Re: OT Re: DEFINING CULTURAL YEAR of the DECADE

["Jim Goodin" <jimgoodinmusic@gmail.com>]

good musing Rick, happy new year to you and Chris.  I've thought many a time re your latter point about how easily it is these days to create with the technology being so available.  During the 80's when I was just out of school and was lucky enough to get a job at a television station, it was just about the only way to have involvement with 'quality' audio and video equipment yet things were dawning as we've now experienced.  Just about everything I was involved in that period is now possible on the desktop and that continues to amaze me.  In addition to that yes the connection of the Internet that has allowed me to know you, to collaborate with one musician living in Mexico and two others in Sweden and to have had interactions with othe musicians all around the globe through the CyberJams is continually inspiring and amazing to me.  Re the content for the masses despite the creation of so much 'new' music I think that despite a rise in the masses appreciation and desire for 'quality' sound their patience to listen beyond 3 minutes or to take the time to 'listen' as opposed to be 'entertained' for 3 minutes is why one hears the hits of the 70's in muzak than what we prefer to believe is more artfully challenging created material indicative of our interests.  

 

Good new year to all and may the creations of each of you 'ring the changes' about the globe...

 

jim

On Sat, Jan 3, 2009 at 5:07 AM, Ariel Rzezak <arzezak@gmail.com> wrote:

Great post.

Thanks for your words Rick.

El 03/01/2009, a las 01:10, Rick Walker escribió:

I can think of one very significant thing that the 90's and perhaps this decade
has produced in world musical culture:

The rise of the DJ as Rock Star or Cultural Icon.

It used to be that someone would play music between DJs and nowadays I see more
and more shows where you see bands opening for prominent DJs.

In the Goth/Industrial Scene that I frequent , recreationally,  the DJ has surplanted the
live musician as the dominant force.       Nowadays if you want to play live in these
scenes you practically have to beg the DJs , who now completely control the scenes
to let you play and feel grateful if they will let you play (and for now money).

We don't need to go to the 'are DJs musicians' argument that we've had multiple times on this list'
There are obviously DJs who are wonderful musicians and go on to careers as composers and producers.
I just think that it's telling that the vast majority of DJs that I encounter are not being particularly creative
(with the exception of choice of sound and beatmatching for regularities sake) and that this
has completely dominated a lot of music on the planet.



It's also kind of amazing to me that
the birth of the world wide web/internet and the proliferation of
inexpensive methods to produce high quality music and there existence
for the last 13 years  seems to have not produced very much
notable or long lasting music.

I know that wonderful music has been created (and I think of our community as being
really stellar in the production of that music)  but it's interesting that none of it seems
to be having very much impact on the culture at large.

Everywhere I go,  I hear oldies music playing...............every single bar I frequent,  every single
restaurant.

In my life,  I"ve never heard so much 'nostalgia' dominating our culture.

Of course the democratization of media means that the paradigms will shift...............think the entire
recent thread on how to release a digital release in this day and age.

Ironically,   I feel connected to people all over the earth who are really creative and active in their own artistry
and the communalism of our own scene but at the same time,   I'm seeing less and less kids taking music
lessons.

All of this could be the rant of a bitter old professional musician who's lifestyle is ending after 30 years of hard work,
but I don't feel bitter for some reason.
It's the most exciting time to ever be a musician on some fronts............certainly in terms of the kind of information that we
have................................look at this list...............I haven't had to go out and buy every distortion box on the planet:
I"ve just had to ask questions and then benefit from the collective wisdom of this list to make my own choices
with limited budget to spend.

I'm just musing,  'tis all!!!!!

Looking forward to this year, creatively.  I think we are going to do amazing stuff.................who knows?
Maybe we'll define the decade when history looks back on us.     We certainly have all the tools we need to do so.
Now we have to produce.

-- 
The Acoustic World Guitar of Jim Goodin  - http://www.jimgoodinmusic.com
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Jim Goodin uses GHS Strings - http://www.ghsstrings.com and Seagull Guitars - http://www.seagullguitars.com, Jim Goodin is published by Mel Bay Publications, Inc. - http://www.melbay.com