I woke up to this in my inbox. Thanks, Shawn!
"I am at shows, more than I want to be.
Detroit people remind me of New Yorkers: assholes that walk around with a chip on their shoulder because they live in such a "hip" city. Truth is...both are chaulk full of wasted ideas, bad ideas, and hardly any understanding of another person's situation.
What's most depressing to me is [that within] the music scene, people are in it, not as a team...no. Too many musicians/club owners/promoters are concerned with themselves and what they want out of life/our music scene.
There is no music scene without one another. This won't change because some asshole who sounds like a broke down version of the Von Bondies, Black Dhalia Murder, Cat Stevens, or Black Flag deemed his cause more important than the next person's....
People act like they are owed something in Detroit (a lot like NY). What they don't know is they owe something to society and their peers. Goals shouldn't be strictly based on one's self: we need to set our sights on the bigger picture. How can we get what we want, if we have done FUCKING NOTHING for our surroundings?"
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4 comments:
Funny, he hammers home his point via his own attitude. To start with, "Detroit people remind me of New Yorkers: assholes that walk around with a chip on their shoulder because they live in such a "hip" city," and then himself take the tone of someone with a chip on his shoulder who's so hip he can see through everyone's reasons for their involvement is textbook irony.
There's brightness in this city and its music scene if you look for it. No doubt there's a piece of it that acts too cool, but you'll find that ANYWHERE. There's a lot of great music made by great people who are really trying hard to be at the top of their game with sincerity and genuineness. I think the emailer is remiss in pointing this out, or even looking deep enough to notice. And, my goodness, to issue any blanket statement about a scene as huge as New York's shows a very narrow focus indeed. The way to strengthen the scene is to find what you're proud of in that scene and champion it, not be a cynial bastard berating all the other cynical bastards.
While I totally agree with you that we should be focusing on the positive instead of the negative, everyone needs to be able to rant sometimes.
I posted this to emphasize the need for people to put more effort in the music scene as a community and not just as individuals trying to get paid. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with expecting or wanting to get paid! But that's another blog for another day.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
I understand. Without any context to convey the root of the frustrations, however, it's difficult as an outsider to see it as a rant of anything other than bitterness and envy. Regardless, it sucks that he (and possibly you?) might feel defeated when it comes to creating a stronger community.
I've long thought that the main reason the Detroit scene has fallen apart before it can establish itself (over and over and over) is due to constant bickering over what other people should do rather than what we should do, and seeing a similar sentiment here frustrated me a bit because I care about a lot of people making music and art here who, I feel, don't fit the bill. I've only met you a couple of times, but I get the feeling from those interactions that you are a lot like me in that regard, so I hope I didn't come across as taking pot shots at you.
I guess all I'm saying is the most time consuming thing on the planet is to have an enemy, especially when that enemy's perceived faults are predicated on actions that don't really concern other people. That there are people out there playing just to get paid while eschewing their community is just part of the business. The best way, in my mind, to deal with such antics is to pay those people no mind, skip their shows, and focus on creating a stronger community with or without them. They'll dig their own graves that way; they always do.
An aside: whether you realize it or not, I'm unsure, but blogs like yours completely strengthen the community. So, bravo!
Well, thank you. I didn't think you were taking a pot shot at all.
If it wasn't for statements like the one my friend wrote, all the wonderful things you said wouldn't really have much of an impact. Too bad there aren't more people like you defending the music around here. But then again, it's easy to be negative, right? Can't expect too much from our peers...
And I agree that it is a waste of time to tell other people what they should be doing. But sometimes I think these things need to be said to get people talking and thinking. I want people to take pride in this "scene" instead of diss it all the time.
Defeat just likes to rear its ugly head at me sometimes. And I give in, and piss and moan about it.
Feel free to offer up any opinions about anything I write here in the future. This was very refreshing.
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