Re: Other Artists; OK! I Give Up!

[chrisw@wwa.com (Chris Williams)]

>Dongerous! wrote:
>>He Is John wrote:
>>>Dongerous! wrote:
>>>> What I found distrubing about some of the lists was the fact that 
>>>>many list members appear to have not discovered a new artist since the 
>>>>'70s!!!
>>>
>>>Disturbing?  In the early 70s, I discovered Phil Keaggy, David Bowie 
>>>and Deep Purple.
>>
>>I hate to break it to you John, but David Bowie and Deep Purple 
>>weren't new
>>artists in the '70s. There's both from the '60s.
>
>Ooohhhh...  I thought you said you found the fact that some L-H subscribers
>haven't DISCOVERED any new artists since the '70s disturbing.  In essence,
>an indictment of our willingness to open ourselves up to something a little
>more current, as opposed to commentary on which decade a particular
>recording artist may "belong" to.    Wait a minute...  that *IS* what you
>said  :-)

   Actually, it was only the small self-selected subset that responds to
on-line polls that you are looking at. Some of us discover new artists so
frequently that list making seems pointless. For instance, Vickie and
I "discovered" a new artist *last weekend". How's that for "up to date"?

   We had never heard her music, but on the advice of a friend went to her
concert at Shuba's a small (120 seat) Chicago club. Shuba's has been our
"lucky" club, as we have seen so many brilliant artists there for the first
time; Sarah MacLachlin, Tori Amos, and others. A Shuba's booking is not a
guarantee of quality, but it's a good indication.

   Mila Drumke has two albums, and we wound up purchasing both her CDs and
her T-shirt! Vickie saw her at Shuba's and the two of us saw her at the
Elbo Room the next night. For Kate Kontent, at the second show she did
a great cover of "Under The Ivy"! At the time we had no idea that she was
a Kate fan or that she had a cover.

   Anyway, Kate completists are invited to get her CD "Illinois" from:

   Little Pro Records
   328 Flatbush Ave
   Suite 207
   Brooklyn, NY  11238

   (Make check for $13 payable to Mila Drumke)

  ...or check out her web site at:

   http://home.earthlink.net/~miladrumke/

   Anyway, Vickie and I are fairly major Kate fans and are constantly
buying CDs and going to concerts looking for new (or new to us which
could mean discovering an LP by someone from the 20's or whenever)
music. 

   Most people do tend to have a particular window in their life
when their musical tastes get defined and they tend to stick with
that. But (again IMO) Kate has moved through so many musical
changes (think "The Man With The Child In His Eyes" to "Big
Stripey Lie") that her fans have learnt musical nimbleness.
Kate (and Todd Rundgren in my case) have produced such a wide
variety of things thay have expanded my musical horizons for
other artists.

   That said, the new artist we are discovering are *NOT* what's
on the charts! Most of what gets popular sucks. Just look at
what was popular when "Wuthering Heights" was a hit. Or when
"Sat In Your Lap" was on the charts. We constantly find new
artists. Some of them later becomes popular, but that's a fairly
small percentage. Most of them get ground up in the record industry
machine.