boredoms (no, not THOSE boredoms...)

["anti:clockwise" <anticlockwise@tensionheadache.org>]

laptop shows. yeah, when it comes to boredom they're an interesting issue. 
do they actually serve to redefine what performances can (ought to?) be? 
do 
they realign one's expectations when preparing to go to hear a show?

i've seen tons of gigs by folks flailing on guitars that were boring as 
all 
get out - clearly, the screengazers have no corner on the market when it 
comes to tediousness. and like everyone i've been to some pretty tiring 
computer-driven shows.

stylistically speaking - for the most part i love that bloop-bleep shit. 
hey, i'm kicking back at my favorite cocktail lounge downing a few 
blood-orange kozmos? that's what's pulsating away on the sound system. 
can't generate the stuff myself, but i'm glad someone's out there doing 
it. 
and it kills me that the style seems such fair game these days for every 
TV 
car ad. really sad.

but what about merzbow? is THAT what you mean by "boring laptop"? man, 
that 
show was more aggressive than any 18 metal bands all performing 
simultaneously (a sound you can experience by coming to the building i 
rehearse in any night of the week and riding the elevator all the way up 
to 
12.)

or maybe michael schumacher - who can make you wonder if a laptop is 
actually an acoustic intrument... creating a shifting aural environment 
for 
just a few people at the 220 grand loft... clearly everyone in attendance 
was VERY focused on this personal, highly intimate performace.

thenagain - i remember going to see portishead at the hammersmith here in 
nyc few years back. now there's an intimate sound for ya. and there they 
were, a _real band_ all live on stage (with the _real_ beth!) and STILL 
half the auditorium was nothing but jabber, jabber jabber. maybe people 
just won't pay any attention unless the dB's generated from the PA can 
exceed the ones from their all-important conversations.

finally - a word about real vinyl slingin' djs -

make no final decisions til you've seen spooky. or olive. a turntable IS 
an 
instrument. it's just that not too many people can actually PLAY the damn 
thing.

over n out.
a:c