Something Dave Matthews recently said spun me into a mental riff.
According to an article called “Matthews Battles to Get It Right on the Stage and in Life” by George Varga on SignOnSanDiego.com (of the Union-Tribune), Matthews doesn’t like to do interviews because he doesn’t care for how the media oversimplifies things. The quote from Matthews:
“Because of what it is, ‘rock journalism,’ like much of the other mainstream media, is an attempt to sell an oversimplified, nicely packaged vision of the world that will be palatable and easy to travel, when the truth is far more confusing. I can assure anyone that gets their news from the mainstream media that there’s a far more inspirational, complex and breathtaking world out there than the one portrayed to us in general by the purveyors of information.”
You bet. Rock journalism is trying to sell something. Music, for one, but also the glamour and gossip of the rock scene, all in an effort to sell publications and advertising. It’s about readership. If you give people something juicy, they’ll let it dribble from their chins while they eat it up. Sales soar. Ka-ching!
Whether that news is palatable is another story altogether. I have never cared for rock journalism’s concentration on the underbellies of performing artists – the sex and drugs part of the equation, not to mention the liberal shots of liquor. Fine, musicians are human. They have peccadilloes. It’s a rare article about Dave Matthews that doesn’t mention his alcohol consumption. You’d think the guy was a raging alcoholic, and maybe he is, but I doubt it. Raging alcoholics tend to have difficulty remaining upright, let alone maintaining a productive and profitable creative life. But rock journalists keep writing this aspect of Matthews’ life because it connects with the majority of their readers. Besides, who has time to go any deeper? Rock stars are busy. Rock journalists are busy. Time is money. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Get the story out to readers.
Without making excuses for the mainstream media, which, as Matthews and many other critics point out, have plenty of flaws, how can they possible give us the entire, complicated story? The reality is that no one, not even the great PBS documentary directors of our day, can tell the full story on anything. If one could, there’d be no reason to revisit topics, to reexamine the truth, which can be slippery and multi-faceted. Instead, the story is revealed in dribs and drabs over time.
This is the way of all creative works, not just the machinations of rock journalists. The products of creativity, be they songs or books or paintings or stories in the mainstream media, are necessarily distillations. Why does Matthews continue to write songs? I’d venture to guess that, like most artists, he can’t capture everything he wants to express within one song. Neither can rock journalists, or other purveyors of mainstream media, serve up everything they’d like to say in one story or report, even if they desperately wanted to. The flaw is not only with mainstream media’s oversimplifications, it is with all of us who don’t have the patience to allow the story to unfold. We want the final story immediately, so we can make decisions and live our lives accordingly. We won’t be satisfied with any less.
If you want to get a bigger picture of Dave Matthews, you can’t read one article in Rolling Stone and take it as gospel, the last word. You have to listen to his band’s music and his solo music, follow the band’s website, and see the films he’s been in, plus read material and comments posted by fans, along with reading what rock journalists have to say about him. Even then, you will only get a glimpse of the fullness of his being.
Extrapolate this process to any news item and you can begin to see why the mainstream media chooses oversimplification. This does not mean they’re off the hook, however. They could be telling us more of a story than they do; building upon what has gone before, rather than resorting to banal questions like the examples Matthews gives in the SignOnSanDiego article. How many times should he have to answer, “What’s your favorite color?” Has any rock journalist ever asked him, “What’s your favorite note?”
Labels: dave matthews, dave matthews band, dmb, journalism, mainstream media, music, rock, rolling stone, telling the whole story
# posted by Anonymous @ 5:56 PM
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Surely the blogs are all a'twitter about Dave Matthews' appearance on Fox Network's TV show House last night. I have to admit that last night was the first night I watched the show and I was drawn to seeing how Matthews would do as an actor, rather than as a singer. He played a savant with the mental age of a little kid, but had an outstanding musical ability. He did a fine job of being guileless and properly vacant. If I'd had the part, I would have been lucky to affect a vague distractedness, rather than all out blankness. I found I was wishing they'd given Matthews more lines, just to see how he'd deliver, but then realized that it's got to be harder to act through facial action without the veil of words to hide behind. If Matthews continues his acting career, which seems likely, I hope he picks a character that requires a lot, and I mean A LOT, of makeup and prosthetics. The trouble with a person switching from a music career to an acting career is that he is so recognizable that the audience can't help but think, Why, I know everything there is to know about this fellow, and this familiarity makes it difficult to give him a fair shake.
The storyline involving Matthews' character was a backdrop piece to what was going on with the main character, Dr. House, who is played by Hugh Laurie. I'm familiar with Laurie's work on the British comedy Blackadder, which also stars Rowan Atkinson. I especially liked Laurie's character in the Elizabethan episodes of Blackadder. His nickname was "Shorty Greasy Spot-Spot." In House, Laurie plays a complete smart-ass, which I loved. He reminds me of the Dr. Cox character on the TV show Scrubs, only House is darker. Definitely a show worth watching again, just to see what Laurie will do.
Say, does anyone more familiar with the show know whether the cane and limp are part of the House character? This limp is so convincing that it has me thinking Laurie has a long-term injury, but I don't remember him being this way in Blackadder.
Labels: acting, blackadder, dave matthews, house, hugh laurie, music, rowan atkinson, story, tv
# posted by Anonymous @ 9:03 PM
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Have you ever listened really closely to a piece of music? I mean REALLY closely. Pick your favorite piece and try it some time.
I've done it with Dave Matthews' song Dodo from his solo album Some Devil. Easily my favorite song of all time. Here's what I discovered. It is much more intricate than it might seem at first blush. The vocals are the most obvious. There aren't that many lyrics to Dodo. The most poignant line is
When was that killed
the very last dodo bird?
And was she aware
she was the very last one?
Dave's voice is gentle, like a pearl rolling on velvet. The song is a lullaby of sorts with that voice.
After listening for the lyrics about 50 billion times, I started honing in on what was going on with the music. The song begins with a ripple effect, reminiscent of water dropping into a shallow pool. A bass line plunks out notes that are picked up by the guitar and repeated through the rest of the song, like a mantra -dunt, dunt, dunt, de dunt da - dunt, dunt, dunt, de dunt da - like a hopping, pecking bird. Behind this are drums, the bass, and maracas or a tambourine (or both). As the music continues, horns come in with steady notes at first, eventually building and sliding, building and sliding. Toward the end of the song, a sax solos, the notes distinct and comforting, and rising - a dodo burbling, perhaps. The effect by the end is enough to cause an out-of-body experience. The song finishes with a bongo, a tambourine and a deep laugh.
The layers are astounding. When I listen closely, I hear something new every time. Exquisite.
What is your favorite song hiding from you? Have a listen and uncover its secrets.
Labels: dave matthews, dodo, listening, music, some devil
# posted by Anonymous @ 9:02 PM
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