Here's a piece I drafted a few months ago. I didn't post it right away because I'm attempting to be more positive, so anytime I write something critical I tend to sit on it for a while. But it's short, it's true, and it's kinda funny. Though it may seem to have nothing to do with the new album, this essay is a glimpse into our current state of mind, and our state of mind will no doubt have a big influence on the album.
I was born in 1980. For my entire life, the baby boomers have controlled money, power, culture, politics, pretty much everything. Oddly the generation who claims rock and roll, civil rights, and enlightenment as their own couldn't wait to sell out. Big box stores. Corporate monopolies. SUVs. Tacky subdivisions. Ponzi Schemes. Reality TV...
.......bleccccchhhhhhhh.....
I worked at a used boat dealership for one summer in my mid twenties. The owner was just as smarmy as you might expect, complete with the gold crusted watch and classic hot rod collection. His motto was "It's not what you say, but how you say it." I doubt Jim came up with this on his own, he probably read it in How To Win Conversations and Influence Buyers or The Seven Habits of People Who Attend Leadership Seminars. If you're around my age, chances are you've been employed by someone similar. Nearly every business has been run this way for at least the last 40 years. Watch any commercial, drive past any strip mall, read the ingredients on the juice flavored drink product for kids.
The boomers never met a slick slogan they didn't like. The bigger the company and the more robotic it's employees, the better. A snappy scripted telephone greeting is their idea of customer service. These empty suits have built empires on such bullshit virtues. They're successful. They're in charge. And they're not going to listen to you.
Now, we're in our late twenties / early thirties and we've become our own marketing demographic. We're buying our first homes, getting married, having kids, starting businesses, making records, getting involved. If a business wants to succeed in the next 40 years, they're going to have to appeal to us. And for some reason, the old shuck and jive doesn't work on us. Not even a little bit. We know when we're being lied to, we know when the person on the other end of the line or standing across from us is just following a script. And we don't like it.
So guess what? We get to watch the dinosaurs go extinct right before our eyes. If your boss insists that you "hone your schtick" just smile and nod, knowing that his or her days are numbered. I swear, we've been browbeaten our entire lives to accept things as true even though we know them to be false. And for a long time the liars were right- by virtue of winning and being in charge. But the truth always comes out. If someone tells you 2+2=5 don't believe them, even if they have a twinkle in their eye and a smirk on their face. It's not how you say it, it's what you say.
Monday, September 29, 2014
New Record Time!
I've been writing lately about other bands and other things, because the Charlatans have been in pre-production for our new album. This Sunday, pre-production will simply become production. That's right, we're finally headed into the studio! I plan to write quite a bit in the ensuing weeks about the recording process. I've also got a few posts in the can about tangential subjects (The Beach Boys, The Peter Pan Syndrome, etc...) which I plan to weave in. And I hope to do some Q & A segments with the other band members, production folks, and guest musicians. But for starters, every record has a backstory. In fact, every record likely has many different backstories as each person involved comes in with their own baggage and their own hopes and dreams. For this record, here is the abridged backstory from the Drumist's perspective:
On October 5th, we go into the studio to begin tracking of our new album. This site was initially conceived as documenting our journey as a band from inception to notoriety and profitability. Also, my personal journey of picking up the pieces after Scotland Barr, realizing what I really need to focus on (music), and starting over with an all new (sort of) band.
I say “sort of” because, in fact, Bradley Wik & The Charlatans has become Bradley Wik and Three Slow Drags. It didn’t start out that way! But shortly after recording our first EP as a three piece way back in 2009 it became clear that we needed a lead guitarist. That’s no slight on Bradley’s guitar playing. He is actually a fantastic guitarist. But this band needed a big sound, and the novelty of a power trio never held much sway when weighed against the versatility of a full four piece rock and roll band.
Enter Brian Bergstrom. Brian and I are, I suppose, musical soul mates. We’ve been making music together since I was 19 and we’ve each found our way into every band the other has been a part of. Our respective influences differ greatly, but also overlap at all the important parts. I can’t imagine making music without him. So of course, when we needed a lead guitarist, there was only one call to be made. And yes, Brian served a stint playing bass in The Slow Drags.
Our first full length album was recorded in 2011 and came out in 2012. The time between completion and release was a difficult one, as the band experienced some growing pains. It’s unfortunate but not uncommon that relationships ebbed and flowed amongst band members during those uncertain times. Sadly we had stagnated musically, and personality tensions hit their limit. A change had to be made. We needed a new bass player.
Mickey Nucci was the original bass player in Scotland Barr & The Slow Drags. He grew up with Scott, and he taught me all the songs when I joined that band. He was the steady hand and smiling face that carried me from a basement jammer who had no business anywhere near a professional rock outfit, to a confident and polished drummer with hundreds of gigs under his belt. We needed a new bass player in a hurry and Mickey agreed to fill in for the foreseeable future. About four gigs in it became apparent to all of us that he was the guy for the job, permanently.
We played out almost nonstop for a year and a half promoting that record. We took a huge step forward as a band in the process. But every album has it’s lifecycle and before long new tunes began to displace the album cuts in our setlists. We all lost and / or gained (or both) girlfriends during this time as well.
The “Burn What You Can, Bury The Rest” tour cycle ended on Halloween of 2013. The plan was to spend the winter demoing a new album to be recorded earlier this year. But after such a hectic playing schedule, we all had jobs and relationships to tend to. We worked on the new tunes sporadically through the new year and new songs kept coming. Finally in the spring we started plugging away in Brian’s home studio and again the band took a massive step forward. Free from the constrains of an impending show, we were able to chase the songs down their respective rabbit holes. All the live playing had galvanized us into a tight rock and roll band. And in Brian’s studio, each of us wearing headphones, we were able to finally hear each other. The newest songs were coming together more quickly and sounding better than ones we’d been playing for years.
So here we are. One away from entering the studio proper, where we’ll record live to tape a dozen or so tunes that we’ve spent the last year or so flushing out. This is a fully functioning rock and roll band, greater than the sum of it’s parts, with a clear vision. The way the last album came together was magical, as we really didn’t know what we were doing. Now we’re seasoned and tight. Before we hoped for the best and got it. Now the best is second nature and we hope for something greater. There aren’t three guys on the planet I’d rather be making a record with.
God only knows what the future holds. But all I’ve personally ever wanted out of life was to make something great. I’ve been a part of some great records, but this is the first time I’ve ever had the privilege of going in with the concept fully formed. The only thing left to chance is “how much better than great might it be?” And will anybody like it.
God only knows what the future holds. But all I’ve personally ever wanted out of life was to make something great. I’ve been a part of some great records, but this is the first time I’ve ever had the privilege of going in with the concept fully formed. The only thing left to chance is “how much better than great might it be?” And will anybody like it.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Successmanship
Six years ago I decided to give the whole playing music thing all I've got. Prior to that playing music was a priority, but never a viable career option. This is all well documented right here on this very blog, so no need to keyhole the cymbals now.
Anyhow, recently a friend asked me if Scotland Barr had ever 'made it'. I had to give it some thought. By his own standards, Scott never 'made it'. He wanted to be a star and he knew he had the goods. But ultimately I would submit that he did make it. He wrote, recorded, and published three full length albums (actually the last one is a double but Scott only was able to record vocals for half of the songs). I used to think making money was the hard part. But really, having the goods is the hard part.
What good does financial success in the arts actually do? I suppose it enables one to devote more time and resources to their craft, thus resulting in higher quality output. Except that any band's discography, viewed chronological, would seem to contradict this premise. Sure it would be nice to have lots of nice things, but again the history of mankind suggests a correlation between wealth and happiness which yields diminishing returns.
Scott used to tell me "You consider yourself a camera salesman who plays drums on the weekend. You should flip that paradigm and think of yourself as a musician first who does whatever is necessary to pay the bills." At the time I couldn't have disagreed more staunchly. Then I grew up and realized he was right.
In the last six years my average annual income has been enough to live comfortably on, provided you're definition of comfortably doesn't include home ownership or taking a vacation. Perhaps I'd have earned more had I gone into finance, but there's no way I could sleep at night.
The best part is I'm in a band that is trying to make it all the way. To wake up each day knowing you're part of a group with the highest of aspirations is a very cool feeling. If my band's loftiest goal was to get good enough playing ZZ Top covers to make $300 a night at Duffy's Hanger, I'd be out before the first practice was over. So we'll keep making records and trying to make the best records we can. And hopefully the people who hear them will like them. And hopefully more people will hear them as time goes on. But if I never make a penny playing music it's still a success.
Finally, there's a lot of bs and a lot of injustice in our society. I know that unfortunately most people silently endure the marketing lingo and tps reports just to stay on top of their townhouse mortgage and it must suck. But I can honestly say, the greatest benefit to being in a band and really giving it a go is something I'd never have guessed. It's the quiet confidence. I began to see the world more clearly, to remove monetary designations and look at things in terms of actual value. Money is important to a degree but one can always find a way to make it work. When you're a part of a community that is really striving to make something good, it's easier to ignore that crappy boss at that crappy job. You can walk away from a bad relationship with a bounce in your step and a smile on your face.
Plus when you're in a band every day is dress up day, so if I feel like rockin' a puffy shirt and plaid blazer I can.
Anyhow, recently a friend asked me if Scotland Barr had ever 'made it'. I had to give it some thought. By his own standards, Scott never 'made it'. He wanted to be a star and he knew he had the goods. But ultimately I would submit that he did make it. He wrote, recorded, and published three full length albums (actually the last one is a double but Scott only was able to record vocals for half of the songs). I used to think making money was the hard part. But really, having the goods is the hard part.
What good does financial success in the arts actually do? I suppose it enables one to devote more time and resources to their craft, thus resulting in higher quality output. Except that any band's discography, viewed chronological, would seem to contradict this premise. Sure it would be nice to have lots of nice things, but again the history of mankind suggests a correlation between wealth and happiness which yields diminishing returns.
Scott used to tell me "You consider yourself a camera salesman who plays drums on the weekend. You should flip that paradigm and think of yourself as a musician first who does whatever is necessary to pay the bills." At the time I couldn't have disagreed more staunchly. Then I grew up and realized he was right.
In the last six years my average annual income has been enough to live comfortably on, provided you're definition of comfortably doesn't include home ownership or taking a vacation. Perhaps I'd have earned more had I gone into finance, but there's no way I could sleep at night.
The best part is I'm in a band that is trying to make it all the way. To wake up each day knowing you're part of a group with the highest of aspirations is a very cool feeling. If my band's loftiest goal was to get good enough playing ZZ Top covers to make $300 a night at Duffy's Hanger, I'd be out before the first practice was over. So we'll keep making records and trying to make the best records we can. And hopefully the people who hear them will like them. And hopefully more people will hear them as time goes on. But if I never make a penny playing music it's still a success.
Finally, there's a lot of bs and a lot of injustice in our society. I know that unfortunately most people silently endure the marketing lingo and tps reports just to stay on top of their townhouse mortgage and it must suck. But I can honestly say, the greatest benefit to being in a band and really giving it a go is something I'd never have guessed. It's the quiet confidence. I began to see the world more clearly, to remove monetary designations and look at things in terms of actual value. Money is important to a degree but one can always find a way to make it work. When you're a part of a community that is really striving to make something good, it's easier to ignore that crappy boss at that crappy job. You can walk away from a bad relationship with a bounce in your step and a smile on your face.
Plus when you're in a band every day is dress up day, so if I feel like rockin' a puffy shirt and plaid blazer I can.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Lifehouse is Facebook
Depending on your particular level of Rock & Roll Nerdiness, you may or may not be familiar with Lifehouse. For those of you who have better things to do than read the sleeve notes of classic album reissues, Lifehouse was Pete Townshend's intended followup to Tommy. If you're still lost, Pete Townshend is the lead guitarist and primary composer of The Who. Tommy was his rock opera which is no doubt best known for the hit "Pinball Wizard" (that deaf dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball).
Lifehouse is simultaneously Townshend's greatest success and his biggest failure. After years of work, Pete was ultimately unable to put it all together. Time ran out and nobody from the label to his bandmates could fully comprehend what he was on about. The project was abandoned, and from it's ashes were culled the collection of songs that became Who's Next- widely regarded as one of the best albums of all time and certainly The Who's most successful release by far. "Baba O'Riley" "Won't Get Fooled Again" "Bargain" "Behind Blue Eyes" all were originally part of the Lifehouse story.
For some reason, Townshend was drawn to the idea of a deaf, dumb, and blind protagonist. But since he'd already mined that territory in Tommy, he decided to change it up a little bit for his next project. Tommy was literally unable to speak, hear, or see due to trauma suffered as a young child. In the Lifehouse narrative, young people are unable to truly experience life due to willful self-imprisonment in a metaphorical gilded cage. This dystopian setting bears a striking resemblance to modern society.
In 1970 Pete Townshend envisioned the internet at least 15 years before Al Gore invented it. The song "Relay", which ultimately didn't make the cut on Who's Next, is about just that. But in 1970 nobody else in The Who or their extended circle could really grasp the concept. He envisioned a society where everyone was connected to the same wire. In the story, this was initially embraced as a great step forward for the human race but ultimately it would ensnare mankind as the world became one monolith. Hence the Who's Next album cover, which shows the band taking a piss on an actual monolith they found among some rocks somewhere.
That brings us to Facebook, Twitter, Social Media, Whatever. From the stage I see faces illuminated by their mobile devices. Endlessly scrolling eyes, killing time by reading meaningless 'bumper stickers' (as I'm wont to call them) and "liking" things. The internet has made available endless information to the world. But the problem with endless information is you can't find anything when you're looking at everything. So we've filtered it. Now we only see what's in our news feed. And what's in our news feed is mostly fake. "Likes" can now be bought.
Let's say you open a new coffee shop, or write a book or play in a band. You can hire a company in the US who will in turn hire somebody in India to fabricate Yelp reviews, come up with hashtags, and create fake Facebook accounts by the thousands to "Like" your product and get it trending. Then it pops up on Google and Facebook and bam: you're now popular.
Meanwhile, the English language has been reduced to 140 characters or less. Art is viewed in digital form on a 2 inch screen. What's Good and What's Important is determined by whoever pays Kim Kardashian enough money to tweet about it. This could easily be a less funny draft of a Louis CK bit, I realize. "The Hot Pocket Guy?" No. The Everything Is Great And No One Is Happy Guy.
Next time you go to a show, or a ballgame, or just out to a bar, try this experiment: Leave your phone in your car. Once you don't have it, you'll realize how many times per hour you compulsively reach for it. Remembering you don't have it, you'll then realize that you really had no reason to reach for it in the first place. Pretty soon your eye level will rise and you'll start to experience what's actually happening in real life. The first thing you'll notice is all the other people and their compulsive need to check their phone. You'll see folks interrupt face to face conversations with a friend or loved one every few seconds to gaze and scroll. And you'll probably take pity on these poor souls, bound to their devices, missing out on life because they're obsessed with "staying connected" at all times. But then you'll remember that you've left your phone in the car and, having not checked your messages in an hour or so, you'll convince yourself that perhaps someone has flirted with you on OKCupid so it's probably time to go retrieve it.
Or perhaps you'll cease to care what's in that little 2 inch window because the possibilities every other inch has to offer are far more enticing. And I call that a bargain, the best I ever had.
Lifehouse is simultaneously Townshend's greatest success and his biggest failure. After years of work, Pete was ultimately unable to put it all together. Time ran out and nobody from the label to his bandmates could fully comprehend what he was on about. The project was abandoned, and from it's ashes were culled the collection of songs that became Who's Next- widely regarded as one of the best albums of all time and certainly The Who's most successful release by far. "Baba O'Riley" "Won't Get Fooled Again" "Bargain" "Behind Blue Eyes" all were originally part of the Lifehouse story.
For some reason, Townshend was drawn to the idea of a deaf, dumb, and blind protagonist. But since he'd already mined that territory in Tommy, he decided to change it up a little bit for his next project. Tommy was literally unable to speak, hear, or see due to trauma suffered as a young child. In the Lifehouse narrative, young people are unable to truly experience life due to willful self-imprisonment in a metaphorical gilded cage. This dystopian setting bears a striking resemblance to modern society.
In 1970 Pete Townshend envisioned the internet at least 15 years before Al Gore invented it. The song "Relay", which ultimately didn't make the cut on Who's Next, is about just that. But in 1970 nobody else in The Who or their extended circle could really grasp the concept. He envisioned a society where everyone was connected to the same wire. In the story, this was initially embraced as a great step forward for the human race but ultimately it would ensnare mankind as the world became one monolith. Hence the Who's Next album cover, which shows the band taking a piss on an actual monolith they found among some rocks somewhere.
That brings us to Facebook, Twitter, Social Media, Whatever. From the stage I see faces illuminated by their mobile devices. Endlessly scrolling eyes, killing time by reading meaningless 'bumper stickers' (as I'm wont to call them) and "liking" things. The internet has made available endless information to the world. But the problem with endless information is you can't find anything when you're looking at everything. So we've filtered it. Now we only see what's in our news feed. And what's in our news feed is mostly fake. "Likes" can now be bought.
Let's say you open a new coffee shop, or write a book or play in a band. You can hire a company in the US who will in turn hire somebody in India to fabricate Yelp reviews, come up with hashtags, and create fake Facebook accounts by the thousands to "Like" your product and get it trending. Then it pops up on Google and Facebook and bam: you're now popular.
Meanwhile, the English language has been reduced to 140 characters or less. Art is viewed in digital form on a 2 inch screen. What's Good and What's Important is determined by whoever pays Kim Kardashian enough money to tweet about it. This could easily be a less funny draft of a Louis CK bit, I realize. "The Hot Pocket Guy?" No. The Everything Is Great And No One Is Happy Guy.
Next time you go to a show, or a ballgame, or just out to a bar, try this experiment: Leave your phone in your car. Once you don't have it, you'll realize how many times per hour you compulsively reach for it. Remembering you don't have it, you'll then realize that you really had no reason to reach for it in the first place. Pretty soon your eye level will rise and you'll start to experience what's actually happening in real life. The first thing you'll notice is all the other people and their compulsive need to check their phone. You'll see folks interrupt face to face conversations with a friend or loved one every few seconds to gaze and scroll. And you'll probably take pity on these poor souls, bound to their devices, missing out on life because they're obsessed with "staying connected" at all times. But then you'll remember that you've left your phone in the car and, having not checked your messages in an hour or so, you'll convince yourself that perhaps someone has flirted with you on OKCupid so it's probably time to go retrieve it.
Or perhaps you'll cease to care what's in that little 2 inch window because the possibilities every other inch has to offer are far more enticing. And I call that a bargain, the best I ever had.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Music is a Time Machine
I touched on this thesis a few posts back, but I've been thinking about it a lot lately and wanted to write more. We've all heard the studies which claim that music education in k-12 is paramount to learning in general. If you haven't, I'm too lazy to google a link right now but it's out there. The reason is that music has the very unique ability to stimulate both the right and left brain hemispheres since it is simultaneously very creative and mathematical. Children who spend twenty minutes learning piano at the top of the school day retain much more knowledge from every subject they study that day.
So engaging with music seems to heighten our awareness. Say you buy a really good album that you listen to intensely for a certain period of time. Because your brain is functioning at a higher level, everything else you experience during this period of time is recorded into your subconscious mind in acute detail. Inevitably you will tire of this album and it will go on the shelf. Years will pass and you will seldom even think of this album. Then, for some reason, you pull it out and play it again. Suddenly everything you were doing all those years ago is foremost in your thoughts. Things you had seemingly forgotten altogether are as if they happened yesterday. If you often ate lunch at the Thai place near your old job, now you can almost taste the Pad See Ew. You feel the potholes on the Sellwood Bridge that was once your daily commute. If you were going through a breakup at the time your heart might ache all over again, even though you've long since moved on.
This, I can only imagine, is similar to what people mean when they talk about acid flashbacks.
So engaging with music seems to heighten our awareness. Say you buy a really good album that you listen to intensely for a certain period of time. Because your brain is functioning at a higher level, everything else you experience during this period of time is recorded into your subconscious mind in acute detail. Inevitably you will tire of this album and it will go on the shelf. Years will pass and you will seldom even think of this album. Then, for some reason, you pull it out and play it again. Suddenly everything you were doing all those years ago is foremost in your thoughts. Things you had seemingly forgotten altogether are as if they happened yesterday. If you often ate lunch at the Thai place near your old job, now you can almost taste the Pad See Ew. You feel the potholes on the Sellwood Bridge that was once your daily commute. If you were going through a breakup at the time your heart might ache all over again, even though you've long since moved on.
This, I can only imagine, is similar to what people mean when they talk about acid flashbacks.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Music, Sports, Goosebumps
I am a sports fan, at least according to non-sports-fan standards.
This often makes me the odd man out among my musician friends, which I always find fascinating. Why must sport and music be mutually exclusive? Whether it's your favorite alt / country band or your hometown basketball team, you're still a) seeking entertainment and b) rooting for them to win. I follow Ryan Adams' chart position as closely as I follow the Blazers Western Conference standings, which is to say that on any given day I'm probably somewhat aware of them.
So a friend of mine posted U2's 2002 (post 9/11) Superbowl Halftime performance on Facebook today for some reason. And it took me back that time. I saw U2 at the Staples Center in November of 2001. It was pretty similar to the halftime show, except 2 hours long. At the beginning of "Streets" Bono asked "What can we give back to God, for the blessings he poured out on us?" a wash of blinding white light over took the crowd and as the song crashed in, someone near me thew Bono an American flag which he held up and ran around the heart-shaped runway. Later a screen arose behind the stage on which all the names of the people lost on 9/11 scrolled. As the band started in to "Walk On" Bono yelled out at the top of his lungs "U S A!" and for that moment 20,000 people simultaneously knew that everything was going to be okay. Just watching that clip 10 years later gives me goosebumbs.
I also get goosebumps watching highlights of Brandon Roy's amazing Game 4. Again, 20,000 people believing, if only for just a few moments, that anything was possible. Music is obviously more important to me than sports, but that's probably just because I actually am good at playing music. But I've realized that I approach them both in a very similar fashion. I read the liner notes of every album I buy because I want to know which musicians played on the record, who produced it, who mixed it, etc... I also check Blazersedge regularly because I like to know the general daily goings on. I follow a game like I follow a concert. But what I'm really looking for is that special moment that probably only happens a few times in ones life (unless you're a L*ker fan, in which case it happened a few times while you were in college). The moment when we dare to dream of the seemingly impossible, and it actually happens! I've had a few concert memories like that, and a few sporting events as well. It's pretty awesome.
The common shared experience.
It seems like our society is becoming increasingly fragmented. Facebook is life and conversation is limited to 160 characters or less. You can find out someone's religious and political beliefs, or anything else, and decide whether you want to be their friend before you've even met them. Everyone has their own club and the people in the other club suck.
Lately I feel like the clock is ticking anytime I meet someone new. I mean, to even get in the door you're stat sheet better check out. And if your stat sheet is perfect, well all you can do then is disappoint in person. But you better do it quick because everyone has way more Facebook friends than they do real life friends, and whether you're looking for a job or a date, you're just one of a constant stream of suitors. I wonder how many people I've written off because their stat sheet didn't seem up to snuff at the time. How many people have written me off for the same reason? Is it possible that I've applied for a job and they've looked at my Facebook and decided to pass without even interviewing me in person? I say it's highly likely. I know for a fact my old employer always looks at someone's Facebook before replying to an application.
I better jump off this tangent before it spirals to a dark place. The point is, music and sports are the only two things I can think of which are capable of producing that ultimate shared crowd experience. And just remembering them can make you feel euphoric all over again. We set aside all the chaos and collectively achieve the impossible. I wish that happened more often, because it's a great feeling.
At the end of the day, we're all rooting for the same team. That team is us, and we just might win.
This often makes me the odd man out among my musician friends, which I always find fascinating. Why must sport and music be mutually exclusive? Whether it's your favorite alt / country band or your hometown basketball team, you're still a) seeking entertainment and b) rooting for them to win. I follow Ryan Adams' chart position as closely as I follow the Blazers Western Conference standings, which is to say that on any given day I'm probably somewhat aware of them.
So a friend of mine posted U2's 2002 (post 9/11) Superbowl Halftime performance on Facebook today for some reason. And it took me back that time. I saw U2 at the Staples Center in November of 2001. It was pretty similar to the halftime show, except 2 hours long. At the beginning of "Streets" Bono asked "What can we give back to God, for the blessings he poured out on us?" a wash of blinding white light over took the crowd and as the song crashed in, someone near me thew Bono an American flag which he held up and ran around the heart-shaped runway. Later a screen arose behind the stage on which all the names of the people lost on 9/11 scrolled. As the band started in to "Walk On" Bono yelled out at the top of his lungs "U S A!" and for that moment 20,000 people simultaneously knew that everything was going to be okay. Just watching that clip 10 years later gives me goosebumbs.
I also get goosebumps watching highlights of Brandon Roy's amazing Game 4. Again, 20,000 people believing, if only for just a few moments, that anything was possible. Music is obviously more important to me than sports, but that's probably just because I actually am good at playing music. But I've realized that I approach them both in a very similar fashion. I read the liner notes of every album I buy because I want to know which musicians played on the record, who produced it, who mixed it, etc... I also check Blazersedge regularly because I like to know the general daily goings on. I follow a game like I follow a concert. But what I'm really looking for is that special moment that probably only happens a few times in ones life (unless you're a L*ker fan, in which case it happened a few times while you were in college). The moment when we dare to dream of the seemingly impossible, and it actually happens! I've had a few concert memories like that, and a few sporting events as well. It's pretty awesome.
The common shared experience.
It seems like our society is becoming increasingly fragmented. Facebook is life and conversation is limited to 160 characters or less. You can find out someone's religious and political beliefs, or anything else, and decide whether you want to be their friend before you've even met them. Everyone has their own club and the people in the other club suck.
Lately I feel like the clock is ticking anytime I meet someone new. I mean, to even get in the door you're stat sheet better check out. And if your stat sheet is perfect, well all you can do then is disappoint in person. But you better do it quick because everyone has way more Facebook friends than they do real life friends, and whether you're looking for a job or a date, you're just one of a constant stream of suitors. I wonder how many people I've written off because their stat sheet didn't seem up to snuff at the time. How many people have written me off for the same reason? Is it possible that I've applied for a job and they've looked at my Facebook and decided to pass without even interviewing me in person? I say it's highly likely. I know for a fact my old employer always looks at someone's Facebook before replying to an application.
I better jump off this tangent before it spirals to a dark place. The point is, music and sports are the only two things I can think of which are capable of producing that ultimate shared crowd experience. And just remembering them can make you feel euphoric all over again. We set aside all the chaos and collectively achieve the impossible. I wish that happened more often, because it's a great feeling.
At the end of the day, we're all rooting for the same team. That team is us, and we just might win.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Johnny Cash Cover Band Plays Local Bar (aka Why I Suck, Am Single, and Most People Are Annoyed By Me)
Tonight (like most nights) I strolled into my local dive, The Nest on Alberta. On this particular warm Friday night (unlike most nights) there was a band playing. Actually, there was a band not playing at the moment I walked in, they were on a break. But the evidence was abundant that indeed there was to be live entertainment at The Nest tonight. Specifically, a handwritten sign posted at the front door which read "$2 donation for band". I did not obey this sign. My first thought was "I'm a musician: I'm poor" followed by "Oh I guess they are too, how can I expect to earn a buck playing music if I won't pay to see it?" I decided that if I thought the band was good I would pay a couple bucks.
I promptly obtained a Pabst from the barkeep and made my way to the patio, where I typically run into people I barely know and talk about The Blazers or Music or something less important. At some point I noticed the band had resumed. I could hear the muffled sounds of train beat coming from inside. Once I had nursed my Ribbon dry I headed back in for another, and to check out the band. As I reentered I could barely make my way across the room. Suddenly the overfilled bike rack made sense (I actually had to wait for a parking space FOR MY BIKE when I arrived.) It was a Johnny Cash cover band playing "Folsom Prison Blues"
Of course that's the song they would be playing precisely the minute I walked in. And the place was packed with happy drunk girls, ranging from a soft-7 on down, dancing and singing along. Now here's the part that makes me suck: This drove me crazy. My first thought was I wonder how many of these people liked Johnny Cash before it was Cool To Like Johnny Cash (that is, before "Hurt" came out). I concluded none of them. Young people like Johnny Cash for the same reasons that people with no ties to Boston wear Red Sox hats.
I'm not a Johnny Cash fan. That's not to say that I don't like or respect his work, but I own none of his CDs and I never paid much attention to him. People I respect very much musically have named him as a key influence. I even recorded one of his songs for a tribute compilation that never came out. I recognize his greatness and his impact on the music world. But by virtue of the fact that I am not a fan I am totally unqualified to write the following paragraph.
Johnny would probably not be super stoked that a bunch of unintelligent bimbos were singing along to a handful of his more radio-friendly tunes while their Abercrombie and Affliction clad beaus were ordering another round of tequila shots and plotting the next epic Dave show at The Gorge. Or maybe he'd be thrilled by it, who knows. But my gut tells me no genius wants to see his life's work marginalized and distilled down to a handful of "Greatest Hits," played primarily for the purpose of hastening along the procreation of dumb people and thus the demise of our society (see Idiocracy- opening sequence). And the thing which I'm certain would drive Johnny crazy is that these are the very same people who didn't give a shit about him a few years ago. This is the sort of folk who, were Johnny a young up-and-comer today, would not invest even five seconds to ponder his music.
Yesterday I texted a girl, who I guess is a friend but probably won't be for much longer, that I had a few copies of the new Scotland Barr record. The only reason I did this is because I think she is a fan as she came to a lot of shows back in the day and has the other two albums. Plus I'm certain she would love it. Her response was, "I'll pass, but thank you anyway!" (I love the random use of exclamation points, by the way.) I was surprised by this, and fired back, "Wow really? You'd love it, it's a masterpiece. I thought you'd be excited..." Her devastating / enraging response was, "I don't purchase that much music anymore... Really trying to watch my spending, so unless it's close to free... Yah. Sucks being poor" This coming from a person who a) has a job with a Fortune 500 company, b) drives a new car, and c) probably spends between $15 and $50 every day on Starbucks / lunch / happy hour / $2 donations to Johnny Cash cover bands at dive bars.
And this is why our society sucks, or why our society is fine and I am the one who sucks. People say they are poor when clearly they aren't, and will piss through money on all sorts of things that will be consumed and forgotten in a matter of minutes. Yett somehow paying for a CD which cost thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars to produce is considered a frivolous luxury. Do we really want to live in a world of classic rock stations and repackaged greatest hits albums and crappy cover bands? Are we, as a society, done embracing new art?
So here I am. Up on my high horse, blogging and judging. Who am I? Just a drummer who can (kinda) sing and (attempts to) write songs. If I had approximately 30% fewer braincells and 100% more Tap Out shirts I could be bedding one of those gold digging fairweather Cash fans right now. But instead I'm laying on my couch alone, watching The Larry Sanders Show on Netflix. And publishing blogs which will make a handful of people chuckle and many more people (if they ever read it) say "Nick sucks, no wonder he doesn't have a girlfriend."
I promptly obtained a Pabst from the barkeep and made my way to the patio, where I typically run into people I barely know and talk about The Blazers or Music or something less important. At some point I noticed the band had resumed. I could hear the muffled sounds of train beat coming from inside. Once I had nursed my Ribbon dry I headed back in for another, and to check out the band. As I reentered I could barely make my way across the room. Suddenly the overfilled bike rack made sense (I actually had to wait for a parking space FOR MY BIKE when I arrived.) It was a Johnny Cash cover band playing "Folsom Prison Blues"
Of course that's the song they would be playing precisely the minute I walked in. And the place was packed with happy drunk girls, ranging from a soft-7 on down, dancing and singing along. Now here's the part that makes me suck: This drove me crazy. My first thought was I wonder how many of these people liked Johnny Cash before it was Cool To Like Johnny Cash (that is, before "Hurt" came out). I concluded none of them. Young people like Johnny Cash for the same reasons that people with no ties to Boston wear Red Sox hats.
I'm not a Johnny Cash fan. That's not to say that I don't like or respect his work, but I own none of his CDs and I never paid much attention to him. People I respect very much musically have named him as a key influence. I even recorded one of his songs for a tribute compilation that never came out. I recognize his greatness and his impact on the music world. But by virtue of the fact that I am not a fan I am totally unqualified to write the following paragraph.
Johnny would probably not be super stoked that a bunch of unintelligent bimbos were singing along to a handful of his more radio-friendly tunes while their Abercrombie and Affliction clad beaus were ordering another round of tequila shots and plotting the next epic Dave show at The Gorge. Or maybe he'd be thrilled by it, who knows. But my gut tells me no genius wants to see his life's work marginalized and distilled down to a handful of "Greatest Hits," played primarily for the purpose of hastening along the procreation of dumb people and thus the demise of our society (see Idiocracy- opening sequence). And the thing which I'm certain would drive Johnny crazy is that these are the very same people who didn't give a shit about him a few years ago. This is the sort of folk who, were Johnny a young up-and-comer today, would not invest even five seconds to ponder his music.
Yesterday I texted a girl, who I guess is a friend but probably won't be for much longer, that I had a few copies of the new Scotland Barr record. The only reason I did this is because I think she is a fan as she came to a lot of shows back in the day and has the other two albums. Plus I'm certain she would love it. Her response was, "I'll pass, but thank you anyway!" (I love the random use of exclamation points, by the way.) I was surprised by this, and fired back, "Wow really? You'd love it, it's a masterpiece. I thought you'd be excited..." Her devastating / enraging response was, "I don't purchase that much music anymore... Really trying to watch my spending, so unless it's close to free... Yah. Sucks being poor" This coming from a person who a) has a job with a Fortune 500 company, b) drives a new car, and c) probably spends between $15 and $50 every day on Starbucks / lunch / happy hour / $2 donations to Johnny Cash cover bands at dive bars.
And this is why our society sucks, or why our society is fine and I am the one who sucks. People say they are poor when clearly they aren't, and will piss through money on all sorts of things that will be consumed and forgotten in a matter of minutes. Yett somehow paying for a CD which cost thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars to produce is considered a frivolous luxury. Do we really want to live in a world of classic rock stations and repackaged greatest hits albums and crappy cover bands? Are we, as a society, done embracing new art?
So here I am. Up on my high horse, blogging and judging. Who am I? Just a drummer who can (kinda) sing and (attempts to) write songs. If I had approximately 30% fewer braincells and 100% more Tap Out shirts I could be bedding one of those gold digging fairweather Cash fans right now. But instead I'm laying on my couch alone, watching The Larry Sanders Show on Netflix. And publishing blogs which will make a handful of people chuckle and many more people (if they ever read it) say "Nick sucks, no wonder he doesn't have a girlfriend."
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