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This Header is dumb (was Re: This is dumb)

Well, I for one am wholeheartedly with Amy.  There has been nothing but 
kindness on this list.  There are no flames, just an intelectual
converstaion that we share with eachother.  All oppinions are safe and
valid, and worth considering.  You have violated that trust.

> I find the idea of writing to your "fans" asking them if you should "go
> big" or stay "ma-n-pop" to be offensive.

Over The Rhine do not have fans.  They have listeners.  They have listeners
that have shared a journey with them.  They reply to our mail with
personalized, hand-written letters.  They read what we have to say.  We
support them, and (I have come to think at least) that they thrive on that
support.  I quote:

"Can you hear sounds forming in your head?
Do they say more than you've ever said?
Will you share them‹ will you hoard instead?
...
People take so much, and then leave.  If you lean,
you have no safe crutch‹ except
your own conviction
...
They flee the starving artist
Or bleed to feed his heart.
Hunger.  Hunger."
-The Chills, "Song for Randy Newman Etc." off of the album Soft Bomb

This is not true for Over The Rhine.  They are a well established local band
with a following throughout the entire mid- and north-east (at the very
least).  We support eachother.  Start reading posts, and you'll see the
comunity that this is.  They are not asking their fans, they are asking
compatriots, associates and friends.  We have stood by them through so much
turmoil.  It is, in a way, us who have been employing them for years.  They
are honorable people and (I may assume too much to believe they think this)
feel that they should not betray us.  If the record deal goes wrong, they
will depend on us to still be there/here.  If they allienate us we may not
be there when they need us, just like The Chills forewarn.

> Do you guys have any sensitivity
> to the countless among us (writers, artists, poets, musicians, and other
> thieves-in-the-making) who would do anything to be in your situation?

This could be the case, or maybe they respect their position so much that
they honor us with the privalege of asking for our oppinion.  Your ignorant
response leaves you unworthy of such an honor.

> I have two friends, an actor and a writer in california, who would blow up a
> small school of children to have the chance to sign a major deal.

Your friends are obviously self-centered assholes.

> What is it you are really asking of us anyway?  To toss around cliches,
> like "follow your heart" or "don't sell out" or "take a chance"??? Do
> these really help? Is this really what you are looking for, or do you
> think we have anything more poetic or inspiring or clever to say?

Are we or are we not mostly fellow artists, and art enthusiasts here?  I
think that we can do and have done better than to "throw around cliches."
Sure we spice with post up with them, or refer to the accepted "truisms" as
an end support for our statements, but it is never a primary.

> them.  Am I supposed to think that OTR is reserved for the deep thinking,
> "apple orchard" arm-chair faggoty poetic types? Definetly not!  So what if
> your music is listened to by not so "passionate" normal people who may
> never get so recklessly inspired by it like most of us? So what...is it
> any less meaningful or important as art?

I don't think that was Linford's concern.  I think his concern was loosing
some of his artistic license.  That is a very real threat with labels.  As
soon as you give any of the control of your work away, your art is slightly
less your own.

> I'm apt to think that your music never really belonged to you anyway.  It
> has and will continue to exist somewhere between you and us, as a gift for
> both of us.

Exactly NOT you point.  This is MY point, you're just saying it.  It is
partially ours, and he is respecting exactly this by requesting our
oppinion.  I think it's way cool of him.  Imagine if your favorite actor
asked you whether he should take a movie or not.  This respect for your fan
base is awe inspiring, and wonderful.  In short, sit down, and shut up!

> If you have no vision to see "us" broaden from peole who sit
> cross-legged with trendy framed glasses sipping coffee to girls with
> flourescent tits on beaches, then why in the world would ever want to go
> big?  The secret is in seeing that there is not a whole lot of difference
> between the two kinds of audiences anyway.

Again, I don't think that this is the concern.  Again, the concern is with
loosing some of the control over the end result.  Of knowing that the final
decisions will NOT be in your hands.  If you record 20 songs, and you hate
10 of them, those 10 could wind up on your next record and the 10 good ones
could wind up in a trash heap somewhere never-to-be-released unless the band
does so well that it needs filler on a 4 disc rare outakes album 10 years
down the line.

Sorry to be (at least) mildly flaming you, but.... you started it.


Brian

--
"Ask not what your country can do for ewe, but what ewe can do for their
country; no, no, scratch that."

Brian Gardner- "Twisted Quotes"