RTP-area local music and culture

[will AT trekkyrecords.com]

I think Grayson made a lot of reasonable points and also probably
would take opinions about how to improve the section a lot more
seriously if they weren't accompanied with malice or insult.

The one thing I do think is weird: my instinct after reading a band
get panned is not to listen to them. Even when I'm reading it online
and their song is right there to listen to, I'm more likely to just
skip it. I don't have any desire to prove the writer wrong by
listening to it and liking it. I'll just store in my head: "don't give
that band much of a chance". I don't think that is valuable to anyone.

Also, its not always a zero sum game for shows. Most people don't go
to multiple shows a week. If a show gets a bad preview, people won't
just go to the other one that night. They probably just won't go out
and they'll stay home and what America's Next Top Model. In this way
it really does hurt the good opening local bands.

I agree with Ross about skimming, tho. I usually read everything but a
lot of people just look at the titles and judge quickly. They see a
show under the heading "Eh, Whatver" and decide right then, "I'm not
going to go to that!" People DO trust the writers to tell them what's
cool, so the writers just need to know how much their opinion will
ripple out.