Wednesday May 20, 2009

So, this is the first time in quite awhile that I havn't had an upcoming show for Book of Shadows booked. I've been playing in Austin underground bands since 1985 so in a way this is liberating, to not have a show booked, but I also have to wonder why all of the bands I give shows to rarely offer us/Book of Shadows a show? It's given us a chance to concentrate on studio recording and work with people from Future Blondes and Indian Jewelry, a couple of Houston bands, which has been very fun and rewarding. But I think the main reason I havn't booked another show is that I don't want to work with/answer to bartenders who have terrible taste in music and who are convinced they have the only taste in music. You would think that Austin, the music mecca of the Southwest would have ton's of clubs that would be open to original music, (isn't that the goal of an artist? To create art?) but that's never been the case. There's always tons of other musicians who will be influenced by what you do but it seems the only way to get completely ignored/repressed in Austin is to create original art/music. I used to think that the Chronicle and the people who control the Austin music scene just had bad taste in music but after 25 years of seeing generation after generation of great musicians, who influence the rest of world, be ignored in Austin I began to realize that the Chronicle and the rest of the Austin music media really do have an agenda against original music. It seems to be a combination of not wanting to offend advertisers and truly not understanding or caring what art is. Art is taking someone's awareness from point A to point B, this is usually frightening or confusing at first but the goal of an artist is to create art, create a new reality for people to live in, have access to etc. When you find out that the people who run the Chronicle etc. actually have an agenda against original/new music while championing corporate roots rock and country music decade after decade then this is truly unacceptable because it is anti-art and anti everything Austin supposedly stands for.