Hey, just for the record, I don't hate Bruce. I bought his first three albums back when he graced the covers of Time and Newsweek and was being hailed as "the Savior of Rock n Roll". I wanted to believe. I really did. I mean, he was very ambitious early on, wanting to wed Phil Spector with Bob Dylan. The result was geat FM classic radio fodder. Then he abandoned the Rock God approach and became the defacto voice of the working class (the kids at the mall who bought his records are thankful, I'm sure), and now finds himself wandering around as the Ghost of Tom Joad. High seriousness in Rock is a small corner to paint yourself into if you ask me, but his heart is in the right place. That said, I still think that his early lyrics were overly-ripe, (give a close listen to "Greetings From New Jersey" if you want proof).

Hey, I even bought Pablo Honey and can attest to Thom Yorke's genius. O.K. Computer may very well be the greatest album of the last 20 years. Certainly every Rock nerd I've ever known has told me so ad nauseum. I just don't have the patience to wallow in too many more teenaged masterpieces. But then, I'm one of those folks who thinks the first Pink Floyd album with it's twee paean to magic gnomes and scarecrows is more interesting than the whole of "The Wall". But I digress, this is really about whether or not The Arcade Fire belong to the pantheon of fabulousness that is also inhabited by Bono. Currently every rock nerd I know (some with impeccable taste) have told me that indeed they ARE the greatetst thing since sliced white bread. I can only assume (since they care about these things far more than me), that they are correct.

What a crappy show. The host, (Gutfeld), was a regular flamethrower over at Huffington Post where his main posts involved put downs of liberal bloggers for their trendy anti-patriotism and hypocrisy,- you know, the usual charges of the terminally irony-deficient conservative. Sometimes he was clever and sometimes he hit his target even though his humor generally seemed to be rather scathingly mean-spirited and in retrospect, coming from that same uber-bravado that masked the fear of so many born-again republicans of the post 911 years.

I was interested in seeing what kind of show he'd end up hosting. I gotta admit that I came across it by accident late one evening. At it's best it's like a bad Bill Maher show where the guests seem to be inarticulate and none too bright and meander around topics flailing for meaning, originality and humor but substitute snideness and gall. Rachel Marsden is one of the worst offenders. I've since seen the show 5 or 6 times and I've yet to hear anything remotely articulate from any of the panel let alone her. (This show is so hard up for "talent" that it's producer sits on the panel every night). I was wondering what "quality" it was that Ms Marsden brought to this show other than being one more leggy, short-skirted conservachick-(it's already a cliche). But there she is every time. But then again, so is the same group of morons giving lip service to exciting topics like Anna Nicole and celebrity snatch shots. One night she claimed to have some affinity with some other female pundit because she too, didn't "get" Jon Stewart. She actually said something akin to, "I sit there and watch and go, "huh?" This is pretty much like admitting outright that you are stupid. If "red Eye" approached even one iota of the wit of TDS at it's worst, least inspired it would be worth watching because it might actually have an original point of view about something. I was wondering where/ who Rachel Marsden was. Now I know. Boy, it seems the more and more like indeed the most vocal of the born-again republican, self-promoting nimrods all have some weird pathology that motivates them onward. Like I said, I've never heard anything articulate come out of her mouth and correcting the rest of the intellectually vacuous crew about the Gulf of Tonkin doesn't cut it. Compared to her Coulter is a true wit.

I caught him on the Tonight Show and he appeared very geek-chic fey. I figured that he WAS gay. Let's face it, the crowd that buys Nickleback cds won't be impressed, however the Arcade Fire crowd probably already love him. It's doubtful that Rufus Wainwright would have a bigger following if everyone thought that he was straight. I mean, you am what you is. Andrew Bird's music may not be bubbling over with testosterone but his sexuality doesn't seem to be an issue.The same with Beck who shares many of the same spazz-o characteristics as Mika. If Wayne Coyne suddenly came out as gay however, I doubt that I'd suddenly be thinking, "Hmm. THAT explains the Easter Bunnies on stage!" It seems to me that what mainstream americans dislike is not so much campy flamboyance as ersatz show music and over-the-top theatricality which unfortunately Robbie Williams and Rufus both have a tendency for. I mean, leave that shit to American Idol and it's followers.