Tracking Rolling Stone's Reality TV Show

Preeminent music magazine Rolling Stone is now two weeks into their MTV-partnered reality series "I'm From Rolling Stone," and I must say it's been a good trip so far. My primary interest rests in the journalistic aspects of the program, as I temper my jealousy at the opportunity these all-too-pretty aspiring writers have been given with genuine interest in learning from their experience. While I don't want to go in depth about the characters (nothing personal, I would just rather focus on the assignments and the writing) I gotta talk about how ludicrous (not the rapper) it is to being playing 'hotshot' with this kind of role. C'mon people, you're given a literally once in a lifetime chance (as opposed to those pseudo once in a lifetimes) yet you're not above acting arrogant, lazy, and undisciplined? It really makes you want to get in there and do their job for them, and considerably better than their churlish efforts so far. Here is to hoping, for the sake of the show as well as the respect I have for the magazine, that the quality of the contestants gets a whole lot better. Hey, they're just starting out, I am willing to cut them some slack...for now.

As for the journalistic aspects, I must say it's wickedly cool to hear Joe Levy, executive editor, dishing out his charges and observations, along with a slew of other senior brass at the magazine. There are little (and not so little) things you can pick up about the world of pop culture writing, such as:

- The importance of getting material facts and substance over sugaring your piece
- Not burying your 'lead'
- The dangers of excess prose
- The vitality of having a clear and concise focus
- The need to actually articulate the sound and feel of the music
- Not overusing clichés
- The value of properly preparing for interviews (checking the recorder, writing out questions beforehand, directing the flow, being confident, getting concrete information)

Not that I pretend to be a masterful editor, as many of these things I picked up right from the RS website, but they are invaluable nonetheless as I embark on my mission to be a prominent reporter and writer in my own right. I'll amend this list and add comments as the show goes on. I think it will prove to be a remarkably educational exercise in what you can learn from reality television. Particularly when that television features (albeit sporadically) some of the finest journalists on the planet.

To be continued...

Rolling Stone Does Reality TV

The premise: six aspiring jouranlists suffer the trials and tribulations of network reality television in the hopes of becoming a writer for the well known music and pop-culture magazine Rolling Stone. I must say on a personal level, as an aspiring freelance music journalist, this concept greatly appeals to me. But it seems not everyone would agree. A quick peek at the comments on RS's website show no lack of restraint by people trying to rip the show and the magazine to shreds before the first episode even airs. How dare the seminal rock and roll trade publication think about partnering with the overtly pretentious and teen-worshipping Music Televsion network? Of course, later comments attack earlier ones and the Internet phenomenon known ever-so-descriptively as 'flaming' follows.

But as to the idea that RS and MTV have actually put forth? I am really curious to see where it all goes. Many of us remember Almost Famous (The Foo Fighters have even covered, in a manner of speaking, Elton John's 'Tiny Dancer' as an homage to the famous scene from the movie) and how an early teenaged Cameron Crowe was given the kind of break that most mid-life, Led Zeppelin T-shirt wearing adults would fawn over with reckless abandon. But for those of us like myself who identified with the main character and wanted to be that innocent 70's child given the opportunity of a lifetime during a gilded and lost period of music history, the dream is anything but dead. Needless to say, AtD will be following this series as it develops, particularly this golden nugget:

Think you could’ve done better? You’ll get a chance to prove it, as we’re going to hold online contests based on the assignments undertaken by the I’m From Rolling Stone contestants. And just like on the show, if you’re really good, you might even get to write for Rolling Stone.

I don't think I need to explain how exciting that last bit of news is, given what we're doing here. Rolling Stone, after all, is the premiere music media source of the last 40 years. The opportunity to be a part of their elite team means being literally in the forefront of this prized industry. So the least we can do is go along for the ride and see how all of this goes down, no?

"I'm From Rolling Stone" will air Sundays at 10:00 P.M. on MTV, starting January 7.

On the web: http://www.rollingstone.com/imfromrollingstone