dangit!
I just want to apologize for just being down on things so much lately...seems all I do is bitch, bitch, bitch...
I went to watch some friends of mine, The Joel Hoffman Band, play some music tonight... and man I had a great time. They're a rockabilly band that plays mostly covers, but man I caught myself just smiling tonight. For no apparent reason I was smiling, and it was because the music...that's the sign of a good set by a good band. Thinking music sounds good is one thing, but when music touches you emotionally...that is when its spiritual.
Anyway, I grew up on old country music...I used to sit around with these old 70's earphones on, you know the ones that looked like Princess Leigha's bun hair do, and my siblings would have their fun by turning up the music gradually and listening to me gradually singing louder and louder. Such amusement is how you get by in small North Texas towns. I kept listening through those ear phones. When my friends were getting cassette set singles of the next big thing, I was spinning vinyl records...Hank Williams 48 greatest hits, this was and may still be my favorite album of all time. I had never even loved before, and I knew every word to Your Cheating Heart...an Omen for sure. My first drunk was the 5th grade...shooting Crown Royal and listening to Hank Williams...that's how you grow a Country Singer right there.
If you listen to the aforementioned Hank Williams album, and I do suggest you do, you'll hear some of the greatest songs ever written, performed, or recorded. Something else you will hear is simplicity. I'm not saying that the musicians on the album weren't talented, they were for sure, but I am saying that the message was what was important. These days you hear reverb, and feed back, and distortion...something to make a sound...but these things weren't what made the music back then. I guess advances in technology, as well as the learning curve of modern musicians, has given us the ability to make sounds that were implausible at the time...but today's music isn't any better than what you'll get on that two record set from Hank Williams. We're getting more and more and more technically advanced. With every facet of life we are continually finding new and better things. That doesn't mean that we are making life better.
To get off music for a while, let me tell you about something I was thinking about in my sleep this morning. I do think in my sleep...I have full blown conversations with myself while being completely unconcious. I know that many of you think that this is impossible, but its not and is probably the root of my sleep disorder. If you were to go buy Leaning In, the debut album by my band the Texas WettNex you would hear a song that I basically wrote while I was sleeping. Its called 14 Shots and is the last track on the album. I was asleep and talking the song out, and there were people here (it used to be a nonstop party) and I woke up and went out to the back porch, wrote down what I was thinking and hearing in my sleep, and was singing that song within 20 minutes of waking up. I have witnesses to attest to this.
Sorry, I got off subject.
Anyway I was sleep discussing this morning the effects of TiVo or DVR on modern television. I have a roommate now that works nights and often tapes shows that he likes and watches them during the day when there is nothing but crap on the tube. I know alot of people that record their favorite show, in one form or another, so that they can watch it at a more convenient time and be able to skip over the commercials.
I want you to think for a minute what effect this will eventually have on modern television.
Everyone can get three or four, and sometimes more, channels free on any television if they have an antenna. I used to watch NFL football every Sunday with my TV that I've had forever and a guitar string that I'd run up the window and wrap in the mini-blinds. I'm not kidding either...I even knew which row of blinds I'd have to move the wire to so that I might watch either the game on FOX or CBS. If you want guaranteed clarity, or a whole slew of other channels, you have to pay for Cable or Satellite TV. I want to drop my disclaimer here that I'm no scholar of Economics...I've never claimed to be the smartest guy in the world, but I do understand very basic supply and demand, and the price of goods and the price which they are sold. You see, the price of what you pay for your basic cable, or the stars package, or the whole kit and caboodle is based on many things, but one of those is advertising dollars. Everytime you see that little Geico lizard or a Budweiser Commercial or a spot for McDonalds, you are seeing money that those companies have paid the television networks to get their product in your living room. It has been a very effective method of advertisement for quite some time. Think about how many times you've seen a big ole Whataburger on your tube and thought to yourself, "Self, I'm hungry".
So now we have TiVo, and what we will soon have is an adverse effect on our cable rates. As more and more people "tape" their favorite shows so that they can skip over commercials, then commercials will lose their value. If I'm in charge of advertising at Toyota (possibly the best car or truck or 1981 LandCruiser that I regret selling every damn day) I no longer want to pay X amount of dollars for a commercial that is being skipped over by modern technology. To make it easy...If the Texas WettNex paid $10 dollars for their CD to be pushed to 1ooo people, well that would seem like a hell of a deal, but if we paid that same $10 and 250 of those people chose to skip over our ads...then we'd wonder if we might should only be paying $7.50.
I'm rambling, I know. Here is where I'm trying to go with this. Even though the DVR or TiVo system has made it easier for people to watch shows at a more convenient time, what it will also do is lessen the value of advertising. What it won't do is lessen the cost of producing your favorite television show...so when the advertisers demand to quit paying so much for their often skipped over messages, the cable providers are going to have to demand more money for their service. If there is less money coming in the back door, well we'll just have to pull in a little more at the front.
So, as you skip over Betty Crocker and the Pillsbury Doughboy while watching Oprah...are you making your life easier or more complicated? Are you saving yourself time, or are you costing yourself money?
Think back to when life was less complicated...and the little things made you smile.
I went to watch some friends of mine, The Joel Hoffman Band, play some music tonight... and man I had a great time. They're a rockabilly band that plays mostly covers, but man I caught myself just smiling tonight. For no apparent reason I was smiling, and it was because the music...that's the sign of a good set by a good band. Thinking music sounds good is one thing, but when music touches you emotionally...that is when its spiritual.
Anyway, I grew up on old country music...I used to sit around with these old 70's earphones on, you know the ones that looked like Princess Leigha's bun hair do, and my siblings would have their fun by turning up the music gradually and listening to me gradually singing louder and louder. Such amusement is how you get by in small North Texas towns. I kept listening through those ear phones. When my friends were getting cassette set singles of the next big thing, I was spinning vinyl records...Hank Williams 48 greatest hits, this was and may still be my favorite album of all time. I had never even loved before, and I knew every word to Your Cheating Heart...an Omen for sure. My first drunk was the 5th grade...shooting Crown Royal and listening to Hank Williams...that's how you grow a Country Singer right there.
If you listen to the aforementioned Hank Williams album, and I do suggest you do, you'll hear some of the greatest songs ever written, performed, or recorded. Something else you will hear is simplicity. I'm not saying that the musicians on the album weren't talented, they were for sure, but I am saying that the message was what was important. These days you hear reverb, and feed back, and distortion...something to make a sound...but these things weren't what made the music back then. I guess advances in technology, as well as the learning curve of modern musicians, has given us the ability to make sounds that were implausible at the time...but today's music isn't any better than what you'll get on that two record set from Hank Williams. We're getting more and more and more technically advanced. With every facet of life we are continually finding new and better things. That doesn't mean that we are making life better.
To get off music for a while, let me tell you about something I was thinking about in my sleep this morning. I do think in my sleep...I have full blown conversations with myself while being completely unconcious. I know that many of you think that this is impossible, but its not and is probably the root of my sleep disorder. If you were to go buy Leaning In, the debut album by my band the Texas WettNex you would hear a song that I basically wrote while I was sleeping. Its called 14 Shots and is the last track on the album. I was asleep and talking the song out, and there were people here (it used to be a nonstop party) and I woke up and went out to the back porch, wrote down what I was thinking and hearing in my sleep, and was singing that song within 20 minutes of waking up. I have witnesses to attest to this.
Sorry, I got off subject.
Anyway I was sleep discussing this morning the effects of TiVo or DVR on modern television. I have a roommate now that works nights and often tapes shows that he likes and watches them during the day when there is nothing but crap on the tube. I know alot of people that record their favorite show, in one form or another, so that they can watch it at a more convenient time and be able to skip over the commercials.
I want you to think for a minute what effect this will eventually have on modern television.
Everyone can get three or four, and sometimes more, channels free on any television if they have an antenna. I used to watch NFL football every Sunday with my TV that I've had forever and a guitar string that I'd run up the window and wrap in the mini-blinds. I'm not kidding either...I even knew which row of blinds I'd have to move the wire to so that I might watch either the game on FOX or CBS. If you want guaranteed clarity, or a whole slew of other channels, you have to pay for Cable or Satellite TV. I want to drop my disclaimer here that I'm no scholar of Economics...I've never claimed to be the smartest guy in the world, but I do understand very basic supply and demand, and the price of goods and the price which they are sold. You see, the price of what you pay for your basic cable, or the stars package, or the whole kit and caboodle is based on many things, but one of those is advertising dollars. Everytime you see that little Geico lizard or a Budweiser Commercial or a spot for McDonalds, you are seeing money that those companies have paid the television networks to get their product in your living room. It has been a very effective method of advertisement for quite some time. Think about how many times you've seen a big ole Whataburger on your tube and thought to yourself, "Self, I'm hungry".
So now we have TiVo, and what we will soon have is an adverse effect on our cable rates. As more and more people "tape" their favorite shows so that they can skip over commercials, then commercials will lose their value. If I'm in charge of advertising at Toyota (possibly the best car or truck or 1981 LandCruiser that I regret selling every damn day) I no longer want to pay X amount of dollars for a commercial that is being skipped over by modern technology. To make it easy...If the Texas WettNex paid $10 dollars for their CD to be pushed to 1ooo people, well that would seem like a hell of a deal, but if we paid that same $10 and 250 of those people chose to skip over our ads...then we'd wonder if we might should only be paying $7.50.
I'm rambling, I know. Here is where I'm trying to go with this. Even though the DVR or TiVo system has made it easier for people to watch shows at a more convenient time, what it will also do is lessen the value of advertising. What it won't do is lessen the cost of producing your favorite television show...so when the advertisers demand to quit paying so much for their often skipped over messages, the cable providers are going to have to demand more money for their service. If there is less money coming in the back door, well we'll just have to pull in a little more at the front.
So, as you skip over Betty Crocker and the Pillsbury Doughboy while watching Oprah...are you making your life easier or more complicated? Are you saving yourself time, or are you costing yourself money?
Think back to when life was less complicated...and the little things made you smile.
posted by Michael Wren at 12:40 AM
1 Comments:
Mike, I miss not seeing you these days and I enjoyed reading your blog.
Just to let you know, I have listened to some of the songs from "Leaning In" that Eric sent to me, plus I have listened to all of the the clips online. The CD sounds really good. I plan on ordering my very own copy- maybe today.
If you are ever in W. Tx, please come see us.
th
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