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By
Published: May 24, 2010
Category: Rock [4]
Four times a week, the daily newsletter reminds you what’s new on the site, and then, in Friday’s Weekend Edition, I free-associate and share bright thoughts you’ve sent me. (The signup is easy: look to the right, type in your e-mail address, hit ‘submit.’ ) Last Friday, subscribers got a furrowed brow newsletter. I’d just seen Josh Ritter [5] play in New York. If you’ve hung around here for a while, you can hardly have avoided reading that I see Josh as a poster child for Butler --- and for all that’s good and original in our unsteady culture. So I was frustrated by readers who consume vast quantities of books I suggest, but seem resistant to all music. What follows is some of that rant (apologies, subscribers for the repetition), plus --- and this is the point of today’s edition --- some of the many e-mails that poured in over the weekend. I see two morals. One: You kids are full of surprises. Two: As Mariel Hemingway says at the end of Manhattan, ‘Have a little faith in people.” With that in mind…..
When it comes to music, my pal Richard Sandhaus, proprietor of Discovery Editions [6], is a tough case. As a high school kid, he was a major rock music promoter in Connecticut; at Amherst College, he was such a powerhouse across New England that he tooled around in a majorly pricy sports car.
This week, years of my prodding wore him down and he went to see Josh Ritter play at Town Hall.
When he came home, he wrote me:
I rarely drag my lazy ass to live music. I’ll see this guy at every future opportunity. If Bruce at the Bottom Line is the standard, Josh is there. I loved him.
My wife and I and a gaggle of curious friends went last night and had an equally gobsmacked experience --- Josh is in the Red Bull, Take No Prisoners stage of his career, and he and he and his band pumped out two hours of magnificence without a single false step or dud song.
And while I want to tell you about this concert, and why you might profitable check Josh’s tour schedule [7] to see if he’ll be near you, I have some hesitation.
You really don’t like music --- at least enough to own this.
Every morning I get a sales report from Amazon.com that tells me what sold yesterday. [Privacy lovers have no worries; it doesn’t tell who bought, just what was bought.] I don’t --- repeat: don’t --- read this report for financial reasons. (I didn’t launch Butler to make a killing, and I don’t make a killing.) I see Butler as a focus group --- each day I suggest something that others don’t, and then I see how you respond. I’ll always write about books, movies, music and products that thrill me. But if there are categories you hate, I’m not a total fool --- I’ll go there less often.
Which is why I do music just once a week, if that. Because you don’t like it enough to buy it from Amazon.com, either as a real item or as an MP3 download.
This mystifies me, because the demographic “reports” I see about you on sites that measure these things --- I put “reports” in quotation marks because I regard these reports as generally unreliable --- tell me you are not teenagers. Mostly, you’re female. You have college degrees; the majority of you, I’m told, went to graduate school. And you make money.
When I write about music, I never write about teen pop stars whose voices have to be computer-sweetened so you won’t gag at their colossal absence of talent. My obsessions are poets and novelists who just happen to tell stories in song. Grown-up talents. Say it: artists.
Still, you’re immune. That saddens me, but it’s fine, really. You’re readers. People of the book. The most valuable citizens we have. I cherish that, and I’m honored to help get good books to you.
What frustrates me in the matter of Josh Ritter is that his glory begins --- and is built around --- his genius as a writer. If Paul Simon is the Poet Laureate of American popular music, for me Josh is next in line.
That came through powerfully in last night’s concert. You couldn’t miss the greatness of the words. (Not to denigrate the music; it’s wonderfully varied and sophisticated, and the Royal City Band, always first rate, now borders on legendary.) Words pour out of him; some songs contain so many you swim in them. They’re great words --- line by line great, no word there for the easy rhyme. And they’re smart words, too. They drop pearls in your ears, and wisdom, and deep emotion, and that most beautiful thing of all, realistic optimism.
Josh once described his music as “nerd rock.” That’s exactly right. (Who else would, in his patter between songs, joke about his “existential” situation?) Boyish, grinning like a kid in the old “Our Gang” comedies, he bounces around like he can’t quite believe he’s the guy at the mike. In fact, he’s the King of Nerd Rock, and, if he stumbles into a hit single, maybe the king of more than that.
If you want to catch up, “read” Josh Ritter in order. Start with Animal Years, [8] move on to Historical Conquests [9], and then you’ll better understand the challenging leap of the new CD, So Runs the World Away [5].
Or not.
But I’m telling you, listening to this music over and over --- the way you re-read your favorite books and take away new things each time --- may not only enrich your life, it may help helped you to pay close attention in general. Not much art does that. This does.
Which inspired the following:
ANN: But you did convince us. I bought a CD last night at the concert. I have to buy more, because some of the songs I liked were on the old CD's. The concert was eye-opening and inspiring, and also uplifting. I am convinced I was the oldest person there. I'm about the same age as you. [from Jesse: Gee, thanks!] My husband was one of four people in a suit. I went into this blind. I only listened to one song on your website before I bought tickets, so you are doing something right. I took the train ($10), bought the tickets on ebay ($75), ate dinner at the Brooklyn Diner ($55), bought a CD ($12), and took a town car home to New Canaan ($150). Total: $302. Those are pretty impressive results for a blogger, which you are only incidentally. So cheer up.
JLH: Peter Wolf [10] and Josh Ritter were playing Chicago on the same night. I made it to shows and am glad the cab driver took the turns on "two wheels" and allowed me to jump out of the cab "Joe Mannix" style so I didn't miss much. Every dollar spent on the tix and cab fare was worth it
KAS: You convinced me a while back. I bought the CDs, listened online, became a fan on Facebook. This week I went to Louisville to see Josh Ritter and took my skeptical but willing 'cool jazz' husband. It was a joyful evening. Ritter's music performed live is better than the fine quality on the CDs. And Greg, my husband, became a fan.
KATE: I'm class of '70, and my music obsession fell to the wayside for about 14 years while I raised kids and worked. However, one of the few good things about getting older is regaining the time to enjoy what you always loved. I do buy MP3 downloads and thank you for the into to Josh Ritter. Now my 5-year-old granddaughter sings to "Snow is Gone" on the way to pre-school.
MATT: I just thought I'd write you --as a 32-year-old -- to say that a friend and I went to Josh Ritter's concert in Chicago. It was awesome. I don't go to many, if any, concerts that aren't classical music. But the venue was intimate, the acoustics good, and Josh was on fire. It was a thrill. Don't lose hope yet!
LUAN: I’m pretty much in your sweet spot (so to speak) since I'm female, highly educated, moneyed, and yeah, smart. But immune to music? Not so! You've made some terrific suggestions: James Taylor and Carole King [11], Teddy Thompson [12], Alison Krauss and Robert Plant [13] and Mary Chapin Carpenter [14]. But I choose to buy music from iTunes, rather than Amazon, and I suspect I'm not alone. Why? I find it easier. Also, some of Amazon's recent shenanigans with e-book pricing are just wrong, in my opinion, and I have a personal stake in the situation now that I have a Kindle book for sale on their site. I've started switching some of my book buying to Barnes & Noble for just that reason.
ELIL: I like music, I really like music. You have influenced my purchase decisions more than any other source in the past year. Here is the thing though, I read your post and then I go and listen to Josh Ritter on Grooveshark.com. I am stunned and amazed and in love. And I buy his
CD at our local CD shop because I'm trying to keep them alive. And I buy that camera you recommended at Best Buy because I have a gift card there. And I check the book that you recommended out of the library because I books are already taking up too much space in my house. (P.S. I hated the coffee that I bought from Rome [15]...not blaming you, however.)
ELSA: I saw Josh Ritter for the 5th time last night -- the only artist I have seen more is Pete Yorn. I had heard of Josh before you. (Actually, a friend who subscribes to Butler asked if I had heard of Josh Ritter, and we saw him at Jazz at Lincoln Center. I know what you mean about the music, though. When I told a friend who worked at Sony Records that I had bought both Pete Yorn and Wilco in one week he said, "That was you?" I make plenty of mixed CD's for friends, I subscribe to music magazines, blogs and whatnot, but I'm in the minority (I am 51, BTW). But thanks for continuing to talk about it. With me, you are preaching to the choir, but I think it matters.
SOOSE: As an avid reader of your column/blog, I want to assure you that your opinion is generally enough for me to buy or download what ever it is that your critiquing. Countless books have been read, records bought and downloaded. And not just by me, but by friends who may not fit your demographic. I do have to admit that I don't typically purchase music from Amazon. That is reserved for my iTunes account. I know it may be a bit more expensive, and as a victim of the down-turned economy every dollar is scrutinized, but iTunes is just easier.
.
And, just to prove I didn’t write these myself….
LUCY: Occasionally you suggest something classical that is nice, and I thank you for that. And you have sent some wonderful books my way. But I really don't like most of the music you suggest, even though I could certainly afford to buy it.
So, okay. Music continues. And maybe I’ll exert myself and sign on to iTunes, to make it easier for those who roll that way…. Meanwhile, thanks to all who wrote, and to all who bear with me.