Either you're into the Grateful Dead or Phish and the like, or you're a noise-loving RISD student who took a tip from Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and opened your mind to the joys of the group, or you're like me and despite numerous attempts to keep an open mind, can't get into the group at all. Anyone I know who actually likes them,tells me that to really get the Dead one has to dig through countless tapes of their sets from California to Connecticut over a period of thirty years and over 2300 shows. I don't even know how many Grateful Dead songs there are, but let's assume approximately 12 per album for 20 albums = 240 songs. If it takes 2300 shows, playing hours of a set every night, to get anything near a good double album of music that their most fervent fans would agree on as being awesome, well, that's a fucking horrible ratio. And you know what I think? The best song the Grateful Dead ever wrote and performed was Touch of Grey, not that any live versions of Touch of Grey would reveal that. No, it's all about the album cut and subsequent music video. Basically, it took the Grateful Dead 22 years to write one good song.
Tonight, the Medicis of Modern Music arrive in Canada with a launch at Igloofest. Car company and patrons-of-the-arts Scion are presenting tomorrow's line-up of DJ Mini, David Carretta and Jesse Rose.
Everyone's heard about declining record sales, and with even relatively recent revenue streams like televison and film licensing drying up in the last little while, it's more crucial than ever that musicians and others find some way to make some cash. Say what you will about artistic compromise (and really, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anybody who actually thinks that corporate support somehow compromises artistic integrity in the current music scene: you don't need money to make the music anymore, just to get it heard), but I think it's great that companies like Scion, Bacardi, Mountain Dew with Green Label Soundin the States are letting some money flow. Of course, whether that means you or I are more likely to enjoy a refreshing Mountain Dew & rum cocktail our next night out on the town is a whole other issue entirely.
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weak post
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