I am old enough to remember when the big fight in the music world - among musicians at least - was between that of "taped music" versus "live music". The debate usually raged among those of us who were making our living playing in casinos, on broadway musicals, on cruise ships, etc. I still remember the first time they cut a show from our schedule on board one of the ships I was playing on. At first it was nice that we had one less show to play each week, but then two months later, they fired half the band, making it a small combo of only 7 players, down from a a 15-piece orchestra. They used recorded music for the whole show, and the show sucked as a result. Did the audience notice the difference? Not really, because the musicians huddled behind the stage in the "orchestra pit" were never really showcased anyway.
Eventually, the debate between taped music and live music took on a different locale, being the club. It became DJ's versus a live band. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, a once legendary live music scene, producing the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Starship, Santana and on and on and on, the scene all but dried up completely in the late 90's. On the short list of reasons for that is the massive growth in DJ's brought on by massive growth in heavily monied young, upwardly mobile snobs associated with the "dot-com boom" of the early to mid 90's. But that's a story worthy of a book I am too lazy to write. However, what I can say clearly is that is the first instance in my life as a musician when I realized that our problems were way beyond "taped music versus live music."
Move forward to the year 2009, at the Turf Club in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Three artists/bands: Junkyard Empire, Kristoff Krane, and No Bird Sing, all three the kind of artists that blend multiple styles of music and do it extremely well, while being entertaining too. You would think that on a nice warm Friday night in Saint Paul, Minnesota, you could get at least 100 people to come out and see this music for $5 at a club that the night before hosted a solo concert by the one and only Gene Ween. If I had to estimate how many people came to the show, I'd lean toward about 40 people. I guess I could point out that Michael Larson a.k.a. Eyedea from the nationally known Eyedea and Abilities sat in with all three bands, and at one point Eyedea, Joe from No Bird Sing and Kristoff Krane all jumped up on stage to play with Junkyard Empire during their set, with the goal of shunning those who didn't come out to the club that night. But, let's face it, nobody gives a shit. Or least that's what it seems like.
When I was growing up, cutting my teeth on live acid jazz, progressive live hip-hop, funk, and blues everyone I knew - and not just the musicians - went out every weekend with the goal of hunting down the hippest and best live music one could find. I'll be honest and say, I don't know anyone who does that now; at least anyone who isn't a musician, taper, or some kind of enthusiast. I've heard all kinds of excuses as to why this is the state of affairs here in Minnesota, such as weather, an over-saturation of live bands with not enough people to support them, and the common refrain of "we need like 100 more clubs to support all the music we have here in Minnesota" or something to that effect. Sure, that may be true, but the bottom line is, there aren't enough people going out to see live music as it is, so why would it make any sense to have more live music venues? What we really need is like 2000 more people going out to see live music every weekend night. And, we need to bring back what seem to be old world values, like good live music is worth going out to see even if the band is not already famous.
I don't know, maybe I am just trying to rationalize my abject anger at the American public for being so unsupportive of live music, while so obviously supportive of useless ventures like corporate television, cars, debt, and meaningless trends. Afterall, it is this love of all things material, virtual, and instantly gratifying that leads Americans toward a life of ass-sitting, ultimately ushering in an almost anti-live music existence. But, no, I'll refrain from getting into bashing American materialistic, debt-ridden, me-first culture. Instead, I'll just ask the question: HAVE WE NOW GOTTEN TO THE DREADED DEBATE OF "LIVE MUSIC VERSUS NO MUSIC AT ALL?" I fear we have.
Or, to offer a completely glass-half-full approach to the question, have we gotten to a place where there is so much underground talent in the live music world that there just aren't enough venues and people to support it? If that's the case, will we see a resurgence of the hobby of going out to see some music? I sure hope so, because the band I'm in just signed a record deal, with the hope of getting the hell out Minnesota at some point, so that we can ironically come back home to a sold out house, which seems to have happened to a great many artists from this area.
Have I made sense this morning? I don't know, but I feel a little better. At least I can say that I played a concert last Friday night that was awesome, and some world class folks sat in with us. The 20 people that were left in the club to witness the events got some seriously hip music thrown at them in a truly intimate way. I still wish there were a lot more people there, and I know that we - like a great many other bands - will only be playing in the area like 1 time per month, because we know there are only that many people out there who will support what we do. What does this mean in the grand scheme of things? What is the future of live music? Will there have to be a global economic meltdown and then a grand rebuilding process before live music makes a comeback? I hope not. Either way, I will still be there with my trombone.
1 comment:
right on brother!
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