Music

2007 Music Year in Review

Continued from page 5

In the meantime, making more artistically minded porno films might be in the cards. In fact, he got an e-mail during our interview notifying him that Broken, the flick he cowrote and directed for Tera Patrick's production company Teravision, had just been nominated for five Adult Video Network awards, including best director.

Right now Spread TV, the talk show he launched this past Spring on Mania TV (the same Web station Tom Green calls home) is definitely his main focus. Airing Thursdays at 5 p.m. Pacific, the show features everyone from actors to local freaks to people with problems whom he often brings on psychotherapists to help. Think Dr. Phil, Jimmy Kimmel and Jon Stewart with a rock and roll twist.

"The overall feel of the show is fun and lighthearted, but at the same time we want to get into serious issues as well," says Navarro, who did his time on "real" TV, cohosting both editions of CBS singing competition Rock Star and starring in a reality show with ex-wife Carmen Electra. "My show is anything and everything me and my partner Todd Newman find ­captivating."

That includes up-and-coming bands, who often play live on the show. A few have become favorite artists for Navarro's off-air listening as well. Here's his current musical addictions.

Gravenhurst, The Western Lands

"I discovered them watching The Unit, the TV show about an undercover military group. During the end credits on one of the episodes, I heard this song called 'Black Holes in the Sand.' It just struck me. I'm never one to search something online that I happened to hear on a television program, but it just really hit me hard. They're pretty mind-blowing — my favorite band right now. Instant melancholy. I have to be careful what time of day I put them on, because I could easily find myself in a suicidal state, which is actually saying quite a lot if a band can evoke that much emotion out of you."

kHz, Reality on a Finer Scale

"I played on a track from their next album. They're a metal band from New York with an amazing lead singer named Raiana. She's got this beautiful, operatic voice that goes on top of this real hardcore metal; just a really nice juxtaposition. A lot of females in the metal world try to emulate the singing chops of men. She remains feminine and the combination is really sexy."

The Start, Ciao, Baby

"A great band. Love Aimee Echo's vocal abilities. They're close friends."

Mickey Avalon

"Don't believe he's put anything out this year, but I think he's just an incredible genius. His personality really comes through in his vocals. The music is very simplistic and there's something to be said for that. It's all about highlighting the personality, and he does that really well."

The Procussions and Mr. J

"Kind of a hip-hop thing. Real emotional. Stripped-down and positive lyrical content. These guys came on my show with a microphone and drum set, and pretty much blew everybody away."

Datarock, Datarock

"Fun. Kind of reminds me of Love and Rockets with the sax and the hokey guitar stuff."

Daniel Johnston

"He's a bipolar schizophrenic who's a really brilliant songwriter [and] heavily influenced bands like Nirvana and Sonic Youth. I would highly recommend looking into this guy, and the documentary about him [last year's The Devil and Daniel ­Johnston]."

KANSAS CITY

Eco-Journalist Simran Sethi's Green Team
By Jason Harper

Like Godzilla leaving green footprints, eco-journalist Simran Sethi has taken over the small college town of Lawrence, Kansas. Since moving to the trendy prairie hamlet from New York City, Sethi has spotlighted her favorite local businesses on Oprah and the Sundance Channel's Big Ideas for a Small Planet. As an NBC News environmental correspondent, she talked to Al Gore about the massive tornado that devastated the tiny Kansas town of Greensburg. She has been on Martha Stewart's show and hosts the Sundance Channel's The Green Online. And before she was loco for eco, Sethi was an MTV News anchor in India and Singapore.

She's been everywhere, man. In fact, Sethi is often too busy saving the planet to monitor new releases with a music geek's assiduity, but that doesn't mean she doesn't like a good jam.

Though Indian in heritage, the petite, vivacious 36-year-old grew up in ­Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and a slight twang came through in Sethi's voice while she talked about her list of the music, among other things, that kept her going this year.

Pitch: You picked "Digging in the Dirt" by Peter Gabriel. Not many people aside from big fans have heard it.

Simran Sethi: I think that whole album, Us, is great.

P: And Jay-Z, "99 Problems"?

SS: I lived in Harlem when the song came out, and it just reminded me of the fact that there are more black men in prison than are employed, and I think that's a horrible injustice.

P: You're a Mariah Carey fan?

SS: I like Mariah. I interviewed her in Tokyo when I worked for MTV News and she first played the Tokyo Dome, and I've liked her and her music ever since. It's not something many people expect out of me, but I like Mariah.

P: What was she like?

SS: I'm impressed that she writes her own lyrics, and did it at a time when she didn't have to, and it's a good comeback story. She managed to reassemble her career and did a good job of it.

P: How do you find out about music?

SS: NPR and stuff my friends send me from Singapore, just whatever I happen to catch. I listen to Morning Becomes Eclectic on KCRW. There's not a single area where I find my music. Stuff on the radio.

P: What did you listen to growing up?

SS: I grew up in an era of Bow Wow Wow and Duran Duran and Madonna, so that's the stuff I listened to growing up. I heard some Rolling Stones and Beatles from my mom.

P: Did you absorb any music during your time working for MTV that you still listen to now?

SS: Not really anything now, because that was quite a while ago, but the bands I got to interview then are still very much a part of the music I listen to, like the Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins, Mariah. Those are probably some of my favorites from that time frame. Foo Fighters.

P: Did you not cover much music native to India and Singapore?

SS: I did, but that's not the music I listen to now. I'm Indian, so I've grown up listening to Indian music.

P: What would you recommend to people who are interested in Indian music?

SS: Asha Bhosle.

P: What type of music is that?

SS: It's Bollywood music, but it's a lot of love songs. Any collection of her greatest hits would be a good introduction for folks.

P: Tell me why you picked the Dixie Chicks.

SS: I really liked Shut Up and Sing. I thought that was a great documentary. I grew up in the South, but I never listened to the Dixie Chicks, and after seeing that movie here in Lawrence at Liberty Hall, I had a profound appreciation for their courage, and I got introduced to their music that way.

P: What about one of your other picks, Rihanna? She's a sexy pop star. Does that contrast with the powerful-woman image?

SS: I think women can be both those things. I don't think it's a contrast.

ST. LOUIS

Jay Farrar's Chant and Strum
By Annie Zaleski

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