High School Concerto, 2nd Movement

For awhile, I'd been through many a department store and seen loads of merchandise bearing the name "High School Musical," wondering just what the hell "High School Musical" was. Don't get me wrong, the name was self-explanatory, but the merchandise was the kind of merchandise that young kids would buy - backpacks, notebooks, posters - almost as if this were Spongebob Squarepants or some other Nickelodeon show.

I didn't really think much more about it until while flipping channels early last week, I came across a preview for "High School Musical 2." I asked my co-contributor about it, and he described it as "Disney's cash cow." He let out an annoyed "NOOOOO" when I told him of the impending sequel. That was about all I needed to know. Still, I couldn't help but be curious about it, so when the sequel came on, I watched the first 20 minutes or so.

Then I immediately tried to forget the last 20 minutes or so.

Every stereotype you could think of was there, including the rich snobby white kids, who, about 15 minutes in, begin singing about how great things are at their country club and where everything is imported from. I thought, is some nerdy kid going to come in later and sing about how great math and science are? Maybe we can get a jock to come sing about football and the padding he's wearing.

Still, despite the words "High School" in the title, it's clear that this is not intended for high schoolers, but for the younger set, and I could see why kids might like this kind of stuff. Heck, most adults probably look at kids' shows and wretch.

On another musical note (get it?), I've been listening a lot lately to the local classical music radio station while I drive. Why? Well, for one thing I like classical music, but more importantly, it's relaxing to listen to, and if there is one thing I need while driving, it's something relaxing. There are blissfully few commercials, which I like. But as I've listened to it more, I couldn't help but notice that if there were such a thing as a "stereotypical" classical station, this would be it.

I think when people think of classical music they may think of snobby rich people who sit around sipping wine while reading the stock pages in the newspaper. Eerily enough, one of the sponsors of the station is a wine store. There are frequent commercials for the wine store (cleverly called "Cork"), and the station even has an occasional "wine report" where they talk about what wines go with what meals, and how the wine tastes! To compound things, they have a regular "financial report," which oddly sometimes doesn't even have financial news.

Then there's the "DJs" of this radio station. Everybody talks in a steady, relaxed, almost unemotional manner. And yes, there are a few DJs of British decent. These people could probably read out loud a trashy romance novel and make it simultaneously boring and interesting. I can't help but compare them to some of the weather forecasters you see on your local TV station, who just seem so sickeningly pleasant.

It's an interesting time to live in, musically speaking.