Happy new year
For the first time possibly in a long time (and possibly ever), I actually spent New Year's Eve working. It was interesting trying to sample the variety of New Year's Eve celebrations on the tube:
-- Happy Boo Year (ESPN): Looks like a decent year-in-review show mixed in with Stuart Scott (hence my name for the show) and Little Steven (what, no Clarence Clemons?) introducing some musical acts.
-- Regis Philbin (Fox): Seemed like a train wreck. If Fox wanted to draw a younger crowed, why did you have Regis sing?
-- Anderson Cooper (CNN): Decent stuff, plus some decent musical cut-ins (James Brown, Kool and the Gang, Barenaked Ladies).
-- Carson Daly (NBC): Not too shabby, plus Melissa Stark was the on-the-ground reporter in Times Square. Plus, they got in and out quickly -- do the ball drop, then off to an SNL rerun.

Then there was the return of Dick Clark to ABC, and boy it seemed like watching Ali light the torch at the Atlanta Olympics (10 years ago! Yikes!). It was great to see him there, but boy, it was slightly uncomfortable to watch. He seemed to be in good spirits, but the stroke has taken its toll on him. At least we know he's mortal now, I suppose.

ABC also did a good job in keeping the show focused on the live stuff and then going to that hokey musical revue taped a couple of weeks earlier (still best lampooned in a Friends episode) after midnight. I guess having Mariah Carey perform live was a huge coup -- and it was fun seeing Ryan Seacrest trying to get her to kiss him when the clock struck midnight. And later on in the studio, I would've sworn she was getting ready to work at Scores after the show was done.

As for the canned musical stuff, I wasn't paying close attention except for when they brought The Bangles out of nowhere to perform. Susanna Hoffs still looked really good (and she'll be 47 in a few weeks); the rest of the group, not so much. And at least they avoided "Walk Like An Egyptian."

It did get interesting leaving work at 2 a.m. as it appeared the Widespread Panic show was letting out as we finished up -- we could smell the pot smoke wafting up to the walkway from the office to the parking lot.

I was also intrigued that my local alt-rock station opted for a top 99 party jams of all time (perfect for that New Year's Eve party) instead of a top hits countdown. So while the Beastie Boys were there no matter what, there were other songs you would never, ever hear on the station. Then again, with their recent "Shuffle" weekends (the music director's iPod goes on shuffle for the weekend), anything goes -- I've heard "Billie Jean" and "Piano Man" along with some deep Death Cab for Cutie tracks, for instance.