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In London and Paris, Rocky was often spotted relaxin' with a copy of Maps and Legends, Michael Chabon's collection of essays on the pleasures of genre fiction and comic books. That's right, Rocky -- not Stoner, who was stuck with the ill-considered choice of Moby-Dick. (Rex Otto filled his down time with The Mentalist.) It seemed an unlikely choice of reading for Rocky. Then I saw the following in the Onion AV Club:
…Little has been revealed about (Michael Chabon’s forthcoming novel) Telegraph Avenue, which follows two families around the San Francisco Bay area, where Chabon lives, but he’s remarked in interviews that the book was just an excuse to spend a lot of time researching in record stores. The author of The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay taking on the world of music and obsessive music collectors seems like a natural match. (Fall 2012)
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4 comments:
Thank you for this post! Telegraph Avenue isn't available for pre-order yet on Amazon. And, yeah, Pitchfork sucks donkey balls big time.
A "great piece"? I found it a tedious diatribe. Until this article, I had no idea what "Pitchfork" was - and it's certainly had no influence on my music purchasing. As for it destroying the indie music scene, well it seems to me there has never been a better time to be indie. There exist so many opportunities to explore new music via youtube, itunes, amazon, music blogs, social-networks, etc, at no cost, and at the same time more ways for a band to sell their music directly to consumers, bypassing record companies, both major and minor.
"Pitchfork sucks donkey balls big time"? Oh, rocky... spoken in the language of an anti-elitist and yet so elitist!
Rocky: pre-order on Amazon? Why wouldn’t you buy it at one of the (remaining) bookstores on, ahem, Telegraph Avenue?
FB: I really appreciated the structure of this piece and enjoyed his takedown of (specifically) the “indie rock scene,” and of Pitchfork as presumptive arbiter-in-chief of said scene. (I’ve bemoaned so-called indie rock’s inability to rock to my satisfaction previously, here on The Clock; I was never a Pitchfork reader, but the “voice” is very familiar from my experience with Ann Arbor hipsters.)
But I think you are correct about the opportunities, independent of the music business, for hearing new music; I wonder, though, about the ability of the musicians to make anything more than an expensive hobby out of their efforts, as long as stories of success that start this way still end with major label contracts – i.e. Justin Bieber, Rebecca Black, Lana del Ray, to stretch the definitions of both “musician” and (in two cases) “success.”
Sure, it’s long been the case that a musician (or writer or any artist) who can quit their day job is the exception to the rule, but the supposed democratization of the delivery systems for artistic output seem more likely (to me, at this point in time) to make no exceptions the rule…unless it’s more of the same pre-fab bullshit that can catch the eye of the money-men.
Yeah... I don't know where the music biz is headed, nor the net outlook for a talented young musician looking to make it to the Big Time.
I think we're past the Golden Age of Rock - I'm speaking financially here, not pining for the days of raping groupies w/ mud sharks - when even a modestly popular artist could get rich off of record sales. Today, recordings are cheap, and often free or pirated, and artists make their lucre from concerts and merchandise.
This doesn't bode well for the studio-based musician, of course, and stacks the odds of financial success toward club-music acts who put on a spectacle of dancing and costumery. And it is perhaps another reason the price of a concert ticket has skyrocketed in recent years (providing one more reason for Feral Boy to not attend live shows anymore).
Still, I do think there are greater opportunities for an independent musician to be discovered, whatever that may mean financially.
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