RTP-area local music and culture

["David Bartholomew" <dbartholomew AT gmail.com>]

Bottom line for me is that the section, as written, is a self-indulgent
waste of space


Fair enough. To me the title is lame, but it is someone's brief opinion
about an upcoming show. That is something people might want to read. Perhaps
there is a better show at the Cave or whatevers. Sometimes I agree and
sometimes I don't but the section is in no way an attack on local music.
"Pointless" is hardly worth getting our panties in a wad, is it?



On 1/22/08, grady <grady AT ibiblio.org> wrote:
>
> Does it hurt the venue? Glenn said he did just fine on that show (he's
> quoted below as saying exactly that, in fact).
>
> I don't really agree with the section or its intention. Sometimes it
> seems to be aimed at deflating some kind of [presumably undeserved]
> hype, but since I don't read that many MP3 blogs, I've never partaken of
> the hype that it supposes to be deflating. My only knowledge of Yeasayer
> was that I downloaded some MP3 from some MP3 blog (I just download the
> mp3s and ignore most of the writing, yup) and it was kind of amusing. In
> that sense, I don't know that it's really aimed at most of the people
> who read the Indy, as anybody who's cool enough to be getting all their
> music info from music blogs isn't touching dead-tree publications
> anyway. They get yr fingers dirty & then that smudges yr iPhone.
>
> Other times it's clearly just pathetic pot-shots at bands who are in
> essence the Living Dead anyway, like Big Head Todd and the Monsters.
> Only people going to that show are people who stopped paying attention >
> 10 years ago, which means it's a safe bet they aren't reading the Indy
> either.
>
> That would seem to suggest to me that it's an utterly pointless section.
>
> On the other hand, I can't really buy into Chaz's blanket appreciation
> of every band that ever got in a van and went on tour. I have sat
> through more than my share of truly wretched touring bands, bands who
> should've stayed home and gotten *more* day jobs, to keep them away from
> the temptation to create music. On more than one occasion, they were not
> only truly wretched but also possessed of a highly inflated sense of
> their own self-worth, meaning that even though they were playing in the
> 1st or 2nd slot on a 3-band bill, on a weeknight, in a town where nobody
> fucking knew who they were, they still took 30 minutes to set up & then
> played for a solid hour.
>
> If I could remember the names of any such bands (I tend to blot 'em out
> of the memory pretty quickly), I might very well be moved to pillory
> them in print.
>
> Likewise, I can't wholeheartedly buy into Jeremy's "whatever the venue
> does must be the right thing and must be respected" thesis. I mean, any
> fucknut with a restaurant or a bar can start booking bands, and you have
> to look no further than the recent Mansion 462 thread for an example of
> one such bunch of fucknuts.
>
> Bottom line for me is that the section, as written, is a self-indulgent
> waste of space. If you want to warn people away from an upcoming band
> because you saw 'em already, recently, and they sucked monkey butt, go
> right ahead--but it shouldn't take more than 15-20 words to do that.
> Then spend another 75 words saying "if you thought you were gonna like
> _______, you're much better off going to check out ________, and here's
> why:"
>
> Unfortunately, it's too much fun to make fun of shitty bands, and the
> longer you type, the more fun it becomes. Until one day you're old &
> suddenly it's not fun anymore, but at that point nothing else is either,
> so you probably aren't writing about music for the local free weekly
> anymore.
>
> xo
>
> Ross
>
> Jeremy Blair wrote:
> > The Nightlight article learned us all on what it takes to book touring
> > bands…they want guarantees, chips and salsa, etc. If a venue posts up
> some
> > hard-earned in order to bring in a touring band and then the Indy tells
> > people to skip it, that's pretty much not good for the venue. I think
> the
> > Indy's argument last time was that scoffing at touring band doesn't hurt
> the
> > local music scene because they point out local alternatives on the same
> > page. Hurts the venue though, as evidence by Glen bringing up this
> topic.
> > Venues arguably are the most important part of the music scene.
> >
> >
> >
> > On Jan 22, 2008 1:03 PM, <local506 AT gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >>>>> Even if it hurts local artists and clubs...we don't want our weekly
> >> independent (heh) to hold back takes because of hurting the businesses
> >> involved. Do we?
> >>
> >> Many of the shows here that get "Eh Whatever'ed" actually do quite
> >> well - to the point that it actually makes me sometimes question why I
> >> advertise.  But I've always said that no write-up is worse than a
> >> negative one.
> >>
> >> I can't speak for MGMT's show that night, I was swamped behind the bar
> >> (and that's a complement!) but the guys were nice to me and
> >> appreciative at the end of the night, but I heard they weren't so nice
> >> to the local support - and not sure if that was article-oriented or
> >> not.
> >>
> >> glenn
> >> -- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill --
> >> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene
> >>
> > -- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill --
> > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene
> >
> >
> -- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill --
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene
>