Besides basking in the glow of having a very long weekend replete with no work on Monday (unfortunately I work every Sunday, yet have Fridays off) I had ample time to spend with my family and especially enjoy the time I get to spend with my youngest child who at 10 years old I truly believe she is an old soul. There is a teenager in the house as well… I’ll just leave it at that. But my youngest and I are getting to the point where have some great in-depth conversations about any and everything.
So in the midst of one of our favorite pastimes (on demand viewing) we happened to be watching Catfish on MTV and while some of the content of the show may be somewhat mature for her age, we always engage in a guided dialogue about what we just viewed. During one of the segment breaks as fast forwarded my daughter turns to me and asks “What does MTV stand for?” I responded with “Music Television” and after a slight silence we both let out a big laugh. She continued: “But, they only show reality shows!” I know. I know.
Fast forward to this morning and I was having a conversation with a musical colleague of mine lamenting that the music industry has morphed into the reality industry and how at a point in time you either didn’t know nor care how many kids Patti Labelle has nor how many husbands, you only cared that she sang your song when you went to the show. I know. I know.
MTV 1980’s
MTV Now
Ivan Orr is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, performer, and writer. A native of Charlottesville, Virginia Ivan was involved with the forming and nascent days of The Music Resource Center as its first Program Director. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Music, Ivan currently resides in Richmond, VA where he maintains an active performance and production schedule while serving as the Music Editor for Grown Folks Music, a position he has held since 2010.
