RTP-area local music and culture

[local506 AT earthlink.net (Local 506)]

This aired a few months ago, but I just finally watched it online. 
Nothing you probably didn't already know, but interesting
nonetheless...so in case you also missed it:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/music/view/

ps: here is a synoposis written by this guy Lefsetz which makes some
interesting points...best of which is how the music industry caters to
radio and radio caters to casual listeners, leaving die-hard music
fans to fend for themselves (can you say kazaa...)


SARAH HUDSON


You're an artist and you're driven to get your message out and then
you
CO-WRITE???  Doesn't that mean INHERENTLY that it's somebody ELSE'S
message??

You wouldn't even make it to the final twelve on "American Idol".

You're not good-looking enough, your pipes aren't spectacular and
you've got
almost nothing to say.  So your father's in the business?  Does that
entitle
you to a free pass??




THE S-CURVE A&R LADY


So maybe that's why you work at S-Curve instead of a REAL label. 
Because
you've got no fucking idea how the world works.

A SET-UP track?  HELLO!  This is 2004.  If you're playing the radio
game,
you've got to go out with both barrels BLASTING!  You've got to go
with the BEST
TRACK and hype/sell it to HELL!  For if the first track stiffs, you've
got a
stink on you and nobody wants to play the SECOND track.  Just ask
ESTABLISHED
bands.  Puddle Of Mudd's first single, the set-up single from their
SECOND
record, stiffed and NOBODY wanted to hear the follow-up, the so-called
hit.

As for you fawning over Sarah's hair...give me a fucking break.  It's 
sycophants like you who give this business a bad name.

Not that you're any worse than your brethren, it's just that you chose
to be
on TV.  And years of reality TV have taught us that all three
dimensions are
NOT shown, you become iconized, usually as a JERK!!!

Just one more thing.  Listening on TV I knew "Woman On The Verge Of A
Nervous
Breakdown" wasn't a hit.  Didn't ANYBODY tell you this???  A hit
record is
not something you can quantify, it hits you VISCERALLY!  This track
sounded like
a marginally better Kelly Osbourne cut, and SHE didn't make it. 
Whereas the
so-called follow-up actually had some magic.  But you're not worrying
about
magic, you're just trying to second guess the public.  Make me puke.




MARK HUDSON


You've come back from the dead.  Worked with Aerosmith and others. 
Don't you
know that in the twenty first century there's such a thing as TOO MUCH
hype?

And isn't it strange that you lament being pushed into being a t
wo-dimensional cardboard cut-out in the seventies, agreeing to star in
a TV variety series,
and now, you're playing the same TV exposure card AGAIN???

You could NEVER have been John Lennon.  Because it's in your DNA to
sell out.




DAVID SIMONE


The blathering hype you laid on Sarah Hudson was the kind of bullshit
that
gives this business a bad name.

Make your money in obscurity, don't try and sell your crap to us with
a
straight face.




DUFF McKAGAN


Illustration why rock stars should be seen not heard.

You appear brain-damaged.  You can barely get it out.

PLAY your music, but don't TALK!  Because even sub-teens are laughing.




MATT SORUM


Quintessential drummer.  Crazy, replaceable dude with a smile and
nothing to
say.




DAVE GOTTLIEB


Do you really believe all that crap? Did you really get in the
business to do
THIS?  To play it safe whilst trying to convince yourself that you're
selling
something good?

Velvet Revolver is an amalgamation of has-beens trying to rip off the
public
one more time.  As evidenced by their decision to use a YOUNG, MODERN 
PRODUCER!  If you're changing/tailoring your sound to the marketplace,
you're FUCKED!
Real artists have a vision, they speak from the heart.  "The Rising"
sounded
like Bruce Springsteen.  Van Morrison doesn't do a dance track.  James
Taylor
doesn't go country.

Come on.




LENNY BEER


Shit, for someone on the take you certainly had some bright things to
say.
Couldn't you use some of your smarts to IMPROVE this business instead
of just
taking money from labels to keep the status quo?




MARC GUIDO


You were impressive too.  For most of the show, you spoke the truth.




DAVID CODIKOW


Completely jive.  Ooh, I'm in business with half of Guns N' Roses! 
Aren't I
COOL??

No, you're not.  You're a lawyer who decided to jump ship and get
closer to
the action who is inherently UNCOOL!  For true entrepreneurs, like
true
artists, don't play it safe and come up through the legal ranks.  Then
again, I went
to law school!!

But I've got my excuses.  Do YOU??




NIC HARCOURT


Although you sometimes send me e-mail checking my judgment of hip
poseurs
like Beck, you were one of only two true voices of reason on this
program.  You
spoke to the reality of Velvet Revolver.  You skewered the facade of
the jive
music business.  How come YOU can speak the truth and nobody else
can??

As for the influence of your station...

Shouldn't music supervisors and A&R people be turning YOU on to
things, not
VICE VERSA??

But everybody's a follower.




DAVID CROSBY


How in the hell can it be that a recovered drug addict who first hit
it big
forty years ago is more with it and more accurate than EVERYBODY ELSE
ON THIS
PROGRAM!

Crosby was uncompromised from the start.  It got him kicked out of the
Byrds.
 It kept him on drugs when everybody tried to get him off them.

But unlike the weasels in this business, he's got a BACKBONE.  He's
got a
vision, and he's sticking with it.  He's not putting his finger to the
wind,
testing public opinion before he takes action.




CONCLUSION


For all the hype about this show, despite the serious tone it took, it
MISSED
THE POINT!

It was supposed to be an expose of the music industry, it was entitled
"The
Way The Music Died", yet it didn't touch on almost ANY of the real
issues.

Where were the twentysomethings, with their DIY movements.  Hell,
couldn't
you have at least interviewed somebody at Saddle Creek?  Not to
mention every
young act whose music is traded P2P and as a result can tour this
great country
of ours WITHOUT any airplay?

Yes, watching this show one would think the game is the same, that
it's all
about radio.

RADIO'S DONE!  Music heads have GIVEN UP on radio.  Only CASUAL music
fans
listen to the RADIO!!  

It's not about lamenting Clear Channelization, it's looking where the 
audience HAS GONE!

Instead of talking about only one good track an album, and P2P
impacting
sales, how about talking how the younger generation has UTILIZED the
modern tools
to build something NEW!  That Dave Gottlieb wouldn't know if it bit
him on the
ASS!!