RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

musicscribe AT gmail.com, whom we believe to be Chris Parker, wrote:

> My perception is that playing in front of people -- however many -- is
> a charge, and if it weren't fun, there are plenty of opportunities to
> do something else, like snapping up that lone retail job where the
> music isn't set to '80s Mix or, worse, John Mayer and other Algia-
> produced crap. Or getting a real job.

Heh. "Get a *real* job!" That's what I'm gonna say anytime one of my 
musician friends, like Hepler, starts bitching about how his backstage 
martinis aren't cold enough.

> I inevitably am trapped into conversations with frustrated musicians
> wondering why we have to criticize any music at all. "If you don't
> make it how can you appreciate how hard it is to do? If you can't do
> it how can you criticize someone who does." 

In case it hasn't been made clear by the other 35 posts in this thread, 
we're not having that conversation. We're having the conversation about 
short snarky pot-shots, on the one hand, and sections that appear to 
write off entire shows, including damnfine local bands, in the service 
of airing out one writer's dislike of one out-of-town band that happens 
to be on the bill, on the other.

Which, to further your <snipped> analogy, would be akin, on the one 
hand, to the drunk sitting behind home plate yelling "you suck!" at 
whomever happened to be at bat, and on the other, to a sportswriter who 
wrote off the entire team because he didn't like one of the players.

Which they both have every right to do, of course, but that doesn't mean 
the other fans have to sit back & just enjoy it.

> Similarly anyone who has made it their choice to entertain others for
> a living needs to get used to being booed off the stage. I really am
> not too worried about the thin skin and bruised egos of visiting
> musicians; let them work at the bakery if their confidence is shaken
> by 50-100 negative words. I heard a lot worse than I dish out in my
> creative writing class decades ago. (perhaps for good reason....)

OK, clearly you're putting us on here. Good one!

On the off chance that that exercise in hyperbole was meant sincerely, 
let's unpack it:

1) I'm pretty sure you writers make a living entertaining others. Get 
used to it.
2) A fairly sizeable majority of the musicians who make stops at all the 
clubs in the Triangle smaller than the Cradle *do* work at the bakery. 
This thing we call "tour" is what normal people call "unpaid vacation."
3) Not even gonna touch the writers' workshop thing.

> Interestingly no one has raised the issue of entertainment value,
> other than obliquely. I suppose no one else finds their eyes glazing
> over reading reviews. While part of our job is informative, I
> sincerely believe part of it is entertainment as well. Now Grady, you
> may not be impressed with my 50 words on 3 crappy '80s bands, or my
> 100 on the sad case of Mike Love, and I'll make no excuse about a
> target's relative ease; what I'm looking for is (hopefully) an amusing
> zing that maybe has some context rather than, say, "how old are these
> guys again?" or "If I knew what love was, I'd tell you so you could
> shut up."

Yet, interestingly enough, it would appear that none of the other folks 
posting in this thread found any of these blurbs entertaining or 
amusing. Maybe you're not trying hard enough. Do you know Mark Prindle? 
Maybe he'll give lessons.

> Frankly, I think there's a lot of hot air pumping up a lot of these
> bands, and while, admittedly there's an inside baseball aspect to
> savaging, say, a KRS band, or even better, one of these meandering
> freak-f**kers that Grayson likes so much, sometimes I think it's
> worthwhile to suggest the Emperor's New wardrobe blows.

Sure, and I wouldn't have a problem with that, but thus far I haven't 
seen you taking on the Emperor. I'm not even sure who the Emperor would 
be (Joanna Newsom? Whomever won American Idol this year? R. Kelly?) but 
be sure to send up a flare when he/she is coming through town; I'd love 
to see 'em nekkid.

> I would agree that not all these are entertaining or even always very
> well argued. I gave Grayson grief about Mackey's Ted Leo review, and
> felt it was poorly argued. But I like the fact that we're even talking
> about it, and what constitutes good music rather than simply bowing to
> whoever has a positive opinion... (instead of writing about Bush from
> a critical perspective, let's just take feedback from people who like
> him...)

Hee, you got us again! Let us know when your 30,000-word treatise, on 
how our nation is being destroyed by indie-rock, is due to come out in 
Harper's.

In the meantime, also let us know when y'all modify that section into a 
discussion on "what constitutes good music." I'd be happy to read 
something like that. You might want to change the name of the section, 
though.

> Like anyone else I worry that this discourages people from going to
> shows, but my thought is that hopefully it steers them to better
> shows. 

Here's a suggestion: rejigger the section such that you actually *do* 
steer people to better shows. There is enough of a range of shows around 
here every week that you could literally end every one of your savagely 
funny blurbs with a sentence like "don't waste your time on the Ladybug 
Transistor; go check out Schooner at the Cradle instead." OK, well, I 
dunno whom you'd direct the 80s-music fans to as an alternative, but I'm 
sure you could figure that out.

And if not, then dammit, get a *real* job!