Re: (TV) Beware of Sales Pitches

[Jeffrey Germaine <jpg55@attbi.com>]

Amen, amen !!

> From: Jesse Hochstadt <Jesse_Hochstadt@brown.edu>
> Reply-To: tv@obbard.com
> Date: Thu, 05 Jun 2003 13:41:03 -0400
> To: tv@obbard.com
> Subject: Re: (TV) Beware of Sales Pitches
> 
>> From: "Murray Ramone" <murrayramone@hotmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: (TV) Beware of Sales Pitches
>> 
>> Excellent observations
>> 
>> thats why Tom Verlaine is cool and Richard Thompson is in the worthy but
>> DULL category
>> 
>> I like the fact that Verlaine still makes music and doesnt really give a
>> flying  f u c k  whether it sells or not and he doesnt do it for his fans
>> but for himself - thats the mark of a great artist
> 
> Whoa, whoa, WHOA. You go to see RT live, or listen to, say, the live
> version of "Can't Win" from "Watching the Dark," and then tell me he's
> "DULL" (in caps, yet!). I don't know how much RT cares whether his music
> sells or not - in most of the interviews I can recall, he's said he long
> ago realized that he's never going to be widely popular and is content with
> having a core of devoted fans. So I guess he cares whether it sells enough
> for him to make a living doing what he loves (unlike Tom, he's got a family
> to support), but not enough to contort himself in an attempt to be
> "popular." There's a big difference between writing material that appeals
> both to you and to your fans and pandering to tastes that are not your own.
> 
> Having said that, I know that, at least until recently, a good number of
> RT's fans would have quibbled with the claim that he is "very devoted to
> his fans." He doesn't condone audience taping, and has resisted releasing
> older material (especially live) fans would love to get their hands on.
> This is, after all, the man who said of his fans: "They're worse than
> critics - they're _amateur_ critics" - though I think that represents more
> an attempt to humorously distance himself than any real scorn. The attitude
> does seem to have changed recently, as he's released "More Guitar," a
> recording of a legendary live show from 1988  (
> http://www.richardthompson-music.com/catch_of_the_day.asp?id=116 ).
> 
> RT's also one of the only "aging" rock musicians I know who has continued
> to work on his craft, so that in his 50s he's still getting better as a
> guitarist and a singer. (Admittedly, I don't find his songwriting quite as
> inspired as when he was younger, but I don't think that's from any lack of
> integrity.)
> 
> My guess, Murray, is that you find RT "DULL" because some of the more
> traditional song forms (from folk to Tin Pan Alley) that he's genuinely
> devoted to, and reworks with such skill, aren't your cuppa. But that's a
> matter of your taste, not his integrity or creativity.
> 
>>> From: Jeffrey Germaine <jpg55@attbi.com>
>>> Reply-To: tv@obbard.com
>>> To: <tv@obbard.com>
>>> Subject: Re: (TV) Beware of Sales Pitches
>>> Date: Wed, 04 Jun 2003 10:03:57 -0700
>>> 
>>> Excellent observations.
>>> R. Thompson is a far far different personality than T.V.
>>> R.T. is the complete artist. He also has a very clever sense of humor.
>>> I know that he is very committed to his fans. I have never gotten that
>>> sense
>>> from T.V. in the over twenty-five years of following him.
>>> The only thing I have always wondered about T.V. is what does he do with
>>> all
>>> his time? His body of work is small and he really doesn't tour very much.
>>> When I first met him I sensed he was completely detached and insecure.  I
>>> suppose that first impressions are sometimes right.
>>> There is an old saying that says the older you get the harder you have to
>>> work because the less time there is. With R.T. I see a passionate artist
>>> who
>>> is out in the midst of the world  and is aware of time.  With Verlaine I
>>> see
>>> a man who is completely removed from the world and out of time.
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