Why "Glee" Pisses Me Off

Anyone that knows me knows that I'm not much for television. I recently got cable for the World Cup, but I still spend most weeks without ever turning it on. Every so often, though, a show comes around that is such a cultural phenomenon and that commands so much chatter from my friends and associates that I'm forced to take notice. This year's un-ignorable show? Glee.

Glee is the new apple pie. To not love it is sacrilege. As my Twitter and Facebook streams finally stopped buzzing about Lost, they lit up even brighter for Glee, as if there was some sort of subliminal messaging in the show that creates an overwhelming urge to post "OMG I <3 GLEE SO MUCH" everywhere one can. People love this show.

There are plenty of reasons to love it, too. The concept is a refreshing spin on the classic high school drama and manages to ensure that all of your stereotypes are represented, giving everyone a character they can identify with. The cast is diverse and interesting, from the hilariously villainous Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) to the hunky director, and favorite of the ladies, Will Schuster (Matthew Morrison).

Morrison's last gig was playing Link Larkin in Hairspray, on Broadway. In fact, show creator Ryan Murphy spent three months cruising Broadway looking for talent for the show. The sheer amount of talent that Morrison and the rest of the cast brings to the table is exactly what makes my gripe about the show so tragic.

If ever a show should appeal to me, it would be one that plays heavily on creating and celebrating music and using it to amplify the emotional impact of the plot. Glee could do that, but I just don't believe it. You can tell a great deal of money and effort is spent on making everything sound "radio ready" (and iTunes ready -- there have been over 7 million digital sales), but this destroys the show. While supposedly featuring a glee club just finding their feet and sometimes rehearsing new material for the first time, every time a character opens their mouth to let out a note, it unleashes a flurry of gratuitous overproduction, embellishment and unbelievable polish. You see none of the group's development of their material, nor any of the awkward process that culminates in that grand emotional performance. The accompaniment is excessive from the get-go, too, yet we're to believe it just comes out that way when they practice.

As a result of this overproduction, the audience is robbed of the ability to invest in the journey to the final result.

So why do they do this? Maybe every episode needs a shiny downloadable new song to sell. More likely, though, is that the producers have so little confidence in their audience that they think we will only stand for it if it sounds like our Top 40 station. As a group of outcasts with tremendous ability finding their place, wouldn't the vulnerability of developing a song, making mistakes and journeying through them be more compelling than listening to what could just as well be some pop group with heavy doses of AutoTune?

That's the worst part: this is a waste of a talented cast that could have (and has) performed this material live. Musicians of this talent would be more compelling if every moment of their performance wasn't sanitized in the studio and lip-synced over. Wouldn't we be privileged to hear them?

Each episode reportedly costs over $3 million to produce, yet I'd find it so much more appealing if they just set up a camera and let these artists do their thing. The cast has the chops, but the curse of overproduction leaves the whole thing coming off like a Britney Spears album. With the show increasingly relying on celebrity appearances and gimmicks, it seems it is quickly losing its way, but it failed to reach its potential from the beginning.

Still, the show continues to gain popularity. Maybe the producers were right about us as a viewing public. Maybe we should be offended by how unsophisticated they think we are. In any case, I'm sitting this one out.

Oh, and I promise to never blog about TV again!

Modern Archeology: The Kansas City, Clay County and St. Joseph Interurban

In the heart of the railroad age, even regional improved roads were rare. Travelers making the journey between Kansas City and St. Joseph relied upon the Kansas City, Clay County and St. Joseph Interurban Railroad. At its peak, this route offered hourly rides on electric rail cars between the cities and points between. Technically a light rail train, the Interurban was the longest in the KC area and was considered one of the finest in the country.

As a lover of transportation, cities and days gone by, I love finding relics the remind us of how we've changed -- and what we have lost. It also reminds us of the importance of protecting these historical structures so they can continue to tell their stories about how residents of our region once lived.

There are few of the iconic arched "Luten design" bridges left in the Kansas City area. These were among the first concrete bridges built, showcasing how innovative and modern the Internurban was when it was built in 1911.

Here is what I could find:

This bridge sits where the railroad crossed Line Creek in Riverside, Missouri. Once hidden in the dense forest around the creek, the path to this bridge is now being cleared for use as a recreational trail, a fantastic adaptive reuse for this impressive structure.

This single arch sits on private property near the center of tiny Avondale, Missouri. The bridge is covered with vegetation but remains in remarkably good shape despite years of neglect.

This double arch sits conspicuously next to Interurban Road, the auto route resulting in the closure of the Interurban and the paving of its right of way. Interurban remains a popular route for cyclists because of its calm, meandering route. This bridge carried auto traffic over its single-lane width until it was replaced last year by a modern bridge. In a beautiful location, I'm hopeful this bridge can be preserved as the centerpiece of a public space. It is located just north of KCI.

Beyond Interurban Road, there are still areas where you can identify the railroad's path. It followed Waukomis Drive's current route through the Northland and where Waukomis meets 68th Street, you can still see the path on the undeveloped land to the north. This right-of-way has been included in recent light rail proposals as a path connecting KCI to the city.


For more information on the KC-Clay County-St. Joe Interurban, check out this excellent site dedicated to it. 


I hope to continue to discover these modern relics and share them in the future. If you have ideas on things you'd like to see me explore, please let me know!

social.staubio

As some of you might know, I recently made social media and various Internetish things my full time job. As I delved deeper into social media tools, case studies, conferences and the like, I wanted to have a place to document and share my findings. I also wanted to keep this blog around for my hopefully more frequent random commentary on whatever-the-heck-it-is that I post about.

The solution? http://social.staubio.com! Check it out if you are interested!

Concerts Delivered to You!

In light of my experience at tonight's David Gray show at Uptown Theater, I realize that there is a huge untapped market that I'm about to fill. We know you love the experience, but isn't it a hassle to come out to the theater? Let me bring it to you.

For the same price as a front row seat, I'll make your experience real!

-I will play music loudly so you have to yell at each other over it. I'll bring two friends to sit on each side of you and look annoyed. In the middle of the evening, I'll play the one song you actually know from the artist so you can scream, pay attention for a few minutes, sing the chorus and then go back to yelling! I'll be sure to play music I really enjoy so you can keep me distracted, and I'll pay lots of quiet songs for you to yell inappropriately during. Don't miss your chance to clap along to quiet, thoughtful songs!

-I will stand on the other side of your back yard with a guitar. That way, you can replicate all of those dark blurry photos that you can't make out and you'll never look at again. You can claim the aberration in the photo is anyone you want! You can even turn on your point and shoot flash to try to illuminate me from hundreds of feet away. Just keep shooting, it might work someday! Hold that camera high over your head!

-I will bring a universal phone charger so you never have to stop texting your friends. Be sure to yell over the music to tell each other about your texts!

-I will sell you warm, watered-down Bud Light for as much as you want to pay, then crowd you so you can spill it on me.

-Best of all, I'll give you a high five after two hours and agree with you when you say it was the "best concert ever!"

Open Letter to Ed Ford RE: Tomahawke Ridge

As Kansas City plans to annex still more land into our sprawling metro, proponents of a progressive policy toward KC development need to let the City Council know we are paying attention. Contact your Councilperson and let them know how you feel.

Click here more information on the ordinance to annex this area north of the airport. Of special note is the staff report that waves red flags right and left.

Ed,

I’m writing to express my vehement disappointment in your sponsorship of the annexation of still more far-flung land into our flailing, over-extended city. Our metro has long held dubious rankings on sprawl and the ill-effects associated with it, with KCMO leading the line. Surely you know that providing services to this area will cost far more than the revenue the area will generate, all while jeopardizing the quality of those services to people in existing, established neighborhoods that have made a long-standing commitment to Kansas City.

We’re the 21^st largest city in America by land area but the 35^th largest by population. Is it any wonder we have a budget problem, and yet we are working our way further up the land area list? With so much land awaiting development in a way that could leverage existing investments, why do you insist on overextending us still further?

You owe it to those of us in the second district that already exists to be a good steward of our limited resources. Leap-frogging sprawl is not a revenue solution, it is a cost problem. You’ve often displayed an ambition to move this city forward by making decisions based on new ideas, not tired, disproven ones. Surely you realize the folly of supporting a development that our own city staff summarily rejected.

My neighborhood alone, in your district, houses hundreds of Kansas Citians in a few blocks. We are using existing infrastructure at a vastly lower cost per resident. Why should we subsidize a new development so far from our existing investments as a city?

Please have the courage to stand up for your existing constituents, not hypothetical ones and the developers that will profit from them.

Sincerely,

Matthew Staub

2009: My Year in Cities

Cities where I spent at least one overnight:

Boulder, CO
Denver, CO
Madison, WI
Milwaukee, WI
Archbold, OH
St. Louis, MO
Ozark National Scenic Riverway (Current River), MO
Ann Arbor, MI
Detroit, MI
Hannibal, MO
Minneapolis, MN
Omaha, NE
Norfolk, NE
Hoskins, NE