Pribek

I didn’t post over the weekend so, congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals. It has been twenty-four years since they last accomplished this (world series win), seems like a long time. It must be tough being a Cubs fan. Early in the series, a lot of the press were criticizing Tony LaRussa for not making a bigger issue of the Kenny Rogers/pine tar affair. I talked to my brother yesterday who brought up a point that the pundits missed. What if LaRussa didn’t push the issue because some of his own guys were touching up the ball? Jeff Weavers stuff was dancing around a lot, makes you wonder.

I am headed to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Bill Dees tomorrow. I have never been there so I am really looking forward to it. It is nice to see Bill getting some recognition for his roll in the Roy Orbison legacy.

While I was packing, I listened to some music that I haven’t heard in a while.
The Riverside Records Story: This is a four disc, boxed set and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys jazz. Riverside was one of those record labels that had its own unique sound. The disc I was listening to today featured Wes Montgomery. What a musician, a true innovator.

Jimi Hendrix- Cry Of Love: This is a record that was unfinished at the time of Jimi’s demise. Every time I hear this record I think about where he would have headed musically if he would have lived longer. Some of the songs here are very well written such as “Angel” and “Drifting”.

The Clash- London Calling: I would be afraid to guess how many time I have listened to this. When this record came out it sounded refreshing to me, it would have the same impact if it were released today.

The Eels- blinking lights and other revelations: This is one of my favorite records in recent memory. I think the writing is superb, great production, recorded well, everything I am looking for as a consumer of music. I have played this record for everyone I know and it seems like nobody else feels the same way about it. That baffles me.

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The Dixie Chicks once again are the center of controversy. They are releasing the documentary movie “Shut Up and Sing” this weekend and two T.V. networks, N.B.C. and CW Television are refusing to air the ads for it.

Here is what the networks said:

NBC responded to a clearance report submitted by the Weinstein Company’s media agency saying that the network “cannot accept these spots as they are disparaging to President Bush.”

The CW Television Network responded that it does “not have appropriate programming in which to schedule this spot.”

One thing that should be noted here is that the source of these quotes is the Weinstein Company who is the distributor so, they are in the business of causing a stir.

This is the Weinstein take:

Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of The Weinstein Company stated, “It’s a sad commentary about the level of fear in our society that a movie about a group of courageous entertainers who were blacklisted for exercising their right of free speech is now itself being blacklisted by corporate America. The idea that anyone should be penalized for criticizing the president is sad and profoundly un-American.”

The Weinstein Company is exploring taking legal action.

Realizing that Harvey is a hype man, I have some problems with what he said. “Courageous” is ridiculous, four firefighters were killed yesterday in California fighting a fire that was arson. That is an example of courage, doing a job that puts you life on the line for the greater good.

Also, the Chicks have not been blacklisted. I think any entertainers who were during the McCarthy years that had their careers and lives ruined would take issue with that.

What is ironic is that the only ones who are in danger of having the right of free speech compromised are the networks in question. If they were forced by some legal action to run the ad, that would truly be taking freedom away from private enterprise.

Click on this Weinstein link to see the video in question.

The Cardinals won again last night to go up 3-1 in the series.
I missed the game for a rehearsal but will be on board tonight.
The weather in St. Louis is going to be bad again tonight, it’s a good thing the Colorado Rockies didn’t make it to the series.
In 1968, the Cards were up 3-1 against Detroit so it isn’t over by any means.

Speaking of rehearsal, we have been working up material as power trio with myself, Robert Arnold, and Hugh Walpole. We will be taking this unit to the stage for the first time on Saturday, Dec. 2nd at Nathan P. Murphy’s in Springfield, MO, opening for Smokin’ Joe Kubek. Stop by if you get a notion. There is a reason that they call him Smokin’ Joe if you have not seen him.

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This is the age of data. Data is a commodity. What is funny is that that the people that can afford the important data are the same ones that are responsible for it in the first place. It creates a cycle of advertising inbreeding where mutant trends are sometimes developed.

Here is an example, a few years ago a friend, who is on the fringe of the music business, and I were looking at the current issue of Billboard. Billboard has a section where they give hard sales numbers of the top selling c.d.s each week. They only tell the actual sales for the top several records and the rest of the info is just where a record appears in the charts. So, you can find out what sold 400,000 copies. See, I can figure that out anyway, it is always exactly what consumers are being inundated with on radio, video, iPod commercials, magazines, USA Today etc.

My friend who is, like me, on the bottom of the industry food chain said, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could know what sold 1,000 copies last week and 500 the week before?” Now, this is dangerously close to a corporate mindset for an independent record producer with a lifelong anti-authority, punk philosophy. Too much coffee maybe, but he is trying to spot a cultural movement before it happens. He surmises that if one had this valuable data one could capitalize on it.

There is a company called SoundScan which is owned by the Nielsen people. Every time you buy a c.d. and the barcode is scanned, the data is compiled by SoundScan. If a records sells five copies in Humansville, Missouri SoundScan knows about it. SoundScan sells access to this data via subscription. At the time, the subscription rate was $15,000 a quarter. My friend and I decided it would be better to just try and make a record we liked every once in a while and hope to find the cultural movement by happy mistake.

The point is that the company that can afford fifteen grand to be ahead of the trend is allready forming the trend. They make the trend, pay big bucks to be aware of the trend and then base their next decision on what the trend is. It is an incestuous bloodline of demographic data. Any new, mass-market product be it food, music, movie, car is concieved with this type of data in hand. Then every product is tested for audience reaction at all stages of development. The result is usually a slicker and refined version of the previous marketing success. Every once in a while the system pops out a mutant.

Current case in point is the new G.M. ads featuring the John Cougar song “This Is Our Country”. Cougar crooning lyrics that sound like Woody Guthrie on prozac over a soothing, folky, rootsy, heartland track, all the while flickering images of Rosa Parks, war protesters, Katrina devastion. How in the hell did they come to the conclusion that this is the way to sell trucks?

All I know is what I heard I can only assume the rest. I heard that Bob Seger put an end to the “Like A Rock” ads after seeing the Al Gore movie and deciding that he did not want to use his work to contribute to environmental devastation. I have heard that the Seger ads were highly successful and for a long time.

Somehow, the replacement ended up being this surreal, multi-media John Cougar atrocity. I don’t know if it’s supposed to make me feel patriotic or rebellious. I know it is supposed to make me feel like buying a truck. Instead it makes me feel like burning my rock and roll records.

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