Thursday follow-up and rule 4

Well... as is important in the field I work in... you get a much needed lesson in humility from time to time. My interview with Maia Sharp seemed pretty cool. She was fun and the story about the oboe sounded like pay dirt, like a little anecdote she didn't often repeat, like I was getting a real treat --except, I wasn't. The Daily Mail ran pretty much the same bit with maybe a slightly variant on the focus and if they got it and I got it, everybody gets it. Ta-da! It's fucking magic.

So, rule 4 -You're always getting leftovers. 9 times out of 10, you're going to find yourself asking the same questions others have always asked a dozen or a hundred times. This means you will often get the same answers, the same stories that have been repeated a hundred times. While repetition, to a degree, is expected, even necessary, the goal of music writing is to try and bring something new or new to the reader out. It doesn't have to be world changing, but it should stimulate a little. Old material, parroted too often, tends to gloss over.

I liked my article, but I kind of failed...

In retrospect, there was one question I should have asked but didn't. This would be the question: Has sexual politics been a help or hindrance with getting your music across to musicians? Basically, how hard is it for a talented lesbian to get a song covered by the Dixie Chicks or Trisha Yearwood? I think I could have gotten a better bead on Country music's brain, which may not match the image they project.

I'll scratch that one up to be completely charmed by her oboe story and the Darth Vader t-shirt, which I do covet. My own damned fault. Sometimes, I suck.

Still, even if I had gone that route, chances are it's already been covered and many times. Probably, the Advocate article(s) on her have wailed on the subject, but the average Gazz reader likely hasn't picked up a copy of the Advocate in a while.

Meanwhile... Marcia Ball. Well, she was a sweetheart and warm on the phone. I just wished I liked her album, but I don't. I even sent notes to friends who might be able to explain to me what I wasn't getting. As it happened, they were just as puzzled as I was about anyone being excited about her music.

I don't know. She might be hell on wheels live, which is what I'm betting. Otherwise, the folks at Mountain Stage wouldn't keep inviting her back.

July and a few tidbits

Just a cool thing. Ben Kweller is playing Mountain Stage July 26. I'm a little guarded. By most reports, the last two "big" headliners have been problematic. Patterson Hood from the Drive By Truckers was sick and the set was fine. It just wasn't the southern-fried rockin' thing everybody wanted. Neko Case approached the live radio show like it was a studio session.

It would be great if this one turned out.

Side notes.
1-Keith Urban was nice, but guarded. It felt like he was waiting for a question to be asked.

2-Leon Redbone was weird. I expected a fun, funny guy, but instead I got a mildly suspicious, slightly combative dude who'd be okay if none of us knew each other's first names. It was a little disappointing. You expect someone who seems to do playful material to be playful, but oddly, it's just as often it's the scary stuff people who are the most fun. Mercedes Lander from Kittie was bubbly and charming. Jerry Only from The Misfits was very easy going and Spider One from Powerman 5000 was great. Redbone just seemed... I dunno... against type.

The hope is I just caught him on a bad day.

DBT at the Clay Center

In case you missed the announcement, the Clay Center has published their new schedule. Among the highlights, the Drive By Truckers are coming back in November. The band recently played Mountain Stage, but Patterson Hood was pretty much the walking dead and the show was very downbeat for what was expected. More than a few people were disappointed.

Anyway, I was digging through my old files and found a rough draft on a Drive By Trucker article I wrote a couple of years ago. Three years back, I did an insane number of All Good festival articles. There was just so many choices, I was kind of like a kid in a candy store and really lost track of who I scheduled. So, Patterson Hood just calls up one afternoon. We had an appointment. I hadn't written it down. I wasn't prepared, didn't have my notes and so we winged it. The results were a bit --eh, but that happens when you're unprepared, haven't listened to the album and only vaguely know who they are.

Three years ago, I didn't know who a lot of people are. This is the kind of job where you're always going to be at least a little behind.

Anyway, most of the good stuff, I had to leave out of the article, including the part about him toking his first joint here in Charleston -which was funny and should be printed on state tourism flyers. "West Virginia: a place to smoke pot." He might have even seen his first pair of live, naked breasts here, but my memory is a little faulty on the subject. Someone told me this was the town where their first concert here was also the place where they saw their first set of beer-drenched tits.

This should also be printed on tourism flyers.

Anyway, Hood and company are headed back for a show that will hopefully redeem their lesser loved recent performance... what would be funny is if Niko Case was the opening act, but I'm not holding my breath.

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."

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.

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.