Last night, the VMAs aired in the States (and wherever glorious digital and satellite cable transmits MTV to).  I, having no cable, had to catch up this morning via reports, photos and clips.  And oh, what clips there were!  Gaga wore the Meat Dress that may or may not have been real meat with maggots (anyone sitting by her wish to comment, celeb land?) – PETA loses their shit! Bieber still continues to prove that you don’t need actual talent to have a disgustingly successful music career!  The Jersey Shore twits are at yet another event, proving that reality show stupidity is the new sex – it sells.

Oh yes, and Taylor Swift, rather than, you know, grow up, performs a song, complete with Kanye’s ‘Imma let you finish’ assholery montage, that basically sounds like he stage raped her.  Hell, she even walked off stage like she’d just sung a song about her fifteen puppies simultaneously dying at the hands of that evil Bosnian girl while Joe Jonas performed oral sex on her mom, as the doctors told her she had herpes.  Yeah.  Can everyone else clue in that this girl is annoying, tries to act like she has such mature perspectives on love and life, but then fusses like the child she is for a YEAR?  And I thought Kanye’s emo Tweet-fest last month about this thing was lame.

Maybe I’ve just reached the age where I’m downright cynical about fame and celebrities.  I’ve long seen the shiny varnish wear off.  Maybe I’m annoyed that beautiful musicians like Shirley Manson are being told by friends that she’s killing her own career by not getting plastic surgery… and she actually doubts herself enough for a moment to ask her fans what they think.

For the record, they resoundingly told her to leave her beautiful self alone.  And she agreed.  Phew!  I thought I had another Tori Amos on my hands.

I was reading an article recently about how many migratory birds will likely die en route south due to the after effects of the BP oil spill.  It was devastating, and will have an enormous impact on ecosystems across the Americas.  I guarantee that if you survey people outside of Florida right now, they will be able to tell you who Snooki is, or what happened on Gossip Girl last week… but won’t have the faintest clue about this, or any other issue beyond arts and entertainment.

Don’t get me wrong;  music is my oxygen, and is a form of expression that can endure long after the creator has departed.  It makes our lives richer, just for its existence.  But it’s the fact that more people know Gaga for her dresses than her music that makes me twitch.  When Madonna created controversy, the song was always tied to the imagery.  The music was still there.

Now, it’s all become Californication.

Day 355:  Californication – Red Hot Chili Peppers