Love Him? You Don't Know Him!!

**Excessive Ranting and Raving Alert**

I realize that every one of my posts is basically just me rambling about whatever happens to be on my mind at any given time.  Generally (in this blog at least) I try to keep these rambles contained to music related topics and I like to keep them positive, mostly because I don't listen to music I don't like and also because I generally try not to waste a lot of time or effort on negative things.  I have found that plenty of negativity will come into our lives without us making an effort at it.  That being said, I'm not all zen all the time and crap gets on my nerves quite frequently.  Most of the time I let it go, but this one thing has been kind of irking me for like a week now, so I figured I'd spew about it here a bit, then let it go.  Pass it along, like an earworm, as it were.

So, a few days ago (a week, maybe more?  I'm not sure) a male musician of the not unattractive variety posted on twitter that a bear had actually broken into the cabin he was staying in and had basically eaten the kitchen.  He then took a screen shot of said tweet and posted it on Instagram and Tumblr, as you do.  My first thought was, "Huh, I didn't know bears were gluten free." but some other people of the female persuasion felt it was appropriate to post "I love you" or the even more over-the-top "I'm in love with you" as a response to this.

Nothing more than that, just "I'm in love with you".  Now, I'm not blind and I don't live under a rock, I see these kinds of comments all over the place in response to all manner of celebrity posts, but this time it was just so completely out of place and so totally unrelated to the original post that it just bugged the shit out of me.  I mean, what was the point?  Why do these girls feel inclined to constantly post that kind of thing?  What outcome are they hoping for?  And are they even thinking about what they're saying and how ridiculous it sounds?  I guess my biggest problem with this is that it isn't always very young girls that don't realize what they're saying, sometimes it's grown ass women that really should know better.  Do people not realize that to say that you're in love with someone and to say that you love someone's music are two entirely different things?

Let's be realistic for just a second (yes, I know, I don't like it either), we all love the music of many different artists.  We love the lyrics, the sounds, we're incredibly grateful for what some of these songs have done for us.  And, in turn, what the artists themselves have done to enrich our lives with this incredible gift they've given us.  I suppose the same is true with any kind of art or celebrity, but I think especially with music for fans, it is extremely personal, so sometimes it's tough to remember that while we might have these intense, deeply personal relationships with songs and albums, that relationship doesn't translate through to the artist.  Yes, he wrote that song that speaks to your very soul, that makes you cry or that heals wounds you didn't even realize you had and you think that for him to have put those lyrics together with that music and to have created that magic, you surely must be kindred spirits.  Believe me, I get that, but the reality of the situation is that we don't actually know these artists.  Not really.  Not on a day-to-day human basis.

Something tells me that the kind of girls that post these type of comments couldn't exist on a bare ration of attention.  I'm thinking that the reality of being the significant other of a touring musician might not be all it's cracked up to be for someone who needs that kind of ego stroking.  Playing second fiddle to the muse and being left at home for months on end is not going to be everyone's cup of tea.  So please, just stop for a second and think about what you're saying.  If you want to compliment someone, compliment his or her work, say something meaningful.  Because just like you, these artists are actual people and if you have a genuine compliment, if their work has had a real impact on you, they want to hear it.  Who wouldn't want to hear that? 

Okay, thanks for reading, I feel much better now.

Fandom Fest (and Yes, Record Shopping)

Because of the experience we had this weekend, I'm going to stray a bit from my normal topic here, but because I love you, I'll get back to it a bit before I go.  Louisville, KY hosted Fandom Fest this weekend, for those of you who aren't familiar, Fandom Fest is like ComicCon but with more stuff.  It includes a lot of horror movies things (it used to only be horror movies) and anime and steam punk and lots of cool stuff.  Anyway, this year it turned into a colossal clusterfuck and our little corner of the internet is swirling with negativity about the event.  In light of all that, I just wanted to share our Fandom Fest experience this weekend. 

 

It all started with them moving the Kevin Smith/Jason Mewes event to Wednesday night because of a scheduling conflict.  This was not the fault of the organizers and I don't blame them for it.  That evening, while much too late for a work night (again, not their fault or problem) was fun and I'm honestly glad it was moved because if it had stayed on Saturday I'm sure the organizers would have figured out some way to screw it up.  We picked up our prepaid tickets on Thursday after work and that went fine.  We spotted a couple guests in the lobby and it seemed like a good start to the convention.  Friday we arrived around 4pm because that was our best guest as to when the vendor hall should be opening.  One program said noon, one said 4pm, one said 5pm...it was hard to tell.  There was a HUGE line forming to enter the vendor hall.  A security guard told us that only VIPs were allowed in currently, which seemed odd since it was already 20 minutes after it was supposed to open to everyone, but still we went over to the Convention Center to check out that hall.  Again, another line.  This time the people there were bragging about being in line for 2+ hrs and the vendors there weren't even finished setting up so we went BACK over to the hotel and went down the escalator into the back of the vendor hall.  After browsing there, we went back across the pedway (AKA the pizza oven) and finally made our way upstairs to the main vendor hall.  Here we found all the comic book artists and authors and some celebrities and other artists and various vendors...basically the stuff we wanted to look at and spend our money on. 

 

Now you have to understand that we only found this stuff because we have been to other conventions (namely the ones put on by Wizard World in Columbus, OH and New Orleans) and we KNEW there had to be more than what were finding.  There were NO signs anywhere.  The volunteers has absolutely no idea where anything was or even which building things were happening in.  I've seen a lot of people saying that the staff and volunteers were rude and, in all honesty, we didn't have that experience.  Everyone we encountered was friendly enough (of course, some more than others) but they just weren't any help at all.  I don't blame them for this.  They can't tell me what they don't know.  I felt sorry for them that they were thrown into this huge group of people and given absolutely nothing to work with.  That's not fair to the convention goers or to the volunteers and the organizers should be ashamed of themselves for doing that to them. 

 

We came back on Saturday and brought my Husband's cousin to see Stan Lee.  We had purchased a photo op ticket for him but he had to work in the morning so we came and had our picture taken with Mr. Lee.  We arrived about 10am for the 11am photo op and when I tell you that we were greeted with mass chaos, it really is an understatement.  The VIPs were lined up in the hallway, that much had been accomplished, but everyone else was just in a group milling around.  An hour before the photo op they hadn't even BEGUN to line up the general admission photo op people yet.  Myra Daniels (one of the "organizers") began telling a crew person that they needed a bullhorn to announce where people needed to line up, etc.  Seriously??  At 10am on SATURDAY?  DURING the convention...THAT'S when you figure out that you're going to need a bullhorn to announce when/where to line up?  What about some ropes and signage to get/keep people in line?  Holy crap.  Anyway, finally a lady with a "crew" t-shirt and a healthy set of lungs began yelling out for Stan Lee photo-ops and gathering people in a line.  We lined up quickly (but honestly only got in that line because I heard Myra talking about getting people lined up and followed her around until the line got formed) and got our picture.  But I've seen reports of people who waited 4+ hours to have their picture taken with Stan Lee and it never happened.  I have no idea where those poor people where, but I can easily see how they got told to stand somewhere in some line by some clueless crew person and just left there.  So sad.  We spent all of our time in line trying to help people who couldn't even figure out where to buy tickets or find the vendor halls and couldn't find a crew person who could help them.

 

Later when we finally found the Stan Lee Q&A (after being told it was in 3 different rooms) it was also not lined up yet, but that was okay because it got pushed back...another changed in the schedule which was not announced at all to anyone.  So we formed a line for that too and waited.  It was so frustrating that we, the attendees, had to form the lines and tell each other where to stand and what we were waiting for and where things where happening and at what time and the crew/volunteers/security just stood there and looked at us because they had no idea if what we were saying was even correct information.   There were panels that were moved, rescheduled and flat out cancelled for no apparent reason.  In the lowest move the weekend, the organizers had the absolute balls the tell a room full of people that Colin Baker's panel was cancelled through some fault of Mr. Baker's when he was in his room waiting to be called down!!  That is just disgraceful.  I understand that we will never come back to Fandom Fest, but I hope he doesn't let the experience color his opinion of all of Louisville/Kentuckiana.  As has always been our experience at conventions, the celebrities and vendors at this convention were gracious and friendly and it was awesome to see them.  I can't imagine what it's like to do what they do for their fans at these events all weekend (of course, hugging strangers and kissing babies is really not my thing, so it would be unbelievably exhausting for me to do that sort of thing for 3 days solid) and for the organizers to treat them like crap is nothing less despicable.

 

Afterwards, we even stopped at the store in Louisville of one of the vendors and the owner expressed some concerns about the event.  Turns out the vendors were told some things that were misleading (or altogether untrue) and they weren't satisfied with their interaction with the organizers either.  Sounds like to me that we need to keep having a convention in Louisville, we just need to have someone else run the thing.  Luckily for us we've been to other conventions so we knew what a fiasco this was right from the very beginning.  Had this been our first experience, I'm not sure we would have ever gone to another one.  As it is, I'm not sure we'll ever go back to this one because frankly, I don't want to give the organizers another penny of our money, which sucks because it is so close to home.  Anyway, in the end, we managed to have a good time but only because we have a knack for having fun in a face of adversity.  :)  We bought some cool stuff, for instance this wire angel made by a local artist:

 

and this zombie gnome that (even those he's solid concrete) will decorate our hearth...

 

 and of course I couldn't pass up this catbat print, because for some reason every time we go to one of these things, I get something cat related...

 

After all that craziness, we went record shopping to sooth our souls (or, you know, my soul at least) and we finally got to stop at Better Days Records in the Highlands.  Seems like there is never a place to park there, or we always pass the place up and traffic is too crazy to try to turn around and go back, or some other force of nature has always stopped us from going there.  But today we were determined and where there's a will there's a way and what do you know, we got in there and on the back wall in the rack I found THIS!!

 Matt Nathanson's newest release "Last of the Great Pretenders" on vinyl!!  I was so excited to find an actual physical copy of a Matt Nathanson record on vinyl right here in Louisville that I took like 4 pictures of it.  Yep, the store owner now thinks I'm nuts.  And probably more so because I didn't buy it, but I've already bought it twice so...  If you don't have it yet, buy it, it is some kind of wonderful.  As soon as I wrap my head around the whole thing I'll write it up.

 

I was also pretty amazed to find a copy of The Mountain Goats' "All Hail West Texas".  Not sure why, just didn't seem like the kind of thing I'd run across so close to home and I was proud of them for stocking it and displaying it prominently.  

 

Before we left I did buy Jack White's "Blunderbuss" and a Carpenters album (now surely you didn't read all the way down here to start judging me now, did you??) and then grabbed a few out of the $1.00 bin to make an art piece for my treadmill room.  Of course, I grabbed some good stuff like Foghat and Fleetwood Mack and if they play I won't use them, but if they're all scratched to piss at least I'll still be able to put them to good use.

No Musician Is An Island

Have you ever watched a movie because of who directed it or produced it or wrote the screenplay?  Of course you have, we all have, and they count on it, that's why trailers so often contain the line "from the director of..." or "by the people who brought you..."  That kind of decision has very little to do with the actors.  For instance, if Quentin Tarantino is involved with a movie, I'll watch it.  That surely is not because of his beautiful face.  It's because I've never seen a movie he was involved with that I didn't think had merit.  At this point, just the fact that he thinks the project is worthy of working on will make me watch it.  Who stars in it has no bearing on my desire to see the movie.  My husband is the same way, if Joss Whedon (Avengers) or Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner) is involved, he's there but if Michael Bay (Transformers) had a hand in making a movie, forget it.

So what's my point you're asking?  Well, when was the last time you purchased a record solely because of the guy who produced it?  Or engineered it?  Or played guitar on it?  Personally, I have found a number of really talented musicians by researching who worked on albums I really love and finding out what else they've had a hand in.  I believe my most recent such discovery was Jesse Macht who is just ridiculously good, but I might not have found him if not for his producer.   I was inspired to mention this by this article over at Tape Op.  Go ahead and read it, it's worth it.  He gets the point across much better than I ever could and with a different point of view.  You can come back.  It's cool, I'll wait...

The article was originally brought to my attention on Aaron Tap's blog (which you can find here).  There is little I could say on the subject that they haven't covered, except that I can speak on the subject as a music fan rather than someone in the industry.  As fans, it is essential that we remember that for all intents and purposes nothing you listen to was created by one person.  Sure, there might be one person's name on the album cover or one guy's face in the video but trust me, he was not alone in that endeavor.  And from out here, it's damn near impossible to determine who influenced the sound the most.  Who sang the backing vocals?  Who decided to put that drum in that spot?  Who wrote the string arrangement?  Who played the piano?  Who organized and actually performed the finger snaps that you love so much?  Who decided how loud the lead vocals should be in comparison to the instruments?  Each of those people affected the end result that has had such an impact on you and they are each essential. 

So I implore you, take a look around, read some liner notes or google it if nothing else (there are myriad resources available online for this kind of information) and find out who did what and what else they've done.  Find someone who's taste suits yours and check out their back catalogue.  Let's make an effort to make music purchasing and listening a bit less passive and give it the attention it deserves.  After all, these people (even the ones you've never heard of) have put their heart in soul in this end product, the least you can do is acknowledge that it means something to you and give them some support.

The Grammys

So now that we've all had a day to get over our shock and awe (or disappointment and boredom), I'll recap the Grammys from my perspective.  Also, just so you know, this is from memory so it is almost certain to be out of order and disjointed.  Enjoy.

LL Cool J hosted this year.  Ah, LL...I remember him back in the day, back in the "Knock You Out" days when he was oh-so-fine (and really, he still is) and I was oh-so-young (and really, I still act like I am).  He was rocking a velvet suit and I do mean rocking it.  I'm not sure I approved of the prayer at the beginning...don't we have some kind of separation of church and Grammys in this country?  Well, if we do, Nicki Minaj missed that memo.  And speaking of - what the fuck was that??  Did you see her "performance"?  I wasn't a big Nicki Minaj fan to begin with, now I'm not one at all.  That was the most pointless, attention-whore bunch of crap I've seen since Madonna played the Super Bowl (or the last time Lady Gaga was on stage).

Now that I brought Lady Gaga into this (despite her total irrelevance last night), what in the hell was she wearing last night??  Did she get confused while trying to put on her fishnets and just left them over her head?  What was with the giant stick?  Was she talking softly while she carried it or is she a majorette now?  Who knows with her.  She is obviously bat shit crazy.  The most hilarious part of her entire ensemble was the fact that someone thought it would be a good plan to have her wear it while sitting next to Miranda Lambert.  Mrs. Blake Shelton might be a wild and crazy girl, but she seems reserved and very un-Gaga (that's a compliment, by the way) and I felt sorry for her having to sit next to that hot mess.  At least there was no raw meat involved this time.

On to the performances...Bruno Mars rocked it.  I bet his shows are a crap ton of fun to attend.  He's always just a ball of energy on stage and looks like he's having a blast.  I also enjoyed Foo Fighters' performances, although I found the addition of the Mouse Dude a little disconcerting.  There was something off about following Dave's awesome acceptance speech about it being about the head and the heart and the human with a David Guetta/Deadmau5 performance, you know? 

I didn't watch Taylor Swift perform...mostly because she makes me puke and I have the power of fast forward.  I did watch The Band Perry, Blake Shelton and Glen Campbell though and that was good. The Civil Wars were excellent too, which is pretty much to be expected from those two.  I thought Jennifer Hudson did a great job (especially since she couldn't have had too long to prepare) and Alicia Keys and  Bonnie Raitt made a fine showing.  I fast forwarded through Chris Brown's bullshit (both times), but I watched Rhianna...mostly because my husband and I were pondering if she had lost weight because her ass seems to have completely disappeared which really is a shame.  I watched a couple minutes of Coldplay, only to try and put my finger on why I dislike them so much.  I can't decide, I think it's just because they suck.

I cheered out loud when Foo Fighters won and I booed when they lost.  Sure, Adele's album was fine, her voice is beautiful, blah, blah, blah, but I LOVE Wasting Light and Doo-Wops & Hooligans, so if I had been picking winners, she would have done more sitting and less crying on stage.  Her performance was one to be proud of though.  She seemed kind of nervous but she worked that shit out.  And she looked great - her eyelashes were ridiculous!  I must have some.  Now that I have somehow wandered over to makeup choices - what was happening with Carrie Underwood's eyelashes?  She is so gorgeous, her hair, her dress, it was all perfection - except those crazy looking spider eyelashes.  Gah.

So yeah, that's about it.  I have a standard awards show procedure: I record it, then about an hour or so after it starts I start watching the recording so I can fast forward through commercials and things that suck.  I started watching about 9:20pm and by 11:00 I was caught up.  There was a lot of fast forwarding to do - but that's because along with the flashes of awesome, there was a lot of crap on that stage Sunday night too...as usual.  The Grammys people need to get their shit together and get more genuinely talented people on that show and start rewarding that instead of focusing so much on crazy outfits, light shows and smoke and mirrors.

Pearl Jam

I found Pearl Jam's Yield at Half Price Books a few weeks ago for next to nothing and finally got around to listening to it this morning.  While I was listening to it, I had an epiphany: Pearl Jam just isn't that amazing.

Yes, I am full well aware that you hate me now, and that's cool, I understand, but at least give me a chance to explain.  I'm not going to take it back because I think it's true, but I think I can explain the massively successful 20 year career they've enjoyed despite the fact that I just don't really think they're that great.  Perhaps they could have been great - I think they have the talent/potential - but they never had to be, so they aren't.  I blame the fans and the circumstances.

Let's start at the beginning with Ten, their debut album released in 1991.  Ten is damn near perfect.  For me, at least, it was a shining star in the muddle of early 90's grunge.  And even now, 21 years later, I can still listen to it all the way through and love every second.  I even got it for Christmas on vinyl!  So here's the thing, I'm not the only person who feels that way.  A huge chunk of my generation was completely smitten with Eddie's growl and the powerful music that backed it up.  We took "Alive" and made it our anthem.  The only thing I dislike about Ten is the fact that I've never seen them perform it live.

Two years later they released Vs. Don't get me wrong, Vs. is a decent record, but it does not compare to Ten.  There are several good songs on it: "Daughter", "Elderly Woman Behind a Counter in a Small Town", "Dissident" and "Animal" specifically, but none of them are as good as the weakest song on Ten.  So even though I'm not a huge fan of Vs., I can understand why their fans were cool with it and bought the shit out of it (I bought it too). 

That's when things went way downhill as far as I'm concerned.  Between studio albums, live albums, and compilations, they had at least one release every year or two for the next 18 years. Who could possibly be that prolific and all of it be as good as that first record?  I mean, they didn't even give the old records time to breathe before something new was released.  And yet their fans ate up pretty much all of it.  Why?  "Because they're one of the great American rock bands" you'll say.  But I disagree.  I think it was nostalgia.  My generation is big into that.

We latched onto Ten and Vs. because they were great records, because they really made us feel something.  Then there were all those people who joined the fan club and who saw them live and they loved the shit out of this band.  Pearl Jam could do no wrong.  They wanted anything they had to offer, even if the band was phoning it in.  Even if their music became their own personal political forum, no one cared, they just kept buying it.  Even if the band was resting heavily on it's laurels and making music that pretty much all sounded the same, no one minded because it was fucking Pearl Jam.

Over the years, we lost Andrew Wood, Kurt Cobain,Layne Staley (we lost him long before he actually passed away) and Shannon Hoon among others.  Soundgarden broke up, Stone Temple Pilots broke up, everyone just kind of faded into the background...but there was always Pearl Jam.  Even after they cut their hair, it was still them, it was still that dirty guitar and that voice and we hung onto them for dear life.

But that doesn't make them great.  That just makes their fans great.  And there's nothing wrong with that, I'm not mad at anyone for loving a band and sticking with them over the years.  That's admirable.  But for me, I didn't buy much new stuff after Vs., it didn't inspire me to keep following them too closely.  There have been moments of genius ("Yellow Ledbetter", "Betterman", "Given to Fly"), but overall, that brilliant artistry we saw on Ten just has not been there.  Which makes me wonder if maybe I only think that Ten is so incredible because it was the perfect storm of my age, my circumstance and that music coming together. When I go back now and listen to the albums that I've missed over the years, I'm just left flat.  But who knows, maybe if I had been into it at the time they were released and following them and going to live shows, I would have been blown away by the new material too.  But, as it stands, I think the Foo Fighters are a better rock band than Pearl Jam. 

So go ahead and tell me I'm stupid and I have no taste, that's fine.  I'm not trying to tell anyone not to be a Pearl Jam fan - that's ridiculous.  If you love every note they've ever played, more power to you.  I don't hate them, I consider myself a fan, but really only of the early stuff.  I sincerely hope that someday they knock my socks off again.

Our Sense of Entitlement is Staggering

Before I get too for into this rant/ramble, go here and read about what comedian Louis C.K. has done with his most recent release: https://buy.louisck.net/statement (if you can't be bothered, he basically produced his own comedy special, with his own money, and rather than signing a contract for someone else to market it, he pretty much just sold it himself for $5 each.  His idea was to see if people would still steal it even if it was super easy to buy and only cost $5 to purchase a legitimate copy, and if he could actually turn a profit selling an entire comedy special for only $5.  The answers to those questions are no and yes...pretty much.)

But my question about all this is this: should artists have to sell their products for ridiculously low prices just so people won't steal them?  Some people who I know (and still care about, despite their opinions on certain subjects) actually think it's ok to download free music.  As close as I can tell, the reasoning is that it doesn't actually cost $9.99 (or $16.99 if you buy a physical copy) to make one CD and musicians are getting rich off other people buying them and royalties and concerts, etc so what does it matter?  Well, obviously if everyone felt that way, it would matter a great deal.  In today's digital society, it has become far too easy for us to steal shit.  We sit here, all anonymous behind our computer screens and take things from people we'll never meet, never look in the eye, never have to answer to.  It doesn't take the balls that it used to take to shoplift if you wanted to steal something.  But just because it's easy and the chances that you'll get caught are probably pretty low, does that make it acceptable?

My argument to that is what makes you entitled to someone's art for free?  No one asks me to do my job for free (well, close...) so why should I expect anyone else to?  I would never ask a photographer to take pictures and give them to me for free, or a sculptor to make me a statue.  I wouldn't ask a painter to come over and put a mural on my wall for free.  But it's ok to ask a musician to crank out an entire song (or album) and I'll snag that sucker for free?  (Obviously, this does not apply to songs/albums that are offered for free as a marketing tool.  But the intent there is exposure...which should lead to increased sales.) I don't think so.  And sure, maybe each individual CD doesn't cost $9.99 to make - but how can you put a price on creativity and soul?  And furthermore, wouldn't how much each one costs depend on how many are sold?  If you only sell 1 copy, you better get a pretty penny for it to pay all the people involved in the making.  But if you sell 100,000,000 copies, then maybe you could afford to give a few away and not notice.

I've talked about this very subject before and maybe my opinion is somewhat clouded by the fact that I like to write.  Sure, I write this blog for the sheer pleasure of it, but if I wrote for a living (ah, the good life), I would be mad as hell if someone stole my work or expected me to do it for free.  Just because music isn't something you can hold in your hand (like a painting or a book) does not make it any less valuable.  Perhaps it is more so because the tangible part of it exits within us.  I just think it is disrespectful to the nth degree to steal anything that anyone has created from themselves - regardless of what form it takes.  It doesn't hurt either that I feel musicians (the good ones, obviously) deserve to be wealthy.  I want them to be able to focus on creating and not have to bag groceries to make ends meet.  And let's face it, in today's music industry, nobody is getting Michael Jackson rich anyway.

So sure, maybe I can't change your mind, and maybe your willingness to pay for your music hinges on how valuable it is to you.  That's cool, I get it.  All I ask is that the next time you think about stealing a song or an entire album, give some thought to the people who created it, the people who put their blood, sweat and tears into it the creation of that end product. 

Also, would you walk into Sam Goody and steal a physical CD?  No?  Well what's the difference?