Cool Kids [No Longer] Have the Time

I try not to revel in others’ misery (it doesn’t really make me any happier), but I’d lie if I said I wasn’t amused at the continual train wreck that the Smashing Pumpkins reunion tour has become.  Numerous reports from the road – Stereogum, Fluxblog, and most recently Pitchfork - all chime in with the same story – Billy Corgan’s band (consisting of drummer Jimmy Chamberlain and generally anonymous dopplegangers for the other original members) is playing setlists full of newer songs from the universally panned Zeitgeist with a few of the classics peppered among tracks from recent singles/EPs, cover songs, and even newer songs whose descriptions (“drone metal,” “prog wankery”) give me little incentive to actually listen to them [EDIT: thanks to Matthew for setting me straight. I might be pissed off, but I don't want to get my facts confused].  To top it off, Billy Corgan routinely berates, degrates, and taunts his audience – remember, these are people who paid a lot of money to see a band that hasn’t been relevant in a decade.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that I’ve never been a huge fan of the Smashing Pumpkins.  I liked some of their earlier, rougher songs, and they have a few undeniable killers (of course I turn up “1979,” “Zero,” and “Cherub Rock” whenever they come on the radio), but I’ve always been bewildered by the number of die hard devotees to this band.  Sure, I’m sure plenty of people think the same thing about the bands I love, but the obsessive Pumpkins fans seemed more a byproduct of their ubiquity on the radio in the late 1990s.  Regardless, I have little sympathy for someone who claims to care so much about his music that has such a belligerent attitude towards the people who let him live an affluent life off of it.  Of course, Corgan is allowed to indulge his artistic whims and try new things, but there’s a difference between pushing the envelope and pushing away your fans.

Evidently, one of Corgan’s rants suggests that his band as an “Alternative” band means that his band should be different from “those reunion bands that go out and just play the old songs.”  There’s something to be said there – a band that gets back together for a cashgrab by playing just the greatest hits (which Corgan’s group could do, and would make many of the people I went to high school with very happy.  Hell, I might even enjoy that show too!) isn’t the same as a group that gets back together to make new music.  Even the msot diehard fans will allow their favorite groups to play new songs too.  Again, there’s a marked difference between playing new material mixed in with older songs and yelling at your audience to “appreciate” what you’re trying to do.  It just makes you sound petty and pathetic.

Am I being unfair here?  I don’t think I am.  I just see a bitter, fading star angry that his time has passed and running dangerously close to alienating the few people keeping his band vaguely relevant.  I’m not saying he should kiss his audience’s asses (he shouldn’t), I’m just saying that he probably shouldn’t actively taunt them for coming to his overpriced shows.  I’ll spend my money on bands that enjoy what they do and like sharing that with others (for example, the night the Pumpkins were in New York, I saw The Hold Steady – a band that perpetually seems like they’re having the time of their lives on stage and thus creates that atmosphere for the audience as well).

If you want to hear some of the rants (and I suppose the songs too), click through to those articles linked above.

A Sign of the Times

Here’s a glimpse at the search engine terms referring people to my blog today.  I think that this captures the mood of the moment perfectly:

And the man who should be collecting royalties for the soundbyte from last night’s stellar speech (also, semi-coincidentally, the song I played on my iPod while I waited in line to vote):

UPDATE: WFMU played 14 versions of “A Change is Gonna Come” yesterday and posted MP3s on their blog.  Go grab them!

Morning in America

While I haven’t used my blog as a political mouthpiece (really, that’s not the purpose of this blog.   I’m not really sure what the purpose of this blog is anymore, but it’s not to rehash things that could be more eloquently discussed elsewhere), it doesn’t mean that I’ve hidden my support for Barack Obama either.  While he’s not a perfect candidate, I feel that he best represents many of my most important political beliefs (not to mention that I find him personally inspiring – something in short supply in the political world).  I will proudly vote for him later on today, and I will nervously watch the poll results come in Tuesday night and hope for the best.

Over the past few years – beginning with his powerful speech at the 2004 DNC – Obama’s shared his own story of struggle and triumph with America.  In particular, he spoke highly of his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who raised him during his youth.  Obama spoke of her with such respect and reverence as he detailed the personal sacrifices she made to provide for him.  He even bravely used her as an example when talking about race reltations and prejudices (in that brief, fleeting moment where it looked like we could have an intelligent conversation about race rather than just hurling angry accusations back and forth).  So I can imagine Obama’s sadness upon hearing that his grandmother passed away the day before Election Day.  In an entirely unrelated way (well, at least consciously), Jenny & I were discussing our grandparents that passed away recently tonight, so I know how a loved one’s death comes as both a moment of grief but also as a moment of closure when the suffering of a loved one finally ceases.

After we spoke, I sat down to my computer and had an idea.  I’ve been impressed by the way the Obama campaign courted a legion of small donors (if Obama wins, he will win in large part because of the tremendous orgazational advantage his campaign created) fueling his campaign.  I frequently thought about donating but never pulled the trigger for whatever reason.  So tonight I took the money that I would have spent on a campaign donation and made a donation to The Jimmy Fund.  Sure, the first inspiration for this came from the suggestion in Ms. Dunham’s obituary that donations be made to cancer research, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is a donation for many people – even though my own grandmothers didn’t have cancer, I know that cancer research will help improve the lives of many and that they would both be proud.

So in honor of Senator Obama’s grandmother, the woman who helped raise this man who has inspired so many of us, and both of my grandmothers – two women I hold in the same regard that Senator Obama held his -  I hope that my little part tonight helps to improve the lives of others, and I hope that tomorrow night around this time, Senator Obama will start making plans for how he will spend the next few years improving all of our lives.