There's one born every minute.

The New York Dolls, or what's left of them, appeared on "Soundstage," which is the new "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert." To his credit, DJ was still slim, albeit a little creased, and long in the false tooth. The band sounded as good as they were supposed to, but it was weird seeing them on a high-tech stage with TV monitors all around. It was like they were a museum piece instead of a band with a new album out. Everything was too slick on stage and the camera angles came fast and furious. Well, hello? The band is supposed to be fast and furious! Which they were, so the camera work was totally superfluous and downright annoying. But then the band pulled the ultimate boner: they played "Personality Crisis" at much too fast a tempo. This is not uncommon with long-established bands playing their biggest--or only--hit. There's a tendency to rush through it, almost apologetically. But to make matters worse, DJ was laughing during it, as if to say "Hey, we're just doing this for a lark; I'm not taking this seriously." That's his prerogative, of course, and maybe I'm the pathetic one for expecting him to try to deliver a sincere performance. Maybe he was laughing because he knew he couldn't hit the high notes any more. But why would any performer purposely mock his own success? The only answer I can think of is that it was for the money--in which case, I'm the sucker for watching.