smoe.org mailing lists
ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Stewart Mason <flamingo@theworld.com> |
| Subject | Re: American Hi-Fi VS Fountains of Wayne |
| Date | Thu, 11 Sep 2003 01:10:46 -0400 |
[Part 1 text/plain us-ascii (3.0 kilobytes)]
(View Text in a separate window)
Trust me, I have a fully functional sense of humor. For example, I think
the way that you keep circling back to "These guys didn't act how I wanted
them to and that makes me mad!" is frickin' hilarious. And, y'know, I
don't think I know any "rock stars," whatever that means, but I've worked
(in several capacities) with many actual working musicians, as have many
other people on this list, several of whom are actual working musicians
themselves. (Note the word "working" there...it's a job like anything
else, with its own pros and cons.) Working in music IS fun, and it's why
those of us who work in the music industry on any level do so, even though
the pay is minimal at best. But -- and here's the thing -- different
people have different concepts of "fun." Your position from the beginning
of this thread has basically boiled down to "These guys really harshed my
mellow, man," and no matter what anyone else has said, from the viewpoints
of fans OR performers, you "facetiously" continue to maintain that
Fountains of Wayne simply did not rock you hard enough. That's fine.
Don't go see them anymore, then. But they did the show that they do, the
way that they do it. That doesn't include "witty repartee," as you put it
in your first message, nor much in the way of audience interaction. (Given
that Fountains of Wayne have always had a reputation for being only
slightly warmer to their audience than Steely Dan, it seems like a big fan
like yourself might have known that chances were slight that Chris was
gonna lead the crowd in a great big campfire singalong version of "Leave
the Biker" in the first place.) Once again, since this seems not to be
getting through: Fountains of Wayne did the show Fountains of Wayne wanted
to do. It, apparently, was not the show Rick Bilous wanted Fountains of
Wayne to do. Your problem. Not theirs.
You said they said that they said that they hated being on the road and
couldn't wait to get home. Well, you know, if my day job involved dealing
with people who expected me to act like THEY wanted me to, and then went
home and bitched to 500 other people because I didn't respond like a
trained monkey...I think I'd be in a hurry to get home too.
At 04:12 AM 9/11/2003 -0000, rickbilous wrote:
>Stewart,
>I never said it was their fault either, but yet you said that I did.
>Could we please avoid getting personal? Since you don't seem to have
>a sense of humour, I was being FACETIOUS. I know that Fountains of
>Wayne is definitely not about sex, drugs and rock and roll. Honestly
>though, I don't think you could convince me that being a rock star
>is such a tough gig. It is after all, the life that they chose. And,
>life is what you make of it. Bands like American Hi-fi are making
>the most of their situation - I know it must suck being trapped in a
>van for days on end with the same people, but that would make me
>(and them) want to let loose and party, not to be upset for being
>there. Could you please inform me what it is like being a rock star -
> "rock star Stew"?
For assistance, please contact
the smoe.org administrators.