It's been a while since I've looked at blogger and I love this new template with the Jack Handey-esque flight of birds aimlessly drifting off the right side of the screen, almost daring you to try to come up with something to say that's completely devoid of meaning or value.
To put it briefly, I created this account mainly to participate in some other people's blogs, in the context of the Houston music scene. I am not a music writer, I don't get out much, and I probably know both far more and far less about music than you do. I've been around the Houston music scene enough to care a little bit about it, or at least to argue pointlessly about it -- a completely self-indulgent and self-referential exercise, for sure.
I'm biased, and I should explain those biases up front:
1) I'm old. That should be obvious. So I like a lot of older music. But still, I was born old, and I liked old music even when I was a kid. The only time I've ever really been on a music curve when it was happening was during the early to mid 80s when bands like the Butthole Surfers or Scratch Acid were in their prime. That kind of passed me by, and gradually I just got more and more into old blues-based heavy rock & roll. So unless you play some old, groovy sounding heavy shit, I am probably not going to really, really get into your band -- although I may be able to appreciate it on some level if it's well done and has decently written songs.
2) I have my own band in Houston, which has been around for a while. And I mean a while.
3) I play the guitar, and my comments will come from a guitar player's point of view.
4) I don't keep up a whole lot with new music. I just don't have the time, and frankly have not mastered mp3 theft on a wide enough scale to make it useful to me. I still buy most of my music so that adds a financial limitation as well. So there are vast oceans of things, like college radio alterna-rock, that I have no clue about. I am prone to treat such things with sweepingly dismissive generalizations, and yes you are probably right that your favorite band _________ deserves to be listened to more thoroughly and that those generalizations don't apply to them and whatnot.
5) I don't like jazz. Sorry. Actually there's a whole lot of stuff I don't generally like -- rap, college rock, happy music, dance music, pop punk, alterna-buzz, nu metal (with some noted exceptions), jam bands, hardcore, grindcore, eclecto-ethno-pop, fusion, emo, singer-songwriter chicky music. So don't expect me to give any of this stuff a fair shake.
6) I have a real day job and a kid and stuff. Politically I would describe myself as conservative, which of course will alienate me automatically from all you hipster types - although I'm not a social conservative by any means. I don't intend to get political in my participation on various blogs but I imagine that in some ways, my conservatism, perhaps best described as a libertarian streak mixed with life experience, will color some of what I have to say.
I am doing this mainly to talk about music, but I reserve the right to hold forth on other topics of interest to me, like food, beer, and sports for example. Most people who know me already will figure out who I am pretty easily, but I am maintaining the formality of anonymity primarily out of privacy concerns with social media and whatnot -- things can get personal, ugly, stupid, etc. and there are innumerable examples of things flying way out of control.
That's really about it. I'm pretty grouchy, but I am still usually right and you're usually wrong, unless you are agreeing with me.
