From: AM@highwire.net   
      
   "AM"  wrote in message   
   news:rA4oe.25847$eR.13059@fe05.lga...   
   > "Lane Gray, Czar Castic"  wrote in message   
   > news:opsrs65des8955ol@stylgar...   
   >> On Fri, 3 Jun 2005 11:14:09 -0600, AM  wrote:   
   >>> Offering the use of equipment as an enticement (for what turns out to be   
   >>> exploitation and abuse) could only be a service to those who wouldn't   
   >>> have their own equipment anyway, if theirs wasn't in the way.  This is   
   >>> an issue right out of Marxist theory, where a small number of greedy,   
   >>> capitalistic musicians sieze "control of the means of production" in   
   >>> order to exploit what might otherwise be the sacred, spiritual communion   
   >>> of the "jam," for purely selfish, pecuniary and egoistic gratification   
   >>   
   >> Or because *somebody* has to stump up from about a grand to several grand   
   >> for a PA.  If you don't have a house PA, then they're gonna have to find   
   >> a band willing to let theirs get used.  And I don't have a problem with   
   >> them saying something like "if I'm not having fun, I'll just pull the   
   >> plug."  And I don't see them seizing control of the means of production;   
   >> your hands are still the only ones on your guitar (or whatever you play)   
   >   
   > You can pick 'til your fingers bleed (and, believe me, I have), but it   
   > won't make a bit of difference if there's a Control Freak Egomaniac   
   > at the mixer out to strangle your sound.   
   >   
   >> And you're always welcome to go find an acoustic jam without that   
   >> annoying necessity of the PA system, or a big ol' picking party.   
   >> Not to mention that Marx has failed everywhere his theories have gotten   
   >> tried.  Marx didn't get that you can't trump human nature.   
   >>   
   >>> - - - at the expense of the overwhelming majority and the creative   
   >>> process itself.  Most of the individuals with psychological profiles   
   >>> that lead them to engage in this type of activity would also attempt to   
   >>> order one around entirely unplugged in an otherwise empty room, where   
   >>> there could be absolutely no conceivable rationale for doing so, so   
   >>> abjectly compulsive is this behavior in them.   
   >>   
   >> I've never seen that happen anywhere.  At the larger picking parties, or   
   >> the jam sessions hosted by the bluegrass societies (there are two regular   
   >> jams in the Kansas City area), you'll find a circle where nothing other   
   >> than Bill Monroe/F&S get played (and if you try breaking out a Country   
   >> Gentlemen tune, they'll either glare at you, or wander off to regroup   
   >> without you - I've seen it happen) sitting just a few feet where the most   
   >> normal thing you'll hear is "With Care From Someone" or "Deputy Dalton"   
   >> just around the corner from the circle you'll most likely find me in,   
   >> namely the one where they take classic country stuff (Carl Smith, Carl   
   >> Butler, ET, Jean Shepard, Hank, Hank, Hank, Hank, Hank, Hank, and Hank   
   >> (all different Hanks, and none of them have a Jr in them) get a bluegrass   
   >> treatment.  And they all get along just fine.   
   >   
   > What I'm describing is a problem with any "organ"ized, participatory,   
   > musical event in contemporary culture, whether amplified or otherwise,   
   > blues, folk, bluegrass, rock, jazz, or whatever.  I'm talking about all   
   > the totally unnecessary horseshit, hierarchical, hoop-hopping of ALL these   
   > events - - - as predicated by the abject psycho-spiritual oblivion of most   
   > of the participants.  One does not go to a recreational activity to be   
   > abused by the nearest jack-ass, and entertainment venues should stop   
   > paying such people for such poor service.   
   >   
   > What would be so terrible about simply advertising an "acoustic jam night"   
   > without preconception of what style might emerge on a given night or an   
   > "electric jam night" where it would be understood that one would be   
   > responsible for one's own amplification (if one played an instrument where   
   > that was necessary), which usually guarantees everyone his own monitor,   
   > anyway?  No hosts are necessary - - - unless one wishes to   
   > institutionalize injustice.  As bad as most of the PA mixes I've gotten   
   > have been in such settings, it could not possibly have been any worse   
   > utilizing decentralized amplification (or none at all) in these small to   
   > average-sized rooms.   
   >   
   > The advent of the electronic mixer has, sadly, for all the good it has   
   > done, tilted the *politics* of the jam most decidedly and decisively - - -   
   > from democracy toward dictatorship.   
      
   Clearly, one who chooses to play, principally, dobro and pedal steel   
   guitar is simply, culturally more compatible with a Redneck Rules "jam."   
   If one perceives institutionalized injustice as entirely fair (because it is   
   biased in one's own favor) and if one is, himself, a folkwad dawgfart   
   grasshole, one will find nothing wrong with Okie Fokie Hokie Pokie   
   Shucky Darn Doo Daw Hee Haw culture.   
      
   AM   
   --   
   ***************************************************   
   "Oneness is not achieved through conformity or subordination, but   
   through the full expression of everyone's unique piece of the puzzle."   
     --AM, the Synthesist   
   ***************************************************   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)