With MTV and VH1 edging away from music programming, is public television the last alternative?
Sting: I’m a big supporter of PBS. I think it’s important. Culture remains alive on television, so PBS is probably the last vestige of that in every field, not just music. TV Guide: You were on Studio 60’s show-within-a-show, with your Dowland collaborator Edin Karamazov. Are you a fan of the NBC series? Sting: I love the show. It’s very clever. I was surprised that they would choose two guys playing lutes [Laughs] as their musical act, but I was very pleased as well. TV Guide: How about American Idol? Sting: Not particularly, no. I actually feel a bit of compassion for [the contestants]. You’re out there with your dreams, and your dreams are shattered by one comment. That’s tough. TV Guide: You reworked The Police’s “Message in a Bottle” for the lute. Did that song lend itself easily to that interpretation? Sting: Funnily enough, yeah. Some of the harmonies are very Elizabethan, but that shouldn’t really be a surprise. What’s embedded within English music from Dowland on through Benja
