[lbo-talk] why Prince is right

Alan Rudy alan.rudy at gmail.com
Mon Jul 12 06:59:02 PDT 2010


Michael just beat me to the punch, Chadbourne's argument isn't a real/artsy/authentic vs. talentless/lame/faux musician argument... it'd be wildly unlikely for him to take such a position. Its a what-it-takes-to-really-survive vs. aim-to-be-The Beatles/Led Zepplin/REM/U2/Foo Fighters/Christina Agliera argument. Its be Alex Chilton, Alejandro Escovedo, Giant Sand, Ben Vaugn, Bonnie Prince Billy, Jay Farrar, Mojo Nixon, Peter Case, anyone who's ever played in Swans, etc. Sadly, I have no idea how this translates into the lit/publishing realm... perhaps Doug's update just posted will note this. A

On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 9:31 AM, shag carpet bomb <shag at cleandraws.com>wrote:


> At 02:22 AM 7/12/2010, Michael Pollak wrote:
>
>> 1) First, most musicians have never heard of him, have never heard of his
>> kind of music, and probably wouldn't like it if they did -- and that's
>> completely irrelevant. Real musicians -- people who live to play and write,
>> and whose indispensable goal is to make some kind of living at it because
>> it's the most important thing in life to them -- are all very much alike in
>> their position in the universe. The people who makes spaces for them play
>> are almost always interested in something else and rip them off a lot -- no
>> matter how cool or progressive or highbrow the facade looks. An avant garde
>> violinist and a death metalist are both hustling a living in a similar way.
>>
>
> Why does he make a distinction between real musicians and the rest? I
> guess, when I think about the band I was involved with, and about the people
> I now work with who are in bands or who are artists or dancers or comediens,
> I can't see how they are any less real or serious or enthusiastic or
> whatever about what they do.
>
> ...



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