The Alternative to Sleep

Monday mornings I usually wake up at six o’clock feeling very groggy and tired from having slept a few scant hours the previous evening. Four hours of sleep is not the best way to commence any week, but I do so sans regrets.

You see, I stay up until two in the morning watching “120 Minutes” on VH1 Classic.

Despite all the cuts at MTV, VH1 and other Viacom entities a few months back, the format of “120 Minutes” is the same as a previous program called “The Alternative”. Though I enjoyed the program more when it was on late Sunday mornings, I gleefully await Monday at midnight when I put on VH1 Classic and hear the terrible faux-goth theme that introduces “120 Minutes.” No veejays. No banter. Just two hours of videos (with intermittent commercials, obviously).

Sometimes the program can be hit or miss since it tries to appeal to several different tastes within the rubric of “alternative music.” Last night’s episode was mostly miss for me though the first 90 minutes though there were a few good tunes from Love and Rockets and The Cure. Yet just as I was about to turn off the TV at around 1:40 am feeling somewhat disillusioned the following quartet of videos appeared (in order):

Morrissey - Last of the Famous International Playboys

The Breeders – Cannon Ball (Directed by the dynamic duo that was Spike Jonze and Kim Gordon)

Blur – She’s So High

Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon

Brilliance. Sheer, unadulterated brilliance.

It was difficult to fall asleep after watching those vids, I barely slept, and I felt like crap all day. But it was worth it.

And I’ll do it again next week.

No regrets.

Prologue: Venegas is a friggin' genius! Yesterday she told me that VH1 Classic has a daily "The Alternative" playlist via their website. (Todays playlist centered on David Byrne and Talking Heads).

I'm still going to stay up til 2am every Monday to watch "120 Minutes'. But the daily playlists will definitely make thing a bit easier

Gracias Venegas!