Sadly, these days, it's really a matter of "every man for himself." In terms of possibilities, we are but an echo of what we once were. Of course, the artist does not want to "sell out to The Man." Left with no real choice except that business model of greed and the bean counting mentality that Reagan propagated and the country embraced, there is only "The Man" to deal with. There is no street for the music to rise up from. There is no time for the music to develop in a natural way that we can all embrace when it ripens and matures. That's why the general public doesn't really care. It's not that the people don't still love music; of course they do. It's just the way it is presented to them that ignores their humanity.So what is the answer? Maybe a quote from earlier in the same article holds a clue:
The artist is here to give the listener the opportunity to dream, a very profound and special gift even if he's minimally successful. If the artist only entertains you for three and a half minutes, it's something for which thanks should be given. Consider how enriched all of our lives are made by songs from "Like A Rolling Stone," a masterpiece, to "The Monster Mash," a trifle by comparison.Keep that thought in mind as you read this post from the blog of a friend of mine.
Let's all get off our asses and get out to see/hear the thousands of great musicians who are literally playing in our backyards!
~ Tom
1 comment:
Thanks bro. I heard Mellecamp on NPR's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" show on my weekend drive to the Berkshires sometime last year I think it was and was totally impressed with his intelligence, his insights, and his conversational clarity and thoughtfulness. Could have listened to him for hours actually. But I do think when he refers to "the street" in that paragraph you quote up top, in a way he missed what I think is the new "street" in many ways, the internet, and music is rising up from there more so than ever.
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