Random griping
(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Feb. 3, 2000) - Some random thoughts, questions, comments and complaints for a random winter weekend: Are the visionaries behind the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield thinking about programming contemporary popular music at the venue, along the lines of the eclectic menu at Northampton's Calvin Theatre? Or will there be a typical, Berkshire-style reaction against any music whose roots lie in any genre that became popular after 1950? How long will it be before jazz festivals outside of New York recognize anything not called "Brubeck" or "Marsalis" or anything other than commercial pop singers disguised in jazz clothing? Or is the sad truth that beyond those three categories, nothing sells? Peter, Paul and Mary on the Fourth of July at Tanglewood, AGAIN? Aiyeeeee! Why would anyone want to pay money for the onerous privilege of downloading music and then having to copy it to an expensive digital player, or to burn one's own CD, instead of just buying the professionally-manufactured finished product, artwork included, from a local store or on-line retailer? Remember bad '80s pop-metal hair bands? Guess what awful trend is about to come back? If schools are doing such a terrible job of educating our children, then how does it follow that extending the length of the school day or year will improve things? Won't more of a bad thing just add insult to injury? When I was your age, there was plenty of harsh, negative music to listen to, intended as much to upset adults as to appeal to teen-agers. But none of it was quite as boring, stupid or derivative as music by bands like Korn or Limp Bizkit. It's about time parents exercised some discretion over what their children, especially those younger than 13, are listening to. Some of this stuff is just plain mean and ugly. Speaking of derivative music, the Backstreet Boys, Korn and Limp Bizkit all share the same management firm. What does that tell you? How come every time the artificially-lowered price of gasoline in this country hits $1.50 a gallon - still two or three times lower than it costs anywhere else in the world, and still not reflective of the true cost of oil in terms of resource depletion and damage to the environment - people are up in arms and touting all kinds of conspiracy theories? And do you really think you can raise a chicken, prepare it for human consumption, ship it across the country and market it all for just $.50 per pound? Guess what -- that's no natural chicken you're eating. The truth is our booming economy is built on shaky ground, and on the backs of cheap, third-world labor. A true audit of the long-term ramifications of our staggering rates of production and consumption would show a frightening picture of human and environmental degradation for which we haven't factored the cost. At some point, we're going to have to foot the bill. Even worse, we're going to stick it to our children and grandchildren. In the past, Tanglewood has played host to Neil Young solo and the trio of Crosby, Stills and Nash. The foursome are hitting the road together this summer for the first time in over a decade - wouldn't it be great to see them at Tanglewood? If ever there were a case of the whole being more than the sum of its parts.... What is it about the Berkshires that the vast majority of folks in positions of political and cultural power, who at this point grew up in the '50s and '60s with rock 'n' roll as their primary soundtrack, seem to view the music with the same apprehension that their parents or grandparents had? Why do I need to call local venues repeatedly and plead with them to send me their performance schedules and artist information only to have them ignore me again and again? Talk about shooting oneself in the foot. Do they not want people to know what's going on? Why do local presenters not pass along to the press the promotional materials artists provide -- especially their CDs -- in the hope that they will garner advance press coverage? After a dozen years occupying this space on a weekly basis, why do I still get phone calls from local artists and venues asking questions like, "What kind of articles do you write?" or "Are you still writing for the Eagle?" And why, in spite of the fact that week after week, month after month, year after year, we run my correct mailing address at the end of this column, do people still send mail to me addressed to the Eagle in Pittsfield? Concert watch By the time you read this, tomorrow night's Irish folk music concert featuring fiddler Kevin Burke and the duo of Ged Foley and Sandy Jones at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown at 8 will probably have long been sold out. You might still be able to get tickets to upcoming shows in the Clark's "Celtic Music for the Millennium" series, including Anam on March 11 and Kila on March 25, by calling 458-2303, ext. 324. Midweek next week, Mass MoCA will be the site of a unique sound installation called "The Ultimate Symphonius 2000." Described as a "multi-media collage," the interactive exhibition, which draws on prerecorded excerpts from Hildegard von Bingen, Stravinsky, Chilean folk trumpets, Bach, Meredith Monk, Puccini, Verdi, Berg and Mozart, will be on display on Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 9-10, from 10-4 and 7-9 p.m. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will return to the greater region on May 7, when they are scheduled to perform for one night at the Hartford (Conn.) Civic Center. The band's spring jaunt, which takes them mostly across the southern U.S. for one final leg before ending with five shows at New York's Madison Square Garden in June, is being billed as the end of the 1999-2000 tour. Presumably that means the end of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band as we know them. Radio Beat Another in our series of periodic tallies of the most-played recordings -- most new, some old - on our imaginary radio station:
[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Feb. 4, 2000. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 2000. All rights reserved.]
Seth Rogovoy rogovoy@berkshire.net music news, interviews, reviews, et al.
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