Target audience
This summer, I attended Camper Van Beethoven’s 25th anniversary concert at the Fillmore in San Francisco – and I was one of the younger ones in the crowd. Plenty of gray hair and gray beards in the crowd. I did the math and realized that while I discovered the band in college, they formed when I was in junior high, meaning their core audience is older than me. So I scanned the people around me again, and thought, “Yeah, that’s about right.”
A few Sundays ago, I was in a small Scottsdale club to catch Kate Voegele, and the crowd was dominated by teens and twentysomethings. There were some thirtysomethings, people in my age group. So it was a nice mix. But as two opening acts came and went, and Voegele was halfway through her set, I noticed that the people my age hung back. They seemed incredibly bored. Some paced. Some sat on bar stools in the corner. I couldn’t figure them out. And then I realized, with a bit of horror, that these people were parents and were simply there to chaperone their kids.
Ouch.
I can’t win.
This charming man
I flipped through the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly this past weekend and noticed a review for a new novel named This Charming Man by Irish author Marian Keyes. It made me think of the book by Douglas Coupland, titled Girlfriend in a Coma. Were they fans of The Smiths? Perhaps. I’m sure there are a few other authors who have been inspired by the band and have named their books after Smiths’ songs. And I’m sure there’s a fan site out there listing those books.
So anyway, that got me thinking. I haven’t started my novel yet, but I’m going to name it after a Smiths’ song, too.
My working title?
*drumroll please*
I started something I couldn’t finish.
ahem! 
Easily amused
I ordered a new CD by an indie rock band today and when the shipment confirmation arrived, the length of the email caught my eye. It wasn’t the typical, bland “Your order has shipped” note. It was far more creative.
It read:
Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.
A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.
Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.
We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved “Bon Voyage!” to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Wednesday, January 30th.
Just hilarious. Call me gullible or easily amused, but just because of their originality and humor, I went to their Web site again to check out their music catalogue. I’m definitely going to order from them again. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to the CD arriving in a tiny, little cardboard box.
New Musical Experience
Over the years, my wife’s eclectic musical tastes have introduced me to dozens of artists whose concerts I normally would not have attended: Aerosmith, the Indigo Girls and Matisyahu, a singer who raps about Judaism over a reggae beat.
I’m grateful that she helps me break out of my self-imposed ’80s musical shell. But nothing prepared me for last Friday night when she took me to see Christian rocker Chris Tomlin. I’ve never listened to Christian rock before. And I’m sure the Jesus and Mary Chain doesn’t count. It was a completely different concert experience than I’m used to. A few things I learned: (more…)
