4 / 13 : Rave On

[Danen]

Andrew: Agree with you completely as well. Wish others agreed with this etiquette.

And in comment about the TITLE of John's article - put me in a Buddy Holly mood.  Pulled out my cd today and found it fit in VERY well with the clear sunny day outside. And yeah I know that's a different topic elsewhere, but well uh well uh well uh rave on...

[bucko]

wow, this is a heavy thread. andrew, that was quite an eloquent post regarding hero worship. it's funny, i never thought of mr. darnielle as a 'star'; i too was attracted to lptj by the excellent writing and wide-ranging topics. plus, have you ever posted on a trad metal forum? i haven't, because everytime i look at one i'm exposed to flame wars in which the ultimate insult is 'gay'. so this has become a safe board to discuss metal, which is a nice perk. i am, however, curious if congratulating john's writing for this site is somehow equivalent to praising his band, or if this is acceptable because it is at least on topic.

oh, and rave on. it's a craaaazy feeling.

[John]

this is really interesting to me, all of it

anyhow just to clarify: if the subject were, say, "lo-fi," or "songs about divorce," or something, y'know, it's not like I'm the crazy guy over in the corner goin' "DON'T NONE O' YOU KIDS MENTION THE MOUNTAIN GOATS, NOW!" No. These and others would be perfectly reasonable times to bring up that stuff, and I wouldn't howl about it. But when the subject has bupkis to do with the Mountain Goats and somebody just goes "oh by the way: The Mountain Goats!" it completely frosts me, and I don't think my reaction to that is really very weird at all.

Nobody should feel bad, though, I'd hope that my crankiness around this issue would be regarded by everybody as you might regard a cranky friend: not "oh shit! we've pisssed John off!" or "John's pissed again, what a dick!" but "made John cranky again, oops." Even my friend Perry has to be reminded (routinely) not to make Mountain Goats lyrics refs in conversations. I think he thinks it'd be way awesome if people were ref'ing his lyrics in conversation, but when I start doing that to him just to show him what it's like, it's gonna creep him out majorly, I promise you

[SPACERACE]

Andrew: thing is, no one really does it save for newbies. I mean sure, we'll talk about John's band every once in a while because it's true, a lot of us listen to it. I think it's sort of silly to say that it's a forbidden topic, though, and if I remember correctly, the official policy was just to give fair warning and don't expect any meaningful contribution.

Let's say X releases album Z, or performs at concert Y. Chances are, we're going to discuss album Z or concert Y, because that's what we do. Am I rude for thinking that tMG should be able to be X without repercussions?

John: while I do understand the whole frost thing, you gotta admit, if you were just joining a forum attached to your favorite musician, even if you knew the forum was tangential to the musicians work, you'd be tempted to make a subtle "oh, by the way" kind of remark. Maybe not you specifically, as I'm willing to bet you know better, but just any random person who doesn't know what it's like. Personally, I'd probably feel the same way kpw did if my favorite artist told me in no uncertain terms that I'd screwed up and pissed him off.

[FreddyKnuckles]

haha

'frosts' hahahaha

[SPACERACE]

What I meant by that was: chamber harsh, dude.

[John]

John: while I do understand the whole frost thing, you gotta admit, if you were just joining a forum attached to your favorite musician, even if you knew the forum was tangential to the musicians work, you'd be tempted to make a subtle "oh, by the way" kind of remark. Maybe not you specifically, as I'm willing to bet you know better, but just any random person who doesn't know what it's like. Personally, I'd probably feel the same way kpw did if my favorite artist told me in no uncertain terms that I'd screwed up and pissed him off.

I don't know, man. Rozz Williams was one of my idols, I was eighteen when I met him, and I didn't start talking about Christian Death with him 'til we'd been hanging out for a while - it certainly wasn't a topic during our first few minutes of conversation, and that was because I wouldn't have dreamed of telling him stories about my Christian Death records, etc. So, no, I don't really understand the urge to cut directly to the "you're the guy from the Mountain Goats!" part of the conversation: not "I'm looking down on this" don't-get-it but "I seriously do not get it" don't-get-it.

what's most interesting to me is that all this stuff really does relate pretty directly back to the subject of the brief piece that kicked off this discussion

[Nickosaurus]

you're the guy from the Mountain Goats!

[william]

what's most interesting to me is that all this stuff really does relate pretty directly back to the subject of the brief piece that kicked off this discussion

yay! take that, h8rs.

[TheVole]

you're the guy from the Mountain Goats!

you made john cranky again oops.

(am I doing it right?)

[perry]

I am a mole, and (as such) see the present construction as being the most satisfying for everyone involved:

When tMG comments are made, a host of people rush to protect John's territory as more than the guy from a band trying his hand at the crit world, staving off the advances of the encroaching sycophants; this makes the insiders feel like insiders, which ironically grants them more access to the guy the sycophants want to know.  Granted, John might find the comments understandably annoying, but it's not like they've run through him with a broadsword.  In most cases, the newbies never even got close to the castle gates before the centurions let them know what's up, so they are a minor inconvenience at best and keep the sociality of the board moving.

Everyone is happy: John Darnielle has a posse to keep him from personally commenting against tMGspeak, the posse has a sense of identity as the protectorate of holy writ against tMGspeak, and newbies are initiated by their embarrassing posts, subsequently granting them burgeoning status as an insider and access to the guy they wanted to talk to in the first place, hand in unlovable hand.  Twin high-maintenance-machines, pee-pee-maw-maw.  Etc.

If you can hold on for one more day things will go your way.

[John]

perry you are totally disinvited from the video game throwdown

[perry]

<R&B Voiceover Bridge>  Baby, you know I love you.  And I never meant to hurt you.  Take me back--I can change.  You're my Boo, Baby.  I'm sorry for those things I said.  </R&B Voiceover Bridge>

[rtotalexvii]

MIKE: I don't think you're an aeroplane, Rick.

RICK: Sycophant!

[El_Josharino]

Hey, are we allowed to talk about John's dancing then?  I'm not sure this has been touched on.  Because I've gotta say that it strikes me as kinda Ric Flair-esque

[John]

that's why Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat turns tail and runs every time he hears we comin' to his town

[Matthew]

Like Andrew_TSKS, I'm here because I enjoy the music writing. Not to be disrespectful in any way, but on account of ignorance, that is my only reason for sight-seein'.
By the way, from John's Amazon list of favourite records, I thought it was great to see The Silver Jews' The Natural Bridge lauded. I fully enjoyed Berman's Actual Air too, and have found his delay in publishing a follow-up interminably teasing.

[FreddyKnuckles]

I was sort of wondering if 'the natural bridge' is the same 'natural bridge' that Jefferson talks about in 'the natural bridge'

[Good Intentions]

I don't own any Mountain Goats music, I don't know anybody who does. (What we here call) Americana simply has not made an impression upon the South African indie community. But John is my favourite music writer. The writing on LPTJ is deeply insightful and useful. I am here because I want to talk about music (and discouraged because I've never heard nor will ever hear about heaps of the American bands you go on about, God, even Neutral Milk Hotel is the domain of the super-anoraks around here). I adore John's writing because he communicates how much he loves to talk about music.

[Michael]

even Neutral Milk Hotel is the domain of the super-anoraks around here.

You still use words like "super-anoraks" in South Africa?! That's awesome. Take a trip to Anorak City.

[bcl_power]

You still use words like "super-anoraks" in South Africa?! That's awesome. Take a trip to Anorak City.

Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty.

[insomniapays]

even Neutral Milk Hotel is the domain of the super-anoraks around here.

You still use words like "super-anoraks" in South Africa?! That's awesome. Take a trip to Anorak City.

Wouldn't it be more like "syooper-enoreks"?

[Good Intentions]

You still use words like "super-anoraks" in South Africa?! That's awesome. Take a trip to Anorak City.

Wouldn't it be more like "syooper-enoreks"?

I'm Afrikaans. Our accent is different. Kinda like "soo'per ahn'or-ahcks"
We still talk about anoraks. We're very Brit influenced in our indie. I've only seen one copy of a Decembrist album but the Nick Cave B-sides is the 3rd best selling album currently at my favourite shop, and the two above it are (horrible) local Afrikaans albums.

[Good Intentions]

Double post.