While Tracy Moore's cover story ("Here We Are Now, Entertain Us," June 2) was precious, her adorable prose is ultimately pointless. Forty years ago, R. Stevie Moore was bucking the music establishment, playing original songs instead of cover tunes in local clubs. The first Nashville appearance by The Ramones, which led to bands like The Ratz, Cloverbottom and The Smashers, jump-started a local rock scene that shows no signs of abating almost 30 years later. Moore was playing with blocks in nursery school when I was writing about folks like Civic Duty, Afrikan Dreamland, Practical Stylists, The White Animals and Jason and the Nashville Scorchers in local rags like Anthem, NIR, The Metro and, ahem, the Scene.
The music of artists like Aashid Himons, Civic Duty, Clockhammer, Lambchop, Threk Michaels, Max Vague and many others would not have been any better if released by a major label. Big-league deals didn't do much for Walk the West, Webb Wilder, Billy Chinnock, Me Phi Me, Mathew Ryan or the Scorchers, who all made great music. New York- and Los Angeles-based major labels have never understood Nashville artists in the past, and they're not likely to handle The Pink Spiders, Kings of Leon or The Features any better. Why wait for the proverbial "break-out" band from Music City? Instead, revel in the creativity, originality and diversity of Nashville's ever-evolving non-country music scene and keep on rockin'!
Rev. Keith A. Gordon
www.mondogordo.com (Franklin)
Tellin' it like it is
Twenty years after moving to Nashville, two things still astound me:
1) That people are still waiting for a Nashville rock act to deliver us all; and
2) in a city that prides itself on being a hit factory, no Nashville rock act can seem to figure out how to do the one thing that would get them in the game: write a hit song. When The Kings of Leon, The Features or anyone else from here can write a "We Are the Champions," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," "Born to Run" or a "Roxanne," then the world will pay attention. Until then, all the hipper-than-thou next-big-thing attitude in the world ain't gonna make it happen.
Todd Austin
toddzillarocks@comcast.net (Nashville)
Just do it
Dear Local Rock Scene: You're not a real band if you haven't played a gig. I don't care who your lawyer is. And it doesn't matter how many people you know via MySpace. True fans vote by spending money, not via an Internet chatroom. Instead of bitching on your blog about how bad things are, how about actually doing something to make the scene better?
Part of the reason that "nobody is going to shows anymore" is because you're not going to shows anymore. As you've proven so many times, it's a lot more fun to talk about being a rock star than it is to actually get off your ass and do the work to make it happen. Yes, you've got the best musicians and writers anywhere, but just because you exist doesn't mean people will care.
If there is one thing that country music has brought us, it's an excellent pool of people with a solid knowledge of the music industry. You've got a great support system, but don't expect anybody to care as much about your career as you do. Good musicians are a dime a dozen, so if you really want to be a successful one, it's going to be up to you to implement what needs to be done and actually do the work to make things happen. Don't be like the wannabe author who hangs out at a coffee shop all day talking about what he's going to write. Nobody cares what you're going to do. If you want attention, you've got to do something first.
David Hooper
dave@kathoderaymusic.com (Nashville)
Like, totally!
Just wanted to let you know that I much enjoyed the cover story on Nashville's local music scene by Tracy Moore. More articles of the type would be really awesome!
Jakob Dorof
jakob.dorof@gmail.com (Philadelphia)
Kay is OK in her book
To Kay West: don't listen to the negative feedback (Love/Hate Mail, June 2). I read your articles first and foremost, and I thoroughly enjoy every word and nuance. Your writing gives me great pleasure indeed. Carry on sister!
Kristin Blackburn
kristinblackburn@gmail.com (Clarksville)
But Pat Tillman died in Afghanistan
I usually enjoy Randy Horick's column very much, but this time around I have to wonder what he was thinking ("More Pat Tillmans?" June 2). How in the world can anyone seriously equate the debacle in Iraq and World War II? Why would anyone in their right mind (who wasn't already signed up for the military) want to be a part of such a thing, or encourage anyone else to do so?
As we now all know (at least those of us who get our news from sources other than the FOX Network), our intervention in Iraq was based completely on lies. The democracy bit was thrown in as a cover-up when the truth of the situation finally started to come to light.
Please Randy, make your analogies a little bit more carefully in the future. None of our fighting forces should ever have been in Iraq in the first place, and our administration should be working triple-time to get every last American out of there. The idea of encouraging anyone to volunteer for this so-called freedom operation seems ludicrous at best.
Helen H. Silk
silk_helen@yahoo.com (Murfreesboro)
Bipolar disorder isn't an attitude or diet problem
Regarding Love/Hate Mail (May 26): I have said and continue to feel that I would not wish bipolar disorder on anyone. But, at the moment, I sincerely wish that those who believe a negative attitude causes (and a positive attitude will cure) bipolar disorder, or who believe that people with bipolar disorder are "hooked on their little pills," or who believe that a "mostly raw food diet" will cure bipolar disorder, could each spend a month with the illness. After all, bipolar disorder is an illness—not a personality flaw, a moral shortcoming, a drug addiction or a dietary failure.
Amelia Sunderland
tesslouise@letterboxes.org (Nashville)
