Tried to watch another one of those nostalgia specials on PBS the other night; this one had the Four Lads, Kay Starr, Tony Martin et al., but couldn't take much of it because of the unavoidable presence of its producer T.J. Lubinsky ,who simply gives me the screaming yips.
Probably comes by his dislikeability quite naturally. His grandfather was Savoy Records head Herman Lubinsky who is described, variously in David Ritz's bio of singer Jimmy Scott as "a human hemorrhoid" (Joel Dorn) and "a horror story, a wanna-be big shot, a cigar-chomping cartoon character [with] a heart of stone." (Lee Magid) Made the others of his ilk (Sid Nathan, Morris Levy et al) seem like pussycats by comparison. In other words, to know Herman Lubinsky was NOT to love him.
Ad hominism aside, the shows, especially those doo-wop and rock and roll revival things T.J. produces, are just a joke. The music purveyed on them---minus the record studio wizardry of the original recordings---mostly have no artistic merit whatsoever. And there he is up there on the screen making these outrageous claims for the timelessness of the stuff. Where is Dick Clark now that we need him? At least Clark, whatever else you might think of him, had the good sense to almost never to present his performing guests "live," but almost always lip-syncing.
Between Wayne Dyer, Suze Orman and T.J. Lubinsky, I've pretty much been driven away from PBS for good.
Have a good day.
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