When Indie Goes Network

I thought I might have heard wrong when Seth, on last week’s episode of “The O.C.” — which I happened upon while flipping through the channels, I swear — said something about Death Cab for Cutie playing on stage. I didn’t recognize the band (I’ve only seen them once in concert), but the music sounded familiar.

The next day, an article titled “Death Shows for Cuties: Why can’t indie bands stay on the soundtrack — and off the stage — of trendy TV teen shows?” appeared on Salon.

When I realized it had been them on the show, I was really bothered. It’s not even that I think the band sold out with their appearance, or that I begrudge them more fans and further success (though the tiniest part of me does feel that way). But seeing this great indie band on this slick, superficial TV show was like seeing spilled blood. I felt this sense of revulsion at seeing something that shouldn’t be, whether blood outside skin or indie band on FOX. At the very least, it’s distasteful.

In her article, writer Hillary Frey makes the following point: “On the stage, there’s no drama. A band is nothing more than a prop, a song is never loud enough, the very cute guitar player is never visible. The setup takes all the joy out of a live performance, and all the excitement out of a truly dramatic moment. It’s a waste.”

Gotta love those mutants:

The Fate of WHFS

Editor and Publisher has an article about how The New York Times is considering charging for more of its online content. Though the Wall Street Journal already charges online readers a yearly rate to access its content, other papers are studying what rates they can charge before readers turn to other sources.

Tuned into 99.1 in the car yesterday and was surprised to hear Spanish music. Later a friend informed me that the conversion had happened awhile ago, back in January, something about how alternative music was no longer profitable. The Washington Post covered it in an article here. Marc Fisher, Washington Post Metro Columnist, also wrote about it in an article titled “In a Way, WHFS Was Already Gone.”

“What’s going to happen to the HFStival?” I asked my friend. I still remember going, the day after senior prom, just a few days before graduation from high school. It was the first time I’d gone to an arena-size concert, and I still marvel that I heard some of the acts that I did. [Okay, this is where I would have named some of the bands that I saw, but I can't seem to find a lineup online, and the only band I remember seeing, without a doubt, was Goldfinger because its single was on rotation on WHFS at the time of the festival. Apparently No Doubt also performed at HFStival in '96 (according to a photo I found online), maybe Primus? maybe the Smashing Pumpkins? maybe Cypress Hill?]

Anyway, even back then, when alternative seemed to be at its height, I sensed that WHFS wasn’t where it was at. I knew, even without being really familiar with the music, that DC101 was the station that played “authentic” rock, like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, stuff that was too “hard” (and out of date) for WHFS and many of the other stations people my age were listening to. Maybe it shouldn’t be suprising then that WHFS ultimately crashed, not just because of the music but also because the station was too attuned to what was popular at the time and not what was enduring.

The Gates and Other Observations

The one or two of you who read my blog might notice that I’ve combined my two blogs. My “lifestyle” blog hadn’t been updated in awhile, not for lack of interest but time, so in the future, if I notice any more cars that resemble the Geo Metro, I will post about it here. (Has anyone else noticed that a lot of cars now have chrome roof racks?)

I finally visited The Gates in Central Park yesterday, as the installation was taken down today.

The Gates in Central Park, 2/27/05
I decided to take a close-up shot of the fabric, as I hadn’t been able to tell what it was like from pictures in the paper. The fabric looked kind of like the mesh jersey material that a lot of sportswear is made out of. The fabric also hung in pleats from the Gates, which I hadn’t realized until I saw them in person. Overall, I enjoyed my visit. I didn’t think the individual gates were beautiful (those 90-degree angles in the Gates really bothered me, as well as the metal blocks that held the gates down). But, as a lot of people have commented already, the installation did make you look at the park differently. I’d like to think a lot of people who wouldn’t otherwise go to the park were drawn by the Gates to actually stroll around.

I also went to Orange Park’s show Saturday night (so I could add some “color” to my profile on the band). The experience reminded me of why I never go to shows anymore, namely, when people deliberately confine themselves to a small space, they really turn into a pack of idiots. One guy gave my friend’s boyfriend the evil eye for the duration of the show. I had people deliberately bumping into me, and the woman in front of me repeatedly flicked her hair into my eyes when she was trying to pull it up into a ponytail. I also don’t know why people insist on shoving their way to the front of a crowd, as if they will be able to enter another dimension and two people will be able to occupy one spot simultaneously. The music was great, but I don’t plan on going to any more shows for awhile.

On a lighter note, I’ve seen some cool things lately:
-Several couples dancing some latin dance in unison on the top floor of a building.
-People practicing Tae Kwon Do moves in unison on a higher floor of a building, as seen from the street.
-A guy sitting with a bust of Abraham Lincoln — which he’d carved himself! — on his lap while he was waiting for the subway. He said the finished bust would become part of some memorial.

A Good Book and Good Music

I’m currently reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I heard an interview with the author on NPR and, intrigued, I decided to borrow the book from the library. I’m really enjoying it and getting through it quickly, unlike with Crime and Punishment, which I had to put down after a few weeks of slow going. One day on the train, this man got on the train, sat down across from me, and cracked open his copy of The Shadow of the Wind. I was tempted to ask him if he’d heard the same interview I did, but I didn’t think he’d appreciate being interrupted.

Had a fun interview with some of the guys from the band Orange Park this past week. I’ve been following the band for a few years now and decided to profile them for one of my classes. After awhile, it felt less like an interview than just my hanging out with the band, shooting the shit. It reminded me of something I’ve been told in my classes, which is that as a reporter, you’re not there to become friends with your subjects. You’re there to be a reporter, and your obligation is always to your readers. I’m sure there are exceptions to that rule. But I also remembered something Republican “political strategist and media consultant” Russ Schriefer had said in a talk at my school, which is that as reporters, you shouldn’t just talk to people you’re comfortable with. Otherwise, you miss the stories of all the other people out there.

Overexposed

One’s got to wonder if 1) he’s the second coming of Christ or 2) publishers really don’t have that much of an imagination. By that, I mean I don’t understand why seemingly every general interest publication has had to feature something about Bright Eyes these past two weeks, either on their cover or with a prominently placed article on their Web site. More on this later …