Idolator
On last night's episode of Veronica Mars—still on! At least for now—Paul Rudd played Desmond Fellows, a washed-up '90s rocker who's boozing his way through the campus-concert circuit. Because Mars is a show seemingly made by and for music nerds, we're guessing the character was based on someone famous; the only problem is that we can't figure out just who it's supposed to be. Among the character's tell-tale characteristics:
- Played in the fictional mid-'90s power-pop duo My Pretty Pony, a one-hit wonder band that sounded a lot like the Rembrandts.
- Still depressed about his partner's alcohol-induced death.
- Picks up women online.
- Drinks a lot. Also likes the pills.
- Looks rumpled—but because it's Paul Rudd, he's adorably rumpled.
- Coasts by on back-catalog songs and backing tracks without playing anything new.
- Skinny-dips.
- Doesn't like to talk about the Beatles' influence on his music.
Oh, who are we kidding? Those are the defining characteristic of just about every musician to ever get a clip on 120 Minutes during its Clinton-era heyday. We're going to go with an amalgamation of Courtney Love, Matthew Sweet and this guy we once saw perform with Of Montreal.
Veronica Mars [TheCW.com]
Comments
I was thinking more Evan Dando meets Robin Wilson (of the Gin Blossoms) meets Stephen Jenkins (of Third Eye Blind)...
I was gonna say Stephen Jenkins also, but the alcohol/picks up women online thing has be Scott Flippen Stapp. Did you know his middle name was Flippen? I didn't.
If this is like all the other mysteries on Veronica Mars, then we'll have to wait until the DVDs are released, replay several scenes several times to decipher the key bits of mumbled dialogue we missed, and then make at least one ginormous leap in logic before we can figure it out.
Adam Duritz.
if this was 1996 and the writers went to school on the West Coast i'd say Peter Case if they went to school on the East Coast i'd say The Badlees
Cast another vote for Gin Blossoms. Didn't their lead songwriter commit suicide after struggling with alcoholism?
Can't believe I didn't think of Dando.
You were understandably blocking him from your mind.
nice to see Zach Braff has an equally annoying female counterpart to discuss marginal/unspectacular music with.
two bullets, please!
Oh come on, Matthew Sweet wasn't a lush or a pill-popper! He was a dope fiend, get it straight. Plus, I kind of wish he'd just coast by on his old stuff, really.
@MagicJewball: you mean...pull a Sheryl Crow?
(great moniker, btw.)
I wish it weren't so, but I think it's obviously Robin Wilson from the Gin Blossoms. Doug Hopkins, who wrote basically every song on "New Miserable Experience", drank himself out of the Gin Blossoms, and then killed himself in '93.
I don't think Wilson has the same current issues that the Mars character does, but nonetheless, it's the closest match. There's even a reasonable resemblance.
Ah, but you're forgetting that Veronica Mars creator is an Austinite (consider the nod to Liberty Lunch in this episode) and I believe he played in a band here. Maybe he's referencing someone a decade earlier. I mean, what if these characters were speaking for the show's creator? We'd have to adjust the years for the age difference. I don't know what that gets us, though.
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