And now, time for some satire . . .
Blogger’s Parents Don’t Understand What’s So Great About the Music He Writes About
DALLAS -- Bill and Linda Pearson are still trying to understand what’s so incredible about Grizzly Bear. And Joanna Newsom. And Girl Talk. The reason? Their son, Greg, has written about these acts, along with hundreds of others, for the past year on his blog, the Employment Pages.
Mr. and Mrs. Pearson, 58 and 56 respectively, remember a time when there was no Internet, MP3s or iPods. “We came from an era where music was something you lived with,” Bill says, “and there were no fears about exceeding bandwidth or hard drive space.”
Greg, 28, says his parents just don’t understand the mode so they don’t understand the music he praises. “Joanna Newsom’s voice melts my brain,” he says. “Joni Mitchell just doesn’t do it for me.”
Last year, there was a brief turning point: Greg wanted to borrow all of his parents’ Fleetwood Mac and America LPs. “With Midlake’s The Trials of Van Occupanther, I got so back into albums like Rumours and America,” Greg says. “But as soon as I ripped them to my hard drive, a new Girl Talk b-side came my way and I had to listen to it immediately and post it.”
The Employment Pages logs 500 hits a day, two of them come from Mr. and Mrs. Pearson for curiosity's sake. “We wonder how much time he actually listens to these new songs before he posts them,” Mrs. Pearson says. “We’re really wondering when he has time for his job, his girlfriend and their cats.”
Greg assures his parents that there is plenty of time for all of those in his life. But blogging is a first and foremost thing. “I can’t be the last dude to talk about something that’s so two days ago,” he says. “I like having the bragging rights of talking about an artist six months before Pitchfork [Media] writes about them.”
Still, Linda prefers to go about her day listening to John Denver and James Taylor LPs as Bill enjoys his small collection of Neil Young bootlegs. Yet by the end of the same day, chances are good that Greg has sampled two new Arcade Fire tracks, a demo from the forthcoming Sufjan Stevens album and has finished ripping the audio from the new Neko Case live DVD. “This is a totally different time,” Greg insists. “I have so many choices that the hunt just never ends.”
Blogger’s Parents Don’t Understand What’s So Great About the Music He Writes About
DALLAS -- Bill and Linda Pearson are still trying to understand what’s so incredible about Grizzly Bear. And Joanna Newsom. And Girl Talk. The reason? Their son, Greg, has written about these acts, along with hundreds of others, for the past year on his blog, the Employment Pages.
Mr. and Mrs. Pearson, 58 and 56 respectively, remember a time when there was no Internet, MP3s or iPods. “We came from an era where music was something you lived with,” Bill says, “and there were no fears about exceeding bandwidth or hard drive space.”
Greg, 28, says his parents just don’t understand the mode so they don’t understand the music he praises. “Joanna Newsom’s voice melts my brain,” he says. “Joni Mitchell just doesn’t do it for me.”
Last year, there was a brief turning point: Greg wanted to borrow all of his parents’ Fleetwood Mac and America LPs. “With Midlake’s The Trials of Van Occupanther, I got so back into albums like Rumours and America,” Greg says. “But as soon as I ripped them to my hard drive, a new Girl Talk b-side came my way and I had to listen to it immediately and post it.”
The Employment Pages logs 500 hits a day, two of them come from Mr. and Mrs. Pearson for curiosity's sake. “We wonder how much time he actually listens to these new songs before he posts them,” Mrs. Pearson says. “We’re really wondering when he has time for his job, his girlfriend and their cats.”
Greg assures his parents that there is plenty of time for all of those in his life. But blogging is a first and foremost thing. “I can’t be the last dude to talk about something that’s so two days ago,” he says. “I like having the bragging rights of talking about an artist six months before Pitchfork [Media] writes about them.”
Still, Linda prefers to go about her day listening to John Denver and James Taylor LPs as Bill enjoys his small collection of Neil Young bootlegs. Yet by the end of the same day, chances are good that Greg has sampled two new Arcade Fire tracks, a demo from the forthcoming Sufjan Stevens album and has finished ripping the audio from the new Neko Case live DVD. “This is a totally different time,” Greg insists. “I have so many choices that the hunt just never ends.”
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