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Date: Tue, 7 Sep 93 11:12:38 -0400
From: bj835[at]-remove-cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Tim Connors)
Subject: More re feedback from JB
As I was saying, I felt a bit like one who had been tattled on
for making a joke or comment at the expense of a friend, who
then found out about it. In other words, more mad at myself
for being foolish, but mildly annoyed at the tattler and a bit
aggravated (completely unfairly) at the person who was the butt
of the joke, just because they've found you out. Know what I
mean? I don't want to blow this out of proportion because
his reply was pretty gracious and I did deserve some ridicule,
I suppose, and it's not that big of a deal. I just wish I had
known ahead of time that my comments might be audited by
Butch himself. If that's a general policy, could we have a
periodic warning for the benefit of those new to the list? If
only certain messages are being passed along, would it be
possible to check with the authors first, in accordance with
general netiquette? Again, it's not that big a deal, but I
post it because I think others might have thoughts on the
issue as well. Anyone?
So if you see Pat again, will you pass along my apologies
for being nosy, tell him I was suitably chastened by his
retort, and let him know that no one ever answered my
inquiry anyway. Thanks. ;)
One last thing: Though it doesn't justify my prurient
interest, I want to comment on Pat's remark that the price
of a CD and a concert every year doesn't entitle one to
know all about an artist's personal life. He's right in
principle, of course, but he might forget what it's like to
be a fan, since he's been on the other side of the stage
for ten years now. Those of us who loyally follow a band
that's not so well known, as is true of JB in the US, do
tend to develop a proprietary interest in that band. It's
because we discovered the artist ourselves, had to haunt
used record stores for years before we tracked down all
the poorly distributed early work. We told our like-
minded friends about the artist and pestered them until
they listened to the records. We bought every CD when
it came out, and pestered our music stores if they didn't
carry it or took a long time to order it. We not only
went to see the band in our hometown, we drove or flew to
other cities to see the band. We dragged our girlfriends
or boyfriends or spouses, our brothers and sisters, our
friends to the show, even though they had no real
interest in going. (My record was 8 people who'd never
heard of the Butcher.) That may not seem like much but
when the turnout is embarassingly small due to lack of
support from record companies, press, and radio, 8 people
can be 8% of the whole crowd. We play the records at
parties and wait for folks to ask what it is. We call
college radio and pester them to play it. If we're lucky
enough to know people in the business, we talk the band up
at every opportunity. So it's natural to begin to feel
like you have an interest (in the financial sense and
otherwise), because there is a real investment of time
and energy. That's why, for example, I was so
depressed for my city that only 100 folks showed up to see
Richard Thompson on the tour for his best album in
years. That's why I was so pissed off that the Mekons
opted to blow off their Cleveland show because they didn't
fell like leaving Chicago. And that's why I bother to
read this group and post to it. Curiosity about the
personal lives of our favorite groups must be annoying to
the artists, I suppose, but it's only the flip side of
all the support those fans give the artist. In other words,
I wouldn't give a shit about what was up with Butch if
I didn't love his music so darn much.
Darn it, I went and wrote a rant. I didn't intend to, but
there it is. You'll have to take my word that I'm really
not mad at anyone (besides myself, a bit) over being
embarassed a little in front of one of my favorite
musicians.
Flames to above address; let's not choke the list with
abuse for me.
;-)
Del, thanks for all the inside scoop, which far
outweighed any discomfort I felt!
TJC "Surprisingly tasty..."
The Jazz Butcher ("JB v. Prime Minister")
Internet: bj835[at]-remove-cleveland.freenet.edu