Re: (TV) Meltzer/Costello/Archetypes

[eric s gregory <esgregory@uswest.net>]

hey there,
i'm with you in re: yr theory on meltzer, et al.'s tv/verlaine indifference & resentment...from my conversations on this topic with meltzer, my snap-judgement psycholog-insite says meltzer wasn't getting the attention, wasn't giving off the mysterioso aura, that verlaine was...in short, he wasn't getting laid as easily (& worse...meltzer forgive me...verlaine got patti smith).

but i'll bet there was some artistic jealousy at work as well...the difference twixt meltzer & christgau is that meltz thinks of himself as an artist (& GOD BLESS him for THAT!)....for the record, meltzer thinks slightly more highly of hell, but lumps him in with "dose new york pretty boys.."
& yr probably right bout mr. c as well...i mean, i dug (still do, i suppose) costello back in the day (& no, leo...i'm a mere old 35 yrs old...i read bout all the nyc scenestuff avidly from my rochester, ny highschool home, but  wasn't a part thereof...i have elder pals who were tho & they shore do love to talk...as does my man, meltzer....he was there before & during after all)....but costello's really turned out to be a thick bore, no??
an EXACT SIMULATION of what a rockcritic would eventually become were he to make music....(awful generalization, i know...but i feel like i'm on a roll....)
not familiar with that FUSION interview...seriously doubt it was meltzer...believe it or not, he's given away the bulk of his CREEM collection.

"Casey, Leo J" wrote:

> Eric,
>
> Thanks for your interesting facts and details on R. Meltzer.  You know, in my previous rant off the deep end, I was going to add that Meltzer and lots of others who were part of the rock scene were probably just jealous of Verlaine' Messanic good looks and success with women (or did they hate Tom because they misinterpreted his distance/diffidence for arrogance?) but that felt too easy and sounded petty.
>
> In that light, I wonder if Television/TV would have had more commercial success if Tom looked like Elvis Costello.  I claim (half seriously) that a considerable part of Costello's success was that many males in the late 70's  to early 80's who did not possess the archetypical male looks/body that the media were always selling, could better relate to someone who looked as nerdy as they might have ----and yet who still got the girl!  What I mean is, I think Tom V.'s  and R. Lloyd's looks could actually have worked against the band having more commercial success with male listeners/concert goers.  But I must admit this would still be rather a minor second or third order effect,  there were/are a myriad of reasons for TV's commercial failure that dwarf any possible aversion to looks.
>
> Eric, does your message mean that you go way back to Meltzer's or Lester Bang's or even Fusion Magazine's era?  Besides my curiosity another reason that I ask, is that mono-maniacal that I am, I remembered that I once had some 'Fusion' magazine, one of which (1973-74?) had a very strange but wonderful article/interview with TV about his poetry and music (it was the first time I ever had heard or read anything  about TV).  Unfortunately, not too long afterwards while moving to a new apartment I  foolishly threw them all out.  Anyone out there ever read or see this particular issue of Fusion, or better yet anyone know where I could find the article (who knows, maybe R. Meltzer even wrote it)?
>                 Leo
>
> PS: I remember my girl friend and women friends whom I would drag to Verlaine's live shows always were very sexually attracted to Tom (and his music of course)---except one friend Leigh who said about Tom at a performance at The Peppermint Lounge that she preferred men who had more meat on their bones.
>
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