Your Santa Fe band doesn’t have to see this sign. It also doesn’t deserve special treatment.
Just because it’s local doesn’t mean it’s good. But don’t tell anyone.
Thanks to some reader comments, I recently discovered that I am, apparently, an unsupportive monster. It seems that questioning the quality of local bands is unacceptable. To let a week go by without mentioning as many musicians and music organizations as possible is unforgivable. This sort of aversion to criticism is dangerous to the quality of the music scene in Santa Fe, and I’m not the only one to notice.
“I’ve heard Santa Fe musicians say that supporting local music is the same as supporting local farming, but that’s total bullshit,” local promoter Red Cell tells SFR. “If I go out to my local farmers market, I’m going to buy the good produce…I’m not going to buy someone’s rotten head of lettuce simply because they’re a local farmer, and I’m not going to support crappy music with my time and money simply because it is local.”
For that matter, if a farmer were to continually show up with sub-par consumables, the farmers market would boot him to the curb, no matter how locally sourced his vegetables are. To keep the metaphor going, wouldn’t you want the best produce, not just a passable carrot?
Yes, it’s important to support local music. Having a city that’s open and accommodating to local musicians creates a vibrant, sustainable scene. There is, however, a difference between support and blind acceptance, which can be more damaging to musicians in the long run. If bands don’t feel a need to excel or change, they stagnate. They’ll play the same songs in the same bars every other night, and everyone will lose.
Local artist JC Gonzo says it best. “For a musician to say, ‘Support me because I’m local!’ seems like an excuse to be mediocre to me…like a free pass or something,” he says. “If people really want to cultivate a quality local scene, they should be saying, ‘Support me because I’m good!’”
Too bad there isn’t some sort of system of checks and balances to keep musicians working hard at advancing their craft—oh, wait: the fans. It’s our job as fans (and music critics) to give bands feedback, good or bad; to attend shows or not; to buy their albums or buy someone else’s. How else can bands gauge their performances?
Bands should want fans who clamor for their music, not their geographical origins. I’d find it unbearable to not know whether people actually love what I do or “support” me because I’m from Santa Fe.
The best local acts understand there’s more to music than being local. D Numbers and Venus Bogardus didn’t become touring bands for nothing. They are constantly evolving and cultivating their sounds. They’re on par with (if not better than) many of the national acts that come through Santa Fe. And they don’t badger anyone to like them.
But if you’re the kind of person who is going to lose your shit when people don’t respond well to this very public thing you’ve chosen to do, maybe playing songs ain’t the right plan for you.
At the end of the day, our standards for local and nonlocal acts should be alike. The exchange of good music for a positive reception by enthusiastic fans is the incentive to build a better scene. So how about we all spend a little less time worrying where musicians are from, and a little more time thinking about where they’re going.
Follow SFR music news on Twitter: twitter.com/SFRsA_Sharp
Alex, the point your missing here is that the music going public tends to go see the bands/musicians that are endorsed by the prominent media outlets in their city. When said media outlet repeatedly endorses sub-par music (a la Venus Bogardus, for instance) a chain of events is set off that ultimately culminates in the "endangerment of the local music scene". Furthermore, the issue here is not what you so ignorantly and offensively suggested concerning the responsibilities of fans to regulate the quality of local music. After all, who decides what good music is? You? A formula maybe? The record company's promotions team? What, i agree, must be hard to understand as a music critic is that every person has an individual and unique connection with music. What may be absolute garbage to one person could be another's favorite feel good jam. No, the issue is simply that the decision makers in the local music scene make bad decisions. For instance, how are "good" local bands or musicians going to be heard or seen when the music-going public has to fight through an army of DJ's and Karoake machines to catch a live band once or twice a week...
My experiences as a music consumer & performer in Santa Fe, NM are just the opposite of those described by a 'Concerned Music Lover.' As a consumer, I go see the bands that I want to see when time & resources permit. I know enough about the music I like to decide which performers to go spend my time & hard-earned cash on. As a performer (and a former member of Venus Bogardus), I know that publicity helps, but hardly - HARDLY - causes people to come out in droves. In fact, I find that there is very little correlation between the amount of publicity put out there by the local press and turnout for a gig. The availability of alcohol, for example, is a much more significant factor... it also helps if you play for free...
That said - I am grateful for the good, and sometimes great, work that our present local music scribes put out there. Clearly, these are people who care - they're well-informed (usually), they ask questions, they say what's on their mind, and they are enthusiastic. That's a double-edged sword because sometimes you get criticized. And - I'm OK with that because it's generally not malicious. We've had some pretty lax and lazy music writers in the past, and some critics with an axe to grind, so I know the difference. Alex is not one of those guys. Neither is Paul W. from the Pasatiempo...
I have also lived in places with 5 to 6 times the population of Santa Fe that basically have non-existent music scenes. Some of these places have NOTHING going on ANY night of the week. So I know what that's like, and - trust me - Santa Fe, while not perfect, is a veritable oasis. It's a well-established fact that there are more good, original bands here than there are venues to support them. Ask ANY musician - they will tell you that. To claim that one has to 'fight through DJs and karaoke machines' to see good live music in Santa Fe is simply asinine.
Concerned Music Lover - I have not asked you about the 'chain of events' that is set off by the Reporter booking a band you didn't like last Summer. Whatever you might be referring to, it seems that - in your universe - only YOU are allowed to have an 'individual and unique connection with music' and to hell with everyone else.