Notes from the Road – The Age of Entitlement

Notes from the Road – The Age of Entitlement

When I’m off the road and working at home on new material, recording, rehearsing, etc., I spend some time trying to work through piles of stuff that I collect at conferences and other places, reading what seems useful and tossing out what isn’t.  In a pile of material from past Folk Alliance conferences past I came across the May/June 2009 Issue of Elmore Magazine.  I took a few minutes to scan the pages and let me tell you, this is a rag worth taking a look at!  Check them out at www.ElmoreMagazine.com.

A couple of articles particularly caught my attention as they dealt with subjects that fall into my “pet peeves” or “personal soapbox” categories.  First was the regular column of Carl Gustafson, “Kickin’ in Your Stall” titled “the unwarping of entitlement.”  The theme of the piece is a rant about what we as a culture now expect from life, i.e., what we think life at a minimum owes us in today’s world.  He points out that in our modern society we enjoy unparalleled comforts and conveniences (the crummiest jalopy sure beats a horse; there is no such thing as wearing hand-me-downs these days; etc.).  In his words: “Our culture is a fireworks display of opulence and arrogance that would retro-stun the imagination of every two-legged creature back to Adam or amoeba, depending on your beliefs.”

Gustafson doesn’t feel much sympathy for folks in general in this economic climate.  In his view, the average musician has always been and always will be an expert at surviving in lean times (a constant condition for them) by managing expectations.  “I hear radio interviews where some poor bastard is crying that he has to take a job beneath his education level in order to get by.  Of course to him get by means not having to sell his boat, second car, lake cabin and having his kids actually work to get through college.  It may, God forbid, mean 13-year-old Suzy-Q has to keep the gap in her teeth until she’s old enough to get her own job and doesn’t get that boob-job that’s been the fashion these days for a graduation present.”  Tough words, but there’s a whole lot of truth in them.  I’m constantly shocked at the number of kids driving new expensive cars in high school and college that their parents obviously bought for them, setting a standard of living for them that the economy may not support in coming years.  And, people that I know don’t have the cash resources are living in houses, driving cars, dining at restaurants and taking trips that I know has to be going on plastic or some other form of “maybe someday I can pay for it, but right now I want it” currency.

There was a time when a good life was having the opportunity, with hard work, to support a family with food on the table and a roof over head (even if it was only one or two rooms) that didn’t leak.  Everything else was a plus.  Now it’s iPods, iPads, iPhones, HDTV connected to a vast array of cable or satellite gathered channels, stylish new cars (financed or leased), large houses (even the smallest hovel is grand compared to what was the norm 75 years ago), foreign vacations, Starbucks coffee, smoothies and name brand clothes.  Anything less is considered abject poverty and cause for serious depression / shame / anger / blame.

This sense of entitlement is revealed in our general tendency to avoid responsibility and look to others, principally the government, to extract us from the mess we, at least in some significant part, created for ourselves and to blame others, principally the government and anyone financially successful, for whatever financial distress we experience.  We borrowed 120% of the value of the house we were buying when any idiot with a command of third grade math could tell that when the payments reached their peak we would not be able to make them based on our income.  But when that day came it was, of course, the bank’s fault for lending us too much money.  We make choices and are largely unwilling to pay the price of those choices.  We are Enititled.  Our own government, both parties, tells us that the solution to our current recession (I think it’s a depression, but what do I know) is freeing up credit so we can borrow more and buy more.  Maybe I’m just an idiot, but isn’t that how we got here in the first place?

I’m as guilty as the next – I’ve clung far too much to material things over the years and I’m trying mightily to cure myself.  Fortunately I kicked the debt addiction in the last economic malaise we weathered and don’t have that monkey riding my back this time around.  Now I’m in the process of shearing down my burden of accumulated stuff, most of which I never needed in the first place – extra music gear, hobby gear (fishing rods by the bundle, etc.) and other assorted “driftwood” I’ve picked up along the way.  I’m trying to simplify, economize and focus on those things which are truly important and preserve those things which I truly value.

The second article in Elmore dovetails with the first and actually ties into my recent musings on the treatment of original or unfamiliar music by today’s society.  In “I Me Mine – The Economic Incentive Plan,” Alex Lyras berates the digital phenomena of “free music” as one of the symptoms of our “Entitlement culture.”  He argues that the immediate gratification of digital music available for theft through file sharing platforms and simple copying has devalued music as an art form.  While I see many benefits of the digital age of music in terms of the ability of artists to have their music heard without the backing of the commercial music industry, Lyras strikes a chord with me on the “ripping and burning” phenomena that impacts independent artists on an even greater scale than it does the monied music mainstream which has taken legal action to try to stop it.  I hope we all know better than to file share artists’ music on the internet or burn copies of their CDs for friends, family and neighbors.

Where Lyras connects with my prior musings on society’s trend to be indifferent towards music that hasn’t been played ad nauseum on commercial radio is when he quotes some philosophers that before now had escaped my attention.  Adorno and Horkheimer, key members of the Frankfurt School, coined the term “culture industry” in their book Dialectic of Enlightenment, 'The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception' in 1944.  Lyras explains their theory “. . . that popular culture was manufacturing standardized entertainment to manipulate the hoi poloi (us!) into complacency; the easier it is to consume these popular pleasures, the more docile and content we all become.  They admonished that mass produced products posed a direct threat to the higher arts by manufacturing false desires (“creating demand”) that mass produced, standardized products could then satisfy.  The toxic side effect is an atrophied sense of quality.”  WOW!  Now THAT says a mouthful to me and, to a large extent, provides an attractive, though tragic, answer to my question posed at the outset of my ponderings on original music - What is it that makes original music less instead of more?  DISCLAIMER: this is still NOT intended to apply to those exceptional classic songs and traditional folk songs we all know and love.  To the extent they arose out of the “Culture Industry,” let’s just say that even a blind pig finds an acorn now and then!

Lyras drives his point home with a quote from Chrissie Hynde, the leader of the rock / new wave band The Pretenders.  “Rock used to be a secret between the artist and the audience.  Now, it’s turned into a sport.  Musicians are hitting gyms because image is more important than content.”   I think we’ve all seen that happening in many, many phases of the arts – and in society in general.  We have become a very image, appearance conscious crowd as a whole.  That’s one thing I admire about nudists – they accept each other as they are without hiding behind adornments, disguises and facades.

In any event, Elmore Magazine is definitely recommended reading.  It covers the art of music across all genres (except, perhaps classical, opera, etc.) and is bi-monthly (six issues for $18).  Another new music magazine, available only on line, is Driftwood Magazine (http://driftwoodmagazine.com).  This comes from the former editors of Dirty Linen, a great print magazine which seems to have gone down the tubes.  Driftwood is heavy on music reviews in folk, world, roots, alternative, rock, and indie music.  I’ve just gotten my first weekly digest edition which features an article on Cheryl Wheeler and reviews of releases by Audrey Auld, Grant-Lee Phillips, Peter Case, The String Cheese Incident and Tom Fisch.  Subscription is (at this point) free so check it out.

Doug
"It's not how far you've come, it's what you've done with the miles"

Doug Spears

36 Interlaken Road

Orlando, Florida 32804
407-257-4242

dcsnole@yahoo.com

www.dougspearsmusic.com
www.reverbnation.com/dougspears
www.concertsinyourhome.net/artists/dougspears
www.youtube.com/nativetroubadour
www.facebook.com/dougspears
www.myspace.com/dougspears
www.sonicbids.com/dougspears

INTERESTING FLORIDA FACTS:

 

·        There are 882 islands or “keys” in the Florida Keys which are large enough to be recorded on the maps of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.

·        The total recorded length of all streams in the Sunshine State is 10,550miles. 

·        The St. Johns River is the longest river in Florida. Its length is recorded variously as 273 miles long (U.S. Geological Survey) to 318 miles long (State Board of Conservation). The reason for this confusion is that the river’s headwaters are so ill-defined that it is impossible to determine with any certainty the river’s point of origin.

 ·        Florida has 4,510 islands ten acres or larger in size, which is the second highest total in the United States.  Only Alaska has more islands.

What is it that makes original music less instead of more?

Notes from the Road – What is it that makes original music less instead of more?

One of the things I contemplated as I traveled from gig to gig on this most recent tour is the reluctance or disinterest of the general public when it comes to seeking out or listening to new original music. In this context I’m using the term “original music” to mean music written by the performer which has not received extensive commercial radio play and is, therefore, generally unfamiliar to the listener – i.e., new, different, etc. In those gigs I played which were not true listening rooms (places people come to listen to music, not just to talk and drink) I invariably had someone ask if I played any songs by (insert name of mainstream artist whose songs are played twice in any given hour on commercial radio). The answer is, of course, “I can, but I don’t.” It’s not what I do or what I have of value to share with an audience.

Now, in the folk music tradition I would understand this completely if it were a case of people wanting to participate, sing along, dance, etc. However, that wasn’t the case. These requests generally came from folks who were listening to the music “with one ear” while socializing, etc.

It seems to me that the majority of our society has come to treat music unlike any other art form. Whereas we will not usually read the same poem 20 times in a week, watch the same movie 20 times in a month, read the same book 20 times in a year or sit and carefully absorb the same painting or photograph 20 times in our lifetime, we will routinely listen to the same song or group of songs multiple times in a single day and then go out to hear “live music” hoping to hear those very same songs performed by someone else who will make them sound exactly the same as what was on the radio. Even then we don’t stop and listen to it to the music, but continue our conversations over it as loudly as necessary to relegate it to mere white noise in the background. Why is that?

Why is “live music” in a venue considered preferable when it simply consists of a commercial radio playlist performed by a band which may or may not perform it well? Why do people prefer venues with live music when they go primarily to drink and socialize rarely focusing on the music itself? Why not just have the radio on, a jukebox or karaoke in the corner?

Now, don’t get me wrong – I love the work of Jimmy Buffett, James Taylor, The Eagles, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and the current parade of performing songwriters of that ilk (those that truly are songwriters) as much as anyone. I’ve spent my share of time playing their songs for loud disinterested bar crowds too. And, I begrudge them nothing of their financial success – good for them, truly! But at some point it begins to feel like commercial radio, Nashville and the established music industry (emphasis on “industry”) has trained us as a society to behave as sheep. They tell us what to listen to, determine for us what is “good” and who has “talent,” and we simply swallow that without leaving room for anything else, i.e., the independent artist plying his craft on the back roads, in the small listening rooms and house concerts. We sit at home in our Lay-Z-Boys in front of our flat screen TVs and computers while the art, the true art, of live acoustic music passes us by.

Are we, at this point, simply a culture with an ever-shrinking attention span and increasing disinterest in music that doesn't immediately explain itself or with which we aren’t nauseatingly familiar as a consequence of continuous bombardment at the direction of a radio culture driven solely by sponsor dollars and the record industry’s dictates? I am a big fan of a large number of singer-songwriters whose CDs I own or whose mp3s are on my iPod. As much as I enjoy those songs I don’t listen to them multiple times in a month. And, I’m always most excited to hear something new from that artist. However, I seem to be in a diminishing minority in that regard and I suspect I’m preaching to the choir here inasmuch as those of you reading this are likely fans of the same music I am for the much same reasons.

Why is it that fewer and fewer people come out to hear something fresh and new in smaller, more intimate concerts by enormous songwriting talents like Chuck Brodsky, Jonathon Byrd, Jack Williams, Michael Smith, Cheryl Wheeler, etc. at a mere $10 - $25 per ticket when they continue to pay $65 - $125 and more to hear music they’ve heard incessantly on the radio being blasted at them in an arena with crummy acoustics in the midst of 10,000 screaming people who aren’t truly listening?

I’m observing, as I know all independent artists are, diminishing audiences, CD sales, etc. And, to the extent that I’m just not reaching people’s hearts and minds with my music so be it – that’s part of the deal and I have no complaints. However, since I get such gratifying feedback after every performance and I see it happening to artists, like the small sample I’ve listed above, whose work is so good that there is simply no debating the quality of what they offer, the smaller audiences, etc. must be the result of musical apathy or lethargy. Of course, the economy has its substantial effect, but it seems that money for the monthly house concert or small venue outings gets cut long before the daily smoothie, Starbucks latte and big name concert tickets. I find that disappointing, even disheartening.

What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts. It seems in these troubled economic times the trend would be different. It looks like people would be connecting to the grassroots, back road music that is out there. Let me hear from you!

All the Best –

Doug
"It's not how far you've come, it's what you've done with the miles"
Doug Spears
36 Interlaken Road
Orlando, Florida 32804
407-257-4242
dcsnole@yahoo.com
www.dougspearsmusic.com
www.reverbnation.com/dougspears
www.concertsinyourhome.net/artists/dougspears
www.facebook.com/dougspears
www.myspace.com/dougspears
www.sonicbids.com/dougspears
INTERESTING FLORIDA FACTS:
 
·There are 882 islands or “keys” in the Florida Keys which are large enough to be recorded on the maps of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.
·The total recorded length of all streams in the Sunshine State is 10,550miles. 
·The St. Johns River is the longest river in Florida. Its length is recorded variously as 273 miles long (U.S. Geological Survey) to 318 miles long (State Board of Conservation). The reason for this confusion is that the river’s headwaters are so ill-defined that it is impossible to determine with any certainty the river’s point of origin.
 ·Florida has 4,510 islands ten acres or larger in size, which is the second highest total in the United States.  Only Alaska has more islands.