Back in MY day… an old man rant

Brea and I traveled to the Houston area this past weekend to do a special followup podcast on the “WHEN WE RULED H-TOWN DOCUMENTARY”. For those that don’t know what it is about, you’re in luck because the podcast just went live today and is in our front page ready to stream or download to the digital storage device of your choice… The show hits home to me in a few ways. I guess it’s hard for me to truly “feel old”. I know it’s part of my moniker for the show. Being 35 is positively ancient in punk rock years. There is no denying my age (nor would I want to) I genuinely feel like kids today get the short end of the stick when it comes to music. I mean you guys “think” you have it. We try our best to bring it out for you… but it’s a far cry from the availability of indie music years ago when indie literally meant “Independent” and  not a genre for anything other than pop music. It’s not their fault. No one is mad at ‘em. It’s like your dad who drank Bud Light all his life not knowing that there was other, better beers out there than what Anheiser-Bush  shoved down your throat. I was lucky to come into my love of punk rock and independent music during the 90′s. The internet was around, but limited. We still relied on finding our music in record stores and slow mail order from obscure record dealers who would photocopy catalogs and advertise in the back of Maximum Rock and Roll.  Music was plentiful but you had to look for the really good stuff. Our record collections were works of art as we tried to top our friends to find more obscure stuff… the shows in town were HUGE. I mean HUGE. Imagine Lomita Opryhouse on Goliad Highway with over 800 people to see local band RED ORANGE. I was there. it happened. Sell out shows at Sun Valley where it was standing room only as Gc5, Tanka Ray, Worm Suicide and The blacklisted played.  The Touring bands on the bill talked about that one for years. Shows were a community event based on our ragtag bunch of show goers, bands and others. Everyone went out because let’s face it, it was a show, you knew you were going to have a good time, and everyone was out. I’m not sure where things went wrong. Technology plays a big part now days I guess. No one goes out looking for rare records or CD’s anymore. They download it or pirate it now. I’m all for saving a buck but it cheapens the music. There is no thrill of the hunt. There is no chase. If you don’t pay for the music you are more apt to listen to it once and toss it aside for your next thing instead of taking the time to savor what you got. Music doesn’t mean much to kids today. Back in the day A CD meant something, now, you can record an album in your bedroom, no talent required, and if you are attractive enough, you can pimp it on you social media and be famous in two earth days. Since people aren’t out in record stores, they also aren’t out at shows. Social Media has it fixed so you don’t have to leave your house unless you know there is a big party going on. Guess what? 9 times out of 10 everyone stays home and no party goes anywhere. You know what happens? You get a facebook feed full of friends bitching about how they are bored, when everyone could have gone to a local show, hung out, talked and drank. It just boggles my mind. With the death of the record store… we also see book stores falling due to online services like amazon and ebooks. As a bibliophile this scares me. It should scare you too… No open mic poetry nights and another nail in the coffin for literacy. We need libraries. We need bookstores. I am afraid that the very technology made to make life easier is ruining the good things of what made our modern day great. At any rate… I’m happy for the people who are working on When We Ruled H-Town. They are passionate about what they are doing. They are telling a story that needs to be told. I remember attending some Houston shows in the 90′s and those bands were absolute kings. We started the podcast to promote music, talk about music, and be ourselves. There are some things that we are losing and can’t help.  All things will end. But there are somet hings that must be preserved. I like to think that’s what we’re doing.