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Nightline
One of the senses which defies the others and becomes infinitely more acute as one roars down the final stretch towards the fiftieth lap of one's life is the sense of time.
I am finding it more difficult, as the seconds streak by like some Magic & Light special effect, to tell myself that I am merely in my extremely late teens, and the fact that the anniversary of my birth rattles around shortly after I sober up from the New Year's toasts simply exacerbates my feeling of...."terra aloofa".
On the first U.S. Nick Drake album, the cover showed a disconnected Nick leaning whistfully against a wall as the world rushed by at out of focus superspeed. He was to die just a couple of years later, a strange and unnerving death wherein, to some degree, he merely ceased to be - taking disconnectedness to a high art form and I am beginning to seriously relate to that sense of apartness..of disconnect.
In a recent issue of a local magazine, I read with interest a review of the remake of Hitchcock's classic "Psycho". I really never cared that much for the first one since I'm not a big fan of soiled underwear in public theaters, nor in my own living room for that matter. So I didn't really see the purpose in a remake, particularly since the big claim to fame seemed to be that the original had been recreated literally frame by frame. And so I was gratified to discover that the reviewer held the same opinion.. it made sense to me, y'know.
And then, to cap it all off, I watched "Nightline" recently for the first time in some weeks and they've changed the signature tune. It's not even a drastic change... it's just a different emphasis on the first four notes. It used to go...
"baa baa BABA..."
and now it goes
"baaaa ba baaba..."
Where the cadence used to be more of a definite fanfare, a distinct calling to arms, it's now more relaxed - more peaceful almost.
And for several nights now I've mulled on this change, allowed it to ferment within my mind, hoping that it would eventually point out why... and how...these singular little changes wreak such havoc in the threads of my own personal cosmos.
And what's the connection anyway... is it really simply a matter of time and timing??
Or is it more a matter of the grand unknown plan - the unwritten scenario to which we all play bit parts, save for those unfortunate few accidentally chosen to star?
As Alan Arkin reminds us in "Simon" we need to wake up and find out who's running things..to discover, as he pleads, "Who's responsible for the Hawaiian music in the elevators?" Maybe that's what Nick was wondering as he leaned against the wall watching the world rush by.. maybe not. Maybe he thought the fanfare was too loud, and when he couldn't take it anymore he simply checked out - to escape the noise, see?
In my younger days, like back in August, I liked the fanfare. It eased my chaos because Nightline has been with me since the hostages were taken in Iran. That strong brassy four note intro gave off the impression of power and strength and we needed that sort of assurance of competency back in those strange days when Reagan was in the center of a plot to steal the presidency out from under a hoodwinked Carter who was taking the high road to get our boys back home. 'Course, then again, technology was different back in them days...the small lo-fi T.V. speakers added a vibrant urgency to the already brassy sound. As the millennium cranks up the afterburners, television now has more refined sound quality, singularly more suited to the diminished American social spine.
And what's this all about, you may well ask - at least those of you who are still reading? Where the hell is this going.. and who cares about the new Nightline theme? Well y'see, kats 'n' kittens, it's like this... in the grand scheme of things the neutering of a nightly T.V. show theme music is probably no more than a hill o' beans, but then again, it's just such reflections of attitude by the mass media that are the first signs of things that will soon go bump in the night. The idea that the powers that be at ABC - and the highbrow producers of Nightline itself - felt it necessary to alter such a long time familiar theme reflects, at the very least, an attempt to taylor the show to a perceived shift in demographics as it realizes that we are all getting older. But such a decision begs the following hesitant questions...
1. Does it imply that Nightline no longer considers itself viable to the younger crowd... and does it make this assumption based on a perceived lack of "understanding potential" (read "smarts") among that younger set??
2. Does it suggest that those of us who have matured along with Koppel are less able to withstand the thematic call to awareness brought about by the old anthem and it's bellowing power?
3. Or perhaps most frightening of all...does Nightline believe that the era of social awareness, and the show's forefront role in illuminating the scenarios of our times, is simply drawing to a close and it's chosen to begin it's wind down by softening it's aural attack on the senses.. the reveille blast that brought me back to full consciousness all those nights when slumber called early?
I'd certainly hate to think so.
I mean, I'm as pruriently interested in Clinton's dalliances as the next guy... unless I'm standing next to any number of obsessed republican peeping toms. But gee whiz, fellahs.... that's not all that's going on, is it?? And isn't Nightline going to continue to bring me hard hitting journalistic, ratings-be-damned television just like it did in the Tammy Faye and Swaggart days? How the hell can it do that with this borderline new-age theme.
So the lesson to be learned from all this foolishness about T.V. themes is just that all is not always as it seems, and that those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it. There are a thousand examples from the last four decades, and even before, where the government or industry chose to regain control of outspoken (read "uncontrollable") elements of society by absorbing them.. softening their effects on the populace by that very absorption. When our heroes become mainstream and our rebels become tamed, we must - as must any aware and vibrant society, be cognizant of such changes and must react to them with suspicion and vigilance. My own middle agedness has allowed me to become complacent, to lean like Nick and watch the world go by, figuring I'd hop back on the carousel when it finished spinning so damn fast. But the reality that sinks in, as I listen to the NEW Nightline theme is that I MUST be part of the process of slowing it, back down to reasonable speed where the average citizen is once again involved and empowered.... not removed and powerless.
It's now a new year and a damned important one. We can finally get some answers and I shall become either once again connected or more ethereally removed. The Internet is fast approaching that state of uncontrollable anarchy that the planet has needed for so long...Peyton Manning should thankfully make the football world forget about that gaggle of Southern California beachboy type of blonde haired blue eyed Stepford quarterbacks that included such automatons as Elway, Aikman, Young, Esiason and all the rest of them. Monica's dress will make it either to the dry cleaners or the Smithsonian and heaven only knows how much Bill Gates daily salary will grow to.
And that's kinda the point...yes Virginia, there's a point. In the next year, we need to begin to connect again.. to pay attention to the things which are small yet significant, like the softening of a television theme tune. Ya see, if they'd simply changed the tune... a whole new melody and beat...it would have been a different matter. But they didn't. They just castrated the existing melody and beat because they believed we wouldn't notice - wouldn't care even if we did - wouldn't grasp the significance..
and they're probably right, aren't they?
Well in 1999 - I, for one, will pay more attention to the cracks in the fabric. I shall try to decipher the looks on the faces of those who stand motionless as the world rushes by and look for further clues to explain and understand my own sense of "je ne sais quois". But I don't think that the search is going to made easier or more fulfilling by the remaking of classic movies "frame by frame" or otherwise. And I shall begin by simply cutting the speaker wires in the elevators.
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Remember to hug your Kids
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