Things I've learned from the last show...
After someone takes your pic with the band, always double check to make sure they actually got the pic! That time you have waiting for the band to come out after the show..check your makeup! I will need to find a new red lipstick that can withstand concerts! A few concert pet peeves.. Don't take pics or video the WHOLE show..hey!..they're right in front of you! Enjoy the moment and it's a bit rude to the people around you! Yes it's the opening act, but let's respect their hard work, talents, and guts for getting up there before the band you're coming to see. Leave the chit chat after the show (concert banter is a bit different). Regardless if you're drinking and having a great time, don't intentionally put your hands on someone. Going to a show you give up some personal space and you will get bumped, but hanging onto someone's body is rude and could hurt the person. It's enough for me to go to a show because I have Osteoarthritis. For me to stand and bounce around for hours kills my joints, so someone hanging onto my back doesn't help my joints! You can still enjoy the show without possibly hurting someone!
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One of the greatest things about having a kid is sharing your interests with them. Your favorite movies, music, sports, etc. Sometimes they develop a love for your favorite band and well sometimes they wish you'd stop singing "Jumpin' Jack Flash." When they do develop that wonder about your interests it's something that makes you proud. You feel like you're sending your kid off into this world with some taste...especially with what's being pushed down their throats nowadays. My son started getting into some of my music about a year ago. I wondered when he would get that spark to hear a particular song or band. It finally happened with the band DEVO. I think he really loved the electronic sound to them and what they wore. Recently he has also gotten into Talking Heads, which I'm most pleased about because they're my favorite band to listen to while driving. When we listened to DEVO he would request to hear "Gates of Steel" or "Whip It!" in the morning on the way to school. During one trip we were listening to DEVO's song "The Super Thing" and he said he wanted to learn how to play guitar so he could play Bob 1's riff. It gave me a great feeling. I thought Wow..what the heck was I into at 9 years old? I don't think much because I grew up in a small midwestern town. We didn't have cable tv until I was in high school and radio sucked. I didn't really get into great music until I was in high school, which was in the 90's. At that time Mtv was still pretty decent. They had shows like 120 minutes, Headbanger's Ball, and Alternative Nation. Even their tv shows weren't bad at all like Daria, Aeon Flux, and The State. That was when I was introduced to great music that has still followed me to this day. Also a friend at the time I had met in school was a transplant from California. He had been raised with indie radio, wonderful music, and a concert to go to every weekend. Fortunately now even kids living in small towns or in the country can find out about Joy Division or 70's punk music. The internet has opened those doors to exploration. Of course, back in the day we were all about D.Y.I. We didn't have Hot Topic or an online store to put our look together. We hit Army surplus stores, thrift shops, and stole clothes out of our parent's closets. Truthfully, I always thought putting your own look together was far cooler than buying it off the rack. I had a German Army jacket with a Union Jack on the back with snippets cut from an old Sex Pistols shirt that I'd wear with an old Dead Kennedys shirt. Like every generation people would look at us like What the hell are they wearing? What's that metal ring coming out of their nose and what's with the pink hair? Now this look is more common and not shocking as it was back then. I also think when you're sharing your interests with your children you may spark something inside yourself that was missing. Music that you may have not listened to in ages or seeing a classic John Hughes movie will give you that warm feeling. Next thing you know you're digging through old photos and showing your kid what you looked like back then. When I was going through some of my old stuff from high school, I found the literary magazine we had made. Reading some of those entries made me cringe a bit and realize that we couldn't get away with what we wrote now. They would be calling the suicide prevention hotline or calling the police in fear of a school shooting. Back then they just saw us as "Just a phase." I laugh now because I still wear band shirts and listen to the same music. I may have ditched the piercings, black lipstick, and combat boots; but I'm still the same person. Unlike my own Mom, I will embrace what my son wants to listen to or wear. In the realm of things I understand it's about expression and finding yourself. That's what your teen years and early twenties are for. I'm glad with every generation we are exploring more and becoming individuals instead of following what is spewed out there by advertising masterminds. Now, we still have a ways to go, but it's definitely better. The newer generation is helping with the vinyl revolution and helping music from yesteryear stay alive. I hope when my son is older he still holds onto the music he listened to in Mom's car and it has a special place in his heart...along with my vinyl collection that he will one day inherit! So this blog entry came from a bit of a personal experience with a band. I won't go in to who the band is, but they're an up and coming band. I had found them on Twitter and watched a video of theirs and listened to their music on Itunes. I really liked them. They reminded me of 90's Britpop music. I had tweeted them a few times and we had talked back and forth a bit. Our interaction wasn't like a band stalker style, but just a new fan who wanted to show appreciation for their music. So I bought their album on Itunes and had tweeted about it. Probably about a week later I was going to tweet that I was listening to their music and found out I had been blocked. Now I'm not going to cry like a little girl about it, but it got me thinking. Has social media affected the fan experience? Back in the day to reach your favorite artist you had to join a fan club or write to them; and in writing I mean by hand with pen and paper. Even writing to them wouldn't necessarily mean you would hear from them or if you did hear from them it would be a generic form letter. I remember writing a few artists and only hearing back from Henry Rollins and Jello Biafra. When I received something back from them I felt so excited and thought how great it was that they read my letter and took the time to write back. Nowadays you can achieve that feeling instantly through Twitter and Facebook. Sometimes the band's accounts will be ran by someone else, but at times band members get on social media to chat with fans. I've had a few Twitter interactions with some famous bands and it really makes you feel closer to them. You get to see photos while they're on tour, see the setlists, and sometimes they'll answer your questions. I remember earlier this year the band Future Islands were on tour and their van broke down. They took to Twitter to see if anyone could help them get to their next gig. I was amazed at the outpouring of help from fans and it really shows you that your fans are your bread and butter. Saying that, I sometimes wonder if the bands or artists that gain instant popularity through social media truly appreciate the fans that they do gain? It use to take bands years to gain a proper fan base, but now it can take only a million hits on YouTube. Is it all just numbers to them or do they still feel that the fans are important? Of course, on the other hand, are fans expecting too much? When bands share so much of their day and their personal life, do fans take advantage of that and possibly push that intimacy to the limits? Are they expecting too much? There's that saying never meet your idols because they will disappoint you, but does that also fall in line with social media? Do fans expect every tweet or message to be answered and if not, do they feel jilted? I was wanting to ask someone who has been in the music business for quite some time, so I turned to Gerald Casale of DEVO. A: My next entry was going to be about bands of today possibly not appreciating their fan base like bands back in the day did because of the instant stardom that the internet & music streaming have given them. I wanted to know if you would give me your opinion on this? G: The hypothesis seems sound but what is the empirical data to support your claim? Fan complaints? Fans may be too demanding in narcissistic society where everyone is a "star" and selfies abound and stalkers run wild and delusional people have 10 thousand "friends". A: You make a good point and bring a different approach of this question to mind: You have experienced so many phases of existence in regards to the music industry. Considering all you have seen what would you say have been the most significant changes brought about by the digital explosion and accompanying social media? My question would be how has this sort of "artificial closeness" between artists and fans affected you as a creator and as a human being? How different are the dynamics now as opposed to back then? G: We don't register on the new digital radar of fan/artist psychosis. Our fans are old school loyal devotees that are harmlessly addicted. A: I'd have to disagree with you on that, my 9yr old son's favorite band is Devo. He is so excited when we find Devo on vinyl. I think you guys were the most underrated bands, but with the digital age younger fans can discover you and appreciate the music just as old school devotees. G: OK. I concede there is a lot of that happening now. So, Jerry does bring up a good point about our narcissistic society that is always craving more and sharing more. How many times has someone shared nonsense about their day or taken twenty selfies that bogs up your newsfeed? It's happened so much for me that I am rarely on Facebook anymore. I know what you look like so please stop taking the same pose of yourself over and over! I find Twitter to be more appealing because you are only given 140 characters to express what you want and it's really what you make it. I usually only follow people I may know, comedians, bands, etc. So my Twitter feed is free of annoying videos and loads of selfies. Social media can help an artist achieve fame faster than ever, but with that bands should never lose the notion that fame is fleeting. With the music business barely scraping by, touring and merchandise is where the profits are. If you keep your fans at an even keel then they will keep shelling out money to see you live and buying your merchandise. Oh and fans...go out there and support your favorite bands and don't put them up on a pedestal. They are human too. Buy their music legally, buy some merch, tell your friends about them, and go see them live! I will always be a fan girl and will always support the music that has helped me through so much. -Thank you Gerald Casale from DEVO for the impromptu Q&A and fan girl experience! I was able to ask Bob 1 ( guitarist from DEVO) a few questions...
1. Back in the day it took a band years to develop a fan base. Do you think programs like Spotify, Pandora, and downloadable music has help or hindered artists? B1- Both. Back in the day a band playing gigs and all their friends came to see them, and they brought their friends. It took a long time to break through internationally. Now people can just put a band together and just put crap on the internet and sometimes people can put stuff out that shouldn't even be playing, but it's also a lot easier to create a fanbase. 2. What bands/guitar players influenced you growing up? B1-Keith Richards, Pete Townsend, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Hendrix, and Jeff Beck 3. What is one thing people misunderstand about DEVO? B1-They think Devo doesn't have feelings. Devo has feelings too. 4. Zombie apocalypse scenarios are popular right now, but do you think one day the robots will get fed up and take over? B1-We can always hope so :-) 5. Do you see any of today's bands carrying on the Devo torch? B1-I hear different bands have different parts and sounds of Devo. Can't name any at the moment tho -Thanks again Bob 1 for this unconventional Q & A session- I remember when I was in high school you would hear a song on the radio and you just had to have it, but unlike today you would actual go down to this place called a "record store." I insert this slight sarcasm because many in this generation do not know what an actual record store looks like or even vinyl for that matter. They never experienced a world without computers and internet, cell phones, ipads, and digital music. I remember waiting all night for my favorite song to come on the radio and having my small finger ready to hit record to have it on tape. This was always tricky because you never knew when your song was going to play and wouldn't you know it, the damn dj would talk over the opening of the song. Ugh! That was the worst. Why are you talking? Stop talking and play my song so I can record it! I remember buying Morrissey's "Kill Uncle" on cd and it coming in that long cardboard package. At the time I was staying with my elderly Aunt and Uncle. She wanted to look at the cd package and said "Kill Uncle? That doesn't sound very nice. " Oh I laugh about it now, but I think I made some story up about the album title so they didn't think it was some sort of devil worshiping cd laced with family violence. I would ride my bicycle to the record store and buy the latest cds or some cool records. Now if you want a song you don't have to buy the whole album, which in price hasn't changed much, but some times you'd get that album where there were only 3 or 4 decent songs on it. That was a killer when you shell out twenty bucks and most of the album was crap. That is the advantage of digital music, you don't have to skip through all those mediocre songs. You just purchase the ones you want and you can listen to a snip of it before buying it. So this is obviously the advantage to the consumer, but is it to the artist? Many artists such as Nine Inch Nails create a landscape when they put together an album. It's not just a list of songs, put it on the album, and ship it out. Some of Reznor's songs are instrumentals that lead off in to other songs or give an atmosphere to the whole album. Many times it's like a movie soundtrack. The whole album tells a story. So if you were to purchase two songs you may miss the whole feeling and aspect of the album. I would think the artists lose out on the money they'd make off of a whole album as well. The ease of access to digital music has also raised eyebrows and the pockets of musician's lawyers. With illegal downloading taking even more money from an artist, you have to wonder was the digital revolution all that great for music? I do love being able to take my ipod with me and having all my favorite songs right in my hands. The days of carrying around a tattered cd folder is gone and all those blasted scratches and fingerprints everywhere! That is one thing I do regret when I was younger, I never took care of my cds like I should have. Of course, who would've thought that one day cds would be obsolete? Another advantage is not having to drive to the record store and see if they have the album you want in stock, which was always tough if you liked bands from outside of the U.S. You had to call ahead and order that cd to insure they would have it for you. Now you can download a song at 3am if you want. So with all of these advantages, there are still days where I miss going down to the record store and buying that new album. I also miss the days of just hanging out at the record store talking about music and about the latest drama that's going on in your life. Now with work, kids, and appointments it's hard to get the time to visit your old record store friends, To me, they are my family. I've known these guys since I was 15 and as a few have passed on in the years, it was all such great memories. You won't get that connection with your Itunes online store. That's what it's all about, that human connection. I fear as technology grows, that human connection will dissolve over time. Our minds will be connected via usb and not by true physical interaction. |
AuthorAngela Marie. I like writing. I like music. I have thoughts falling from my head. Archives
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