Jedward - perfect stars for the SpongeBob generation

Maybe you saw a picture of them in the NY Times yesterday? Maybe you've seen that silly hair? Heard their silly name? No, not John and Edward, but Jedward.

Tonight they're competing in the dubiously named Eurovision Song Contest. The actual song seems to be way down the list of priorities for the masses who vote by telephone across Europe. Years ago the contest was all about the song, but no more. Today choreography, costume & charisma of the performers probably count more than the song. For all of those reasons Jedward should do well, although the vagaries of the voting among the millions of people across Europe mean nothing can ever be taken for granted.

John and Edward Grimes are the Irish twins who a few years back made a splash on Britain's X-Factor. During the contest they adopted the name Jedward. They finished sixth in the contest, but the "Planet Jedward" phenomenon was only beginning.

Jedward come across as so innocent that they don't seem to appreciate that there are a lot of cynical people desperately hoping they will err and let what many assume is their mask slip. People in the media seem to be continually trying to trip them up with questions about sex, which the brothers answer unfailingly as if they are living on the set of Leave It To Beaver. It's jarring to witness.

This is what seems to bother people most: they just assume Jedward are a pair of fakes. I suspect that they're more real than most people my age could imagine.

Jedward are SpongeBob, only more like SpongeBob on speed. Actually, they're like a mixture of SpongeBob and Tigger. Ridiculously innocent and far too energetic. They can wear you out. Two minutes of them is enough for me.

What I think doesn't matter, though. Their fans are not men in their 40s, but kids. Younger kids love them due to that energy and their wacky behavior ... and that crazy hair.

Teenagers - mainly girls - like them too. They like their antics and their hair too, but I suspect that many of these girls like Jedward because of their innocence. These are children who have been exposed to a popular culture that is beyond excessively sexual and Jedward are the opposite of that. They are a breath of fresh air.

Can they sing? Not really, but that also misses the point. They're multimedia stars, not music stars. You have to hear them sing, see them dance, listen to them being interviewed and see them interact with their fans to appreciate what it is that appeals to kids.

Can they conquer America? Can they become global superstars? On the one hand I say why not? There's no reason to assume that American kids (or Brazilian or whatever) are any different than kids in Ireland, Britain, Europe. Jedward are just plain fun. Yet, I can't help thinking that it would be impossible to remain as joyously naive as John & Edward are today while raking in huge sums of cash.

Also, I have to assume that the window of opportunity is not going to last long. I don't think they can expect to get away with their current routine when they're older. Even 22 might be too old for it.

They may not "crack America" as the saying goes, and they don't have to. They're doing pretty well for themselves right now. However, I suspect that they'll find their way across to America somehow. You'll probably try to resist, but the children won't. When you see the joy they bring to children, they'll have you hooked too.

Pogues' Fairytale is not a good Christmas song

As I write this I'm listening to the "Top 100 Christmas songs" countdown on ChristmasFM, Ireland's Christmas-only radio station. The countdown is only now in the 90s so there is a long way to go before they get to Number 1, but I'm sure it will be Fairytale of New York by the Pogues & Kirsty MacCool.



How can I be so sure that Fairytale will be Number 1? Well, this isn't the first of these polls. In fact, it is one of the annual features of the Christmas season that some media outlet will release a poll of either Irish or British people and invariably Fairytale is Number 1.

I am at a loss to understand how this can be. Fairytale of New York is a good song; I like it. However, it is a cynical, hopeless song that seems devoid of anything that makes Christmas special.

Now I know there are some people who don't like Christmas and probably enjoy the gritty "realism" that Fairytale evokes. Yet there is no way that most people feel this way about Christmas otherwise there'd be no way that It's A Wonderful Life would regularly feature as the best Christmas movie of all time.

I really don't understand why anyone would want to listen to Fairytale of New York at Christmas time. It's so depressing.

I used to think maybe it was a case of people not really listening to the lyrics, as happens (happened) with couples who love The Police's Every Breath You Take. I don't think that is the case with Fairytale, however. It really is inexplicable to me.

Springsteen's Santa Claus is Coming to Town is fantastic and just about any Christmas song from Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra hits the right note at Christmas time.

If it has to have "grim reality", I prefer Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas, which is an upbeat song despite the story behind it. And I really like Garth Brooks' Belleau Wood, which is an excellent song about the 1914 truce during WWI (although full of historical inaccuracies).



Both Do They Know It's Christmas and Belleau Wood contain that essential Christmas ingredient - hope. Fairytale starts with hope, but spits it out.

I have to say, however, that my favorite Christmas song is none of those above. It is Good King Wenceslas, which is the very opposite of Fairytale. The story of the man of wealth and power trudging through the snow on a dark, stormy winter's night to bring "flesh", wine and pine logs to a poor man is the essence of what Christmas is about. Hope. Hope was born 2010 years ago and Good King Wenceslas is a great summary of what tomorrow should mean to all of us.

I'd watch Mary from Dublin over Susan Boyle any day

The "next Susan Boyle", how many times have you heard that? This week the British press was full of that with regards to Mary Byrne from Dublin, a 50-year-old supermarket check-out clerk whose audition for Simon Cowell & friends was scheduled for tonight.

Well, I just watched Mary's audition for the British X-Factor and the truth is I'd rather watch and listen to Mary {photograph} over Susan Boyle any day. Is she a better singer? I don't know, but based on this one 3 minute song Mary is a much better performer than Susan Boyle.

Maybe this will irk or even anger a few of you, but I find it very hard to watch Susan Boyle. Can she sing? Sure, but to me there's always something missing from her performances. I find it even more glaring when I watch her. I couldn't tell you what it is exactly, but I just don't enjoy watching Susan Boyle perform.

For that reason I think Mary has a right to feel aggrieved any time someone calls her the "next Susan Boyle." The contest has a long way to run and maybe it won't work out for Mary as it has for Susan Boyle - no riches, no fame, no tabloid pressures - but regardless Mary has the right to think the world of herself right now.

For a woman of that age, from a working class background and who admits to having a "low self esteem" to put on the show she did tonight was amazing. I hope she goes on to great success on the X-Factor, but whether she wins or not becomes rich and famous or not doesn't matter to me. As far as I'm concerned Susan Boyle should be so lucky.

What was the last record you bought?

I've often found myself talking to people and the question of "What was the first record you bought?" arises. I've always been able to answer that question (Elton John's Greatest Hits). That was around 1976 or 1977. I can't remember now.

That was my first record. Yesterday I found myself wondering what was the last record I bought and I wasn't sure.

A new radio station will soon be launched here and for the first time Dublin will have a "classic rock" station. To prepare for the launch the station is testing its signal by playing nothing but music hour after hour, day after day. No ads, no news, no weather, no DJ. Nothing but music.

Yesterday evening I was listening when I heard Vanz Can't Danz off John Fogarty's Centerfield, a record I have a clear memory of buying. That was 1985.

The album came out in 1984, but my copy had the altered title to the song "Zanz Can't Danz" that Fogarty was forced to release after he was threatened with a defamation lawsuit by the owner of Fantasy Records, Saul Zantz (might have name wrong). So, I'm sure it was 1985, probably that summer.

Was that the last record I bought? I don't know, but I think it might have been. I have no memory of buying any records after 1985. I know I was determined to resist CD's - I was fighting 'the man' - and bought cassettes for a couple of years before I capitulated and bought a CD player and a couple of CD's.

When I think back to those times it's funny how I knew records were being phased out, but I never imagined a generation coming behind me that would basically never know records. (I know they're still around and that rap music kept them going through the 90s to some extent, but really the record is a relic.)

As far as I know none of my children has ever heard a sound I was all-too-familiar with, that of a scratched record. I think they may have once or twice heard tapes I made from scratched records, but even that's not quite the same. In fact, unless you own the record, the scratch sound doesn't have the same impact. Whenever I hear a song off a record I owned I still expect to hear the pops or skips that I experienced thanks to my own mishaps with my records.

Today's download generation can't imagine such a thing, but for the CD generation a scratch was pretty much a death knell for the CD and you had to replace it.

If you were born after 1970 there's a good chance you never bought a record and possibly never even heard one. That probably means I'm only talking to those born in the 60s and earlier, but do you remember your last record?

Luke Kelly — great talent and inspiration for Bono

Posted by TheYank at 8/19/2009 7:51 PM EDT

I won't claim to be anything like an expert on Irish folk music. I like it when I hear it, but I don't often seek it out. However, like I said I do like it and I own a few albums.

So, when I first moved to Ireland I hadn't heard of the Dubliners nor Luke Kelly, the Dubliners' singer who had died in 1984. My father-in-law was a big fan of Kelly and the Dubliners and his enthusiasm rubbed off on me. Of those Irish music tapes & CD's that I do have, the Dubliners albums are my favorites.

Last night RTE showed a 1999 documentary on Luke Kelly. I only caught the last 15-20 minutes. I was annoyed when I found it on because I would like to have seen all of it. I wasn't too worried, however, because I figured I'd find it on the RTE web site today and then I'd share the link with all of you.

Unfortunately, I presume due to rights-related issues, RTE hasn't made the program available for online viewing. However, I scoured the internet and found the documentary. It's well worth watching. Interviews mixed in with fairly long clips of Kelly & the Dubliners. One clip I'd never seen before was taken from from the Dubliners appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1968.

One of those who contributed to the documentary was Bono, who was a big Luke Kelly fan. In fact, I think young Bono consciously (or unconsciously) mimicked Kelly. I've seen clips of Kelly singing a number of times over the years and in some of the older black and white clips of Kelly singing you can see how Bono aped Kelly.

The young Bono often twisted himself around as Kelly did and stood with his hand to the side of his head as Kelly did. These days when I see film of young Bono I'm reminded of a young kid trying to copy the batting stance of his favorite baseball player. {Watch the video and let me know if you agree. I suppose you'd have to have seen a lot of Bono to even make the comparison.}

I'm not criticizing Bono for this. In fact, I like it. I like the fact that this young would-be rock star so clearly admired this man who was a folk singer. I just find it amusing. I think this goes in Bono's credit column.