Ouch

I was talking to someone the other day about shows coming through. They were a lot more positive and interested in what was coming through than I was --which isn't hard. I'm hopeful people, but I'm not seeing anything to get really excited about. Anyway, in situations like that, I ask what they like, what's coming down the pipe they really want to see. I listen to what other people are listening to. It's one of the best ways to grow.

It turns out they were pretty excited about Booker T and The MGs coming to play at FestivALL. He saw Booker T by himself a couple of years ago at WVSU.

I thought he had to be mistaken, so I looked it up in the archives.

Yup, it happened. September 29, 2006. Tickets were $10.

He told me it was a good show --for the twenty or so people who came.

Tickets for the show at the Clay Center range from $21.50 to $41.50 --plus you figure a $2.50 service charge and another $4 for parking.

Parking would not have been a problem at the WVSU show.

Of course, the show at the Clay Center has the MGs, plus Eddie Floyd. Booker T has a new album out, which was recorded with Neil Young and The Drive By Truckers --not the MGs. Neither Neil Young or The Drive By Truckers are expected to be at the show, though he is taking the DBTs with him to Bonnaroo and other places.

Just a thought, but I'm not so sure the MGs would be playing the stuff from Booker T's new album --which is probably fine with the people who are into hardcore nostalgia -the "just gimme the hits people."

Jeez, it seems like I have it in for the guy, but really, I don't. Others are looking forward to the show. They're bigger, probably smarter music fans than me. I'm glad they're getting something they want. Somebody should.

Funny

One of the funniest things about the music/entertainment writing gig is almost nobody understands the title. This is why I came up with the descriptive phrase, "I talk to a lot of burned out bass players and former celebrities." It helps, but most of the time people sort of forget and everything else I say is rendered as gibberish.

"Did you hear there's a new Jesco White movie?"

"Sure, I talked to the director and to one of the locals involved with the production," I say. "I got death threats from The Whites. Funny stuff. I saw the trailer, but it's not what the director told me it was going to be, you know?"

"So, like there's this really weird trailer," she says. "It's on Jackass's website."

"Right," I say. "Johnny Knoxville is producing it."

Ignoring the words coming out of my mouth, she says, "You ought to check it out. Maybe there's a story there."

I nod.

"You ever seen Mountain Stage?" she asks. "It's awesome."

Local music updates

So far, it's still a virtual wasteland this summer. No real sparkle. Nothing to get excited about.

The only new name popping up is John Legend for a Wednesday show in July. No venue confirmed, but it won't be Multifest and it's unlikely to be Mountain Stage.

FestivALL is still exactly what is was --though the civic center has a convention for the Jehovah Witnesses (a return engagement) and Dora The Explorer (that screams art and culture). Jeez, makes you wonder if the civic center has it in for the city's arts and music festival. A big (er... medium) name, mainstream (or attractive alt act) show would do wonders for the thing. Surely, someone has thought of this.

Of course, maybe music is a lot harder sell in this area than I thought, not that anyone appears to be trying very hard to draw a crowd. For example, Huntington has Molly Hatchet coming to Riverfront Park in August. You might be thinking, "Holy shit. I thought those fuckers were dead." Yeah, that's what I thought, too. Apparently, not dead enough.

I guess Black Oak Arkansas was booked.

Ah well... maybe you should go ahead and get those Booker T and the MGs tickets. If you're going to spend your money, you might as well give it to them. Nothing else is going on.

The Rules: rule 1

(These have been transported from the old blog and touched up for the new blog)
I'm a music writer --not a big time music writer, not a great music writer, but I write about music. I interview musicians, occasionally comedians and very rarely actors. Technically, this would mean I'm an entertainment writer, but I don't feel like one. That smacks more of celebrity journalism and I'm not really into that. Really, I could care less who fucks who, who cheats on their taxes or whether someone is drugs or getting fat --unless it screws up their show. I care about their show and their album. I'm interested in what they have to say and why they have my attention (besides being fat, stoned, delinquent and sleeping with members of the San Diego Zoo).

I've done this now for about five years and have educated myself along the way. It's ongoing. They don't teach classes in this stuff. At least, they didn't teach them at Concord College, where I attended school. Even if they did, I probably would have missed the important stuff due to a hangover.

So here's what I've learned so far...

Rule one/part one: You'd probably be better off doing something else. First, the business of music is a very affable sort of business. People are friendly, but they aren't always friends.

It's complicated. Musicians, promoters, producers all need music writers to encourage people to buy their records, come to their shows and eventually steal their music off the Internet. Music writers need musicians, promoters and producers in order to have things to write about besides the weather or whatever evil horseshit the government is doing.

While this sounds simple, it isn't. It's a very personal kind of business. You will tend to know more about the people you write about than you want to know and almost always more than they want you to know. It is a false intimacy that is acquired from websites and PR bios, which are often chock-full of absolute lies. When you meet them, they will want you to like them and if you're human, you can't help it. You'll empathize with their plight and their battles. Chasing after any kind of dream is a hard life. There's an odd loneliness to it.

From time to time, you will tend to forget there are lines and sides. You will want to believe we are all one and the same, but that's not really true. It's a very friendly business, but it's business.

It's OK. When the time comes, someone will remind you.

He may have a point...

First, here's Mona's review of last night's Mountain Stage show.

Now, here's Hippie Killer's review of Neko Case and a post, in general, about Mountain Stage and what could be a perception problem among some of the indie artists.

I hear things, sometimes. And Mountain Stage has certainly gotten their share of douche bags over the years. If you catch the gang in the right mood, they'll tell you who is a dick and who isn't (off the record)... and um... they told me in confidence, so I won't name names here. I do know a couple of people who will not be coming back any time soon, who were problem children and the staff doesn't want to deal with them again unless they have to. One of them is dead, so it's not a big deal. Another is one of my favorites and she hung them out to dry on a fit about billing. The third was a pain in the ass, whom the host of the show said he wished someone would have slapped her parents for raising her to be such a self-absorbed jerk.

I think he's right. Case shouldn't have been starting over and over. She's lucky she didn't get booed, which would have made for really "great" radio. Pretty clearly, she didn't get the show or why she was there. Case shouldn't be thinking she's doing Mountain Stage a favor by playing their dinky little radio show. She ought to be thinking they're doing her a favor by letting her come on their show and play on a hundred radio stations across America for twenty minutes.

Maybe I should have used that ticket.

The strangest thing

Attempts to catch up with Neko Case failed. I tried through a couple of websites and through her record label. I heard nothing. I even mentioned it to Mountain Stage, which is really the court of last recourse. If you can help it, bothering the venue about an artist appearing on their stage is sort of awkward. In essence, you're asking them to do you a favor so you can help them. It complicates things occasionally and about half the time is fruitless.

Sometimes the gatekeeper (and most of the time you never know that is) just can't be bothered to tell you politely, "no." No is an ugly, unhelpful word, so they'll stick their fingers in their ears and pretend you're not talking to them.

I still ask for help from venues sometimes, though not very often compared with the number of interviews I do, and only if the artist is the main attraction. I've asked for a little extra help from every stage in town. I know which ones can help sometimes and which ones seldom do. Locally, I've gotten great help from Mountain Stage and The Clay Center. They're usually pretty motivated to help. Others appear to be less motivated.

Anyway, Case was a wash. I never heard anything --until yesterday when Case's publicist called to let me know I had a ticket to the show. This would be a ticket I didn't request. I requested an interview. I guess I could see where they might be confused. The words sort of rhyme.

Uncle Bill's mailbag

I got an e-mail from a college kid asking me about media stuff. My first... I've got butterflies and everything.

They wrote:
I am currently taking a Media Law and
Ethics class and am researching the ethical habits of reporters from my
hometown area. Being that you write for "The Gazz" can you give me your
opinion and response to this question:How common is it for tabloids to
publish completely false stories on celebrities without concern for
minimizing harm and showing compassion? Do you think this is a particular
problem in WV? Thanks so much for your time!

My sort of spiffy answer:
I think tabloids report only false information occasionally. They're a lot
slicker and a lot more skilled than people give them credit. What they
report is often mean-spirited, embarrassing and often unsavory, but it's not
usually with the intent of being false. It's true, more often than not. Of
course, with the hyper-competitive nature of the tabloids, they can be a bit
sloppier than other kinds of "news" media. They can be misled a bit easier
and sometimes seem a little slower to verify their information --or print a
retraction.

Compassion or minimizing harm seldom enters into the equation these days.
Most of what they do is prey on the darker parts of our own psyche and sell
news-based entertainment around that. We want the successful, the wealthy,
the pretty to fail. We want them to get caught doing what they shouldn't and
we want them punished collectively for all of our transgressions. To want to
be a celebrity these days is to ask to be a sacrificial goat. Tabloid sleaze
provides a balm for the pain of being anonymous and unremarkable.

As far as West Virginia and celebrity coverage... not really. I write a lot
of what would be considered "celebrity" or entertainment-based stories,
mostly "B" or "C" level musicians (meaning celebrity) doing local shows. Our focus is never
evisceration for fun and profit. Often we're introducing or reintroducing
performers to a potential audience. The information presented is largely
superficial, taken from press releases, other publications and brief
interviews over the phone. There's not much need to dig and little
opportunity. We save the good ol' fashioned muckraking for the locals, not
for the crazy lady who does too much coke and keeps forgetting to wear her
underwear. If we have a flaw, it's because since we are in a small, rural
area, we tend to follow the adage, "If you don't have anything nice to say,
you're better off saying nothing at all."

That's how I see it, anyway, but in balance, I don't read a lot of tabloid stuff. My time spent with your average pseudo-famous person is so brief I haven't got the time to figure out who they're fucking, what drugs they're on or if they're wearing underwear (Grace Potter was one of the few exceptions... She totally wasn't wearing a bra and I'd have put five bucks down the lower half coordinated, but it never came up while we talked).

Lowering the bar

This ranks as a brand new level of silly. A ventriloquist doesn't want to do a phone interview to save his voice (which is fine, though weird and self-indulgent. Somehow, I doubt the guy is texting for room service or for the bus driver to pull over so he can take a leak). The publicist wants to know if I would e-mail the questions?

Say it with me people... No.

E-mail interviews with entertainment types blow goats. They blow goats one after the other while the little, red tractor goes around and around. They're always half-baked, particularly since you only get one try and the other person can pick and choose which questions they answer. There is never a follow-up, so if they say something interesting, you can't ask them to explain... and of course, there is always the very distinct possibility that all of it is getting filtered through handlers. For all you know (and who is to know), you're not writing questions for the talent, but for his publicist or manager to answer.

About the only person I'd happily consent to do an e-mail interview with would be Stephen Hawking and he's not likely to be playing an arena named after a furniture store.

I should have known. His national publicist is the same person who handles Willie Nelson, which, for me, typically means an unusual amount of bullshit, ending with frustration and anger. She's not overseeing the tour, but I'm starting to see a similarity in the kind of artist who hires her on. Maybe she likes crazy.

A few more notes on Jeff Foxworthy

Jeff Foxworthy is not a musician, but he is a music host, so it's close enough for this blog.

It is a rule... Most of the time comics or comic actors suck on the phone. This has been my experience. Every now and again, I get surprised. George Carlin was good. So, too, was Lily Tomlin. Chelsea Handler was horrible. Lewis Black was sort of dull and Martin Short made me want to get drunk and jump in front of a car.

I didn't expect much from Foxworthy. Still, I thought it turned out pretty good.

-When I spoke to him, he'd just returned from a hunting trip to New Zealand. His wife booked it as a present for his 50th birthday. Foxworthy is an avid bow hunter. A native guide took them out to hunt Red Stag and he said the countryside was amazing. I asked him if he got any tattoos or if he hunted while wearing a loincloth.

-About tattoos. He told me he didn't have any, though if he did, he'd have them put on his wrist next to his watch. They'd be his wife's birthday, his wedding anniversary and a warning not to let Ron White borrow his car. That was a little vague for me, but White was in a movie where a character wrecked a car. I'll have to ask White about it, next time he comes through.

-Foxworthy seemed a little sensitive about how his comedy is perceived. I asked him if rural people are safe to make fun of. I was thinking of Borat, which mercilessly hammered rural sentiments (more so than urban. When he wasn't playing the rube from the country in the big city, he was poking fun at small town small-mindedness). He, of course, said he didn't make fun of rural people. He was just poking fun at human foibles.

-I don't think he trusts TV. He got burned on his sit-com and was hesitant about going back. He's not the first to come up with that. Several other rural comedians have had trouble, not so much with establishing a show, but dealing with the Hollywood system.

-I asked him about the story involving the lighting guy falling asleep during his set during the Blue Collar Comedy Tour's stop in Charleston. This was supposed to have happened a few years ago. He didn't remember it, but thought it was hilarious --if it happened. I heard the story from a stagehand a few years ago, but couldn't verify it.

-He was amazed at how some of his bits have grown without him. I asked him what he thought about all these chain e-mails floating around (with pictures) based on his Redneck bit. He said it sort of underlined one of the things he learned about his humor. The jokes that get the biggest laughs are the ones that are true.

-All in all, a really nice guy and he was okay with laughing.

Perks and Benefits

Working as an entertainment writer, you get certain privileges and benefits. You're not entitled to these things. There is no such thing as entitlement in the world of music writing (at least, not in my little world). That's reserved for the people who ask for the punch bowls full of green M&Ms, the weird bottled water and have the groupies offering mind blowing sexual favors. They're talented. The music writer is always a bum.

Still, management isn't above casting stray bones to boost morale and get you on board.

Perk #1 -Free CDs. Yes, that's right. As a music/entertainment writer it practically hails CDs at my desk. They arrive by the metric ton on some days and I open each package like it's Christmas. Since it's my kind of Christmas and not yours, these gifts are always viewed with joy, but suspicion, followed by disappointment. It's never what you hope it will be. It's never the latest from Rage Against The Machine, the new one from U2 or anything by The Shins.

On a very good day, I might get the latest Nashville release, featuring whoever placed second on Nashville Star two years ago, or an advance release of a Joni Mitchell album that will soon be available where some people go to buy coffee -neither of which I have any intention of listening to unless I have to. On a very bad day, it's a children's holiday rap album or music performed with an electric zither. No one listens to that kind of stuff unless they've completely lost the will to live.

Of the unsolicited stuff, about one in ten ends up getting heard in my car stereo. This is where I do most of my heavy listening. The rest is sent to relatives, donated to the poor or is cast to the back table for the rest of the newspaper staff to fight over like a pox-ridden army blanket.

Occasionally, I do get music sent to me in conjunction with some upcoming interview. Some of these end up becoming favorites. I still listen to albums sent by Rachel Yamagata, Bell X-1 and both albums sent to me by Shooter Jennings. I love Grace Potter and Josh Ritter's last albums. Hell, I even put on Duncan Sheik's White Limousine EP from time to time.

It's always better when they offer to send something. When you have to ask, you get shafted about half the time. They send you what you don't need (like the old album the guy you want to talk to doesn't remember) or something encrypted that will only play if you give Lars Ulrich a dollar every time you stick in a CD player.

But, it's not all bad. You can't eat CDs, but you get to listen for free.

Apologies...

For whatever reason, blogspot isn't sending me the comments. I'm not ignoring anyone. I guess I'll have to monitor this blog a little more closely.

I was out a bit last week (and a bit distracted), which kept me from updating --plus this is a new place to play. I'm still getting used to coming here. Growing pains. Sorry.

Meanwhile, there hasn't been a lot shaking with the summer concert season. The Booker T show is down to 984 tickets for sale. Dokken is still coming to Huntington, but Julianne Hough has been postponed.

I'm also working on a lot of interviews and looking forward to seeing if the folks across the hall got Neko Case. Doesn't she look cool posed on top of the car with the sword? It's kinda like Wendy O Williams in that women's prison movie I saw on the USA Channel back when I used to stay up all night drinking cheap rum.

Case (not Williams, who is "el morte") is in town next week. I, rest assured, did not speak with Case. E-mails and calls sent to her representatives were not returned or replied. There is no indication they registered on her radar, which is unusual. Usually, getting a female artist on the phone is easier than their male counterparts --even at her exalted level. Undoubtedly, she's busy. Probably, she's thinking about having yard sales and what brand of tomato to plant in her garden.

Best of luck with that.

The show is next Wednesday night, a special Mountain Stage on Wednesday night. People should go. We'll probably send a reviewer. I'm not sure if it will be me. "Lost" is on.

Ticket count

I must have completely screwed the pooch on the last count for the Booker T and The MGs show. Based on my current count, they have 986 tickets available for sale. Which would mean they somehow magically added 97 tickets or I can't add. Let's figure on the latter.

So, about those tickets...

Of course, the concert is a good two months away. Commercial coverage for FestivALL hasn't started and they're not really pitching anything to the media -at least, nobody is pitching anything to me, but maybe they don't have anything to announce. This could be it. All I've heard about so far for FestivALL is the Buddy Guy addition to Mountain Stage. It's nice, but not something to pump your first about and yell woo-hoo. It's more like, "Well, Mountain Stage at the Clay Center. Gee, that's going to cost at least eleven dollars more. I sure wish they could get The Flaming Lips. That would be fun and the wanker lead singer might wear those stupid antenna."

Anyway, with the Booker T tickets, maybe everybody is waiting to see if anything bigger or better comes along. Everybody is watching their money. They want to be excited. I don't think anybody is feeling it yet. At least, I'm not.

Princeton

I haven't been back to Mercer County for a visit in years. Now, I've got one. You'll have to scroll down to June 7th to see.

Sure, it would be nice if Mountain Stage would bring somebody I liked to Charleston, but that's part of the philosophy of the show: to personally annoy Bill Lynch by only occasionally scheduling acts he wants to see in the town he resides. The rest of the time, they ship everybody off to the hinterlands of Morgantown or Beckley or worse, Philadelphia.

Bill did not love The Moving The Mountain Tour. He has always been plain about this.

I swear they sit around and plan this stuff over biscuits and gravy down at Tudor's.

Of course, I'm making that up. I know how it works. They get who they can get when they can get them. Mountain Stage has a certain amount of prestige to it. The radio show is a good medium to get word out for new albums, tours and etc., but I've never gotten the impression anybody gets rich playing it. Mountain Stage benefits as much or more from a higher profile act playing the show. Steve Earle is available June 7th. The show is in Mercer County on the 7th. So, he's going to play when he wants, but not where I want him to --say, like June 19 in Charleston, during FestivALL and the day after my birthday.

I figure they're planning something big for the 19th... possibly A-Ha will make their debut on The Mountain Stage. That'll show me.

It's sort of ridiculous and I know it. The music fan in me is livid. It's unfair. The music writer guy thinks it's great for them --which, they may or may not know. True story: I once went to a .38 special in the heart of redneck country (Brushfork Armory). The tickets were cheap. A lot of energy had gone into promotion. With the number of people who showed up, if I'd wanted to hop on stage and air guitar at any point during the performance, it wouldn't have presented a challenge.

And this was a mainstream act, not a kind of out there, grizzled troubadour with some very interesting political leanings and a history with drugs that sounds like something out of an Irvine Welsh novel. Randy Travis, Steve Earle ain't.

Anyway, Mercer County is getting a good Mountain Stage. If you have the means and want to, you should go. I'm certainly considering it. I'm not happy about it, but I'm thinking about it.

The List

In the back of my head, I keep a list of famous musicians I'd like to interview. This is probably different than the list of famous musicians I'd like to hang out with, which is pretty much just Iggy Pop. I'm sure they're cool people, but eh... I'm over fame.

This is, by no means, comprehensive, but just a few high points. This is a wish list. I doubt I will be clearing it. The majority of the people on this list will not be playing my local area, which is what I cover. Rolling Stone ain't calling so I don't have much of a reason to initiate a conversation.

Looking at the list, I noticed there are much fewer women represented than men. Then, I remembered. I get turned down less by female musicians. They're generally more accessible.

The List:
Bruce Springsteen (the motherfucker hasn't played WV in over 30 years. I've been grinding that axe for a while)

Willie Nelson (doesn't give many interviews, has passed this way about every 18 to 20 months. His publicist turns me down and usually, something bad happens that makes me want to go key Willie's car)

Tim McGraw (because he's turned me down)

Keith Urban (because he's turned me down)

Kenny Chesney (because he's turned me down)

Faith Hill (because she's turned me down)

Hank Williams, Jr (because he turned me down)

David Bowie (because he/she turned me down)

Axl Rose (His lawyers turned me down, but they did send me to Papa Roach)

Michael Stipe (Hmm... REM hasn't been here since the early 90s. For a band who gets as much lip service as they do from the folks at Mountain Stage, you'd think they'd come back to play)

David Gilmour/Roger Waters (I'm a Pink Floyd fan)

Paul McCartney (We share the same birthday)

Toby Keith (I got burned by his tour manager and publicist three or four years back. I don't forget)

Glenn Danzig (I've wondered how retirement feels for the former anti-christ)

Marilyn Manson (I'm wondering how middle-age is striking the current anti-christ)

Mike Patton (I've often wondered what the anti-christ could have been, but wasn't)

Joan Jett (I'm wondering what it's like to be the anti-christ's cousin)

Keith Richards (Keith can not be harmed my mortal weapons)

John Lydon (If only to know what possessed him to go on Judge Judy)

Conor Oberst (If only to ask how fucked up he was during the Move.org show I saw in Ohio back in 2004. He looked pretty much out of his damned head, and to ask him why he would do something so incredibly stupid)

Maynard Keenan (Because, by reputation, he's a giant douchebag, but Danny Carey was cool. I don't buy they'd be in the same band)

Sully Erna (Because they made me read his fucking book, then he bailed on me. I have questions)

Dave Grohl (Because he isn't Eddie Vedder)

Jason Newsted (Because he's the only guy in Metallica (formerly and still living) I actually kind of like and who seems sane compared to the others)

Robbie Williams (Just one of those things. His work has never really caught on the U.S. but he's good)

Courtney Love (she frightens me and you must always face your fears)

Lou Reed (I can never figure out whether I hate his music or love it)

Bob Dylan (Because he's the grail of music interviews and about the only guy on this list I could talk to who would impress my Dad... well, Keith... )