Music

Volume Ain’t The Answer

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On a rare outing of this type, Wifey and I took in the “Local Grooves, Local Brews” night at House Of Blues in San Diego’s Gaslamp quarter Oct. 21.

14 bands, 4 songs each alternating between two stages.  It has to be a logistical nightmare, but SD’s ace promoter Cathryn Beeks pulled it off again.

I couldn’t last all night — I probably couldn’t have even 30 years ago.  The crowd grew thicker, the volume got louder, and it was really a stress-fest as the evening wore on.

I did discover one amazing band — opening group Queen Divas of the Universe had the crowd in the palm of their hands from their first power chords.

Queen Divas Of The Universe

Lady Rockers Queen Divas Of The Universe

Low point? Well, I don’t want to name names, and of course it’s all a matter of opinion, but when a group has nothing better to do than make outer-space sound effects, I think they need a little better career guidance.  Just sayin’ …

Volume is not an artistic achievement.  It’s usually a sign of animmature band or an inexperienced sound engineer.  An amped-up audience isn’t a good guide to good sound.

For somebody who doesn’t like crowds — and who usually doesn’t DO crowds — I think I held in there pretty good.  The bar was filled to the brim with people more interested in making the scene than with music lovers, so I admire all the performers for sticking out their, uh, necks and putting on a bang-up show.

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WADE

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Big Biz Controls Music — You Don’t Matter

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The entire music industry is controlled by four multi-national corporations —

  1. Universal Music Group — Interscope Geffen A&M, The Island Def Jam Music Group, Universal Motown Republic Group, Decca Label Group, The Verve Music Group, A&M/Octone
  2. Sony Entertainment Group — RCA/Jive Records, J Records and Columbia/Epic, Arista, Legacy, Masterworks and various latin and country labels.
  3. Warner Music Group — Warner Bros, Elektra, Rhino, Atlantic and most of the major music publishing companies
  4. EMI Group — Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol, Capitol Latin, Capitol Records Nashville, EMI Classics, EMI CMG, EMI Records, EMI Records Nashville, Manhattan, Parlophone, Virgin Classics and Virgin Record

There’s not much left to gobble up. It’s already a conglomeration of conglomerates — all merged and homogeneous.  So the only thing left is incest.

The big news today is that Doug Morris — Worldwide Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Universal Music Group since 1995 — is moving over to Sony Entertainment Group as CEO.

The specialty of this 73-year-old (caucasian) music veteran?  Hip Hop and Rap.

I’m glad I don’t have to pull up to a stop light next to the chauffeured limo driving him to work, as I’ll bet it has an ass-kicking subwoofer system that gives you a concussion from a block away.  Yo!

Doug Morris and recording artists from Universal Group

D-Mor with homies Jay-Z and his posse

After exploiting piloting the careers of Jay-Z, Nelly, Lil Wayne, Erykah Badu and Kanye West, D-Mor (my new nickname for him) will be rubbing elbows with J. Cole, Three 6 Mafia, Wyclef Jean and OutKast.

Actually they will be rubbing their lips somewhat south of D-Mor’s elbows.

So, if you are gonna sell your soul to The Man — D-More, “You da man!”

Maybe someday, the music business will return to … umm … music.  It won’t be the models and body-builders who are rewarded with contracts to make videos, but maybe people who can actually sing, or play an instrument or do something besides sample somebody else’s hit songs, scratch records and recite a page from a rhyming dictionary will be able to record audio.

WADE

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