Friday, January 7, 2011

"do you have any david bowie?"




will loose ends do? had a real boss time at the tiki bar last week. the one-and-only scotty hard literally rolled through w/ some pals and it was great to catch up w/ an old friend... around 1 am a small group of good looking kids stopped by for a nightcap. though it's more of a cocktail lounge vibe, i was stoked to see 2 of the girls in the party dancing away to the sounds. after a few minutes, one of them sauntered up to the decks and asked where i was from? "toronto..." i said. "toronto? well you better step it up!" she wasn't joking and started demanding requests. i pointed over to my flight case and small box of 7"s thinking that there's no way i brought what she wants to hear—unfortunately for her, i have yet to master my iTunes impersonation. "do you have any david bowie?" "damn, sorry no, but i hope you've been enjoying what i've been playing. i'll do my best to make it nice..." after another separate request from the same girl i took a different approach, "i'd love to hear that too, but don't be afraid to go outside of your comfort zone and listen to something new..."

this mini-episode made me think of a larger issue in today's western society, something i've thought about quite a bit over the last 10 years or so... sense of entitlement. w/ the open availability of technology and free-flowing streams of culture, there's a disturbing underside that seems to be brushed aside. since everything is free and instantly accessible today via the net, downloading, etc... we (almost) always get what we want. great for the most part, but i believe that it breeds a spoiled and quickly dissatisfied nature. of course, this is a total first-world "problem," but i sense that a lot of people feel it's their birthright to have every cultural whim and fancy catered to at every moment and f@ck anyone or thing that doesn't comply. while accessible technology and social networking devices make us feel that we're all DJs, all artists, all curators, it's easy to forget that there's still hard work involved behind the scenes, and yes, something usually more involved than clicking away at a keyboard and paying your internet bill each month. though some folks would rather us be, we are not computers (yet)...

so here's a BIG cheer for mystery, to those who take the time to dig deeper, and those who don't give it all away (for free)... to loving longer, paying dues with a little old-fashioned elbow grease, and most importantly... world peace!!!

11 comments:

  1. Amen, brother!
    this is why i hate the whole ipod/playlist/download culture. i mean, it's great that we can listen to whatever we want, whenever we want on a device that's smaller than a pack of gum, but what about working for it a bit? i remember finding out about music from magazine or radio or even television and then having to search it out IN THE REAL PHYSICAL WORLD and then really having to listen to it and decide how i felt about it. often i would get a tape or record or cd and at first feel disappointed by it, but force myself to listen to it until i liked it or at least formed a real opinion on it. i had to, seeing as i'd just spent my cold hard cash on it. maybe this is just more "things were better back in my day..." talk, but i totally agree that there's something fundamentally wrong with the culture of instant gratification that exists today. where's the respect for someone else's taste and skill? people's attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, they barely have time to listen to an entire song let alone an entire record. everyone is constantly looking for what's next and has the attitude like fuck you if you can't provide it or keep up. well, fuck that. BACK TO THE LAND!

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  2. Word.

    There is a definite absence of soul and appreciation for craft and artistry in this instant everything culture we live in. There is something, in my opinion, integral to developing a fulfilling human existence in digging deeper.

    Can't please everyone so keep it real.
    Peace.

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  3. i think the saviour here may be knowledge, taste, and a little respect... something that's hard to fake, emits genuine passion, and doesn't necessarily subscribe to a specific image, style, or scene. celebrating humanity, technology, and diversity... yesterday, today, and tomorrow...

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  4. anyone wanna go in on a costco-sized bag of poppycock???

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  5. throw in a flat of muffins and you've got yourself a deal!

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  6. kidz these days... definitely a generational thing too. can you imagine never having gone to a record store to purchase a record, or a cassette (what i remember buying) or even a CD? strange, and sad. i only recently downloaded my first song from Itunes -- sickeningly easy. a cheap feeling, cheapening the music... no liner notes in front of me to unfold and read, no picture of morrissey to trace and redraw larger... (hah)...

    i like your diplomatic response kev: "don't be afraid to step outside your comfort zone and listen to something new!"

    you're dropping golden medallion nuggets in her ears with those decades worth of collected records.

    buckle my shoe...

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  7. to me, music is music... i certainly love my records and savour the involved process of learning about and acquiring them, but i don't think that the passion is format specific... def the appreciation that counts the most. still, our consumption patterns and expectations as a whole have definitely changed in the freewheeling download era and i think people should be aware and critical about these things. despite what the mass media, advertising, "culture" industries, etc... quite often project, not all music is disposable and shouldn't be treated as such...

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  8. it can be likened to eating food in the dark (which i hate!) i like to see, smell, touch my food as well as taste it. i definitely feel the difference between hearing a song on my record player coming out of my parents' old speakers vs. clicking on it in itunes and having it dinkly-dink out of computer... probably an emotional/nostalgic thing which can be intrinsic to my song enjoyability. so i do believe different listening methods can equate stronger or more passionate experiences, or subsequently on the flipside "cheaper" experiences...

    passion for music itself, yes! you can love a song despite the format. but i think appreciating the almost-obsolete formats and what you had to do to obtain that song can add to your passion/feeling for the song. it took hard(er) work. you're going to appreciate it more.

    unless you bought it with a quick click of the mouse from an ebay power seller.

    heyyyy....

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  9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8US4JCWeGFI

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