Minimally Exceptional

tuesday is the worst day of the week. there’s no other way to look at it.

the weekends are good.
mondays aren’t great, but they’re not as bad as most people thing – you’re coming off two days off, and so it’s not so bad. you spend part of the day catching up with people, getting things together for the week, checking your email and listening to voicemails.

wednesdays are okay. they’re the hump. you still have a long way to go to the next day off, but you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

thursdays are good. on thursday, you can see friday, and where there’s friday, there’s a weekend.

fridays are great. on friday you know you’re good for two more days. for most people friday is a slow day, an easy day, tying up loose ends from the week and beginning to plan for the next week. most work places recognize casual friday, so that’s usually a plus too.

but tuesday? tuesday’s nothing. tuesday is the second day of the work week. you last day off was two days ago, and the end of the week seems so far away. tuesday is guaranteed to be the longest day of the week, regardless of how many hours you work.

today is, in fact, tuesday.

another great example of things that don’t make any damn sense:

my grandma is in her late 70’s. her and grandpa aren’t especially active people; they spend most of their time at home, retired, watching TV, doing what retired people do.

when I say that they spend most of their time at home, it’s no exaggeration to say that they don’t leave the house. it doesn’t ever usually happen, unless there’s a special occasion. grandpa goes fishing, but grandma probably doesn’t leave the house but once – maybe twice – a month.

they have one car that grandpa drives. i don’t know if grandma could drive it or not – it’s a van, and i don’t know that she’s capable or that she even has a license anymore.

so my uncle – who is a very smart person – bought her a cell phone last week. a brand new cell phone, with internet connectivity, polyphonic music ringtones, address books, games, instant messaging, all of that fancy cell phone crap.

i think it’s stupid. i think it’s beyond stupid. i can’t think of a single reason that she could possible need a cell phone for. not one. not medical issues, not emergencies, nothing. even if she fell down the steps or something, she wouldn’t have the phone with her to call for help because she probably won’t carry it around with her in the house.

oh, yeah – and she can’t talk because of a tracheotomy she had so long ago that i don’t even remember when it was. she opted not to use the little voice-box-that-sounds-like-a-drive-through-window thing and has just found other ways to communicate.

she doesn’t talk. well that’s not entirely true, she talks a little bit, but certainly not well enough to use a cell phone.

she doesn’t talk. someone bought her a cellphone. makes perfect sense.

it makes about as much sense as those devices that flash real brightly when the phone rings. the premise is that if the thing flashes when the phone rings, a person who is hard-of-hearing (err… ‘aurally challenged’) would know that there was a phone call.

someone didn’t think that one through very well… if you can’t hear well enough to hear the phone ring, what makes you think you can hear well enough to carry on a conversation on the phone? what’s the point? is there some cosmic rational that i just didn’t get?

ahh well. such is life, i suppose. i personally am waiting for the day when i can buy a car with braille on the controls and use it to go to the drive through liquer store.

This is the third and final part of a three part series of blogs about bands, fans, and attitudes.

Part III: My thoughts on ’selling out.’

First, Some notes on selling out, from wikipedia:

“Selling out is a common slang phrase. Broadly speaking, it refers to the compromising of one’s integrity in exchange for money or other personal gain. It is commonly associated with attempts to increase mass appeal or acceptability to mainstream society. A person who does this is labelled a sellout.”

My problem with using the term ’selling out’ to describe a band is overusage. Selling out requires going against previously held beliefs, and fans tend to throw the term around whenever the band has not met their expectations. Is that really accurate? Can a fan really know what ideals, beliefs, or creative desires an artist has? The answer is usually a resounding no.

What winds up happening is that bands make a shift in artistic direction, and if the fans don’t like it, they immediately judge it as selling out. The problem with this is that it doesn’t really take any artistic development into account – just because it’s artistic development in a direction the old fans don’t like doesn’t change the fact that it’s artistic development, a natural process.

No band worth it’s salt releases the same album with the same sound and the same type of songs over and over again; it gets boring.

Let’s connect the dots now – the old fans want the band to keep producing material on the same level as their older classic stuff. Why? Because it’s what the fans like.

Seems reasonable, right? If the fans don’t like the change in direction, the fans want the band to produce the material that the fans like. But a change in direction means that’s not what the band wants…

That sounds familiar… where have I heard something like that before?

“…Broadly speaking, it [selling out] refers to the compromising of one’s integrity in exchange for other personal gain…”

Well I’ll be damned, I was right – I HAVE heard that before.

What’s the point? What am I getting at here? Why have I spent so much time and inconvenienced so many electrons to post these three soapbox rants?

It’s easy. The bottom line is this:

Hardcore fans, don’t piss in in the cheerios. Just because you aren’t happy with a band’s performance doesn’t mean that you should shit in everyone else’s shoes, and not everyone who IS happy with the current state of things is a ball washing ass kisser blinded to the truth.

Ball washing ass kissers blinded to the truth, just because others aren’t happy with a band’s status quo or think they could do better doesn’t mean that they are rotten grumps who aren’t true fans – not everything your favorite band does is solid gold.

And to those who classify themselves as the voice of reason? Keep on truckin’.

It’s just music. Either you dig it, or you don’t. It’s that easy. If you dig it, great. If you don’t, more power to you.

This is the second part of a three part series of blogs about bands, fans, and attitudes.

So there’s three groups of fans, and between them, they generally share two different attitudes about what direction a band’s music should be going in. While I understand the logic and ideas behind each philosophy, I think that one philosophy is great and the other tends to be a load of crap.

Philosophy 1: The band has been able to get where it’s at and succeed because of the longterm/serious fans, and their preferences should at least be considered. In the case of DMB, this means playing songs like Dreaming Tree and Typical Situation at concerts and putting out albums on par with 1994-1998’s material.

Philosophy 2: The band makes music for the band, they write and play what they want and go in directions that they want to go in. If the fans decide to listen, that’s great, and if not, there’s plenty of other bands to check out. In the case of DMB, that means working with producer Mark Batson (despite the giant moan of dissatisfaction from fan group #1), and that means playing ‘When the World Ends’ and ‘Old Dirt Hill’ just because they want to. If the fans decide they want to join along for the ride, that’s great; if they decide that they don’t like the direction the band is heading in, well, thanks for the support for all these years, but the band is going to do what it wants.

Neither of these philosophies apply perfectly to any band or their fanbase. These two examples are more along the lines of extremes on a spectrum; most tend fall somewhere in the middle and try to give at least a little bit in each direction. Most bands realize the importance of their ‘classic’ material and their hard core fans, and try to mix that in with whatever new direction they wish to go.

This only gets truly messy when the ‘hardcore’ fans decide that the band owes them something. It could be setlists with more classic songs, albums of the same style or direction as older material, or any number of other things. This is usually the time when the word ’sellout’ comes into play – more on that later. At this point, things in the fan community pretty much go to shit: the old school fans are bitching about, well, everything; alternatively, the loyalists defend everything the band does – the term ‘true fan’ gets thrown around alot here like it means something.

Finally, things get a little ‘for us or against us.’ If you genuinely like something new the band has done, then your lips are securely fastened to the ass of the band. Alternatively, if you’re critical of the band, all you do is piss and moan and you’re not really a fan.

This leave the ‘voice of reason’ group in a really neat position: they’re ballwashers who do nothing but bitch and moan and aren’t really fans.

It’s like these people (who are all fans of the same band, mind you) are political adversaries. Music is subjective and everyone is entitled to their opinions, but unless you agree with MY opinion YOUR opinion is wrong. …And you’re probably an idiot.

Pretty cool, eh?

Coming soon: The Last Stop – Some thoughts and notes on random topics.

This is the first part of a three part series of blogs about bands, fans, and attitudes.

If I were writing a paper on this, I suppose it could be called ‘a working model of band, fans, and attitudes.’ That is, if i wasn’t trying to use song lyrics for titles.

If you’ve at all been reading the DMB fan boards, you’ve probably seen a little bit of discussion about Dave and his attitude towards the ‘hardcore’ fans, who are often very ‘bitch-moan-gimme-gimme-mine-mine’ about the band. Dave even made a comment at red rocks to the fans chanting ‘Last Stop’ that the band would pretty much play whatever the hell they want, and some of the hardcore fans have expressed a dislike for that attitude.

So it goes something like this: The hardcore fans bitch and moan that the band does’t play what THEY want. They complain about the band and how misaligned their priorities are, and that the band should cater to the people who put them where they are today. When the band doesn’t do this, they’ve ‘become too commercial,’ ’sold out,’ or ‘have really gone downhill.’

The opposite of this, of course, are the ‘loyalists.’ These are the people who will blindly follow and listen to anything the band produces regardless of quality or content, and continually slam the ‘hardcore’ fans who piss and moan about everything the band does – ‘you’re not a TRUE fan,’ ‘the band isn’t indie enough for you,’ ‘this album is better than 99% of the stuff on the shelves right now.’

Left in the middle are a group of people I like to call ‘the voice of reason.’ The voice of reason tends to enjoy the band, but without ballwashing. They are capable of finding good things to like and enjoy even on albums that are sub-par for the band, but when the time is right, they are also capable of realizing that the band has laid a turd in the punch bowl.

This is true of any band with a respectably sized fanbase, not DMB specifically, although the model certainly applies to them. There’s certainly no right or wrong in terms of what group you should belong to, but as with most things in life, a little moderation is often best. Being the superfan doesn’t leave much room for reality, but bitching and moaning doesn’t seem to leave much room for fun or enjoyment.

Coming up next, Part two: Philosophies of making (and enjoying) music

what is the deal with people running red lights and blocking up intersections?

i see this crap all the time around here. case in point, my morning commute to work. i get off the highway and make a left onto a fairly busy street every morning. there is a stoplight at the intersection, and it is in between two more stoplights less than 50 yards apart.

so a guy going straight on the street that i turn onto runs the yellow/red light, and so do two other people behind him. my light turns green, and they are still dicking around stopped in the middle of the intersection because of the traffic that is already there. so i miss my light (along with everyone else trying to get off the highway) waiting for mr. obvious to figure out a way out of the middle of the intersection.

although, in all fairness, he probably wasn’t trying to get out of the intersection, as that would require consideration for others, and if he had any of that, he would have just waited at the red light like a normal god damn human bring.

sound a little frustrated? i am. if this were an isolated incident, it wouldn’t bother me as much. but this kind of stupid stuff happens ALL THE TIME around here. it’s like everyone forgets how to drive once they get behind the wheel and start the engine, so they just wander around trying to get where they’re going without following any of the rules.

either they forget how to drive, or they intentionally drive like a giant asshole, bobing and weaving and cutting people off so that they can trim 30 seconds off of their commute time.

argh.

so back to my weird identity-related week.

saturday night, about nine thirty, the phone rings. it’s my phone line, the one that is never used for anything official. laura answers it and hands it to me, saying that it’s a courtesy call.

i pick up, and ‘ms. lebowski’ on the other end starts talking to me about a car loan.

l: yes, this is ms. lebowski from the car dealership, i’m calling because our records show that you owe over two thousand dollars on a car you bought from us.

b: excuse me? who are you with?

l: this is ms. lebowski from the car dealership. you owe us for a car you bought.

b: i don’t owe you any money, i didn’t buy a car from you.

l: is this brian jenkins at (address)?

b: yes, but i didn’t buy a car from you.

l: what kind of car do you drive?

b: why do you need to know that?

l: because our books show that you bought a car from us and owe us money.

b: what car dealership are you with again?

l: i’m with auto tire car dealership.

b: look, i’ve only bought one car my entire life and it wasn’t from you. the car isn’t even in my name.

l: how do you know that?

b: what do you mean, ‘how do i know that?’ what kind of stupid question is that? i know that because i’ve only purchased one car my entire life and the car is not in my name.

l: yes, but our books show that…

b: look, i don’t give a rats ass what your books show, i didn’t buy a car from you and i don’t owe you any money. you could have looked up my name in the phonebook for all i know. you’ve got the wrong guy.

l: yes, but…

b: NO. i don’t even know who you are and you’re–

l: i see you’re not in the best mood right now, i’ll try to call again tomorrow.

weird, huh? two creepy identity things in one week.

needless to say, later that night i went and pulled free copies of my credit report from annualcreditreport.com, which is now offering free copies of your credit report once a year.

there’s all KINDS of stuff on the credit report, it blows my mind. old credit cards and loans and shit that i’d all but forgotten about. i even found a dillards card with a $400 limit that I never knew was open… i’ll have to look into closing that.

in other news, u2 tour dates were announced recently, and there’s another st. louis show, so i’m going to have to find out when tickets go on sale. i’ve got to go to that somehow, u2 in 2001 was one of the greatest concerts i’ve ever seen. although im sure this year they’re going to be expensive as hell.

right? right? right.

it’s been a weird week – i’ve had two seperate ‘mistaken identities’ this week, and they’re both random as hell.

the first one happened on tuesday, when i received a letter from sallie mae (the student loan consolidators.) this letter said that i owed them over three thousand dollars and that i hadn’t made a payment since feburary 2004. the letter also said that if i didnt pay up, they’d be turning me over to a collections agency and damaging my credit report.

the part of this that’s messed up is that i don’t have a loan through them, have never dealt with them, and as far as i could tell, there was no reason for my name and address to be in their database. then i noticed that the letter was addressed to ‘brian c. jenkins,’ which needless to say, is NOT my name. so i called them and they asked a bunch of question to try and identify me (do you live at this address, were you enrolled in college, do you have student loans, etc.) i answered yes to all of the questions and started to have a sinking feeling that it was going to be a serious pain in the ass clearing this up, until they asked if i’d ever been enrolled at lindenwood college, which i had NOT.

so finally they realize that i’m not who they’re looking for, and explain to me that they obtained my name through skip tracing trying to find brian c. jenkins that used to live at a similar address. he skipped town on his student loans, the fucking bum.

the other reason that i knew this was bullshit was the phonenumber. they had my personal line listed as my phonenumber – it’s the number that’s in the phonebook for me – but i dont have that number listed on any of my credit cards, loans, schools, employers, ANYWHERE – just in the phonebook. so when i saw that number, i knew it was crap.

so finally they agreed to send me a letter with my name and social on it showing that i’m not who they are looking for, i don’t owe them any money, and i’m not in their database as an existing customer.

the letter has yet to arrive.

i’ll have to continue with saturday’s mistaken id later on, lunch is about up.

i’ve got a lot of things that i want to either buy or put on my christmas list. a few cd’s and lots o’ video games.

dmb.live – 12.8.1998
u2 – how to disarm…

grand theft auto – san andreas (picking it up tuesday)
megaman x command mission
megaman x 8
outlaw golf 2
kingdom hearts 2 (when it finally comes out)
xenosaga
xenosaga 2 (if i buy and like 1)
metal gear solid 3 – snake eater
spy v. spy
metal slug 4&5
star ocean – till the end of time
final fantasy XII
final fantasy XIII
final fantasy VII – advent children
.hack 2/3/4 (assuming that i ever finish 1 and want to continue on.)

all of which is more or less slated for the next six months, except for the FF games and kingdom hearts. the FF games dont have solid release dates yet, and kingdom hearts (which i’m very excited for) isnt until september of next year.

i’m really hoping that date moves up some, by the way, but i’m not holding my breath. i’ll just have to keep myself occupied with all the other stuff till it comes out. i’m also relatively sure that i’m forgetting about some stuff i wanted to pick up that is out soon, but i cant remember what.

so all of this election nonsense is over in a week. i’m pretty excited, not because i’m that interested in politics, but because i’m sick and fucking tired of mudslinging bullshit.

there’s really been some dirty pool this year, and it’s over in a week. i’m more confident than i’ve ever been that kerry will win, but that’s not saying much, because i’ve never really been too confident in his victory.

by the way, check it out before it goes away (i dont know that the site will stay up after the election):

www.johnkerryisadouchebagbutimvotingforhimanyway.com

for those too lazy to decode that, it says ‘john kerry is a douchebag but im voting for him anyway.’

speaking of politics, my dad the devout catholic got up and left in the middle of church services this weekend. i’m so proud of him. the priest started reading a letter from the archbishop, and my dad got up from the third row and walked out of church, right down the middle of the aisle.

the letter basically said that catholics should evaluate candidates on the issues and pick the person who they believe in.

then the letter went on to say that with some issues (such as gay rights, abortion, and stem cell research) there is no discretion allowed and you must vote in according to the catholic faith because it’s a morality issue. and morality is defined by the church.

so basically, ‘vote bush or you’re sinning and going to hell.’

that’s right up there with the church excommunicating kerry because he’s pro-choice and supports said issues.

hey, why don’t we just drag him into the town square and stone him? flogging, maybe?

christ. at least it’s over in a week.

::edited on 10/29 to fix stupid grammar issues::

have these news field reporters in florida lost their friggin minds or what?

christ, it’s hurricane season, there’s been 4 major hurricanes in the last 3 weeks, and they’re down there reporting on it, in the middle of evac orders, in the dark of night, with the power out.

the winds are so strong that they can barely stand, frail little female and big strong male reporters alike are struggling just to stand without being knocked over and blown away.

(edit: a big chunk of random debris just blew right past a field reporter and almost hit her live on national tv. what in the fuck are you thinking? drop the mic and run, you fool!)

this brings only one question to mind: what the hell is your problem?

that’s not dedication. that’s beyond dedication. that’s straight stupidity. stupidity to the point of disturbing.

speaking of disturbing – you know what commercial shows in between the msnbc live coverage of the hurricane? ads for the ‘freedom tower silver dollar.’ it’s a silver dollar, .999 mil silver, that is designed to show the world trade center (along with a partial shot of the old new york skyline), and they’re all made from certified silver that was recovered from a silver depository located underneath the towers.

meaningful memorable keepsake my ass, there’s just something not right about it.