Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[Thomas Beckett <thomas AT tbeckett.com>]

Rachel Cox wrote:
> On the other hand, to play devil's advocate to my own rant, an
> argument could be made that the avant garde couldn't exist if
> things were otherwise. It needs boundaries to push against; it
> needs for what was once experimental and bleeding edge to become
> commonplace and even trite, partly to give it something to react
> against or overcome or move beyond or grow from, and partly
> because we see things in contrast to each other. There could be
> no avante garde if everything were avante garde. 

        I think the main trend in our current culture is that the cycle from
counter-culture to commercialization has become exceedingly short. 
Blame it on the baby-boomers, who taught the record industry -- and then
the whole capitalist system -- that whatever the young people were
listening to, watching or doing in order to be different from their
elders could be rapidly turned into big bucks.  

http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,14327,00.html
"Music sites are betting their futures on armies of college kids like
Keith Cutler, who are paid to create buzz." 

        It used to be there was art and commerce -- God and Mammon -- which
stood more or less distinctly.  Now the two are more or less
indistinguishable.  The best artists work for the Web development shops
and the ad agencies.  The best musicians are all trying to get
"signed".  

        But surely I over-generalize.  You get my drift.

TaB