Recently I made an attempt to stay away from Social Media. Just wanted to try it after having a funny feeling about being so exposed to whatever elements might be brewing about.
I have a song on this new album we are finishing called Finally I Come Clean where I was worrying about that kind of stuff. A lifetime of writing and singing words in public. I'm not the confessional type of writer/singer but I've still been out there - in the wind. So I went off of it just to see how it went. If I went near my computer or phone it would be just to look up something or work on Protools or write something. I don't really enjoy arguments online at all. Once I thought that Facebook might be good for actually keeping in touch with friends and family but I don't think so. Not for me anyway. Time and again I get so much more out of talking on the phone or in person with people. Same with music stuff, the faux intimacy of the internet is something I've written about in songs before. Such as in Matey From On High...
In Finally I Come Clean its the idea that even if you were careful what you were saying, you never know what people are going to hear.
I had a great surge of energy and felt so positive spending less time with my head in that electronic soup bowl that is social media. It was great.
I drifted back over a period and still don't get much from it. Just goofy distractions. Narcissistic - yes. Staring into a stagnant pool or a dirty mirror. Crude images and distorted reflections anyway.
Then yesterday I saw this person air raiding me... or more acurately, using me to start/settle an argument with..... the world/internet..... (They were framing it -me - around a picture of a new supergroup trio of Mia Dyson, Liz Stringer and Jen Cloher).
(Got to say I just wanted to collect all this here as I don't want to be arguing with them. Its such an illustration of how much time and energy social media can waste. I just wanted to get it all out of my head though...Also I'm referring to "them" as they talk from behind a snappy internet superhero nickname/persona...)
I got upset and involved as it was needless kind of slander.
They responded in the manner that suggested I shouldn't get involved any more. Just a dogmatic brain typing words.
Being called "nice" was bad enough but "privilege" seemed to be the worst. I know they meant MALE PRIVILEGE but fuck it.
I got upset because its a kind of argument that swirls around the sloppy argumentative internet media world. All about gender and equality and stuff. All very good. But the people they are dragging into it are MUSICIANS. We all ran away to the circus. WHERE FREAKS BELONG. All this rational thinking and ordering of the world is nice. Very neat and tidy. But leave US the hell out of it.
Privilege. I am not here to defend Tex but both he and I did not come from the world of Private Schools and academia, WHERE MOST MUSICIANS AND ARTISTS COME FROM. In my case my mother raised six kids and my father painted public buildings for the local council and worked nights in a bar.
Also, in the mid 90s Tex was undeniably involved in two of the hottest combos possible. The Cruel Sea were undeniable, as were the Beasts Of Bourbon. As were Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes AND THE CLOUDS. We all worked our arses off too.
There is another song on our upcoming album called WHERE DID ALL THE FREAKS GO.
When the going can't get weird and the weird cant get going
when the going is only weird and the weird can't get going
where did all the freaks go? Huh?
How straight are weddings?
"It must be in a church!" Though nobody knows a church
"It must be right - anything else would be just weird!"
where did all the freaks go?
When the going can't get weird and the weird cant get going
when the going is only weird and the weird can't get going
where did all the freaks go? Huh?
where's our green light?
where's our Kings Cross?
where's our Soho?
what's our sound?
How can we tell whats happening?
where did all the freaks go?
The Dave Graney and Clare Moore album is still on schedule. We have some shows lined up for October-November and will be announcing soon.
promo cd cover...
saw that and as usual in art and music you have to separate industry - usually a'holes from artists - often angels. Fads fashion and as you said Clare in your work.Unfair targetting.
ReplyDeleteFeminist propagandists tend to consider ALL men as privileged so I wouldn't expect any special consideration for male musicians if I were you, Dave. And to be fair the history of rock'n'roll is hardly the first place one would look for shining examples of gender equality. The real insult here is the suggestion that your music is or has been the literal equivalent of coughing up phlegm, and insulting an artist's WORK undermines this particular propogandist's message and in employing such obnoxious language they only serve to disrespect - by association - the artists they purport to be championing.
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