I decided to take a quick venture into the local blogosphere tonight. This morning. Whatever. My first stop was
The Ghost of Blind Lemon, a(nother) local music blog. I like GBL. Dunno what it is. Something friendly about it, not pretensious. It just is. Apparently after some time away, he/she/it went on a rant earlier this week.
GBL discussed the plight of local venues after the Red Blood Club closed down. That made me sad too. It wasn’t his kinda place but he sees it as a sign of bleaker things to come. It happens. I know.
It’s really his take on local music in general which I find I should respond to. He mentions PPT and the Tah-Dahs demise, Roy Ivey’s comments on the dead Dallas music scene and then asks is anyone is listening to all the music going on around here. Oh jeez, go read it.
But I have a response which may just be a theory. Is the local music scene dead? Sure. Why not? I mean, I think people want it to be dead just so they can have something to lament. The problem isn’t the venues or the music or the fans. Sure, all the clubs in Deep Ellum closing doesn’t help but seriously, do we need to stay in one area for live music. Nope. The music is there and bands are almost a dime a dozen not to mention all the side projects every musician seems to have going on. And fans, well, maybe they don’t come to all the shows, maybe they do, but they are there. Just trust me on that. I’ve seen it.
The problem is exposure. It’s YouTube. It’s MySpace, Facebook, the interweb. The thing is, bands are easily accessed now. So, I can say, hey, I really like Bliggity Band. Now, instead of the olden days where I could drag five friends to go see the band I am raving about, I’ll send them a link to their MySpace page. I’ll email them a song I’ve ripped. I’ll show them a video of their last performance on my phone. So, then they go and do what they like. If they like it, perhaps they buy the CD or upload it from iTunes. They don’t need to see a show because they can catch other performances online. And if they need to know more about Bliggity, they become friends in online communities.
Am I complaining here? Not really. Hey, it’s all easy. At the same time, it leaves no mystique for a band. There can never be a real buzz anymore because it’s so easily spread and becomes blah. Midlake was all the rave last year after Occupanther. No one’s talking about them now. The next new thing is already here and we’ve already been bombarded by it and the next five bands waiting their turn. I’d love to see one band come out with no online presence to see what it can do. In this day, probably nothing, but I’d be most interested by them. Imagine if Bridges and Blinking Lights was only available by seeing them live or buying their CD. Only available that way! I think they’d be a lot more interesting. Now, with new buzz bands busting through, we may only have had time for seven of BBL’s local 15 minutes.
So the question really isn’t is Dallas music dead. In fact, it’s kind of a stupid question if you think about it. Music is art and art can never die. Creation never dies. Until the Republican and the rich insert chips into our bodies but that’s another story. It’s merely just not thrilling enough to run out and discover since it’s so easily available. And are people listening? Certainly. Just go count downloads, friend requests and video views if you have the time.
And you think Dallas has it bad? Go check out Corey Dubrowa’s brilliant piece on Seattle’s musical demise in this past March issue of Paste. Seattle of all places! You know what’s even more intriguing? As Portland and Seattle are compared and contrasted, fill in Denton and Dallas respectively and the similarities are almost eerie.
