Psychedelic Suicide, or, How to see Your Friends without Cringing.

I received some e-mails from promoters around the country regarding my last Jamband piece, in which I suggested that to help local bands grow that they be added to bills with larger names. Across the board promoters said, in effect, that their hands were tied when dealing with the riders and contracts that bigger bands tend to have stipulating that they will provide their own opening support. Of course, when approached by bands on the issue, the feeling was unanimous that this precedent need be obliterated. And so we are left with two sides of a coin that gravity allows us the option of standing on its side.

I think we need to reevaluate the role of the artist in our community, both locally and global. And this idea of the artist, transcends musicians, take writers for example. Enter any publication from regional music rags to monthly glossies and you will find the same sad situation, which is, content, its length, shape and form is determined by ad space. No matter how dedicated to a "scene" a publication claims to be, behind the screen, the publisher is busy pushing advertisements at the expense of its writers. While very few pick up a music publication to read it's ads, writers often receive 50 to 70% less pay than the sales exec's do. And so the paradigm that reaffirms itself here is that if you're good at schmoozing people out of their dough to run an ad, you reap awards. If on the other hand you are a struggling journalist, who has a deep seated need to express themselves through the word (we won't get into the dark side of music journalism here, yet) you're lucky to get paid at all. Spelled out in company policy, writers are the bottom of the barrel, a dime a dozen and easily replaced, while sales ads guys and gals are perked, primped and groomed.

Transfer this to bands and you see an amazing parallel. In a bar situation, bands often walk away with less than a hundred dollars a player after a gig (if they're lucky) while bar owners make thousands, bar tenders make hundreds, and even promoters make more than the individual players do. No wonder DJ's do so well (again, another story). I hate to call it a system, but what else shall we say, for the rules are in place and everyone seems content to abide by them. Often I see bands that are disgruntled, yet what recourse do they have, face being replaced? For the same bottom of the barrel attitude applies to musicians as well as writers. It is the artist, whose very existence creates the world of music and manifests itself in record companies, live music venues, music publications, and a host of sub-culture ancillary business'. But in business, of which most artists are notoriously bad, it is the bullet they must chew.

And so I again refer back to last month's column where I proclaimed that it is up to promoters to make a stand and get local bands onto bigger bills. When the Airplane got into the recording studio because Bill Graham believed in them enough to book them, they didn't even know how to effectively play their instruments. When the Gilman Street Bar in Berkeley let Green Day do its thing repeatedly, the gel in the hair began to hold. When CBGB's let the Ramones and Blondie become the house bands, a new era began. I recall seeing shows at The Arrowhead Ranch outside NYC, where the promoters were wise enough to allow new bands like Widespread Panic to join the stage with The Blues Travellers. What about Rachel Sweet opening for The Jerry Garcia Band? Alright, bad example there, but it is promoters who throughout the history of rock, have taken chances on local talent, and given birth to stars.

So what's a promoter to do, boycott bigger acts because they will not allow local bands on the bill. Well, yes. Every promoter makes counter offers on shows, crossing out half the rider because the six cases of Jack Daniels is not cost effective, well, have the balls to say that your Band X must open the show. You can shave some of your own points to get your band on the bill, which will strike a chord in any management's bell tower. For, in fact, things must change. We live in a world where the most popular beer started as a Micro Brew right here in Chico, CA. The most popular jamband, Phish, has never had a hit song on commercial radio. Napster, started by a 18-year-old, has spread more free music around the world than ever before. The wheel is certainly spinning, and there's not telling whom it might name. If people didn't stand up for a cause, we would never have had the civil rights movement. If the blacks of South Africa didn't decide to boycott white owned business' , Apartheid would never have ended. So, hell yes I'm saying, promoters, don't buy into this skewed system where the role of local artists is devalued by some formula driven contract. Make your stand you'll be glad you did!

And this ends our evening of programming, join us tomorrow as we start another day. And remember kids, have a great winter and stay crazy. You can write me at DNA@shocking.com