Monday, August 2, 2010

So, I Didn't Cover Much of the Music

In retrospect, it was a good thing that whoever the lead singer of Scotland Yard Gospel Choir is got it right out of the way and made me feel A-OK about the fact I won't need to cover any of the fest's music scene in the next pipeline.

Music was the part of the fest I was most looking forward to covering in Tuesday's issue.

Some readers know that I geeked out on The Juliets over at the Chopin Theater a few months back, and in general I try to cover music when I'm not writing about the community, walking around area streets, soliciting advertising, taking pictures, reviewing plays, reading blogs, linking to blogs, going to meetings, editing, or working at other jobs.

He couldn't of known that I may take 20 or 30 pictures, but I only select one or two or even none to put into the e-newsletter he'd never heard of. They couldn't of known that I thought their first few songs-- before he called me out between sets, quizzed me as to what media outlet I was representing- were amazing- like Arcade Fire but a dash more poppy than ethereal-- and I was looking forward to writing all kinds of things about the band to my three readers and maybe buying their CD or at least downloading a few SYGC songs, etc.

So that was the end of that. He made a big show about the fact I was taking pictures, and then a snarky comment, and then gave an official posed shot as all his hipster friends cheered him on and I walked away on to all the many other things I will cover in the next pipeline besides a single band that played on one of three stages for one hour during a two day festival that is just one of the 20 or so things I'm writing about this week.

A few people came up to me later and told me they thought he'd been extremely rude. Some asked about my e-newsletter and how it works. A journalism school student gave me his card. I overheard somebody say something like 'Where's Metromix?" in reference to the fact that at least I was there giving a lot of coverage to the fest.

Nobody's paying me to do anything outside of the active advertisers in the sponsor box. In fact, proceeds from the fest's $5 suggested donation benefit the Wicker Park Chamber of Commerce, which no longer supports The Pipeline through advertising, yet its members continue to send us news, and we have not stopped covering 'as much of the neighborhood as enthusiastically possible' each week, even daytime bands like this one which we decided not to cover. The other payment is in the emotional rewards from the positive words of encouragement, story leads, and even corrections, which at least tell me people are reading the damn thing enough to dash over corrections. What occurred today wasn't even in the same universe as positive. I'll leave all of the nonsense out of the newsletter and not say why I didn't cover any of the music, but if anyone visits this blog you'll know why. And no worries SYGC, I won't post any of your photos anywhere nor breathe a word of how much you rocked before you made me walk away.

2 comments:

  1. update: a few people have told me how much they like SYGC and i agree, i like them too, it's why they were one of the few bands i was hoping to write about, figuring that the daytime music scene wouldn't be getting as much coverage as the evening headliners.

    in no way am i dissing their talent which is clear, and it was also clear after i uploaded a few pics that there were some sweat stains on a gray t-shirt. i would NEVER post a pic of someone's sweat stains or a pic i deem to be unflattering of everyone. i even crop out people with over-served eyes though i guess SYGC could not have known that about me because the did not know me at all. i was also munching on a 25 cent granola thing from the convenient store while listening to them play b/c it was cheaper than the vendor food wich i enjoyed the previous eve. indie bands can prob relate to this- all of us- writers- musicians- laid off creative types- are suffering in this shitty economy- let is not be shitty to each other, kay?

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  2. disregard all of the many typos. i mean i would never post an unflattering pic of ANYONE. and let US not be shitty to one another...

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