Ixnay on the Inkskay Reunion

You know, I had a funny feeling when I was writing a few weeks ago about a possible reunion of the original members of The Kinks that the whiff of wishful thinking was just a little stronger than the air of cold hard reality. Ah, well. Hope springs eternal and all that.

Kinks co-founder Ray Davies is dialing back expectations in a Billboard interview in which he has gone from enthusiastically predicting a 2008 reunion a few weeks ago to a cooler headed "don't get your hopes up just yet" today.

Why? Stated simply, Ray's brother, Dave. The two have been on the outs for the last decade or so, and when Dave writes on his website that his brother has been doing "karaoke Kinks shows" since the band disbanded in 1996, it's clear that ... well, let's just say that the two are not close.

More directly to the point, brother Dave suggests that a Kinks reunion "would be like a poor remake of Night of the Living Dead." Although he had a pretty serious stroke in 2004, it seems more and more apparent that his health is not the issue.

Brother Ray's rosy optimism isn't shaken, though. "He's getting well enough to shout at me. That's a good sign."

Whatever you say, Ray, but I hope you'll understand why I won't be pre-ordering concert tickets just yet.

^{Original Kinks Ray Davies, Mick Avory, Dave Davies and Pete Quaife at their 2005 induction into the UK Music Hall of Fame. Photo by MJ Kim / Getty Images}