Love/Hate Mail
You saw our mirror cover?
Thank you for the lovely photo of the whore on your front cover ("The People Issue 2010," March 3).
Dorian Woodruff — Nashville
Praise for Rob Simbeck
I just wanted to drop you a line and commend you for the excellent article on Gretchen Wilson in this week's magazine ("Redneck Redux," Feb. 25). The public seldom gets a look at the inner workings of a label/artist/management relationship, and when they do it is usually part of a lawsuit or other contentious matter where the truth is hard to discern.
Articles like this one give people a greater understanding of the fact that being a "Star" is a business and requires a large and sophisticated infrastructure. Any gaps in that infrastructure can be disastrous to the employment of all the other people in the chain.
Congrats on the great work!
Rick Carnes
President, Songwriters
Guild of America
Nashville
Bet on Gretchen
I was fortunate to be in attendance when Gretchen played the 900-seat Intersection nightclub in Grand Rapids, Mich., a few weeks ago ("Redneck Redux," Feb. 25). I was the merchandise vendor for the club. Her brother handles her merchandise and does it well. I was there during the soundcheck and got to hear her do a couple of the new tunes, but the one that got me is the title track from the new record. And I waited all night to hear it again in the show, not believing what I heard the first time.
It might be a gamble to release it as the second single because of the tempo, but I think it is not only a hit, but it will be a country music anthem that will be covered by every club band working whether they have a female vocalist or not. It's just one of those tunes. It's the story that you never want to hear end. It might be the tune in the set that she uses to showcase the band members. They could play it for 15 minutes and the crowd will love it.
I was a concert promoter for 12 years in the '80s and early '90s. I predicted the astronomic successes of a lot of baby bands, from U2 — which I did in a church the first time, paying them $2,000, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers $500 at a 450-seater. I went to see Whitney Houston at Park West in Chicago right after her first single hit and also saw a huge star on the rise. I heard a demo from a kid named Dierks Bentley and bought the act from that. "I Got Your Country Right Here" gave me that same chill, that same watery eye. The fact that Gretchen Wilson is the real shit as a person notwithstanding, that song will be the tune that identifies her from here on out. Either that, or the PTSD I brought home from Vietnam 45 years ago has finally driven me totally whack.
Alan Bashara
No high-class girl
Interesting article about Gretchen Wilson ("Redneck Redux," Feb. 25). I have been a touring engineer for over 30 years and have seen them come and go over the years. While Gretchen has a great voice, she does not have the demeanor to be successful in this business outside of having a gimmick single. She also has aligned herself with some questionable personalities such as Sarah Palin and John Rich. I think a lot of musicians get deluded early on and just never recover from bad advice. You can claim ignorance all you want, but the artists who are most successful are the ones that control their own fate and respect the people that make it possible for them to make a living. In the end it boils down to one thing: Stop being a bitch and you might get somewhere.
Michael P. Mulé — Goodlettsville
But everyone loves our legal listings!
To find out what the Scene really cares about — masquerading as a weekly music and entertainment "alternative" news/information and opinion magazine — all we have to do is look at what gets the most and the least amount of space, the most and the least number of pages in the magazine.
For example, the "Music Listings" section in the last issue (Feb. 25), which announces local live music shows and venues that make Nashville an exciting place to live and hopefully help attract thousands of tourists, was only four columns long. Four columns! That's it! An entire week of music shows crammed into four columns of news space. On the other hand, "Legal Notices" got nine pages and 36 columns of space.
So do the math: four columns of "Music Listings" vs. 36 columns of "Legal Notices." What do you think the Scene really cares about? It sure ain't music. Let's face it, the Scene is a world-class fraud in a city struggling to be world-class at anything it can claim. Ironically, as a measure of success, the Scene is a journalistic pothole in a world-class city of potholes.
Rhio Hirsch — Whites Creek
Correction
In last week's People Issue 2010, we incorrectly listed Nashville filmmaker Michael Carter as editor on Harmony Korine's feature Trash Humpers. Carter actually served as assistant director and worked on the film's post-production; the editor was Leo Scott. The Scene regrets the error.
