Lute-ing the Vaults
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So I'm watching "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" the other night. It's TV auteur Aaron ("The West Wing") Sorkin's new behind-the-scenes dramedy set at a fictionalized late-night sketch comedy show a la "Saturday Night Live." It runs on NBC, Mondays at 10 PM -- at least for the time being. (The critics raved, but the ratings are middling despite crackling dialogue and great chemistry between Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford as the producing/writing honchos at Studio 60.)Anyhow, this week's show-within-a-show features the real actress Lauren Graham of the CW network's "Gilmore Girls" as the guest host -- and musical guest Sting! That's right. He who is Gordon Sumner, ex-Police man, husband of actress/movie producer Trudie Styler, father of singer/songwriter Joe Sumner from the band Fiction Plane, blah, blah, blah...And there's Sting his-own-self in a rehearsal sequence, and he's strumming his latest passion: the lute. Yep, the olde stringed instrument that calls to mind images of the Elizabethan troubadour in the garden serenading his lady love as she leans over the balcony. Coincidentally enough, Der Stingle has a new album due this month -- a classical music effort consisting of the rock star singing and playing the lute on a bunch of ballads by 16th century composer John Dowland.How fortuitous that Sting found a primetime network venue to bring a taste of his current passion to the national TV viewing audience. But, when it came time to do a full performance at the end of the show, he trotted out a lute version of "Fields of Gold" as Perry's character and ex-girlfriend Harriet, a Studio 60 comedienne played by Sarah Paulson, made goo-goo eyes at one another. "Field of Gold" on the lute. Is this any way to assert your archaic cred? Talk about the path of least resistance.What's next? Billy Joel playing the harpsichord while he sings "Uptown Girl" on Leno? A cover of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" by Wynton Marsalis on ram's horn? Rod Stewart croaking a Cole Porter number? Wait. Forget about that last one, if you can.
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