MTV's Video Music Awards turned 25 Sunday night and celebrated with a ho-hum ceremony that only served to drive home the enormous gulf in modern pop music when it comes to depth of material and star power.
Once again, Rihanna displayed a presence far superior to her peers though it's doubtful anyone over the age of 30 is paying attention; Christina Aguilera demonstrated attributes that clearly place her as the strongest overall performer with Disney in her teen credentials; and Lil Wayne, an inexplicable powerhouse, let his drawers droop and a bakcing track roll and his corner of marketplace went wild. Go figure. Meanwhile, Kanye West, backed by an army of drummers, operates on a plane that others just do not visit.
There were a host of bombs and question marks elsewhere, starting with host Russell Brand, whose "humor"  or even "style" never clicked. Whew! Talk about "not ready." The man made jokes about being big in the U.K. but that did not conceal his mediocre material and horrid delivery.
Elsewhere: Kid Rock continues to be the model of non-originality as he sang over the chords  of "Werewolves of London" and "Sweet Home Alabama" and the room responded by sitting on its collective hands; and the Jonas Brothers need to hear the clock ticking as their magnetism feels like it will expire by the end of 2009. They delivered a truly uneventful performance.
Held on the Paramount Studios backlot, show was a bit of corporate synergy intended to allow the acts to connect with Hollywood history that mostly did not pan out. Pink made the most out of it, moving between a tenement street  and a stage,  intentionally losing a significant piece of clothing along the way; her performance, like Aguilera's, had a power and conviction most of these acts seem incapable of  conveying.
Trophy-wise it served as a Britney Spears lifetime achievement tribute but poor Ms. Spears appears fit for the cameras but not prepared to speak - she delivered the same speech twice and gave the superficial "this is for the fans" dedication on her third visit to the podium.
Much as awkward actors and casts of shows and movies that few have heard of talked about historically significant videos and acts, 25th edition was a reminder of how this show is a shadow of its former self. The crowd seemed nonplussed by the bulk of the activities. An improvement, as a telecast, over last year's mess from Las Vegas, but MTV execs may be scrambling come Monday to mention anything as unpolished as the first hour of this year's VMAs. Perhaps it's just another indication of the channel's lack of interest in music of videos, choosing to peddle celebrity at all cost, even when the cost is a reputation.

Having made their way through doo-wop, the early '60s folk scare and neo-operatic pop, PBS is turning to Philly soul to fill its coffers.
On Saturday, a New Jersey  concert headlined by Jerry Butler, the Delfonics, Harold Melvin's Blue Notes, the Intruders and the O'Jays will filmed in hi-def for broadcast on PBS stations and, soon thereafter, sold on DVD. Concert, taking place at the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, will also feature Bunny Sigler, G.C. Cameron, the Soul Survivors, Jean Carne, Russell Thompkins Jr. & the New Stylistics, the Three Degrees and Bill Jolly.
PBS will premiere the first one-hour special "Love Train: The Sound of Philadelphia" as part of December's  Pledge Week with repeat broadcasts slated to run through 2009.  The "Love Train" Pledge Week broadcasts will offer PBS subscribers the "Love Train" companion DVD as well as selections from the Legacy Recordings Philadelphia International Recordings reissue catalog.  The second one-hour special will be scheduled for pledge broadcast in 2009.
The "Love Train: Sound of Philadelphia" DVD (SD and Blu-ray) will include bonus tracks, interviews with the featured artists, and a documentary on the history of Kenny  Gamble & Leon Huff.
While the evening will naturally be devoted to the hits, one  can hope the Three Degrees will perform one of the greatest "jail bait rejects pass from married man" songs ever record.

A double escape from cable?  Billy Ray Cyrus will be the new host of "Nashville Star" that will premiere on NBC in the summer.
Formerly Mr. Achy-Breaky Heart and currently Miley's Dad, Cyrus will become the country version of Ryan Seacrest as the former cable show moves to network.
Cyrus, who looks a little too much like Chris Gaines these days,  made the announcement on the "Tonight Show."
"Nashville Star" is making casting stops in the Los Angeles area, Washington, D.C., Austin, Texas, and Nashville next month.
Show was created by the company formerly owned by NBC Entertainment chief Ben Silverman, who is still listed as an executive producer.

"After Hours with Daniel," the HD show featuring chef Daniel Boulud hanging out with friends in restaurants after they close for the night, has added a music element that might kickstart some good conversation.
The new season on Mojo finds "Daniel" headed to South Florida and New Orleans beginning  March 16 at 9 p.m. The Miami shows have the usual collection of athletes, cooks, models and a couple of DJs.
New Orleans is, naturally, a better story. Trumpeter Irvin Mayfield will be dining at Commander’s Palace; chef John Besh's August will be host to 12 Stones lead singer Paul McCoy and trombonist Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews; attending the party at Scott Boswell's Stella! will be trumpeter/vocalist Jeremy Davenport and Spinal Tap's Harry Shearer; and Art Neville and  George Porter Jr. of the Meters will dine at Donald Link's Cochon.
Andrews and Davenport broke out their horns at  the dinners they attended.
Show is basically Boulud meeting up with a chef and planning an afterhours dinner with invited guests.
The show is a great idea but the ones shot in L.A. were a bit stilted once the party began; the non-chef, non-journalist friends seemed guarded or unsure of what to say and the quick-cut editing eliminated some of the potnetially interestign banter.
For those of us who live for dining and wine experiences, this has the potential to be the be-all, end-all show.

With the laughter subsiding over all those incorrect news reports about Led Zeppelin playing Bonnaroo, it's time to get back to the question Les Zeppelin and all other tribute bands have to answer all the time: How can you make those warhorses entertaining night after night?
One answer:

Carrie Underwood as Julie Andrews? (Well, obviously, based on the Rodgers & Hammerstein reference in the headline).
And Beyonce gets to be Judy Garland. Apparently that's one producer's idea of "rock."
Those two will be part of the "Movies Rock" that will be filmed Sunday at the Kodak Theater for a two-hour prime-time special airing Dec. 7 on CBS. A spinoff of "Fashion Rocks," the initial lineup seems rather devoid of anything resembling "rock."
Underwood will perform "The Sound of Music," Beyonce gets to tackle “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” and Mary J. Blige and John Legend will duet on “As Time Goes By.” Where exactly the rock performers or even rock songs are is anyone's guess.
Being given medley duty are Elton John (an actual rock artist, but he gets animated films), Jennifer Hudson (James Bond tunes) and composer John Williams conducting an orchestra doing his own work.
David Paich, who occasionally rocked as a member of Boz Scaggs' early '70s band before creating Toto, will be the music coordinator.

The Biography channel is going the musical route with several of its premiere epoisodes, chronicling the lives of a few people whose stories would be "Behind the Music" gems.
On Oct. 11 Bio will feature Boy George leaping from "I'll Tumble For You" to performing community service with the New York City Department of Sanitation, and "Weird Al" Yankovic, who has created some humorous songs.
Oct. 18 will showcase Whitney Houston's rise to becoming "the fourth best-selling female recording artist of all time" to a life rife with "persistent rumors of drug abuse." Second hour belongs to Beyonce, whose family "risked virtually everything," according to the Bio press release, to get her career started.

The Eagles will make their first ever awards show appearance on Nov. 7 - on the 41st annual CMA Awards show, which ABC will broadcast. Band's first single, "How Long," from its forthcoming album has been climbing the country music radio airplay charts.
Don Henley appeared on the CMA kudoscast in 1993, singing a duet with Trisha Yearwood.

On paper, it makes as much sense as the Doobie Brothers appearing on "What's Happening" back in the day. But ABC's "One Life to Love" has become the soap opera for music stars.
Next Up: Timbaland. The rapper-producer will perform “The Way I Are” with Keri Hilson on the Oct. 9 episode.
Show will tape Friday in New York.Past musical guest stars on "One Life" have included Mary J. Blige, Jeannie Ortega, Lifehouse, Simply Red, Chris Botti and Erykah Badu.

Cabler CMT will devote six straight hours Thursday to Carrie Underwood’s first video, for the single "So Small," from her second album, "Carnival Ride." “Carrie Music Television” debuts at 6 a.m. The iTunes Store will simultaneously offer the video for sale.
CMT proudly says this is its first ever stunt like this. Network figures it will run the video 66 times within the six-hour span.  (Isn't that 66/6? Is Carrie doing the devil's music here?)
Video was directed by the man who helmed “Before He Cheats,” Roman White. "So Small" is the No. 1 tune at country radio.
19 Recordings/Arista Nashville will release "Carnival Ride" on  Oct. 23. 

Barry Manilow did not get the interviewer he requested on "The View" and bailed on his appearance scheduled for Tuesday, the release date for his collection of '70s covers.
"It’s really too bad because I've always been a big supporter of the show, but I cannot compromise my beliefs," he wrote on his website. "The good news is that I will be on a whole slew of other shows promoting the new album so I hope you can catch me on those."
On QVC last week, Manilow sold 40,000 pre-orders of "Greatest Songs Of The 70s" after performing his hits live on the home shopping channel.

Figuring 50 Cent will retire from music on or about Wednesday, Kanye West has been booked as the musical guest of this season's (the 33rd) premiere of "Saturday Night Live" on Sept. 29.
The only guy in the NBA who can get people to cross the street to see him play, Lebron James, will be the host.

A symphonic piece culled from hours of score for ABC's “Lost” will receive its premiere n Honolulu on Sept. 22. The Honolulu Symphony Toyota Pops, conducted by Tim Simonec, will perform composer Michael Giacchino's work with “Lost” star Terry O’Quinn (John Locke) narrating passages.Performance will beheld at the Waikiki Shell. Giacchino has scored all three seasons of "Lost" in addition to the Disney-Pixar film “Ratatouille,” “Mission: Impossible III,” “The Incredibles” and the series “Alias.” "Lost" is mostly shot on Oahu.

The unspectacular Video Music Awards drove the point that so much of modern music is disposable.
Highlighting songs with the shelf life of bread crumbs, Britney Spears' ill-prepared, lip-synch performance provided the perfect distraction. While Kanye West, Justin Timberlake and Foo Fighters will have long careers and make some of pop's most memorable  songs, there's little sense that these will be remembered as classics a decade from now.  Good as Kanye was, there's only one "Jesus Walks"; Timberlake  could get away with remaking "Sexy Back" for his next four albums and fans would probably not notice.
Meanwhile...
While West's performance was one of the better ones on the show, he says he will not appear on the network again. Ever. 
Roger Friedman says Britney Spears' horrid performance kills off hopes for significant sales of her Nov. 13 release - and he blames her manager.
Mark Caro come up with advice for other pop tartlets who see the VMAs as a comeback arena.
Time magazine's blogger had a good take on the deterioration of MTV.
Like an episode of "Cops," one scraggly tattooed longhair dude is charged with beating on another scraggly tattooed longhair. Rather than fighting over some crack addict, this gal was pretty.

Starz Cinema will air "Too Tough To Die: A Tribute To Johnny Ramone" on Sept. 15 at 10 p.m.
TV debut coincides with the third anniversary of the death of the Ramones' guitarist. Johnny  passed away just three days after this 30th anniversary concert tribute was staged.
Pic is directed by Mandy Stein. Yes, she's Seymour's daughter but she also made a glorious film about blues artists who reorded for Fat Possum, among them R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, titled
"You See Me Laughin'." (It was her debut).
"Too Tough To Die" includes performances by Tommy, Marky & CJ Ramone, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Dickies, X, Eddie Vedder, Henry Rollins and Pete Yorn. Remembrances of Johnny are proffered by Lisa Marie Presley, Sonic Youth, Debbie Harry, Nicolas Cage and many of the participating musicians.

The PR folks for amazon.com must be using Borat to take dictation.
Naturally, the online retailer is excited that it has the exclusive rights to Bruce Springsteen's first video from "Magic," which the dot-com will begin streaming on Tuesday. Problem is, they think the song is called "Road to Nowhere." As any self-respecting Springsteen fan knows, the tune is "Radio Nowhere."
Amazon.com will webcast the video for 24 hours while takign pre-orders for the disc at $9.99.
Later in the month, on Sept. 28,  Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform live on NBC's "Today" show at Rockefeller Plaza.
Five years ago,  Springsteen and the E Streeters performed on "Today," but the show made the trek down to Asbury Park, NJ. 

Disney's "High School Musical 2" had an opening week of 615,000 in sales and it could very well hit 3.5 million in sales by the end of the year.
Using the sales pattern of Disney's "Hannah Montana 2 (Soundtrack)/Meet Miley Cyrus" disc, and accounting for a holiday season boost and the inevitable "deluxe package," it is highly likely that Disney will have two or three of the 10 best-sellers of the year.(Rascal Flatts has a release slated for Sept. 25; "Hannah Montana 2" should easily top 2 million in sales this year).
"Hannah 2," released June 26, experienced a 42% drop-off in its second week, a 32% dip in the third and 12% dip in the fourth. It has held steady at about 30%-35% of its opening week number over the last several weeks.
"HSM2," by that logic, should pass the 1 million sold mark next week and then take about five sales weeks to lock in another million.
By that point the disc will be swimming in a sea of high profile releases and will likely taper off in high five digit sales for half of October and most of November. Just before Thanksgiving will be the three-month mark, just about time for Disney to come in with deluxe edition that will certainly spike sales.
The original "High School Musical" opened during the worst sales period of the year (January) with a first week tally of 16,000. Once it sold 97,000, the disc affixed itself to the top 10 and was able to compete with all-comers as the year wore, selling upwards of 200,000 to stay in the upper reaches of the chart.

Hank Williams Jr.will sing the theme of Monday Night Football for the 19th season with a new band featuring Brian Setzer, Richie Sambora and Gretchen Wilson.
Williams will lead the performances of "All My Rowdy Friends Are Here on Monday Night"  with Setzer and the 13 members of the horn section in the Brian Setzer Orchestra. Rounding out the band are singer Drake Bell, keyboardist John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting and drummer Cindy Blackman. Bassist Bootsy Collins is the lone returning member of last year's band.
Band is being recorded Monday at the House of Blues in Las Vegas.
The video ESPN uses to open MNF each week features team-specific visuals and lyrics.(Is there a word in English that rhymes with Pennington?)

Nickelodeon will premiere a live-acton music series titled "Yo Gabba Gabba" on Aug. 20 that, obviously, seems mighty close to "Gabba Gabba Hey," the rallying cry of the Ramones in the '70s.
The similarities are remarkable.
The Ramones got out their "Gabba Gabba" message by having a guy hold up a sign amid a crowd of oddballs. So does Nick.
Nick says their "Gabba" will provide "simple life lessons." The Ramones, too, provided simple life lessons, including beating on brats, getting a girlfriend and sniffing glue.
Nick's "Gabba," their press release reads, has "an original beat-driven soundtrack." Is there anything more beat driven than the 1-2-3-4 count of the Ramones?
Nick has a hiphop "legend" in Biz Markie in a recurring role. Dee Dee Ramone once made a rap album.
Bands that will appear on Nickelodeon include the Aquabats, the Aggrolites, the Shins and the Postmarks.  Once again, the Ramones stand out as true originals.

Comedy Central roasted Flavor Flav, the Public Enemy timekeeper turned reality TV star, on Sunday night with a handful of comics he had never met, a former paramour and a pair of rap artists. As Jeff Ross asked: "How do you embarrass a crackhead with a viking helmet?"
Naturally, the bulk of the jokes involved sexual practices and appetites. Jokes about Flav focused on his dark complexion, his height and offspring (seven kids from six women, or so it seemed). More time was spent abusing the other members of the dais than Flav and Snoop Dogg's insults, which followed his considerable consumption of cognac, are actually repeatable.

That's Son Volt's version of the Beatles' "Hello, Goodbye" that accompanies the ESPN commercial heralding the arrival in Los Angeles of soccer star David Beckham.
While their version of the track has chat boards lighting up with yeas and nays, Son Volt is returning to their favorite '60s medium - the vinyl LP - to issue a collection of tracks currently only available as an iTunes exclusive listed as "Chant and Strum."
1,000 copies of the two-LP vinyl version of "The Search"  are being pressed by Transmit Sound/Legacy.
Beckham comes to L.A. to play for the Galaxy on Saturday;the double album arrives July 31.

On Sunday, A&E will launch a show dedicated to musical performances and interviews. "Private Sessions" will open with Avril Lavigne, who probably won't disclose why her songs sound so much like other artists' work.
Filmed in  New York and hosted by Lynn Hoffman,upcoming editions include Goo Goo Dolls on July 29,  Toby Keith on Aug. 5,  Blues Traveler on Aug. 12 and Meat Loaf on Aug. 19. Nine additional episodes are planned for production this year.

Apples in Stereo albums used to be tough to find and chances to see the band were sadly infrequent. That may continue as head Apple-ist Robert Schneider is landing other employment and making money  apart from CD sales.
Schneider, whose leads  one the country's great modern pop bands, will  pen the theme song and score music for  Disney's "Special Agent Oso." Twenty six episodes  have been ordered.
Schneider will also be a featured guest at  MathFest, hosted by the Mathematics Assn. of America. Seems his work as an amateur mathematician impressed the Math guys to say math and music "convey structure, harmony and beauty.”
Band's recent single "Energy" has been used in commercials for Microsoft, Saturn, New Balance and the A&E Channel, among others.

"Little Boxes," Malvina Reynolds' 1962 song about the housing developments in Berkeley, Calif., will again be the theme of Showtime's "Weeds," this season interpreted by Joan Baez, Donovan,  Michael Franti, Angelique Kidjo,  Kinky, Persephone’s Bees, the Shins and  Billy Bob Thornton. Randy Newman gets to go first, singing the tune on the season premiere on Aug. 13.

Morrissey will premiere his next single “That’s How People Grow Up” on Friday's "The Late Show with David Letterman." Kristeen Young will join Morrissey for the performance.

Morrissey is about to begin the second leg of his 2007 tour, which begins tonight in Boston.

Producer Nigel Lythgoe tells USA Today he likes to see America. Ahhhh, Omaha in the summer!

"American Idol"  Season 7 auditions schedule:

July 30, San Diego (Qualcomm Stadium)
Aug. 6, Dallas (Texas Stadium)
Aug. 10, Omaha (Qwest Center)
Aug. 14, Atlanta (TBA)
Aug. 18, Charleston, S.C. (North Charleston Coliseum)
Aug. 22, Miami (AmericanAirlines Arena)
Aug. 27, Philadelphia (Wachovia Center

TV Land and the city of Honolulu will dedicate a life-sized bronze sculpture of Elvis Presley on July 26. Statue will stationed outside the Neal S. Blaisdell Center, formerly the Honolulu International Center, the site of Elvis’ 1973 Aloha from Hawaii concert.
In August, TV Land will celebrate Presley’s work with the ’68 Comeback Special, "Aloha from Hawaii," docs and pics such as "Love Me Tender."
Rights issues have altered the various audio and video releases of the concert, but When the King performed "Aloha From Hawaii via Satellite" on Jan. 14, 1973, his set list was:

See See Rider / Burning Love / Something / You Gave Me a Mountain / Early Morning Rain / Steamroller Blues / My Way / Love Me / Johnny B. Goode / It's Over / Blue Suede Shoes / I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry / I Can't Stop Loving You / Hound Dog / Blue Hawaii / What Now My Love / Fever / Welcome to My World / Suspicious Minds / I'll Remember You / Hawaiian Wedding Song / Long Tall Sally / Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On / Ku-u-i-po / An American Trilogy / A Big Hunk o' Love /  Can't Help Falling in Love

Recorded for the show sans audience: Blue Hawaii / Ku-u-i-po / No More / Hawaiian Wedding Song / Early Morning Rain