28 Pop Songs Later
It's been a quiet, oh, two years for my "Huckapoo" Google Alert. Basically, the only new appearances of that word on the Internet have been on Radosh.net, or from people reminiscing about the similarly-named 1970s shirts. And then suddenly this morning, the actual band is mentioned in an exciting new press release posted to Business Wire.
Before I get to the substance of this breaking news, let me just point out that the entire venture is already doomed by the poor public relations skills of its principals. I mean, there is exactly one member of the working press who is even remotely interested in news about Huckapoo — but does he get any advance notice, or even a copy of the press release sent directly to him? No, he has to find out from his freakin' Google Alert, which frankly, he had been on the verge of cancelling. What's the matter, Brian, don't you trust me with confidential information?
And yet even this lack of respect can not entirely diminish the tingle I experienced upon reading that Brian Lukow, Huckapoo's notorious Svengalabe, is teaming up with an outfit called Pop Starz Inc "for the purpose of either acquiring the rights to 'Huckapoo' or creating, launching and marketing of a new 'Girl Group'."
That's right, it's return of the living dead time. Details will reportedly be forthcoming after the deal is sealed on July 23, but as I read this, Lukow is going to revive Huckapoo one way or another — even if he has to call it something else, devise new "character types" and commission all-new songs. Presumably he'll be casting new talent either way. For one thing, the original Huckapoo girls are all in their 40s now.
As for Pop Starz Inc, it's based in Florida and seems to have two missions: a hip hop dance camp for kids and an artist creation/marketing division. At right is one of the company's two current artists, Montana Tucker, the 14-year-old daughter of Pop Starz Inc's founder. The other is 16-year-old Morgan Hayes. From the available evidence, neither has a shred of talent.
Fortunately, I gather that there won't be more than the loosest connection between these deadweights and the eagerly anticipated Hucka2. According to the press release, Angel2, Groovy2, Twiggy2, et. al. will be housed in an entirely new division of Pop Starz, which will be run by Lukow and his "long time friend and trusted business partner Randy Lawrence." Knowledgable insiders will read the words "friend" and "trusted" as coded "fuck you's" to Lukow's last business partner, the one from whom he is now trying to buy back Huckapoo.
My fingers are crossed for this new endeavor. I was critical of Lukow's business sense last time around. The guy's a genius on the conceptual level, and can spot a great tune with the best of them, but he fell short when it came to the actually getting the band of the ground part. Here's hoping Lawrence and Pop Starz can take care of that end of things this time around. The press release offers no real clues. I do note that it lacks the obligatory reference to "social networking," but I can't tell if that means they're way behind the curve or slightly ahead of it.
Stay tuned, Huckafans.
Comments
From the press release: "Lukow went on to co-find Huckapoo..."
Either that's a new humorously ambiguous term or this was dictated by someone who talks like Tim Curry (you know, "let me show you a rind...")
From the available evidence, neither has a shred of talent.
OK, but I'm hoping you stick to your guns on this assertion when confronted with their angry moms.
Posted by: Vance | July 11, 2007 1:23 PM
Love live the Beaties! I could probably out-Lukow Lukow at this point, tho, I've learned from his mistakes. The tricky part is finding the talent/securing the copyrights. Disney'll be dead weight in about a year's time, and opportunities for cross-promotion there are dwindling. So we must start planning the next teenpop corporate monolith -- I'm thinking Nickelodeon and the ADA.
Posted by: Dave | July 11, 2007 1:54 PM