RTP-area local music and culture

[gcurrin AT gmail.com]

Ross, you got me: I spend more time on a Web site that I get paid to
help maintain than on a.m.c.h. It's my job, so I do devote some energy
to it. If a reader is wondering about a comment, I try to respond.
That seems fair, right?

Your comment is a good, quick segue into what's at hand: This "Eh,
Whatever" section is part of a larger preview package called "Hearing
Aid," which has replaced the block of grey (both positive and negative
grey) that was "Get Out." A huge chunk of this is online, where you
can hear-instantly at the Web site-most of the bands we're writing
about. A huge reason for this redesign was to provide for an online
focus: Read about the band. Or just hear them. If you disagree with
our opinion on a band, do tell! There's also a downloadable song of
the week that uses a Q&A and, we hope, a great piece of music to
function as a show preview. In this Hearing Aid section, we're also
doing a short live review. We're starting to do more show reviews
throughout the print section and online section as well. Rick Cornell
wrote what I think is a beautiful reflection on the recent Allen
Toussaint show. It runs in today's paper. This is something we'll be
doing more of. We're also doing an album of the month now, streaming a
whole album from the site. This month's record is Adam Thorn's Where's
the Freedom?

As for "Eh, Whatever," I think Steve from WKNC did the best job of
articulating the immediate and applicable concerns here, so I'll go
with his argument: "Discouraging people from attending live music
events is an unhealthy practice for a music scene that needs all of
the positive support it can get." I would agree with that entirely if
that's what I felt this section was doing. Rather, we're giving the
local music scene loads of positive support and, in a very small
section of the paper, offering opinions on touring bands that we feel
people should pass on if they're on the fence. Let's look at it by the
numbers, since Evan pointed out that it's a shame we're devoting
column inches to this. Truth is, we're not devoting many. In the first
week, where the section got the most relative play because the overall
numbers were smaller, here's how it looks.

Music Hold for Aug. 8: 6 pages
Space Allotted for Eh, Whatever: .175 pages
Percentage Used for Eh, Whatever: 2.916%
Percentage Used for Other: 97.084%

We're pointing people to plenty of live music, and that's something
we've been doing consistently. As Glenn pointed out, "right on the
cover [it says] '1000 Things To Do.'" Almost every night of the week,
there are tons of things to do in the Triangle, all competing for time
and money and space. We strive to direct people to what we think is
worth seeing and spending time and money on. There are, of course,
several opinions on, in the course of gushing about a band, whether
you should reserve the right to do the opposite or not. Martin says
silence is golden, but Glenn says it is an affront if every show at
his club isn't written about (that's fairly hard to do, but every show
is listed!). I feel if you have critics writing about what they love,
they should be able to mention their objections to bands that they
don't love, too. Doesn't mean people have to subscribe to those words
at all, but, to me, the irresponsibility is in giving readers only the
positive half of your "honest opinion" out of allegiance to
boosterism.

I had a good conversation about this with Steve last night, and we
talked at length about one of the main concerns here-that is,
occasionally negative coverage for a national band will hurt the local
bands opening for them. But, if someone is going to take stock in what
we say about The Ladybug Transistor (and I'm not saying they will!),
then there's a decent chance they've seen us gush about openers Un
Deux Trois and checked it out for themselves ("This McEntire could
wait forever, and she'd be OK. That's a strength not necessarily
absent on Bellafea albums, but far more visible here."; Un Deux Trois
is bouncy and vibrant, and the 150 perfect seconds of "45rpm" should
make the room's mood more seasonally appropriate.") I hope they go see
Un Deux Trois (who are mentioned in the blurb), but I think it's worth
mentioning that The Ladybug Transistor, in my opinion, isn't hitting
on too much right now (and, yes, I've seen them live fairly
recently!). We've written at length about CGJ and Maple Stave, too.
With half of the members, both of these bands do something more
delightful and powerful than They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, the band
that Ross dubbed that "comparatively obscure Vancouver band" (They've
released two records on KRS!). That was in the paper.

And Glenn, we're not looking to fill the space with a set amount of
bands each week. If people express criticisms of just two bands each
week, great! That actually makes me happy! We'll either shrink that
section or allocate more room per blurb. We're not going looking for
enemies here just to show that we're "horribly jaded," "trying to
impress the editors of Pitchfork with...non-provincialness" or as, Kirk
tags it, institutionally tired. We're doing it because, really, it's
an opinion we feel comfortable expressing as critics.

And, if it's that irksome, this section takes up approximately 17% of
one page. It's sequestered pretty well, and that's, essentially, the
only difference from previous coverage. We've been writing snarky
things about touring bands for years (even under Kirk), but now
they're just titled in their own little box.

One last thing: Martin, if you'd like to write an "Eh, Whatever" about
either of the bands on Burly Time Records, tell me the best way to get
promo copies to you. Your office is on the way to my office, so I'd be
happy to drop them off. Just keep in mind the loads of positive things
we say about Merge bands (I more or less just called Buckner one of
the best working songwriters in America), and that The Ladybug
Transistor piece was written out of nothing but the belief that
they're just not that great. No spite intended. I've never assigned or
edited any copy in the paper about either Bowerbirds or Horseback, and
I've actually caught some flack for that (and not from the bands
themselves, who knew that was the deal going into the thing).

Point being, of course, we can't make everybody happy. Some people
have told me how much they like Hearing Aid. Others-this thread, for
example-don't. Anyway, thanks for starting the conversation: A
conversation Glenn participated in on our Web site several months ago
helped shape some of the section and the increase in live reviews, so
thanks for bringing this up, too. I think Ross' arguments about
audience are certainly interesting, and they're on my mind.

Thanks,
Grayson