Re: [Harp-L] death of live music

["Ralf K. Buschner" <r_buschner@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

> I have some hope that the hippie kids will keep the jam band thing going,
> but my experience is that they are somewhat indiscriminating & more  into
> the scene than the music, at least in clubs.

everything i read 'til now is the same as in Germany. A lot of young folks 
goes to parties with DJ's and Karaoke, and indeed some DJ's are handled as 
real stars today, more than musicians. 
In my opinion, the reason for them going to parties with music from tape 
rather than live music is, that - at a live gig - they would have 
to "celebrate" the band, but at parties they can celebrate themselve. 

In a society with rules like "Try to be the best, the greatest, the coolest!" 
rather than "Be honest, humbly and support the society and your people!" that 
counts a lot, and when i'm downtown and have a beer in a bar together with 
friends, i'm often really flattened, what kind of show some young folks play 
for impressing others. Woaaah! So cool, it's snowing behind 'em! And they are 
pretty busy with impressing others, so they're not really interested in 
music. 

Maybe i'm a bit pessimistic, but that's what i feel when i watch all that 
music thing, the age of listeners, and how they behave when a band plays...

Errm...thank god there are some exceptions - we have a young guitar player, 
that guy is 16 now, and he's really awesome, not only technically - he really 
feels the blues, and we oldsters are really happy to see such a pearl grow 
amongst us.  Unfortunately a guitar is much more attractive for youngsters 
than a harp, and i never heard a boy in the age of 15 say "Oh, i really want 
to learn to play a really hot harmonica!". 
:-)

Please excuse, when i didn't use the right grammar or some odd words...i'm not 
a native english speaker...but i think, my view can be understood...

Seeya,
Ralf