In the film, he's staying in some fleabag hotel (looks like Nashville - there are some road signs and other details that give it up), and right away I'm thinking "Man in a Suitcase." Plus, he seems A LOT less concerned with appearances in the early footage, and I find that really refreshing.
We all know the man has talent - he wrote "Invisible Sun," and a few other notable gems - but I do have to wonder where the biting social commentary's been the past few years.
Not to shortchange Andy - I love him, always will - but I expected him to be about what he was, and I figured Sting would be strutting around like Mick Jagger demanding the peons carry his baggage. Not at all the case, interestingly.
The best part of ES:TPIO was being instantly transported back to 1983, when I thought the guys in this band were THE shit. I wonder if it isn't just that I was about the right age to be really affected by them...although Stewart mentions the whole boy-band aspect of their popularity, my issue wasn't so much that I wanted to gnaw on them - I wanted to BE them.
I still think they were and are a pretty good role model for young people - I'm not kidding about enjoying Stewart's deliciously snarky interview selections. You just don't see intelligence on display really often in the modern era, since everything is about how many pedicures Paris Hilton's had this week. Eeeeeyawn. (Do I sound bitter about the state of popular culture? Like the fact that everyone thinks Nashville is only producing musicians like Shania Twain, when there are artists who could kick her ass any day of the week playing downtown for five dollars right now? Naaaw...
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