Friday, November 14, 2008

Nashville Town Welcomes Desperate Men?

I haven't found anything musically interesting in Nashville.

I live a good 45 miles south of "The Music Capital of the World" out in the country; a wide-spot in the road quite literally. In the 2 years we've lived here I've ventured to the big city just a handful of times. I don't want to go to the city. We moved out here from California for the very purpose of not being engulfed in "big city" life. But wouldn't one expect a city of such stature as Nashville to be home to some good music?! And I even like Country Music. Well, let me be more specific: I like Country & Western music; good C&W. Nashville, it seems does not. Nashville likes polished pop music in cowboy hats and Lynnerd Skynnerd t-shirts.

(Well, I can tell this is turning into an unintentional rant!)


A couple stories: I live a pretty strange life sometimes. A little over a year ago I found myself in the office of a publisher on Music Row. I don't even know how I got there, but I was none-the-less. I suddenly became aware that I was sitting on a couch in an office talking to the owner and his 2nd in command. We're talking about music and their business and such when I stuck my foot in my mouth like it was a big ol' tasty submarine sandwich by axin' the question: "Do you guys like good Country Music, or just all this Pop stuff?". Well, before you could say "Vip-Vop" I was sitting in the office alone, but not before I realized that they were asking me if I would be interested in writing songs for them. It was a strange twist of events and supreme tact on my part all rolled-up into a hazy, dream-like experience. So on the way home from that fun little party I turned on the radio to a "Country Music" station. In 45 minutes I heard two and one-half songs... in Forty-Five Minutes!! The lion's share of the last song was a power solo that would have made the most apt Heavy-Metal "shredder" green with envy. It was awful.

Which leads me to the second story...


This is irrelevant to this blog, but still cool

A couple months ago I was asked to be a guest on a radio show (which shall remain unnamed) in Nashville. They found me through Myspace and contacted me about coming on and talking about my podcast RadiOblivion, I guess. I put the invitation off, then responded to the request with an affirmative asking date, time, location, all that stuff, and then reconfirmed a few days prior to the show date. I was told "Oh yeah! Come down to such and such address, and bring some music that you play on your show." The day of the broadcast I messaged them again to confirm (I'm not driving to Nashville for no good reason, friends), but didn't hear back. I figured that the particular person I was dealing with was busy that day with show prep and didn't see my message, so I headed down anyway. When I got there the studio was packed to the rafters with a band, a solo artist guy and his wife, a "comedian", the host, his co-host, and then me. And it was terrible. "Opportunity Night" would be like a major Broadway Production compared to this. I'm all for crazy antics and zany shenanigans on the radio, but not anarchy! I never did get behind the mic; nor did anyone seem to know what I was doing there. I could see the D.J./ Host behind the desk through a door on the other side of the room, but he never once asked who I was, or what I was doing there. I could have been some guy out walking his dog that decided to just walk in on a radio broadcast for all he knew.

After the "show" when all the band members were clearing out their equipment I walked up to the guy, and (not wanting to be curt about the ordeal) asked him how he got this gig.

He says "Oh, so-and-so asked me if I'd be interested in doing a radio show."

And then he asked me who I was. I said "Michael Kaiser from RadiOblivion."

To which his reply was "Oh...", like he never heard the words before. Not that regular people should know who I am, but I was asked to come on the show. About 10 emails were exchanged over the affair!

So I asked "Are you *the guy I talked to about coming on the show*?

And he says "No, I'm such-and such. So-and-so isn't here tonight. He asked me to do the show for him. This is my 1st time doing the show by myself."

He wasn't even the guy that asked me to come on the show! I was thinking "what am I doing here?" What a waste of time to stand there for a couple hours listening to terrible radio.

Radio in Nashville stinks; even the radio that is *supposed* to be good/underground.

Are there any fans of Primitive, Raw, Wild Sounds in Nashville? I'm a desperate man.

4 comments:

  1. You should move back to the LA area and reform The False Faces

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  2. Welcome to Music City. I had a similar experience sitting in the office of one of the most independent publishers in Nashville about 3 years ago. He listened to my stuff (which included a classic country waltz and some upbeat western swing) and said, "You are a good writer. This stuff good, but it's too 'dated'". Like some sort of political talking-points, I have found out "dated" is a code word used in Nashville publishing circles for classic country and western music. Unfortunately, I was NOT asked to write songs for the publisher.

    Yea, modern country music stinketh.

    How're you?

    Come see my show on Dec 7 at the Bluebird. I'll have a full band with me! You might even hear some "dated" music.

    JJ

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  3. I'm a big time lover of the big city, Philadelphia in my case. Nashville seemed like a small city to me but the next time I get the chance to see the Eagles play the Titans I'd love to come south and see your town. If we can't go hunting, I'd be happy to caddy for you.

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  4. I've never been hungry enough to hunt... well, I've hunted golf balls.

    I'm from southern California. They've got EVERYBODY beat: It's one giant city for hundreds of miles in all directions!

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