A preservation of my history and occasional insights into the present
Showing posts with label pop culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pop culture. Show all posts
Monday, August 5, 2013
I Can't Quit You
From the 12.31.13 post “Walking Away”:No, this isn't a "retirement" post, per se. I've done more of those than Terry Funk.Well, thank God I put that disclaimer in there.Yes, this is going somewhere. Bear with me just a moment, because I have to pull another quote to explain what you’re about to read:But, a much bigger reason I'm done with this? For good? Is because the internet has just become a cesspool. Opinions being treated as facts, shaming/guilting/humiliating people into thinking their way is wrong, getting on a soapbox, the proverbial chest-thumping self-righteousness of it all...yeah, no thanks.Is the internet still a quagmire of self-righteous pieces of trash full of people shaming other people into thinking the same way they do? Of course it is. That hasn’t changed and I fear it probably never will. That in and of itself is unfortunate.However, it’s not all bullying and boycotts. There are definitely good people out there who not only enjoy pleasant interactions, but feel the same way I do about false outrage and controversy for the sake of controversy! This is a group that likes to have fun, enjoys being fans rather than preachers, and has some level-headed, very likeable, and just plain good people among their ranks.This is the Pop!-ulation. You can find them at Panels on Pages, as well as on their Podcast network. They’re a group that’s not really concerned with breaking the latest story and getting ALL TEH HITZ as much as they are having some fun and talking geekery. There are some great ideas and discussions that come from this crew. They have a place to converse among other civilized human beings.And now I can announce that I am among their numbers.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Count3rCu1ture Audio Episode 03: Marc with a C
Against my better judgment, another edition of Count3rCu1ture Audio is upon us.This edition features a conversation with fave rave Marc with a C. About Popular Music. And popular music. Look, I know it may seem a tad confusing, so I’ll put it this way: we talk about his latest album and the state of music in 2012.And it’s a fascinating conversation. Archie Comics, Lady GaGa, Carly Rae Jepsen, Croudsourcing...all sorts of things come up in discussing popular music. And it all started with a question about Popular Music.Which, about that? It’s not just a crowdfunded project like you see nowadays, but a fully crowdsourced one as well. And holy crap, if Marc’s crowdsourced albums sound this good, I want more. Popular Music is my favorite album of his to date, and that’s saying a lot.But, y’see, he needs your help to get this done. It is a crowdsourced project, but also a crowdfunded one. There are costs associated with pressing this beast, and you can help with those. Not only that, you’d be getting other goodies along with pre-ordering what may well be the best album of his career. So, please - do yourself and Marc a favor and take a look see at indiegogo.com/popularmusic. You and he will be glad you did. (A little) more information about the new record (and a great talk) can be had by simply clicking on the picture below to download Count3rCu1ture Audio - Episode 03 - Marc with a C.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
FAQ
As I write this, I’m listening to my guest appearance on The Real Congregation (airing every Tuesday morning from 3 am to 6 am on WPRK 91.5 FM Winter Park, FL, The Best in Underground Radio, in case you’re wondering). Before anything else is said or done, I owe a HUGE thanks to Marc (with a C) for having me on the show. I had a great time on my radio debut (!) and I still feel a little humbled by the experience. As I told him as we were leaving the studio, the best I could have hoped for was not sounding like an absolute fool – and I think I accomplished that, so all in all it was a pretty good experience.
And while we’re on the subject of Marc (with a C), I HIGHLY suggest picking up a copy of his compilation, RetroLowFi: Ten Years of Marc (with a C). The link provided could score you a vinyl pressing, which sounds great. Because it’s vinyl. And it’s Marc. If you prefer CD, those are available, too. Either way, getting to know a great musician, superb songwriter, and awesome performer is well worth the spare change.
With my thanks given and that off my chest, it dawns on me that, after last night, a few people may be coming here after we talked about the Blog. Granted, there’s an idea of what to expect in the bio to your right, but a little more explanation may be in order.
(On a personal note, I have to admit I’m actually not too comfortable putting myself over like this, which is what a lot of this entry feels like to me. That strikes me as weird that I feel like that in just explaining myself, but I feel it’s a necessary step before I really push this thing down a hill and watch it roll where it may. I have to take the self-congratulations with the self-deprecation and just deal with it, so this is an exercise for me as well.)
Before getting to the nut of this thing, the bio states that I’ve done this sort of thing for a combined ten-plus years. And that’s completely true. I’ve done quite a few-—hell, a lot of interviews, feature pieces, news bits, you name it. I’ve covered a large bit of ground in my decade of experience, and I’ve loved every bit of it. And yes, I plan on continuing all of it.
First: the title of this particular post is somewhat of a misnomer. I don’t really get Frequently Asked Questions. Hell, I don’t get many questions, period. I’m used to asking them. It suited what I wanted to do, though, because it gives the impression that it’s a catch-all for what you can expect from the Blog from this point forward.
Let’s start with the aforementioned bio. The whole idea behind this was a revulsion and ultimate rebellion to being force-fed mediocrity and expected to fall in line and accept it all as gold. After a little prompting from Marc, I decided to let that side of me out in public to terrorize the countryside simply because I can’t hold stuff like that in. For good or ill, I have to say what I feel. If it offends you, fall back in line and pretend Lady GaGa is actually doing something new like everybody else.
Before you do, though, I have a very clear point to make: if something I say does offend you when I’m calling out idiocy, then you’re probably the person I’m actually after. I’m a HUGE proponent in the idea of thinking for yourself and not repeating what everyone else loves because, God forbid, you be labeled as weird, strange, or, my personal favorite, “creepy”. The ills of Political Correctness and how it has bled in to popular culture to completely destroy the idea of anything original or new is what spawned this thing in the first place and pervades a LOT of my everyday thinking. Consider this the warning show across the bow. It’s the only one you’ll get.
Oh, and I’m not the type to post a lot of pictures for the attention-span deficient. Sorry, but you’re going to actually have to read.
Second thing is you’ll notice not a lot of four-letter words to be found here. Yes, that’s deliberate. Anybody can curse. It’s easy. I pride myself on making a point and dressing people/situations down without being profane in the least. Or, as my wife puts it, “cussing somebody out without cussing them out.” Not only that, but I like the idea of offending people not with language, but with subject matter. And no, talking about Perez Hilton posting pictures of an underage singer without her underwear on and then putting Olympic athletes to shame by backpedaling his way out of being charged with child pornography is not what I consider offensive subject material.
Which brings us to number three: If you came upon this because you typed “pop culture” in to Google hoping for the same sycophantic gossip everyone else is spreading just to get readers, you’re in the wrong place. The only thing you’ll hear me say about clowns like Perez Hilton is how ludicrous they are in thinking they actually matter just because many are too dumb to realize the celebrity he cares about the most is himself. The fact that he even became somewhat famous and that he’s able to make that 15 minutes last forever because people are too dumb to ignore this loudmouth makes me want to puke up every chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten. And that’s just a small (but obvious) example of the absurdity I’ll be calling out here.
Leading right in to number four: this will not be an all-negati—hold on. I really need to emphasize this one. THIS WILL NOT BE AN ALL-NEGATIVE BLOG. I may have quite a bit of venom to unload, but it’s not all I am. Besides, that gets a little boring, too. There’s plenty of stuff out there I absolutely love, and I’m a firm believer in praising right moves as well as damning wrong ones. So, between the two, expect to gain a lot of insight to my overall tastes if you’re paying attention.
Five. There will be links to my stuff on Examiner.com, 411 Mania, as well as wherever else I may pop up. I would like this to be not only a place to be myself, but a place to archive my writings overall. It also gives you more of a complete picture, because this vein of writing overall is my passion, and they're just as much a part of that as this is.
…all of which, 1000+ words later, is a way of saying something I probably could have done in a paragraph. Did I say I feel weird about talking about myself? I meant it, really. It was necessary for me, though, to go through all that trouble to explain that this is me being me. For better or worse, ‘til death do I part, if I am to have a voice at all and be myself on a planet that seems to frown on that sort of thing anymore, this is the place I have to do it. And yes, it is something I have to do.
Besides, if douchenozzles like Perez Hilton can become famous doing this sort of thing, who am I to shy away from simply picking my own little corner of cyberspace to talk about what I want to?
And while we’re on the subject of Marc (with a C), I HIGHLY suggest picking up a copy of his compilation, RetroLowFi: Ten Years of Marc (with a C). The link provided could score you a vinyl pressing, which sounds great. Because it’s vinyl. And it’s Marc. If you prefer CD, those are available, too. Either way, getting to know a great musician, superb songwriter, and awesome performer is well worth the spare change.
With my thanks given and that off my chest, it dawns on me that, after last night, a few people may be coming here after we talked about the Blog. Granted, there’s an idea of what to expect in the bio to your right, but a little more explanation may be in order.
(On a personal note, I have to admit I’m actually not too comfortable putting myself over like this, which is what a lot of this entry feels like to me. That strikes me as weird that I feel like that in just explaining myself, but I feel it’s a necessary step before I really push this thing down a hill and watch it roll where it may. I have to take the self-congratulations with the self-deprecation and just deal with it, so this is an exercise for me as well.)
Before getting to the nut of this thing, the bio states that I’ve done this sort of thing for a combined ten-plus years. And that’s completely true. I’ve done quite a few-—hell, a lot of interviews, feature pieces, news bits, you name it. I’ve covered a large bit of ground in my decade of experience, and I’ve loved every bit of it. And yes, I plan on continuing all of it.
First: the title of this particular post is somewhat of a misnomer. I don’t really get Frequently Asked Questions. Hell, I don’t get many questions, period. I’m used to asking them. It suited what I wanted to do, though, because it gives the impression that it’s a catch-all for what you can expect from the Blog from this point forward.
Let’s start with the aforementioned bio. The whole idea behind this was a revulsion and ultimate rebellion to being force-fed mediocrity and expected to fall in line and accept it all as gold. After a little prompting from Marc, I decided to let that side of me out in public to terrorize the countryside simply because I can’t hold stuff like that in. For good or ill, I have to say what I feel. If it offends you, fall back in line and pretend Lady GaGa is actually doing something new like everybody else.
Before you do, though, I have a very clear point to make: if something I say does offend you when I’m calling out idiocy, then you’re probably the person I’m actually after. I’m a HUGE proponent in the idea of thinking for yourself and not repeating what everyone else loves because, God forbid, you be labeled as weird, strange, or, my personal favorite, “creepy”. The ills of Political Correctness and how it has bled in to popular culture to completely destroy the idea of anything original or new is what spawned this thing in the first place and pervades a LOT of my everyday thinking. Consider this the warning show across the bow. It’s the only one you’ll get.
Oh, and I’m not the type to post a lot of pictures for the attention-span deficient. Sorry, but you’re going to actually have to read.
Second thing is you’ll notice not a lot of four-letter words to be found here. Yes, that’s deliberate. Anybody can curse. It’s easy. I pride myself on making a point and dressing people/situations down without being profane in the least. Or, as my wife puts it, “cussing somebody out without cussing them out.” Not only that, but I like the idea of offending people not with language, but with subject matter. And no, talking about Perez Hilton posting pictures of an underage singer without her underwear on and then putting Olympic athletes to shame by backpedaling his way out of being charged with child pornography is not what I consider offensive subject material.
Which brings us to number three: If you came upon this because you typed “pop culture” in to Google hoping for the same sycophantic gossip everyone else is spreading just to get readers, you’re in the wrong place. The only thing you’ll hear me say about clowns like Perez Hilton is how ludicrous they are in thinking they actually matter just because many are too dumb to realize the celebrity he cares about the most is himself. The fact that he even became somewhat famous and that he’s able to make that 15 minutes last forever because people are too dumb to ignore this loudmouth makes me want to puke up every chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten. And that’s just a small (but obvious) example of the absurdity I’ll be calling out here.
Leading right in to number four: this will not be an all-negati—hold on. I really need to emphasize this one. THIS WILL NOT BE AN ALL-NEGATIVE BLOG. I may have quite a bit of venom to unload, but it’s not all I am. Besides, that gets a little boring, too. There’s plenty of stuff out there I absolutely love, and I’m a firm believer in praising right moves as well as damning wrong ones. So, between the two, expect to gain a lot of insight to my overall tastes if you’re paying attention.
Five. There will be links to my stuff on Examiner.com, 411 Mania, as well as wherever else I may pop up. I would like this to be not only a place to be myself, but a place to archive my writings overall. It also gives you more of a complete picture, because this vein of writing overall is my passion, and they're just as much a part of that as this is.
…all of which, 1000+ words later, is a way of saying something I probably could have done in a paragraph. Did I say I feel weird about talking about myself? I meant it, really. It was necessary for me, though, to go through all that trouble to explain that this is me being me. For better or worse, ‘til death do I part, if I am to have a voice at all and be myself on a planet that seems to frown on that sort of thing anymore, this is the place I have to do it. And yes, it is something I have to do.
Besides, if douchenozzles like Perez Hilton can become famous doing this sort of thing, who am I to shy away from simply picking my own little corner of cyberspace to talk about what I want to?
Thursday, June 17, 2010
R.I.P. VH1
I can officially add VH1 to the list of networks that can, to paraphrase the incomparable Ice-T, “suck the sheets up my buttcrack.”
It happened during their “100 Most Shocking Moments In Music” countdown show. Chris Jericho was hosting, which was, admittedly, a reason to tune in. And I love these sort of countdowns. The ones that E! does about Hottest this, that, or the other…not interested. Good music countdowns? Ones about, you know, what VH1 is about (or so I thought, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself)? Sure, I’m game. So, I settled in and caught it from #30.
Ball one came from seeing the Rolling Stones/Altamonte debacle at #22. Really? The incident that marked the end of an era of music that produced some of the most notable work in history didn’t even crack the top 20? The skepticism set in, but I was still willing to play along.
Strike one came in seeing the commercials for new shows on VH1. Remember the thing about VH1 being about music? Yeah, forget it. I learned – and maybe I’m late to the party here – that, except for special occasions, VH1 apparently gave that up. “Dad Camp”? “The OCD Project”? What the hell does any of this have to do with music? I was crestfallen that the last bastion of music on basic cable was about to go the way of the dinosaur. I turned to my wife and said, “My God, VH1 is turning in to MTV.”
Time for a sidenote. For those that don’t remember when MTV was more than “The Hills” or “Laguna Beach” or whatever crap is on there now, this is not a good thing. This is the channel that once revolutionized music. Because of that, this is the channel that the world of music revolved around for a long time. MTV used to matter. Now, no matter how many Heidi Montags they give us (along with Douchelord Supreme Spencer Pratt), they can no longer make that claim. And to see VH1 going that route is truly a reason to mourn.
Strike two came with another commercial – this one, at least, for a music-related special. I’ll give them that little credit. The special, however, is about Bret Michaels. As a guy that covered his health issues in detail for Examiner, this may sound a little strange coming out of me. But, let’s face facts here for a minute: aside from making this generation’s panties wet when they were teenage girls (and how he did that IN FULL FRICKIN’ DRAG I still have no clue to this day), Bret Michaels has contributed the square root to diddly-squat to music. Period. For each “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”, there’s a “Don’t Know What You Got (‘Til It’s Gone)”. For every “Talk Dirty To Me”, there’s a “Seventeen”. Nothing groundbreaking, nothing no one else didn’t do first, not even anything original. There is NOTHING that Poison – or Michaels – did that contributed anything to the lasting legacy of rock music. Anyone who cons themselves in to thinking that because he’s had a hard time with his health lately is nostalgically delusional.
As far as his health goes, you’d think a guy who’s fought with diabetes and has now had two serious health scares involving his brain would stop to take it easy for a minute. Instead, this clown sees this as his last five minutes of fame! He admitted that his doctors didn’t know he would show up on the “American Idol” finale to perform. Of course they didn’t, because they would have asked him, “Dude, is pushing yourself to sing that lousy ballad really worth risking your life?” Now, he’s back on television after hobbling out to become the new Celebrity Apprentice. Again.
The sad thing is, once he drops dead, everyone will rally around how great and important he was to music when that theory was already shot to hell two paragraphs ago. Every one of them will also overlook how much of an idiot he was for pushing himself back in to the limelight when he was literally risking his life to do so and hail him as a hero or a survivor. He’d actually be a survivor if he just stopped for a while, made sure he was healthy, and then resumed his career when he’s in better shape to do so. But, like every other rube that can’t stay out of the spotlight (once again, Montag, this has you written all over it), he refuses to do so.
Strike three – as in you’re out, and what finally pushed me to renounce VH1, even as a credible source – was their #1 pick for Most Shocking Moment In Music. SPOILER ALERT: it was the death of Michael Jackson. An incident not even a year old and, considering all the troubles he’d had post-trial and the fact that it’s out now that he was eating Prozac (among MANY other things) like the Foo Fighters ate Mentos, they still had the audacity to call “shocking”. Meanwhile, John Lennon, who was gunned down out of nowhere, was relegated to #2.
There’s no tirade about Jackson to be had here, because it’s already been done. I’ll snatch a few paragraphs from it, though, to basically illustrate what all the talking head comments on the show were about (and probably why he made top spot):
Then a funny thing happened. In the midst of a comeback staged because Jackson had found a set of financiers to bail him out of his personal debt, Jackson blindsided his fans and foes alike with the ultimate career move – he died when no one saw it coming. No one even knows how yet, let alone why. Maybe the stresses of a life no one would wish on their worst enemy. Or years of prescription medication abuse (to which Jackson himself has admitted to several times) catching up to him. Hell, between the debt and facing a world that hated his guts, it may well have been deliberate. Putting aside a lot of unanswered questions, the world stopped for a moment and realized that an immense talent had left this earth, never to be heard from again.
Then, the world did something equally strange. It forgave him. At long last, everyone believed his stories of being abused as a child, and how he was just a simple kid at heart who only ever wanted to laugh and play with other kids like he never could when he was a child himself. Everyone talked – after 18 long years – about how talented of a musician he was, and how that gift and the music it produced would never be forgotten despite the fact that it had been almost two decades since anyone thought to remember that fact in the first place.
Phrases were thrown around the internet like how "THE DEATH OF MICHEAL WAS LIKE 9/11 EVENT IN WORLD TRADE CENTER". And that was just the beginning, as those very same people that mocked and condemned the one-time King Of Pop now stood among those who voiced their desperation and sadness that Jackson had suddenly passed away. Hands were held and people sang the praises of one of the greatest careers in music history and bemoaned the star-crossed life that Jackson lead, feeling pity for the man they had once derided so openly.
So, basically, because America is alluva sudden in love with Michael Jackson again, he makes top spot. Not because, in taking the context of their countdown literally he deserved it (once again, Lennon’s death and a few others – like Kurt Cobain – came as more of a shock than this), but because everyone would have been mad if he didn’t.
I’m sorry, I’m not buying it. I don’t like being told how to think and feel. Between that and the fact that this is all coming froma trusted source for music yet another reality channel, VH1 and I are done. Thank God.
It happened during their “100 Most Shocking Moments In Music” countdown show. Chris Jericho was hosting, which was, admittedly, a reason to tune in. And I love these sort of countdowns. The ones that E! does about Hottest this, that, or the other…not interested. Good music countdowns? Ones about, you know, what VH1 is about (or so I thought, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself)? Sure, I’m game. So, I settled in and caught it from #30.
Ball one came from seeing the Rolling Stones/Altamonte debacle at #22. Really? The incident that marked the end of an era of music that produced some of the most notable work in history didn’t even crack the top 20? The skepticism set in, but I was still willing to play along.
Strike one came in seeing the commercials for new shows on VH1. Remember the thing about VH1 being about music? Yeah, forget it. I learned – and maybe I’m late to the party here – that, except for special occasions, VH1 apparently gave that up. “Dad Camp”? “The OCD Project”? What the hell does any of this have to do with music? I was crestfallen that the last bastion of music on basic cable was about to go the way of the dinosaur. I turned to my wife and said, “My God, VH1 is turning in to MTV.”
Time for a sidenote. For those that don’t remember when MTV was more than “The Hills” or “Laguna Beach” or whatever crap is on there now, this is not a good thing. This is the channel that once revolutionized music. Because of that, this is the channel that the world of music revolved around for a long time. MTV used to matter. Now, no matter how many Heidi Montags they give us (along with Douchelord Supreme Spencer Pratt), they can no longer make that claim. And to see VH1 going that route is truly a reason to mourn.
Strike two came with another commercial – this one, at least, for a music-related special. I’ll give them that little credit. The special, however, is about Bret Michaels. As a guy that covered his health issues in detail for Examiner, this may sound a little strange coming out of me. But, let’s face facts here for a minute: aside from making this generation’s panties wet when they were teenage girls (and how he did that IN FULL FRICKIN’ DRAG I still have no clue to this day), Bret Michaels has contributed the square root to diddly-squat to music. Period. For each “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”, there’s a “Don’t Know What You Got (‘Til It’s Gone)”. For every “Talk Dirty To Me”, there’s a “Seventeen”. Nothing groundbreaking, nothing no one else didn’t do first, not even anything original. There is NOTHING that Poison – or Michaels – did that contributed anything to the lasting legacy of rock music. Anyone who cons themselves in to thinking that because he’s had a hard time with his health lately is nostalgically delusional.
As far as his health goes, you’d think a guy who’s fought with diabetes and has now had two serious health scares involving his brain would stop to take it easy for a minute. Instead, this clown sees this as his last five minutes of fame! He admitted that his doctors didn’t know he would show up on the “American Idol” finale to perform. Of course they didn’t, because they would have asked him, “Dude, is pushing yourself to sing that lousy ballad really worth risking your life?” Now, he’s back on television after hobbling out to become the new Celebrity Apprentice. Again.
The sad thing is, once he drops dead, everyone will rally around how great and important he was to music when that theory was already shot to hell two paragraphs ago. Every one of them will also overlook how much of an idiot he was for pushing himself back in to the limelight when he was literally risking his life to do so and hail him as a hero or a survivor. He’d actually be a survivor if he just stopped for a while, made sure he was healthy, and then resumed his career when he’s in better shape to do so. But, like every other rube that can’t stay out of the spotlight (once again, Montag, this has you written all over it), he refuses to do so.
Strike three – as in you’re out, and what finally pushed me to renounce VH1, even as a credible source – was their #1 pick for Most Shocking Moment In Music. SPOILER ALERT: it was the death of Michael Jackson. An incident not even a year old and, considering all the troubles he’d had post-trial and the fact that it’s out now that he was eating Prozac (among MANY other things) like the Foo Fighters ate Mentos, they still had the audacity to call “shocking”. Meanwhile, John Lennon, who was gunned down out of nowhere, was relegated to #2.
There’s no tirade about Jackson to be had here, because it’s already been done. I’ll snatch a few paragraphs from it, though, to basically illustrate what all the talking head comments on the show were about (and probably why he made top spot):
Then a funny thing happened. In the midst of a comeback staged because Jackson had found a set of financiers to bail him out of his personal debt, Jackson blindsided his fans and foes alike with the ultimate career move – he died when no one saw it coming. No one even knows how yet, let alone why. Maybe the stresses of a life no one would wish on their worst enemy. Or years of prescription medication abuse (to which Jackson himself has admitted to several times) catching up to him. Hell, between the debt and facing a world that hated his guts, it may well have been deliberate. Putting aside a lot of unanswered questions, the world stopped for a moment and realized that an immense talent had left this earth, never to be heard from again.
Then, the world did something equally strange. It forgave him. At long last, everyone believed his stories of being abused as a child, and how he was just a simple kid at heart who only ever wanted to laugh and play with other kids like he never could when he was a child himself. Everyone talked – after 18 long years – about how talented of a musician he was, and how that gift and the music it produced would never be forgotten despite the fact that it had been almost two decades since anyone thought to remember that fact in the first place.
Phrases were thrown around the internet like how "THE DEATH OF MICHEAL WAS LIKE 9/11 EVENT IN WORLD TRADE CENTER". And that was just the beginning, as those very same people that mocked and condemned the one-time King Of Pop now stood among those who voiced their desperation and sadness that Jackson had suddenly passed away. Hands were held and people sang the praises of one of the greatest careers in music history and bemoaned the star-crossed life that Jackson lead, feeling pity for the man they had once derided so openly.
So, basically, because America is alluva sudden in love with Michael Jackson again, he makes top spot. Not because, in taking the context of their countdown literally he deserved it (once again, Lennon’s death and a few others – like Kurt Cobain – came as more of a shock than this), but because everyone would have been mad if he didn’t.
I’m sorry, I’m not buying it. I don’t like being told how to think and feel. Between that and the fact that this is all coming from
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)