Prematurely eulogizing HBO's VINYL.

On paper, VINYL seemed surefire.  1970s rock and the record business examined through an East Coast lens.  Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger as co-producers.  A cast including Bobby Cannavale, Ray Romano, Juno Temple, Olivia Wilde and Max Casella (channeling Joe Pesci).

And the Scorsese-directed pilot was generally good--though, at two hours, a bit less effective than the 90-minute opening episode of BOARDWALK EMPIRE.

Then, the second episode.

All the flaws (awkward time-shifting, overflowing cast,  off-kilter/unintentionally amusing imitations of Famous People, anachronistically backdating punk rock to 1973, an unfortunate re-use of the BOARDWALK pilot's kill-a-character-and-hide-the-body motif and general difficulty empathizing with most of the fuck-snort-and-betray male characters) of the pilot were magnified x100.

I'll probably struggle through the third installment, but VINYL has already become a white elephant on the scale of LUCK, which had the David Milch/Michael Mann pedigree--but similar problems with sprawling story plus not-interesting-enough characters.

And, as with LUCK, HBO has given VINYL two seasons as a declaration of faith in its A-list Talent.

Since VINYL, unlike LUCK, doesn't use horses in the show (with animal deaths causing premature cancellation), it's safe to expect the network to honor its commitment to a 21-22 episode run even if just a few hundred thousand people tune in or watch online.

The Rolling Stones, high ticket prices and the perils of limited touring.

Here's August Brown of THE LOS ANGELES TIMES mentioning a block of $85.00 tickets being released in time for tonight's Staples Center show.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-rolling-stones-85-dollar-tickets-staples-20130503,0,5693752.story

And here's a link to the Bob Lefsetz blog entry Brown references:
http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2013/05/01/stones-tickets/

Clearly, the Stones thought a limited-date tour warranted prices as high as $600 for tickets (as much a reason as the "beat the scalpers" thesis of Lefsetz).

And many fans (some of them probably angered by the band ignoring key U.S. markets outside of the East and West Coasts--except Chicago) are pushing back and staying home.

Curious if Led Zeppelin (allegedly Robert Plant's interested in another reunion; guessing it's keyed to the upcoming reissue-with-bonus-tracks of the band's recorded catalogue) will learn something from the Stones' victory-lap stumble.

Wondering why Russia wants to rebuild the Iron Curtain--re the Pussy Riot controversy.

http://gu.com/p/39j92

At this time, I'm taking a break from saying anything less-than-complimentary about Madonna's current tour (and below-average current album MDNA) to offer praise for Ms. Ciccone daring to offend the Powers That Are in Russia regarding what looks like a 21st-Century equivalent of England giving a make-an-example-of-them jail sentence to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for marijuana use.

In 2012, the Russian female punk band Pussy Riot risks being sentenced to three years in a labor camp for an act of civil disobedience in a church.

It's rather sad and frightening to watch a leader like Putin to indulge in the kind of totalitarianism that will break three butterflies on a wheel.

UPDATE 8/17/12:
This summary is taken from the GUARDIAN--
Three members of Punk feminist protest band Pussy Riot have been found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred in a Moscow court after their performance in February inside a Russian Orthodox cathedral .
• Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23, Maria Alekhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29 were sentenced to two years in prison - the minimum sentence for such an offence open to the courts.
• In sentencing the judge argued that bands' feminist beliefs were part of encouraging religious hatred.
• There were protests outside the courts and world chess Grand Master, turned politician Gary Kasparov was arrested along with opposition politician, Sergei Udaltsov.
• Amnesty and Human Rights watch have both condemned the verdict whilst the Russian Orthodox church has called on the government to show "mercy".
• After the sentencing, Pussy Riot released a new single, Putin Lights up the Fires.

ROLLING STONES TRIBUTE--TORN AND FRAYED