(TV) AP: Nation, White House celebrate twenty-five years of "Friction"

["Philip P. Obbard" <pobbard@yahoo.com>]

Just got this from the AP:

NEW YORK, NY (AP) -- It's February 8th, and that means that it has been
twenty-five years since 'Marquee Moon' was released. The record, a stunning
magnum opus by the New York rock outfit Television, was an instant critics'
darling and musicians' favorite. 

"When I heard it, I knew my fifteen minutes were up" said sometime rock star
Peter Frampton earlier this week from his London flat. Laughing, he added, "The
world didn't need someone like me clogging up the airwaves when songs like
'Venus' were waiting to be heard, did they? I mean, people have spent years
speculating on my sudden decline. But it's quite simply, really - after
'Marquee Moon', there wasn't much reason to keep making music."

In recent years, prominent non-musicians have been citing the record as an
inspiration, too.

"There's really nothing like it," said former New York City Mayor Rudolph
Guiliani, who recalled "rocking out" to the record during his days as a federal
prosecutor. "We'd play it in the office day after day while we were working on
cases", Mr. Guiliani recalled, "skipping 'See No Evil', of course, because the
AG didn't think it had the right message for a legal office. But 'Prove It' was
always a good way to rally the troops during a particularly grueling
investigation."

The royals have always been fans. Buckingham Palace issued the following
statement this morning: "Her Majesty started 1977 in quite a dismal state.
While it was her Silver Jubilee, the high levels of unemployment and economic
distress among her peoples, compounded by the presence of the Sex Pistols'
heretical 'God Save the Queen' on the radio, nearly drove her to drink. When
Prince Andrew introduced her to the soothing sounds of 'Guiding Light', it was
a godsend. The British people have always been grateful to Television for their
selfless service, an indebtedness that was deepened by the release of
'Television' in 1992, a record that mitigated Her Majesty's 'Annus Horribilus'
considerably."

Even the White House had an official statement today, when President Bush
mentioned 'Marquee Moon' during some offhand remarks to the press. "'Marquee
Moon' has been a comfort to millions of Americans for a quarter of a decade. In
this time of national emergency, I urge all Americans to listen closely to the
finely-tuned guitars of Mr. Verlaine and Mr. Lloyd, the cymbals of Mr. Ficca,
and the rock-solid bass of Mr. Fred Smith." When asked to elaborate, the
President noted that Fred Smith and Fred 'Sonic' Smith are not the same person,
and that furthermore, "Compact discs are vastly superior to vinyl, although I
agree that the current 'Marquee Moon' CD could use a nice remastering, maybe
with an extra disc of studio outtakes and another of high-quality live material
circa 1976."

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer added that last summer First Lady Laura
Bush had read all of Clinton Heylin's book 'From the Velvets to the Voidoids'
to the President, and he enjoyed it "tremendously". However, after hearing Mr.
Heylin's assertion that Television broke up because they were "tired of banging
their heads against 'Hotel California'", he immediately signed Executive Order
9155, ordering the assassination the Eagles. Congress, a body prone to "Take It
Easy", has delayed this order from being implemented, but Fleischer assured
reporters that this was only a "bureaucratic" delay, and once Congress realized
that "the President's priorities were the people's priorities", it would be
enacted immediately.

Tom Verlaine, the band's visionary founder and chief songwriter, could not be
located for comment.


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