Aug 052011
Mr. Moderator’s on the road to Pittsburgh, way too late to catch Roberto Clemente‘s 3000th hit, but hoping to shake hands with Manny Sanguillen at Manny’s BBQ! That Clemente was a prophet, wasn’t he? What rock prophesy can you claim?
Hey, I know what you’re thinking when you think Pittsburgh + Rock ‘n Roll:
Ahh, the heartbreak of the “local hero” syndrome. Your band is one of the best in the local scene and you have a loyal and respectably large following. You get decent gigs in your area with no problem. Occasionally you even get to open for a bigger act. You get enough scratch to release a record or two and you receive some positive notices in the music rags. MTV plays your video a few times. You have dreams of your big breakout. But for some reason it just doesn’t happen. Sales of your records are minimal outside of your circle of fans. The majors just aren’t interested in pushing you. Your low-budget tours get fine reviews but you just can’t seem to leave the hamburger class for the champagne and caviar club. With no prospect of real money your band members get discouraged and eventually drift away to regular jobs. Your family and friends tell you it’s time to give up this juvenile rock and roll dream and get serious about life. You keep plugging away and you still have fans, but sadness and desperation set in as you realize your moment has passed forever. It’s a painful story that has happened many, many times in every city. The one comfort you have is that you did give it your very best shot.
The Iron City Houserockers sounded pretty good, even if they seem to have studied Graham Parker’s early records in minute detail.
Hey, if you’re going to Pittsburgh make sure you go here:
http://www.jerrysrecords.com/
It’s a pretty awesome store and Jerry sells records at very reasonable prices. The rack right in from of the register has most of the colored vinyl and stuff that just came in. Even he only has one really nice copy of David Werner’s Whizz Kid, though. He says it’s not for sale and good luck finding one that doesn’t sound like crap!
It is better to have rocked than to never have rocked before…
It’s surprising how few well known bands have come out of Pittsburgh considering the proximity to other cities and their blue collar ethic (not unlike Detroit and Cleveland).
Yes, but they have the remains of a real, center-of-the-rock-n-roll-culture FM Rock station. Not classic rock, not “active” rock, but a station which plays the Zep/Floyd plus some newer stuff plus regional faves on their nighttime shifts. Plus, I think they broadcast Steeler games. WDVE. (I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the ‘burgh.)
Sheesh…the drama!
Not making it in the conventional sense (the “champagne and caviar club”) needn’t be a tragedy.
We can perceive it instead as a liberation from all of the stupid obligations that come with that particular brand of success (making radio friendly music that will move units, for example; now i know that some people *like* making that kind of music, but not everybody does).
This need not be a revisionist view that one pieces together after enduring the “painful story” that Tone describes above.
It can be a healthy view that one has from the outset. Cart firmly before horse, we like making music regardless of whether it’s a round peg to the industry’s round hole.
Sure, it’s a great thing to have lived the rock and roll life for a while and to be able to say that you rocked. I know that feeling well. Nonetheless, it still hurts to come so close to hitting the big time only to have it snatched away from you. It leaves an ache that never entirely goes away, no matter what you do or accomplish.
cry me a river.
Fine. Be pissy. You haven’t been there. Or maybe you have. If so, if you try to tell me that it doesn’t hurt at least a little bit, I’ll say you’re in denial.
Come on, Tone, lighten up.
First of all, you have no idea who I am, or how much music I’ve made.
Secondly, aside from what I’ve posted above, you have no idea how little I care about “making it” in the terms you lay out further above.
I’ve had a blast making the music I’ve made, in a number of different bands. I always felt lucky that anyone would ever want to put us on a gig, or put out my music. In fact, that which has happened quite a bit for me, though I never put much energy into making it happen. It’s no wonder, then, that I have felt lucky on that front.
But for goodness sake, no, I’ve *never* wanted to be a part of the champagne and caviar club (not if they would have me, right Groucho?).
What did Phil Spector say about the music biz? 90% morons, right? Why would it “hurt” not to be accepted by them?
You seem smarter than that.
Besides…the focus for me has always been on the enjoyment of making the music, especially recording it, and playing it with (and for) friends.
I’m sure I sound pretty cornball about all this. But I couldn’t be more sincere.
You’re free to respond by saying of me that “the lady doth protest too much,” or that I’m in denial. That wouldn’t really matter much to me. I know the truth.
Now…if you want to talk about having a Jones (with a capital “J”) for “making it” in my current field of pursuit — Art History — then absolutely, I’m a star struck wannabe.
So it’s not as if I’m trying to portray myself as immune to feeling the things you’re feeling.
But I don’t want it from rock.
I believe pretty strongly that rock is blighted by the attitude you’re extolling in this thread.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounds like you’re claiming that making it in the way you describe is the only way to validate one’s rock ambitions, and not making it in that way *must* be described as a failure, and that anyone who claims not to feel that way is simply a liar, or at least in denial.
If that’s what you’re saying, then do us all a favor and stop. That’s the kind of attitude that leads directly to a market-based approach to music making, and to the same empty, shallow heartache you describe above.
Please…give us all a big fat hairy break.
It takes all kinds to make up a world.
And if you haven’t figured out that there’s an infinite variety of possible alternative viewpoints out there where views on this question, then nearly as opened minded or critical of this traditional set of rock pursuits as as you are in other rock-related areas (readily on display in many of these threads we’ve shared).
Go ahead, jump all over me….
And by the way, if I’m the one who’s being “pissy” while trying to jog you out of a funk called “I’ll *always* be just a little sad because I never became a rock star,” then so be it. I’m the pissy one.
Have a lovely evening.
must…
correct…
sloppy…
paragraph:
“And if you haven’t figured out that there’s an infinite variety of possible alternative viewpoints out there where this question is concerned, then you’re not being nearly as opened minded or critical of this traditional set of rock pursuits as you have been in other rock-related areas (readily on display in many of these threads we’ve shared).”
Fixed.
Forgive me.
Chicks dig art historians, but the drugs aren’t as good.
It was your snippy-sounding “cry me a river” that prompted my response. I’m sorry if that isn’t what you intended but I’m not sorry for saying what I said.
The scenario I’ve described hasn’t happened to me so I’m in no funk. In fact, I’ve had a great time playing music for a few decades and I’ve played from crowds of two to 30,000 doing everything from Elvis music to noise terror. However, I’ve known a number of people who were right on the edge of hitting it big only to fall short – and in most cases it wasn’t their fault. I’ve heard their stories, I’ve seen their pain, and I know that it has left scars. They still love music and they are glad to have gone as far as they have, but the hole remains.
Sure, people like you say that they don’t care about musical success but just let the grand jackpot be dangled right in front of their noses only to be taken away. It hurts to be so close. It doesn’t hurt much from a distance. It’s not funk on my part that inspired the scenario I painted, but it is being honest and clear-eyed about what I’ve seen. It is a truth whether you appreciate it or not.
Tone, I’m having a hard time grasping where you’re at in all this:
You say “The scenario I’ve described hasn’t happened to me so I’m in no funk.”
But you also say “I’ve played from crowds of two to 30,000 doing everything from Elvis music to noise terror…[and] people like you say that they don’t care about musical success but just let the grand jackpot be dangled right in front of their noses only to be taken away. It hurts to be so close.”
so which is it?
oh…and PS:
Steve, you couldn’t be more right about my chosen path.
: )
It’s both – there is no contradiction. I’ve had a long and widely varied musical career and I’ve at times been able to sustain it as sole source of income. I’ve played all over the country from dives to strip clubs to casinos to arenas. I’ve personally never been close to achieving serious label interest or breakthough, so while it would have been nice to be a major artist, a real possibility was never really in reach. Even though I’ve never been a star, I am a musician and I can say that without dispute.
However, as I stated clearly, I’ve known a number of people who were close to making it big – I mean really big. It’s the closeness of the near-miss that hurts them. The scenario I put in my original post isn’t a fantasy – it’s real. I’ve seen it happen a few times.
I never called the scenario you present a fantasy, Tone.
Of course, there are plenty of people who are hurt by the fact that they didn’t make it.
Are they still playing? Do they enjoy it?
Or have they let the fact that they didn’t make it consume passion for the music?
Just make a little room in your head for the reality that there are those of us who chose early on not to pursue entry to the champagne and caviar club because it didn’t appeal to us after having gotten a glimpse.
Kudos to you for continuing to make music. That’s great.
It occurred to me during some earlier thread that you probably have made music and that based on your tastes, it could be a good listen.
Do you write / record your own stuff?
There have been both reactions. Some have successfully dealt with the disappointment and some have not – to the point of damaging themselves.
I do write and create my own music and have sold some of it. I don’t do much live gigging anymore but I play at home for my own pleasure.
RTH Back Office Contributors,
I got back from my trip to Pittsburgh a couple of hours ago. I see some new posts awaiting launch. Hold tight – I’ll have them up by Sunday at noon. Thanks!