by Jaimie
January 31, 2002

What makes a band a band. Musicians, right? What makes a band a viable band? Well, that's up to personal interpretation, more often than not.

And what makes a person a musician? That's easy: the ability to make music. Again, whether or not the music is "good" is a subject that's been debated as long as there's been language. But to keep things simple, we'll go with the original concept: a band is a group of people who make music.

An interesting thing happens, however, when one (or more) of those band members comes from a dark and sordid place - Hollywood. What I'm talking about here folks is actors and actresses being in bands. Suddenly that's weird. It's uncouth. We don't want to hear our favorite protagonistic hunk crooning folk songs. We don't want to see our beloved child actor all grown up and donning black hair dye and an attitude. If you don't get those references, by the way, I'm talking about Russel Crowe's band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts (www.gruntland.com.au), and Tina Yothers, who played Jennifer Keaton on Family Ties. She now makes her name as the singer in the band Jaded (www.jadedonline.com).

You don't see people batting an eye when the salesman at the local clothing store spends his weekends gigging at the local clubs; the millworker who dabbles in guitar and plays at friends' weddings. But when Jennifer Lopez recorded an album, it was a media sensation. Keanu Reeves plays bass in Dogstar, and their drummer played one of my favorite characters on Days Of Our Lives many years ago (www.dogstaronline.com). Is this allowed? Dustin Diamond plays bass for Salty The Pocketknife (www.mp3.com/saltythepocketknife). Who, you may ask? He became famous for playing "Screech" on Saved By The Bell.

Most recently we have Phantom Planet (www.phantomplanet.com). Should we NOT give them the time of day, simply because Jason Schwartzman (Slackers) is in the band? Do these actors and actresses not have the right to express themselves through other creative mediums besides the ones that make you feel content and satiated? Someone tell Stephen King and Dave Barry, two hugely successful authors, that they better not jam with The Rock Bottom Remainders (www.dqydj.com/rbr.htm) anymore. It makes John Q. uncomfortable.

The point I'm trying to make is don't judge. Don't assume that just because something is different that it's bad. That's not to necessitate it being good either, for that matter. Jack Black's Tenacious D (www.tenaciousd.com) makes me twitch, and you can easily discern the actors playing musicians from the musicians playing musicians in the movie Rock Star. But if you hear of an actor playing in a band, try not to let your immediate reaction be "What!?!?!" Keep an open mind. Embrace diversity. Doesn't mean you'll like it, but it could be fun.