Wish You Were Here

Here we are on the cusp of the 4th of July and all I can think about it how horrendous MTV's coverage of Live 8 was yesterday. Thank god for TiVo, because if I had to sit through that eight-hour debacle live, I would have broken something. Like the TV. We were busy doing stuff all day, so I TiVoed the noon-8 p.m. "coverage" of the 10-concert worldwide event. This morning, I spent an hour or so fast-forwarding through the seemingly neverending stream of annoying VJs, various celebrity talking heads, and commercials (I can safely say there was more advertising than concert when all was said and done). And the few times there was something worth watching, like the Who playing "Won't Get Fooled Again" (yeah, I've heard it a zillion times, but damn if Pete and Roger still don't sound great) or the Pink Floyd reunion, they cut away for more commercials or insipid commentary. At least they showed most of the Floyd set; as Deb noted, the guys haven't aged particularly well, especially David Gilmour, but they sounded sharp. Can a blockbuster world tour be far behind? The only company, media-wise, who got it right was AOL. AOL Music webcast all the shows live, uncut; you can go there to watch the shows in their entirety, although the downside is you can't skip to your favorite bands. Still, bravo to AOL (still sounds weird to say that) for leaving out the BS that nobody except MTV really wanted. As for the actual goals of Live 8, to raise awareness among the major world powers about increasing aid to Africa to eliminate poverty, it's hard to say if the event was a success. It was definitely a blip on the radar screen around here. But I give Geldof credit for pulling it all together on relatively short notice.

Deb and I spent the evening attending the Red Sox-Blue Jays game at Fenway. Our seats weren't really seats at all; we had tickets for the standing-room only area on the right field roof of Fenway, which the owners opened up last year (I think) in an effort to add more capacity to an antiquated stadium that they're stuck with (previous attempts to build a new park have been thwarted by local politics). Even though we were about as far away from the action as you could get, we had a good time. It was a long game and the Jays blew a 4-0 lead to lose 6-4, so I wasn't happy with the outcome, but we had fun. At least the Jays beat the Sox on Friday and today to win the series.

No big plans for tomorrow, other than to take the girls to the Beverly Farms parade in the morning. They're too young for fireworks displays (they happen too late), but they love a good parade.

Anyhoo, happy Independence Day to all y'all, and a belated happy Canada Day to my Canadian homiez.