Month: May 2014

An Open Letter to Musicians and the Places that Book Them

This morning I read two articles. One was a letter to venues that exploit musicians. The other was a letter from a bar owner to musicians. Even though the second letter initially made me want to vomit, I am including it in order to have a fair and balanced presentation of both sides of this issue. It is amazing to me that paying bands is something that people think is up for debate in the first place, but these are the times we live in. I am going to discuss the bar owner’s viewpoint first, and then list all the reasons I think his views are either flawed or only work in certain establishments.

Point one from Mr. Bar Owner is to play simple music that make people want to dance. To me this screams COVER BAND. That’s not to say I don’t think there’s a place for cover bands. In fact, that place is in this guy’s bar. This same guy thinks the band is there to sell alcohol, and that they can help that out even more by asking for top shelf liquor when people offer to buy them drinks. Oh, and if you don’t like it well there are a million other bands I can book on any given night.

Someone I respect very much posted this article on Facebook, and we had the most rational discussion I’ve had in a long time on the Inter-webz. Basically I said that I get this guy is running a business, and maybe this model works for him (although I’ll have something more to say after bringing in the other article I mentioned), but it’s way different running a bar that has live music MAYBE once a week and running a music venue. A bar focuses on selling booze, and uses whatever gimmicks they can to keep their customers drinking. That’s fine for them. It’s part of a business model and it works. A venue’s focus, however, is on live music, or at least it should be. They charge a cover, some of which SHOULD go towards paying the band. They also happen to have a bar, which makes them most of their money. But the people would not be at the bar if not for the music, and that is the difference. Here is where that other letter comes in…

Here we have a musician telling venues that not only is it not fair to the musicians they book to not pay them, it actually will be more helpful for their business if they treat these musicians better (and help promote the shows they are booking). I’ve heard the argument that bands shouldn’t accept shitty deals from clubs before, but I’ve never seen someone try to demonstrate why this is best for both sides. It makes sense when you think about it though… You can have my band play your place and make them bring in a crowd, but that only helps you for one night. BUT, if you help promote the show and keep booking good music (which you’ll get if bands know you’re a good safe space to play in) then you get regulars in your place PLUS whoever comes because of a specific band playing that night. The article does a way better job presenting the case than I can. Definitely read it and then share with all your musician friends why they should try to get better deals. I loved the example the author put in the article: If a wine bar asks me to play their club but offers me very little money, that seems fine to them. But if I offer the bartender the same to work my house show, then they would look at me like I was crazy.

I get that any bar is a business, but if anyone else in that business wasn’t getting paid it would be wrong. So why is it ok to make ridiculously low offers to musicians… for the exposure? Thanks, but exposure doesn’t pay my rent. I’m sure there is a way to make a deal where your bar can make a profit without shortchanging an artist who works hard at what they do and deserves a little something to show for it. If you just care about selling booze, then go find some cover band and don’t waste my time. If you care about creating memorable events every night, then you can find me and we’ll talk. That is all.

2014 TV Wrap-up

Full disclosure: I don’t exactly watch all of the tv, but I do watch two of the big ones – SHIELD and Arrow. I took note of some of the moments that got me excited and angry (as well as a few other comments I had overall) that I’m going to share with you. At first I thought this would be a quick post but there’s a lot to cover, especially with SHIELD, so this might be a long one. Just like your favorite shows though, it has to last you until fall when I can talk about the season premieres and how glad I am to have my favorite characters back. Btw, it should go without saying that there are MANY HUGE SPOILERS AHEAD, so if you haven’t watched either of the two shows I mentioned then you should probably stop reading and go fix that fact. Now, without further ado, let’s get started…

On Agents of SHIELD there were several moments where my heart skipped a beat or two. Honestly the whole episode was great (well, mostly, but we’ll get to that at the end). The first moment I honestly screamed at my TV though was when Agent Fury appeared just in time to save Fitz and Simmons from a watery death. After that it was pretty much nonstop action and a lot of cheering on my part. Things I loved about the last episode include:

  • May finally getting the chance to kick Ward’s ass
  • Fury and Coulson meeting during the big fight against Garrett (I love how casually Coulson is like “we need to talk but I guess now is not the time”)
  • Peterson turning sides once he knew his kid was safe

And finally, making us think Garret was coming back and then killing him again right away put a HUGE SMILE ACROSS MY FACE.

There were also some other less specific things I loved about the show. For one, I loved all the snarky jokes in the midst of all the tension. It felt good to be able to stop holding my breath and laugh for a few moments. I also loved when Coulson and Fury finally got to have their talk. Most of all I love how this show is able to switch from tense to funny to sentimental and always make it feel natural. Despite all the fantasy elements in the series, the characters themselves always manage to remain very human, which is a nice touch that is able to make the show more relatable to it’s audience.

Final thoughts: If I rated SHIELD based on this episode it would get 5 stars. Usually it’s about 4 , but they definitely kicked it up a notch for the big finale. I’m really looking forward to watching Coulson rebuild SHIELD next season. My only semi downer remark is that I wish the final shot was of the team all together in a line after they meet Billy or the picture of Sky. The actual last scene left me scratching my head more than anything. I’m not sure where they’re going with this but we have plenty of time for wild specualtion till the show returns in the fall…

 

Whew, that was a lot and probably could’ve been it’s own post. Sorry but when I first had the idea to do a tv wrap-up, I didn’t think it would take that long to dissect just two shows. Everybody take a breath and get ready to dive into Arrow, which is basically going to be me saying how I didn’t like most of what was happening until I realized why it was happening. And on that note, let’s begin…

First let’s start with a like (well, partially). I enjoyed seeing the League of Assassins come in to help fight Slade’s army. My first reaction when I saw them was excitement followed by the thought, “I hope this doesn’t mean Sara made a deal and is leaving with them when this is over.” Of course that’s EXACTLY what happens, which was both predictable and a little disappointing.

Another thing that was somewhat predictable and disappointing was the way things ended with Roy and Thea. As soon as Roy said “I’m never losing you again” I knew something bad had to happen to screw everything up. The part that was a slight surprise to me was Thea finding the arrows under Roy’s bed. Of course she makes the wrong conclusion and runs off. Now for the part that actually made me angry about this episode: After finding the arrows she decides she can’t trust Roy or anyone else… so she runs off with her father who she just told to go “shove it” and assumedly is going to become a villain with him next season. I liked her arc of going from party girl to an actual decent human being, and I don’t want to see her turn away from that now. Hopefully this is just a slip-up (which everyone has on occasion, although not nearly as big) and we will be seeing her realize her mistake over time and shut her father down.

Now for the two biggest points to talk about here: the “no more killing” story arc and how it relates to the end of Slade Wilson. Now, as you may have noticed, most of this season has been about the Arrow making the choice to stop killing. At first the fact that Felicity kept pushing this while everyone else told Ollie to end things for good because Slade is a monster who gets no more chances was somewhat annoying to me. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the fact that Ollie was becoming a better kind of hero, but I figure there are exceptions to every rule and Slade definitely should be one of them. That was how I felt right up until the end when everything started to come together for me. To continue though, I need to break down a couple other things I didn’t like at first but eventually started to get behind. Sorry if this is disjointed but that pretty much sums up the jumps my brain had to make to wrap itself around this episode.

1) At first I didn’t like Ollie telling Felicity he loved her (it felt too forced) or the setup of Ollie choosing between the two women he loves, but I did enjoy the turnaround at the end. Having it all be some kind of plan is way less boring or predictable. Way to play me, Arrow. (Side note: Even though I’m not sure I want Felicity and Ollie getting together, it really did break my heart a little seeing how disappointed she was that it wasn’t real. We’ve all been there, girl.)

2) I didn’t really like the flashbacks until the end when we flash between the Ollie-Slade battle in the past vs the one in the present. It was great to finally see the chance Ollie had to give Slade the cure but chose to “kill” him instead. Seeing that and then flashing to now when he has the same choice again finally made me ok with the choice not to kill him this time.

 

So there you have it, my TV wrap-up. The only other comments I might make is that I enjoyed the SHIELD finale more than just about any season finale of any show ever. It had lots of excitement and was completely satisfying. It didn’t ever try to make me angry with some awful cliffhanger to bring me back next season. Meanwhile, while I eventually ended up liking where Arrow went with it’s last story for the season, I didn’t appreciate Laurel’s father suddenly falling down and possibly dying in the last few seconds. “Oh no, now we have to wait till the fall to see if one of the main characters lives”. Either way this is going to make me angry, because either he ends up fine and you worried us for nothing, or you kill a main character for no reason when you already wiped out half the cast during Slade’s recent rampage. So yeah, not a huge fan of the Arrow finale but I loved the story arc they did leading up to it enough (and also want to see how they rebuild from all the destruction) that I’ll be seeing them next season. Agents of SHIELD definitely won season finales forever though, no doubt about it.

Nerdist does all the things

Yesterday’s post was all about how much Wil Wheaton has been up to lately. Today we focus on another one of my favorite people: Chris Hardwisk *aka* the Nerdist.

I was listening to the Acker & Blacker podcast on my commute to work, and they were talking about scheduling conflicts and how hard it is to get Chris on Thrilling Adventure Hour since he’s always so busy. One of the Bens literally said, “I don’t know how you do all the things”… which got me thinking about just how much Chris Hardwick has become involved in recently.

It all started with some stand-up comedy, a podcast, and a website. (No, Singled Out did not happen, I don’t know what you’re talking about). Slowly Nerdist podcast grew into what is now Nerdist Industries, a company that has many different branches that shoot from it’s tree trunk of awesome. Next we add the “Talking” after-shows for The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad. He also recently started his comedy game show @Midnight, which apparently has been doing very well since he’s mentioned on the podcast people have started yelling “POINTS” at him on the street.

With that many different things (which don’t include any guest appearances or tv/movie involvements he might have), it’s hard to imagine how this guy has time for a life, but he keeps talking about a girlfriend so one assumes they do stuff together other than watch each other work. It’s really impressive and makes me wish I could get my shit together as well as he has. It also kinda gives me a warm happy feeling to see this guy succeed, since I’ve always said in an alternate universe Chris and I would be the best of friends. (Editor’s note: I actually was on Chris’s street team for a bit before he got interns to do everything for him).

I know the past couple days have been all about the nerd love. I had ideas that just came to me and I didn’t want to hold them back. Honestly, I could write a book about all the reasons I love my Nerdist, but I’ll leave it here for now. In a couple days I should be doing a post on what I’m calling “season finale week” and then we’ll be back to music reviews and news, most likely. I hope you’ve liked the change of pace because I’m a nerd at heart, and while most of my nerdy posts go on Nerds in Babeland, sometimes I just wanna get real with my audience. Happy Tuesday, folks. Try not to break the tv when Agents of SHIELD finishes tonight!

The Wil Wheaton Post

I’ve already mentioned Tabletop on here recently and how they hit $1M on their Indiegogo campaign for the show, but after watching this video I realized just how many things have been going well for Mr. Wheaton and how exciting it has been watching everything fall into place.

It all started with a few recurring guest starring roles on the occasional tv show. (Well not really but going all the way back to the beginning of his career would take us too long). The most exciting for me was Big Bang Theory, because I used to watch the show religiously. In fact, every time Wil announces he’s making another appearance on the show it makes me wish I still watched it.

Around the same time that he started popping up on more tv shows, I also noticed him popping up on the Internet more (or maybe I was just paying closer attention). His appearances on the web series The Guild were some of the best episodes the show ever had (and I’ve loved that show from first episode to last). The tag team that is Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton seems pretty perfect to me, which is why it made sense that when Felicia started her YouTube channel, naturally Wil would have a part in it. Enter Tabletop, a show I at first avoided because of it’s lengthy videos, but eventually was too intriguing to avoid for long. I’m sorry I didn’t immediately jump on the bandwagon, because combing through the back catalog of episodes was harder than just watching the show when it “aired”. Now I make sure to set aside the time to play more games with Wil Wheaton and friends.

That brings us to today, where Tabletop is so successful it blew away their fundraising goal. Meanwhile, Wil has other projects floating around, most importantly his new show on SyFy Channel. Personally, I have had a long-standing boycott of said channel since it has gone downhill over the years (IMO). There were a few things that angered this young viewer, and I stuck to my guns right up until someone invited me to a viewing party for Sharknado (which I did more for the love of all things Asylum than anything). What can I say? I love a really good bad movie. I digress though…

What this post is really about is to say congratulations to Wil Wheaton for getting past his years as Wesley Crusher and surrounding himself with many wonderful successes. (Don’t get me wrong, I’m one of the few people who didn’t hate that character, but I also was about the same age when I first watched the series). I look forward to Tabletop S3 and the future RPG show. Hell, The Wil Wheaton Project sounds so good, I might just have to stop hating SyFy channel long enough to give your show a chance. In the meantime, while we’re waiting for the many eggs he’s juggling to be ready for consumption, remember to PLAY MORE GAMES and DON’T BE A DICK.

24: Live Another Day

Jack Bauer must be made of the same stuff as James Bond, since both of them never seem to stay down for long. Four years after the series seemed to be over, 24 is back in all its glory. Of course you get our hero Jack Bauer and his partner in crime Chloe O’Brien, but you also get a slew of fresh faces to decide whether to love or love to hate. Here are some likes, dislikes, and general comments I had watching the season premier. (PS: sorry this is late but I was on vacation until yesterday. And by that I mean, sorry not sorry.)

Love:

  • Chloe’s new look
  • how Bauer breaks Chloe out
  • the one getting kicked off the team is the only one who notices Bauer is up to something
  • seeing Bauer back in action. From breaking Chloe out early in episode 1 to the scene towards the end when he goes after Yates (“You probably think I’m at a disadvantage. I promise you I’m not.” *kicks ass and takes names*) Bauer is still pretty badass.

 

Love to hate: the agent who seems to hate Agent Kate for no reason (except possibly smelling blood and wanting her job or the association with her husband the traitor)

 

Criticism: after all this time Bauer isn’t able to consider Chloe a friend? even she tells him he should’ve just asked for help, which is spot on.

 

Questions: did Bauer save Chloe to help a friend (which he himself said he doesn’t have friends) or to use her to get something he wanted. I’d like to think it was a little of both but I have to wonder.

 

And finally, in the category of “unsure how to feel”… Chloe has always been kind of pouty, but playing the “boo hoo, don’t judge me” card with Jack feels wrong for her character. You’re stronger than that goddamnit!

 

As you can see, a lot of my comments are about Chloe. That’s because next to Jack she’s one of the only characters in the series that really stood out for me. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling this way, which is probably why she’s the only regular who has survived from Day 1. As long as I have her and Jack interacting with a new batch of interesting characters, I feel confident this season is going to be as enjoyable as seeing an old friend who’s been gone for awhile. Hopefully the friend doesn’t get boring after the novelty of first seeing them wears off. If so, I think we’ll be in for a hell of a ride this season.

I Love Tabletop (and going on vacation)

It’s been about a week since my last post, very largely due to the fact I went on vacation. Of course stupid forgot her camera, but I will say Boston is a wonderful town to visit when you have friends to give you the grand tour. That’s how you make Boston Common more than just a park and the Cheers bar a place you force your friend to stop so you can be a tourist for 5 seconds and get a picture on your phone.

While I was on vacation, something really awesome to the nerd community happened – Wil Wheaton’s Indiegogo campaign went over the million dollar mark! It is rare I am this excited to see a project be funded so strongly. Now granted, I was on vacation and cut off from the world for a bit, but doing a cursory search on the interwebz shows me that this news has not been published nearly as much as when Amanda Palmer had similar success with her Kickstarter. I know nerds can be loud when they want to be, so it bums me out that people don’t recognize how huge a deal this is. It’s not like Wheaton had the power of Neil Gaiman to help spread the word about this. He just had a community of nerds scrambling together to make their corner of the internet a little better. Don’t get me wrong, I have no ill feelings toward Palmer or Gaiman. On the contrary, Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors and I’ve enjoyed Palmer’s music since The Dresden Dolls were a thing. I’m just a little disappointed this didn’t seem to get the same press…

Thanks for being patient with this filler post. Things go back to normal now that I’m back. I’ll probably have a real post for you in a day or two but undecided if it’s going to be music or tv related as of yet. In the meantime, feel free to comment on anything I had to say here. (Especially if I’m wrong and was just living in a hole for a week). I welcome anyone to tell me to “shut the f— up in the nicest way possible. Until next time, PLAY MORE GAMES.