“It’s been a long time—and I’m glad that I left you
I’ve been snacking on fresh fruit and practicing chess moves”
It’s been a couple months but I’m back. I appreciate the concerned emails, and the project is starting again. I stopped writing Audible Hype because I was bored with the topic—I moved on to more interesting things, like studying 5th generation warfare over at Skilluminati Research.
Why did I get bored? Why am I re-starting the project now? I have three basic reasons.
I’ve been reading a lot of misconceptions lately, but that’s nothing new. Most of what passes for “music journalism” is just re-phrasing press releases, after all. So the recent trend of articles about the environmental impact of the music business is something I feel obligated to speak on. Honestly, I think it’s just fluff—an easy story to write about that contributes nothing worthwhile. Worst of all, it’s a distraction from ongoing sources of real pollution, poison and devastation.
Today I’m going to use a recent column from Exclaim! to examine the reality behind the rhetoric about “greening” the industry. We’ll be covering everything from China to London to Los Angeles, and back to your local landfill.
When I first met Witness, we had both showed up at a gig we’d planned 2 months in advance. We had arrived to find out there was still no sound system for venue. There had been no promotion, and the venue had submitted the wrong lineup and mispelled his name in both local papers. It was probably the worst-managed, most-pathetic Music Biz Moment I saw in 2007. Witness was completely unfazed and very kind about the whole thing. It turned out his attitude worked: we wound up finding a sound system, an audience, and an actual venue all during the next 2 hours. Witness and Unsung went on to deliver killer sets in front of a tough audience. The toughest, really: the “I’m just here for pizza why are you rapping at me” demographic, notoriously hard to please. Witness pleases everyone. He graciously answered some nosy questions from Audible Hype:
Trying to figure out wether or not Bob Cramer is full of shit. Maybe that’s a rude way to put it.
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My name is Justin Boland and I'm a rapper, writer and hippie entrepreneur. I work for Back Brain Media and I run Brainsturbator, Hump Jones, Audible Hype and Skilluminati Research.