The point is that as exceptional as The Breakfast are, they are a challenging listen in an environment where lots of folks want mindless music.
just thought that this should be reiterated.
a couple other thoughts. i\'ve seen some situations where a smaller, growing band\'s manager/spokesperson gets on their board, sees all the criticism/concern/confusion and begins trying to justify their actions to the fans. a little bit here and there seems to work, but i\'ve also seen where the band\'s manager/spokesperson gets into arguements and drama trying to explain why the band is doing every little thing. frankly, it seems to work best when the spokesperson just comes out and says \'we\'re doing this\' and then let everyone yell and scream if they want to, but since there are so many aspects of behind the scenes stuff that we\'ll never even know about, there\'s really no reason for them to try to explain and justify everything. besides, that\'s not really a manager\'s job. i think steffmo does us a great service (as you said, gencs) to give us a little insight now and then, but he\'s not their manager.
that being said, remember that a booking agent is not a manager. they\'ve got someone getting them gigs. that\'s it. whether its venue/towns/areas that seem wiser than others, as long as the band is getting paying gigs, the booking agent has done their job. and they deserve to get paid for it. the better the gig, the bigger the market, obviously, the better for the band, but anything else should be between the band/band\'s manager and the booking agent. if you\'re gonna send the booker an email, it should really be limited to \'i can get these guys a gig at x place\' or \'have you considered trying to get them in x as that venue usually pulls a good crowd\'. unless the agent is incompetent and booking them, say, at hip hop clubs. then flame the mutha!
i also think that having a band member as manager isn\'t the best idea, but that\'s primarily because of one particular band that i was close with that imploded, partially due to one guy having to make decisions for the rest of the band andthe rest of the band getting bent out of shape over it (even though they didn\'t want to make those decisions themselves). there were other factors, of course, but i truly believe that the band should focus on the music, and let someone else worry about the business end. now, finding someone they can trust with the right connections and know-how and savvy, not to mention paying that someone, is a whole \'nother set of concerns.
what the breakfast needs to do now is tour and they know this. but barring them adding a fifth, rich member, touring right now will a grueling financial and psychological undertaking. gas prices alone will make it almost not worth the hassle. and it will stay that way (playing to six or eight people a night in strage bars away from friends, family and home) for several tours. our job as fans is to send out as many damn freebies as we can to get the word of mouth and urge to see them flowing. our job should be to open folks\' ears and at least get them curious enough to go check out the band next time they come through. i got into a pissing match a week or two ago about them, and in retrospect, i wish i\'d just kept my keyboard shut and sent music to anyone who didn\'t agree with me. let the music do the talking. cuz it talks good!!
we all have ideas of how the band can focus its energies, of where they should be playing, of how they can get the word out and i think we should certainly voice them (like playing at all the top party colleges - the breakfast is a party, after all). i think at best maybe someone will provide an idea they simply hadn\'t thought of yet. but to think that the guys in the band haven\'t put more thought into this stuff than all of us combined is probably a bit near-sighted. we want them to succeed, but they want to eat and pay rent. preferably filet mignons and second homes, but first things first.
i think its wonderful that this core of folks cares so fervently about them and their success. i\'d bet that the band\'s pretty happy about that, too. but we need to support them and their decisions, not try to second guess them. not saying that anyone here is, just pointing out a pitfall i\'ve seen made before.
and i blame phish for introducing that lazy, whiteboy, faux-groove funk stuff to the masses, making the breakfast seem too in-your-face intense. excuse the comparision, but if the b\'fast isn\'t at 91-92 phish levels right now, i don\'t know who is! it seems like if you don\'t play over the same beat for 15 minutes, most of the kidz these days can\'t really grab on to the music. i think it has something to do with the recreational drugs of choice in today\'s youth combined with a generation of kidz growing up on 97-03 phish that didn\'t require as strong listening skills as the earlier, more intense stuff. you used to have to be an active listener (and i believe this applies to most jambands) to really hear/get what was going on between the musicians and now a lot of bands are relying on just laying down a \'groove\' and noodle about. sure there\'s still interaction between band members but the level of intricacy and subtlety (even in the most raging of jams) seems to be lazily missing these days.
but the breakfast just doesn\'t let you bob your head and trance-dance in a haze. i mean, i like to space-dance as much as anyone, but i\'d much rather thrash about in spasmadic throes of epileptic exuberance while straning to hear every nuance!!! i love the fact that i hear something new everytime i listen to a breakfast show, even if i\'ve listened to the same show a bazillion times before. i love to listen to the little, almost background stuff that jordan adds to compliment tim. i love to hear the interaction between ron and adrian. take 4/2/05 gravity>flower punk>gravity. listen to the whole band talk to each other as they segue. listen to ron get there first with adrian catching on, which grabs timmy\'s attention and jordan solidifying the deal. and notice that it takes a 2 or 3 minutes for the whole thing to happen, because as its happening, they\'re still playing with it. its not like one guy starts it and everyone falls into place, its an actual conversation, with ron saying \'hey, mind if i mention this?\' and adrian saying \'no, thats pretty cool\' and timmy sayin\' well, watch how what i\'ve been saying relates\' and jordan saying \'tha\'s funny because i was just thinking about doing something and it fits great into what you\'re saying\'. its simply stunning. and to have seen it being pulled off, watching their faces as it happened, timmy realizing what ron & adrian & jordan were doing and getting that silly grin of \'damn boys!\'.... that was what seeing live music is all about, to me, and why i think that once more folks get the chance to see them, they, too, will be inexoribly drawn in. because they truly take the best from the best, and make it more!!
ok, i digressed a bit there. sorry.
