only with the WWz, but also doing some of the most heartbreaking press rollz I ever heard while the headliner, Baby Dee, sat at the piano and played one in a series of beguiling, moving, and utterly haunting songs of pain and hope.
I will not detail Baby Dee's personal history here, since I don't know much about it, but I will try to describe the music. Alternating between accordions, concert harp, and piano, Baby Dee sings in a voice somewhere between the tramp on Gavin Bryars's "Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet" and an extremely farklempt Blossom Dearie. The music all sounds like it could have been cribbed from a 19th-century hymnal, and the lyrics are rife with Blakean nature imagery and hints of a life of unspeakable pain. Wowza. A true original
But not nearly as brilliant as the sublime "Project Jay" on Bravo last night. I am a huge fan of this shit. First of all, Jay is a completely new species of TV star. A true eccentric, but lacking totally in affectation, Jay seems to genuinely struggle with the idiocy of the entertainment world in which he is immersed. Lacking the ego of a jackass like Ashley Parker Angel, and gifted with about 500 more IQ points, Jay is totally believable as a couch-surfing art guy who may be a few weeks away from returning to his parents' house in rural Pennsylvania. Jay reminds me of all the art-school kids I hung out with in freshman year, listening to Ozzy's "Randy Rhoads Tribute" album, drinking 40s of Fin Du Monde and making paintings of Bruce Lee... but without the slide into Prada eyeglass frames, stretch fabric buttondowns, and gym memberships. My hero! Jay is the anti-Jonathan Antin, who, Bravo commericals sadistically remind us, is coming back for a third season of brain poison... which I will compulsively watch and re-watch.
We only saw three-quarters of the show, because we were out last night and the tape fritzed out. Where were we out at, you ask, pausing to question your own grammaticality? At the Baby Dee/Weird Weeds show at the Cactus Cafe, of course! I hadn't seen the Weird Weeds since I stopped being a member over a year ago, and lemme tell you, they are fucking amazing. The best power trio since Triumph. An extra shout out must go to Nick Hennies, who has no doubt benefited from his enrollment in the Long Telegram dojo of open-fist praying mantis style shredding. (He is now a blue belt). This guy is seriously like the best drummer in rock right now. A quality he demonstrated not only with the WWz, but also doing some of the most heartbreaking press rollz I ever heard while the headliner, Baby Dee, sat at the piano and played one in a series of beguiling, moving, and utterly haunting songs of pain and hope.
I will not detail Baby Dee's personal history here, since I don't know much about it, but I will try to describe the music. Alternating between accordions, concert harp, and piano, Baby Dee sings in a voice somewhere between the tramp on Gavin Bryars's "Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet" and an extremely farklempt Blossom Dearie. The music all sounds like it could have been cribbed from a 19th-century hymnal, and the lyrics are rife with Blakean nature imagery and hints of a life of unspeakable pain. Wowza. A true original
9 comments:
My bad. I meant to say "crunch rolls."
oh my gah -- i love project jay.
what the fuck was up with guadalupe on the project runway reunion show?
i think guadalupe may have ingested lsd for the show or something, because that's about how coherent she was. i liked the dress she got booted for, tho. i totally have a crush on daniel v
but i have an even bigger crush on project jay!
yeah, guadalupe was fried. FRIED!
I actually like santino. daniel v. seems sort of smug and appears to have this sort of faux modesty. But you are not alone. I know many find him crushworthy.
and yeah, project jay all the way.
I LOVE JAY. said it before, here i shall say it again. brilliant show. and yeah, Guad was on the crizzack.
and another thing...
i love the weird weeds, totally love them. but they were even better with Sad Billionaire in the band.
I know what you mean, chris, about gaudalupe being brilliantly incoherent. I wish I got better vibes from her, because I'm sure I would have appreciated it more if so.
Another great weird moment -- when Daniel Franco told Heidi he loved her.
that daniel franco moment was extremely scary. it's like he's stalking her, and that's why he keeps coming back. ew.
I loved Project Jay, too! That special was supposed to be 8 episodes, but they condensed it into one. Big mistake. he's much more watchable than almost any other reality star right now.
and FF, I agree about Dan concerning the faux modesty. But I do like most of his clothes.
And did anyone see the PR Fashion Week pics? Kara's "decoy" collection was so unexpected and great. Although all her models wearing funky hats was derivative of Jay's models wearing earphones, it was so much more fun than the other 3 collections. Who knew she had that in her?
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