Pretty cool item, but you know, those hardcore Bruce fans are so predictable: they tend to not care about any other music on the planet. I mean, they'll know every obscure b-side lyrics backwards and forwards and be able to tell you about the show in Idaho somewhere 5 years ago when Bruce played the song during an encore and changed 3 words in the 4th verse.... but they have no clue about who the Flaming Lips are, or even Gaslight Anthem or Hold Steady (close to the 'new Bruce' idiom stuff). Totally annoying. So, back to my story: I started chatting with the early RSD crowd and figured out in 5 seconds just from listening to them that they really were all Bruce fans. Overheard: "That Bitch in front of the line, I've seen her at the pit at Giants before, at the last Bruce show and she gave me problems before. She better not snag my vinyl..." The Brucehead in front of me wanted to know what I was looking for at Scotti's: I told her, truthfully: "Superchunk". Blank stare, no clue. I said, "Springsteen, right?" She says, "How did you know?" My reply, "Just guessing." She then proceeded to tell her line buddy about how she still had on last night's makeup... ugghh. So then I get to thinking: what is going on here: all of these Bruce-nerds are lined up single file at the door like its a line for tickets to an E-Street Band show or something, but its just a store opening the doors: what are we going to do - stand in front of the rack of RSD specials in a neat line and wait for each person to choose everything they want and then let the next person go? No way, man, its everyone for himself..... so the doors open and the Bruceheads all march in excitedly single file towards the rack at the back of the store clearly marked with all the tasty new vinyl ready to be scooped up. They actually did stand in a single file line, but it started turning into a little bit of a blob within seconds so I ducked around the next aisle to cut around to the other side of the rack... at which point, it happened: "Hey, that guy took all the Springsteen vinyl!" "Stop him" "Don't let him out of the store" Etc. Pushing, Shoving, Yelling, Grabing at vinyl records. A mini Bruce vinyl riot. Store staff getting involved and reminding everyone "Only One Record Store Day Item Per Customer".... at which point the Bruce Blob crowd drifted back towards the front of the store (I guess to prevent the dude from leaving and to stop him from purchasing the pile of Bruce). I mean, really, store policy or not, it was pretty rude, even UNETHICAL to try to buy the whole pile of them (I think there were 5 copies in the whole store). However: this was my opening - as soon as they cleared out, I swooped in with my kid, grabbing as many nice new vinyl releases as I could reasonably justify purchasing and hold in my arms: I nabbed the store's only copy of a Lennon singles package, an MGMT 12 inch single, a MUSE 12 inch, Flaming Lips "Dark Side of the Moon" on clear double 12 inch vinyl.... and more: "SWEET!!!" All while the Bruceheads were still arguing ... and once they figured out that there were no more to buy, they all left! Ridiculous: it was all over in 10 minutes --- fine for me, I got to dig through the nice dusty bins and discover even more treasures: 2 Japanese pressings of some McCartney albums and an Israeli Orange/Clear vinyl copy of "Mull of Kintyre" with the picture sleeve: bizarre, and only 4 bucks! Unfortunately, no Superchunk. But the nice Tegan & Sara single I picked up was going on EBay that night for $100, so I think I made out OK (I'll never sell my RSD treasures, but it is somehow strangely satisfying to know how much other people will pay for these things). One last thing: what is with all of the fake holidays in April? In the last few days we've had "Record Store Day", "Administrative Assistant's Day" and "Bring Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day". And a very local holiday at my kid's school one day this week, for some totally unknown reason: "Wacky Hair Day". They're all actually pretty cool, but who decides these things, anyway? My favorite fake holiday, after Record Store Day? It's FESTIVUS. Oh yea, and happy fake "Earth Day" everyone (April 22): NBC is celebrating by having a green peacock appear in the lower right hand corner on my HDTV tonight. I don't think that little green bird is helping my carbon footprint much.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Reflections on a Record Store Day mini Bruce RIOT, and on Fake Holidays
Last Saturday was my favorite fake holiday of the year: "Record Store Day". Check out the official website for all the fun you missed. Basically its a thing started by Warner Brothers to sell vinyl and create interest in your friendly neighborhood record store, but now 3 years in, all the major and many minor labels have joined in - what's the big deal: exclusive 1 day only limited edition vinyl releases: perfect for a music geek like me. So last year, I showed up at my local participating shop, SCOTTI's in Morristown, in the afternoon to find that many of the cool items were long gone. So, this year, I went again with my 15 year old with a plan: get there at the store opening, 10 am, and scoop up all the goodies. Well, there was a line way before we got there. My instant hunch: its the Springsteen fans. To digress: there was a RSD exclusive vinyl only limited release only place in the planet to get "Wrecking Ball", Bruce's new live-only song about the destruction of Giants Stadium.
Pretty cool item, but you know, those hardcore Bruce fans are so predictable: they tend to not care about any other music on the planet. I mean, they'll know every obscure b-side lyrics backwards and forwards and be able to tell you about the show in Idaho somewhere 5 years ago when Bruce played the song during an encore and changed 3 words in the 4th verse.... but they have no clue about who the Flaming Lips are, or even Gaslight Anthem or Hold Steady (close to the 'new Bruce' idiom stuff). Totally annoying. So, back to my story: I started chatting with the early RSD crowd and figured out in 5 seconds just from listening to them that they really were all Bruce fans. Overheard: "That Bitch in front of the line, I've seen her at the pit at Giants before, at the last Bruce show and she gave me problems before. She better not snag my vinyl..." The Brucehead in front of me wanted to know what I was looking for at Scotti's: I told her, truthfully: "Superchunk". Blank stare, no clue. I said, "Springsteen, right?" She says, "How did you know?" My reply, "Just guessing." She then proceeded to tell her line buddy about how she still had on last night's makeup... ugghh. So then I get to thinking: what is going on here: all of these Bruce-nerds are lined up single file at the door like its a line for tickets to an E-Street Band show or something, but its just a store opening the doors: what are we going to do - stand in front of the rack of RSD specials in a neat line and wait for each person to choose everything they want and then let the next person go? No way, man, its everyone for himself..... so the doors open and the Bruceheads all march in excitedly single file towards the rack at the back of the store clearly marked with all the tasty new vinyl ready to be scooped up. They actually did stand in a single file line, but it started turning into a little bit of a blob within seconds so I ducked around the next aisle to cut around to the other side of the rack... at which point, it happened: "Hey, that guy took all the Springsteen vinyl!" "Stop him" "Don't let him out of the store" Etc. Pushing, Shoving, Yelling, Grabing at vinyl records. A mini Bruce vinyl riot. Store staff getting involved and reminding everyone "Only One Record Store Day Item Per Customer".... at which point the Bruce Blob crowd drifted back towards the front of the store (I guess to prevent the dude from leaving and to stop him from purchasing the pile of Bruce). I mean, really, store policy or not, it was pretty rude, even UNETHICAL to try to buy the whole pile of them (I think there were 5 copies in the whole store). However: this was my opening - as soon as they cleared out, I swooped in with my kid, grabbing as many nice new vinyl releases as I could reasonably justify purchasing and hold in my arms: I nabbed the store's only copy of a Lennon singles package, an MGMT 12 inch single, a MUSE 12 inch, Flaming Lips "Dark Side of the Moon" on clear double 12 inch vinyl.... and more: "SWEET!!!" All while the Bruceheads were still arguing ... and once they figured out that there were no more to buy, they all left! Ridiculous: it was all over in 10 minutes --- fine for me, I got to dig through the nice dusty bins and discover even more treasures: 2 Japanese pressings of some McCartney albums and an Israeli Orange/Clear vinyl copy of "Mull of Kintyre" with the picture sleeve: bizarre, and only 4 bucks! Unfortunately, no Superchunk. But the nice Tegan & Sara single I picked up was going on EBay that night for $100, so I think I made out OK (I'll never sell my RSD treasures, but it is somehow strangely satisfying to know how much other people will pay for these things). One last thing: what is with all of the fake holidays in April? In the last few days we've had "Record Store Day", "Administrative Assistant's Day" and "Bring Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day". And a very local holiday at my kid's school one day this week, for some totally unknown reason: "Wacky Hair Day". They're all actually pretty cool, but who decides these things, anyway? My favorite fake holiday, after Record Store Day? It's FESTIVUS. Oh yea, and happy fake "Earth Day" everyone (April 22): NBC is celebrating by having a green peacock appear in the lower right hand corner on my HDTV tonight. I don't think that little green bird is helping my carbon footprint much.
Pretty cool item, but you know, those hardcore Bruce fans are so predictable: they tend to not care about any other music on the planet. I mean, they'll know every obscure b-side lyrics backwards and forwards and be able to tell you about the show in Idaho somewhere 5 years ago when Bruce played the song during an encore and changed 3 words in the 4th verse.... but they have no clue about who the Flaming Lips are, or even Gaslight Anthem or Hold Steady (close to the 'new Bruce' idiom stuff). Totally annoying. So, back to my story: I started chatting with the early RSD crowd and figured out in 5 seconds just from listening to them that they really were all Bruce fans. Overheard: "That Bitch in front of the line, I've seen her at the pit at Giants before, at the last Bruce show and she gave me problems before. She better not snag my vinyl..." The Brucehead in front of me wanted to know what I was looking for at Scotti's: I told her, truthfully: "Superchunk". Blank stare, no clue. I said, "Springsteen, right?" She says, "How did you know?" My reply, "Just guessing." She then proceeded to tell her line buddy about how she still had on last night's makeup... ugghh. So then I get to thinking: what is going on here: all of these Bruce-nerds are lined up single file at the door like its a line for tickets to an E-Street Band show or something, but its just a store opening the doors: what are we going to do - stand in front of the rack of RSD specials in a neat line and wait for each person to choose everything they want and then let the next person go? No way, man, its everyone for himself..... so the doors open and the Bruceheads all march in excitedly single file towards the rack at the back of the store clearly marked with all the tasty new vinyl ready to be scooped up. They actually did stand in a single file line, but it started turning into a little bit of a blob within seconds so I ducked around the next aisle to cut around to the other side of the rack... at which point, it happened: "Hey, that guy took all the Springsteen vinyl!" "Stop him" "Don't let him out of the store" Etc. Pushing, Shoving, Yelling, Grabing at vinyl records. A mini Bruce vinyl riot. Store staff getting involved and reminding everyone "Only One Record Store Day Item Per Customer".... at which point the Bruce Blob crowd drifted back towards the front of the store (I guess to prevent the dude from leaving and to stop him from purchasing the pile of Bruce). I mean, really, store policy or not, it was pretty rude, even UNETHICAL to try to buy the whole pile of them (I think there were 5 copies in the whole store). However: this was my opening - as soon as they cleared out, I swooped in with my kid, grabbing as many nice new vinyl releases as I could reasonably justify purchasing and hold in my arms: I nabbed the store's only copy of a Lennon singles package, an MGMT 12 inch single, a MUSE 12 inch, Flaming Lips "Dark Side of the Moon" on clear double 12 inch vinyl.... and more: "SWEET!!!" All while the Bruceheads were still arguing ... and once they figured out that there were no more to buy, they all left! Ridiculous: it was all over in 10 minutes --- fine for me, I got to dig through the nice dusty bins and discover even more treasures: 2 Japanese pressings of some McCartney albums and an Israeli Orange/Clear vinyl copy of "Mull of Kintyre" with the picture sleeve: bizarre, and only 4 bucks! Unfortunately, no Superchunk. But the nice Tegan & Sara single I picked up was going on EBay that night for $100, so I think I made out OK (I'll never sell my RSD treasures, but it is somehow strangely satisfying to know how much other people will pay for these things). One last thing: what is with all of the fake holidays in April? In the last few days we've had "Record Store Day", "Administrative Assistant's Day" and "Bring Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day". And a very local holiday at my kid's school one day this week, for some totally unknown reason: "Wacky Hair Day". They're all actually pretty cool, but who decides these things, anyway? My favorite fake holiday, after Record Store Day? It's FESTIVUS. Oh yea, and happy fake "Earth Day" everyone (April 22): NBC is celebrating by having a green peacock appear in the lower right hand corner on my HDTV tonight. I don't think that little green bird is helping my carbon footprint much.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Going Nuclear over Chelsea Handler
Today's brief post (sorry I've been so lazy...) is on the art of juxtaposition. Today's NY Times published what was supposed to be a long feature article about the remarkable success of comedienne Chelsea Handler. Personally I'm a big fan of her show on E, but I couldn't help but notice: were the NY Times editors pulling a little gag of their own on poor Chelsea? The juxtaposition of the article about people who need help to manage their lice (yes LICE) and the huge photo of Chelsea, all on the top fold of the cover of the Styles section... was either too much of a coincidence, or was just randomly a funny sort of raining on Chelsea's parade. Either way, she seems like just the kind of person who probably thinks its pretty funny that her moment of glory: a feature article in the NY Times with this huge picture of her on the cover was thought to fall into the same category of newsworthyness as the lice story. I wonder how many people never folded the section open this morning and just thought poor Chelsea was just another victim of bugs in her head? 
Actually, this whole thing, ironic and amusing as it is, is not unlike the art of juxtaposition often engaged in by the media. From the lefty Times to the Righty Fox news: they all do it. Just talking about things near each other, or mixed up with each other often gives the impression that they are actually somehow related to one another: a great way to smear someone with little to no evidence, or create an issue in the consciousness of the public, and get away with it. As I'm writing this blog, I found examples by checking out foxnews.com and nytimes.com in about 2 seconds -- check out this headline: "Obama's Nuke Mission". As if Obama is on some kind of evil nuclear mission: typical Fox news juxtaposition. On the other end of the spectrum, the NY Times headline for the same summit leaves Obama out of it entirely: "Agenda of Nuclear Talks Leaves Out New Threat": I mean, really, Obama isn't a main player here and the focus should be on the idea that none of this goes far enough because of... you have to read the article to find out what is the 'new threat', which turns out to be: Pakistani nuclear facilities that might be used to build weapons grade nuclear fuel because of their fear of India. Again, a story crafted of juxtaposition of 3 month old arial photos and the real story: the question of how the world's civilized (well, relatively civilized) nations can keep nuclear arms out of the hands of small bands of terrorists who could use them to significantly disrupt the world order and terrorize and/or kill millions in a short flash, literally. So it makes you wonder, with all of this slanted coverage (oh yea, and this is only within the US version of things: you can only imagine how all of this is covered by BBC or in middle eastern countries, India, Japan, etc etc): how do we ever get to the truth of what's really going on here with one of the most important issues of a generation? Probably, any reporter worth his salt would argue that there's a line between unethical juxtaposition and having a unique "angle" or "spin" on a story to distinguish your media outlet from the hundreds or thousands of others covering the same story (probably, millions of others if you count the blogosphere...). I have no answer to this problem, other than to say at least we have a very free (not totally free, maybe I'll post on that some other time) press and we then have to sort through this marketplace of ideas for some version of the truth and that's what democracy is all about. Still, the Chelsea Handler/Lice juxtaposition is just funny, stupid and ironic. Nuclear threats just aren't. I think the media institutions, who are being slowly killed off daily by the blogosphere, had better subscribe to some higher standards on subjects like this, or else they really will dissapear off of the face of the earth, and be replaced by us stupid, standardless bloggers completely. As much as I believe in the value of the world that is opened up by blogs and more, we'll probably all be worse off if the institution of a responsible, professional media, withers away too much further. They need to rise above the anarchy of the internet, not stoop to its level. OK, so honestly, this post kind of sucks, though I kind of feel better having gotten this off of my chest. This whole juxtaposition of Chelsea and the Nuclear story is a little lame, yea? Maybe I need to stick to writing about the music stuff. Next time...
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