Maybe I would have cared a few months back. Like I said, most of the people working there are my friends, and could anything be better than working in music? But I guess my unwillingness -or even inability- to just smile and take it has gotten me into trouble again. My manager apparently likes to assert his superiority (and hence, his fledgling masculinity) by being an asshole when he doesn't get things his way, or feels as though his "authority" is being challenged. If I could only remain reticent, grin and bear it, then I wouldn't be in this position. But I don't take anything from anybody, and if you cross that line with me, I let you know. I let him. So, I lost this job.
A local musician has begun a drive to boycott MediaPlay - the company for which I work. Why, you ask? Because at another outlet he was denied permission to put his CD on consignment - for reasons rooted in prejudice. Of course, this artist wouldn't have the same problem putting his CD on consignment at my store; we're no longer putting local CDs on consignment. Furthermore, we've asked all the artists currently on consignment to come in and take their albums off the shelves. We have sunk to a new low. A low that I can't tolerate. My loyalties lie with the local musicians far more than with corporate america. Oh, and just to make things better, guess who's desicion it was to remove the local CDs? My manager. This guy is going to hell. I can't do this anymore. How can I work in a place who's sole purpose seems to be bent on eliminating the independent artist from the face of the earth? What they're doing is wrong. You know what? If you can, support the boycott as well. Support local and indy artists. We're the ones who need to fight against corporate america and against the detriment of modern music. Please help before its too late!
Ironically, my manager seems to be supporting my boycott of the store as well; not scheduling me for nearly two weeks.
Right now I see two types of people in the world. Us and Them. We live and love and think for ourselves. We are liberal, intelligent, compassionate, trustworthy, and unique. We are looked down upon by Them. They drive their SUVs to the mall to purchase attire that will make others approve of them. On the way there they hear the latest reincarnation of the same pop song that keeps cannibalizing itself, only with a different pretty face and rush to the local MediaPlay to purchase it on their parents credit card, using up a great deal of gas in their vehicle designed to seat eight, but currently only seating one. They arrive after narrowly escaping several accidents they could have caused and enter the store, all ready lost. Asking an employee for help, they are stunned to find that he hasn't heard the song, despite the fact that you can hear it on every station on the dial every three minutes. He is not one of them. He is to be distrusted. There must be something wrong with him. Come to think of it, he doesn't wear the right clothes, drive the right car, or think the right way. "Save the environment? Why? Then I won't be able to go four wheeling wherever I want. Support local shops? Why? Local shops don't have the things that everyone else at my school has. Don't call things gay? Why not? Everybody who is gay is to be hated, and everything you dislike is therefore gay. No, this isn't right at all. How can he not listen to the radio? How can he not care what they think of him?" He is not one of Them. He is one of Us.
They suck.
All right, so I'm listening to "I Am Shelby Lynne," by none other than... you guessed it... Shelby Lynne. You may find this CD on some of the Top Five Albums Of 2000 lists in the near future. So, I decided to take a free copy from work and listen to it. Interesting. Very nice flow, and the whole album has a kind of defining sound. It flows very well, but the instrumental color and texture don't seem to vary too much. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and this album I think goes to prove that point. I don't think it would be right if one song in particular stood out on this album. It would ruin the whole thing. There's a lot of guitar - electric, acoustic, slide, pedal steel. Slight country feel sometimes. The opener "Your Lies," is killer - its got this great Phil Spector, reverb-crazy, sixties pop ballad feel to it. And they did the wall of sound thing right - being unafraid to allow the individual instruments to dissapear into the sound. Alot of strings. "Lookin' Up," sounds like it could have been written by Fiona Apple drinking Jack D and messing around with an old aco git. "Dream Some" is a pretty cool flute-infused lounger. But I've only listened to this once, and these are my first impressions. Cool CD. Amy and Bill particularly like this CD, and so I listened to it for them. This is what I think about it.
All right, I should get going now. I hope everything's going well for all of you. Now I'm going to go and lay in my bed for an hour with thoughts running through my head - daydreams until actual dreams take over. And then I'll get to wake up and find that neither type of dreams have come true. Goodnight.
