tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12509286.post5458816547499280420..comments2024-03-01T07:43:16.529-06:00Comments on Smart City Memphis: Report Hits Off Notes About Memphis MusicUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12509286.post-72997148588061723262007-08-20T14:10:00.000-05:002007-08-20T14:10:00.000-05:00Anon. 10:18 presents a great idea that's just been...Anon. 10:18 presents a great idea that's just been languishing, waiting for someone to try it.<BR/><BR/>More importantly, a lot of folks need to get over the idea that "rap isn't music." Like it or not, it's the music of a lot of young people, and a very large number of Memphians. Pooh-poohing or looking down your noses at rap is pure generational silliness. It reminds me of Frank Sinatra trashing Elvis Presley back in the Fifties. Get over it.<BR/><BR/>We also need to watch our city leaders. They have been angling around trying to gut the infrastructure for live music at the concert level. The FedEx Forum caps out at just 18,000 for concerts; they Pyramid is gone. Where can megashows play? At the mid-range level, there's the Coliseum, which may still get torn down. After the Coliseum, where is there to play for 3000 to 8000 seat shows? A lot of bands and artist fall in that range, but have nowhere in Memphis to play.<BR/><BR/>I'm with so many others: Quit pimping the dead for the benefit of a few absentee landlords. (Hey Priscilla!) Quit thinking of the Memphis music scene as a past to commodify; we have all the raw talent to make Memphis and music like Seattle and Microsoft.Michael Roy Hollihanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15275044959782899550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12509286.post-44149791914885162722007-08-15T22:53:00.000-05:002007-08-15T22:53:00.000-05:00If you are a Local Memphis or Memphis area musicia...If you are a Local Memphis or Memphis area musician and want to be heard globally -email us at<BR/>AllMemphisMusic@aol.com<BR/>We will Respond!<BR/><BR/>Thanks Smart City!<BR/>www.AllMemphisMusic.comJon Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04409703732309325139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12509286.post-70957348416663691892007-08-15T08:10:00.000-05:002007-08-15T08:10:00.000-05:00As a Memphis musician since 1986, I can honestly s...As a Memphis musician since 1986, I can honestly say "Memphis eats its own".<BR/><BR/>That is to say, it seems the local movers and shakers are all to quick to point out that Memphis is the "Home of the Blues", and the birthplace of rock and roll and all of that, but when it comes to backing thier hometown musicians, they are severly lacking in putting their money and efforts where their mouths are.. <BR/><BR/>Playing Beale Street clubs for years, as well as local clubs and bars, I can't count how many times the performers come up shortchanged. <BR/><BR/>And the excuse is, "If you don't like it, theres plenty of others that want to come in and play for next to nothing"<BR/><BR/>Disgusting...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12509286.post-66982255386672245792007-08-14T22:01:00.000-05:002007-08-14T22:01:00.000-05:00Sherman: We admire your continued interest in tryi...Sherman: We admire your continued interest in trying to get things moving in the right direction and for your sound advice. If only someone had listened more carefully to you eight years ago. <BR/><BR/>Rural: The Chicago Music Commission report also quantified the data according to x (such as tickets sold) per thousand population, and Memphis still finished in last place. Great insights. Thanks for the comments. <BR/><BR/>Anonymous, both: Great points. Thanks.<BR/><BR/>Jon: Thanks for reminding us about AllMemphisMusic, a great addition.Smart City Consultinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13985783340016474051noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12509286.post-65168151338451025222007-08-14T11:05:00.000-05:002007-08-14T11:05:00.000-05:00Enjoying the posts...we are willing to play all ne...Enjoying the posts...we are willing to play all new artists at<BR/>www.AllMemphisMusic.com<BR/>Have you listened?<BR/><BR/>We have listeners in all 50 states and over 60 countries. We are actively looking for new artists t play. Please spread the word. We can be reached at AllMemphisMusic@aol.comJon Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04409703732309325139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12509286.post-72131987972113540742007-08-14T10:18:00.000-05:002007-08-14T10:18:00.000-05:00I have to agree with anonymous 8:28 regarding late...I have to agree with anonymous 8:28 regarding late shows. I’m 30 and have a standard 7:30am to 5:30 job. While I’m a huge proponent of the local music scene I find it nearly impossible to make it out to a weekday show. <BR/><BR/>Here is some background information. (1) I once lived in arguably the most famous college music town in America, and was actively involved in the music industry of that town going to 5-7 shows a week. (2) After college I covered clubs and the music industry for an alternative news weekly and as part of my job I attended at least 5 shows per week. (3) Now, I don’t hear as well, and I have a physical need for at least 7 hours of sleep per night. <BR/><BR/>Under the current business plan for local bars and music venues, the opening act doesn’t start until 10:00 or 10:30 and the headlining band doesn’t go on until 11:00 or 11:30. This means that I don’t get home until 1:00 or 1:30. After five hours of sleep I get up at 6:15 reeking of smoke, and if the show was good, I likely have a slight hangover. This leads to a less than productive work day. <BR/><BR/>As weak as this sounds, this business model does not work with my current lifestyle and career choice. In a matter of two years I’ve gone from seeing several live shows per week to maybe seeing a couple per month and only on the weekends. I promise you that many other 20 and 30 somethings with careers are in the same boat. In other cities (Nashville, DC, and even Athens, GA) some of the bars and music venues are offering earlier shows during the week to cater to this crowd. The opening band goes on around 8:00 and the headliner starts by 9:30 and the older/career crowd gets in bed happy by 11:00. I understand that this would take some getting used to but eventually the local hipsters will catch on and start getting out of the house before 10:00pm.<BR/><BR/>Sorry for the rant. I just miss being able to seeing quality live local music and still get to bed at a reasonable hour.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12509286.post-82072477858066367392007-08-14T08:28:00.000-05:002007-08-14T08:28:00.000-05:00Great posts. It's amazing that most of our friends...Great posts. It's amazing that most of our friends (I'm 43 and my wife is 41) NEVER go out to see live music, while we try to see at least 2-3 performances a month of local musicians in bars and other local venues. It helps that our kids are old enough to babysit themselves. Sadly, most of our friends think we're from Mars for doing that. I say sadly, because despite all the bad news in this report, Memphis still has some of the best and most talented and original artists performing locally you could find anywhere. I mean $5 cover to see Susan Marshall at Otherlands fer chrissakes?? That's almost insulting to someone of her talent. Although she sold at least one CD to me. Memphis desperately needs to develop a culture of going out to see live music. One thing that would help is more EARLY SHOWS! It is very difficult to go out when the band doesn't even take the stage until 11 p.m. on a weeknight (for those of us who are gainfully employed that is).<BR/>RFD hit the nail on the head with the prediction of what Memphis might look like creatively in 10 years. I hope that's wrong, but I can see it coming. People are really getting fed up with what is going on in Memphis, not just in music but in almost everything.<BR/><BR/>And here's to buying CDs from local musicians, hell, they're better than most of the schlock put out by the big record companies.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12509286.post-51902233259617042007-08-14T08:11:00.000-05:002007-08-14T08:11:00.000-05:00Wow--pretty interesting stuff. Thanks very much fo...Wow--pretty interesting stuff. Thanks very much for posting it. The strength (or lack of same) of a city's music scene is one of those things that gets so much lip service and is so rarely put into useful, black and white data like this.<BR/><BR/>I agree with Sherman and others wholeheartedly that city government's continued ignorance of the live music community and grassroots industry that's happening right under their noses spells disaster for everybody. In ten years when Memphis' entire 18-25 year-old creative class has fled for cities like Nashville and Seattle and Chicago (following the ongoing exodus of Memphis' middle-class), we'll look back on moments like this and scratch our heads about why nobody "did anything."<BR/><BR/>It's telling that in the same year that Memphis "officially" celebrates the 50th anniversary of soul music, the 30th anniversary of Elvis' continued impact, and "hometown boy" Justin Timberlake gets his own brass note on Beale Street, LiveFromMemphis.com faces extinction due to lack of support. <BR/><BR/>One question: does the CMC report mention the relative disparity in overall metro populations? Of the cities mentioned, it would seem that Memphis is among the least populous, and I would guess that it is certainly in last place in terms of median household income. It would be interesting to see figures like music employment and tickets sold presented as percentages of overall population or other local economic indicators.<BR/><BR/>This is even more difficulty to quantify, but I think too that this report shows symptoms of a larger inferiority complex held by many Memphians. I know lots of musicians and other industry-folks, young and old, who believe that our music scene is awful because "nobody" supports it. It becomes a vicious circle and a self-fulfilling prophecy. No band wants to play a city where there are going to be ten people in the crowd, and nobody wants to go to a show where they are going to be one of those ten people; before long, you have a deadlock situation that negatively impacts venue-owners, promoters, artists, and fans, as well as related entitles like radio and record stores. I'm over-simplifying of course, but my point is that Memphians spend a lot of time casting general aspersions on other Memphians for why things don't work.<BR/><BR/>I would be my right arm that if every person who reads this blog bought a couple of tickets to a local show or a CD by one of our city's many local artists this week, we would immediately start to see the kind of scene we've all been waiting on start to crystallize. <BR/><BR/>IT'S UP TO US--not the tourists, not MTV, not Robert Sillerman, and not the city's venerated institutions--to have the supportive, successful, creative music community we deserve.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12509286.post-27105888227225561512007-08-14T02:08:00.000-05:002007-08-14T02:08:00.000-05:00Interesting report. One fundamental shift that ha...Interesting report. One fundamental shift that has yet to occur in Memphis with the renaissance of the Memphis music scene since 1990: promotion of current Memphis events has lagged the funding of the city re: MCVB as well as various commissions and public funding. Hopefully this will soon change as momentum continues and more great non-Stax/Sun/Hi/blues sounds emanate from Memphis. It would be nice to see a picture of Lucero, Harlan T. Bobo, Jack Yarber, Jeff Evans, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Amy Lavere, etc in the millions of brochures emanating from the hotel tax funds right next to pictures of statues and deceased artists. A small step in action, but a big step in the realization that many of the giants of Memphis' past are no longer around to perform (albeit modern technology has made the once-a-parody Saturday Night Live skit about Elvis' jacket performing in concert and the now sellout event with same at the Forum this week even more ironic) for visitors and music fans. <BR/><BR/>If Memphis really wants to promote its music as a city (so far, I have yet to see a real commitment to this other than the formation of committees; hiring of 2 really awful, out of touch music commission presidents; hiring of one very, very distant "we know what's best for Memphis music and we'll tell you when we are ready" music foundation president; and announcements of plans and public pronouncements of events that may or may not ever happen), it really must shift from promoting defunct, dead, or dying artists, to promoting the incredibly viable ones now scraping by and making Memphis great again. (Hey, enter LivefromMemphis.com stage left...)<BR/><BR/>The new music commission seems to be headed in the right direction and at least has access to their web site again and has started a myspace site that promotes Memphis music daily. That in and of itself will not allow Memphis to compete with these other major music markets, but after 8 years of Memphis music commission(s)' lethargy, it is a step in the right direction, albeit a baby one.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com