Some things make even Misc. disoriented. The Mariners winning in Sept.? Vying for not just a newfangled wild-card playoff berth but (at this writing) not far from a real division lead? Aargh! My whole reality system is collapsing on me!
READ YOUR TV: Early-morning television has always been radio with faces. Producers presumed breakfast-time viewers were too busy grooming and feeding to watch the screen. Bloomberg Information Television on the USA Network and its “lite” version, VH-1in the Morning, challenge that notion. They’re cablecast live to the East, so you’ll have to get up at (or set your VCR for) 5:30 a.m. Both Bloomberg shows fill the screen with words and numbers: News headlines, weather for cities across the country, sports scores, and trivia. The USA show has a gloriously jumbled screen packed with info, while announcers in the top-right corner read news and business stories. The VH-1version has a slightly less-cluttered screen of data surrounding easy-listening music videos. Both require a TV big enough to read from, and would work better in still-far-away hi-definition TV or as hi-bandwidth computer services. The USA version is like a video caffeine jolt compared to the snooze-button blandness of regular morning shows.
NO ESCAPE: As the notion of “mass media” deteriorates, marketers get ever more creative in seeking ways to market to people who don’t particularly like to be marketed to. They’re now putting paid product placements in video games. Now, the trade journalInteractive Week sez game maker Digital Pictures wants to stick on “interactive commercials.” In one proposed example, game players would point-and-click through Coke logos and arrive at an 800 number to get a free six-pack — if they agreed to be in demographic surveys. I can imagine more creative stuff, like a Mortal Kombat warrior endorsing Coke as the perfect refresher after you’ve ripped out your opponent’s skeleton.
NOTED: The Seattle Symphony, refusing to surrender amid anti-arts mania, has worked damn hard to draw younger and/or nontraditional audiences. It’s performed with Peter Gabriel, created a Frank Zappa tribute night, and even appeared on Almost Live!The culmination of this drive to bring orchestral music into the 20th Century is Cyberian Rhapsody. Billed as the first symphonic concert on the Internet, the Nov. 10 event at the Paramount will include string-n’-brass versions of Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, and Queensryche tunes, as well as material by those boomer favorites who left town at the dawn of their careers (J. Hendrix, Q. Jones). For the first time, Seattle’s cultural establishment is noting the existence of living (or recently-deceased) people who’ve created original music in Seattle whose last name isn’t G. Whether it’s a mark of long-overdue respect or an omen of attempted co-option is for you to decide.
ELSEWHERE ON THE MUSICAL FRONT: KCMU can’t seem to stop rumors spreading among the new-music community that it’s gonna be forced off the air so sister station KUOW can have both frequencies (one for classical music, the other for news/ talk). Station management denies it, saying the recent merger of KCMU’s and KUOW’s administrative and fundraising operations was merely an efficiency measure. The KCMU Kontroversy a couple years back hurt the station’s fan rapport and financial stability, but proved there’s an active community of listeners who love the station and want it to be better at what it now does. At a time when public broadcasting’s threatened on all sides, it needs to make friends by seeking diverse audiences instead of narrowcasting everything to Upscales only. Let’s hope the UW administration realizes this.
SILO R.I.P.: It’s one thing for suburban superstore chains to seize the retail dollars of Tukwilans. It’s another thing when chains that situate stores in town (like Silo in the U District) pull out of a region ‘cuz they can’t match superstores’ marketing clout. You could have foretold Silo’s fate when its ads got panicky n’ defensive about matching superstore prices, foregoing old such slogans as “Silo: Where people have fun with electricity.”
(Nothing new this week at the Misc. World HQ website <<http://www.miscmedia.com>>, but please see it anyway.)
