Edit: I did something constructive with my annoyance. I called for more contributors...again. And I can't believe this, but I told my readers to choke down a bottle of "Chill The F*ck" out pills. But in a funny, loving way.Ever feel like quitting the entire internet? There is some volatile crap blowing up on the Bastion today. 77 inflamed comments and counting. I wonder if any of these people who are so full of criticism and anger have any idea that I put hundreds of hours of work into this as a labor of love, and that I'm routinely bombed with more e-mail requests for reviews and listings than I could ever possibly keep up with. Infrequently (but sometimes) people are actually pissy with me about not being able to see and review their shows, which is unfathomable to me.
Guess what, rare but bothersome jerkasses? I'd love to a have a New York Times-sized staff, and be able to offer exhaustive coverage of every single show going on in Chicago, so that you don't feel like, by virtue of not being written about, you're being snubbed.
I keep looking for more writers, but even people who are willing are busy, and until that dream team of Pulitzer Prize winners is in place behind MacBooks in my swank high-rise offices, it's me and Kristy running the show, and I also have a job, and friends and family and a life, so piss off.
Also, we're a blog, which is an opinion-based medium. We can actually write about whatever we want. And P.S., anyone can start a blog. The medium is wild, wooly, lawless frontier. Please feel free to start your own, and write about the things you think should be written about.
Sigh. Sorry. So inappropriate. As a palate cleanser, a pit bull playing with baby chicks:
8 comments:
Tell it sista’!
My gig for the Broad Ripple Gazette is a volunteer one. And, I frequently pay my way in to the shows that I review. I only ask to “be on the list” if it is a big show and I know that the musician is not relying on my 3 bucks for gas money.
I also know that I see more music than any of the people paid to write about music in town.
I always hear the “why didn’t you cover my band?” question. Or I didn’t write enough, or the photograph did not make it to print, or the bass player was drunk/sick/tired/heart-broken at that show – could I come back?
Last week a guy stopped me to ask why I never wrote about bluegrass music. I nicely reminded him that I’d written two bluegrass show previews for NUVO and had a half page article about a bluegrass band in the Gazette the week before. I gently reminded him that there are not many bluegrass shows in Broad Ripple. So then he told me to quit writing about “boy bands.” Did I cover Fall Out Boy and forget about it?
I also tell people to submit stuff and they never do. I guess they’d have to put down their beer and pick up a pen. [Whoops, did I just say that?]
I’m sorry for turning your rant in to my rant. I pounded out a piece last night that I didn’t have enough nerve to post. The NUVO Best of Indy just came out. You can imagine what kind of pot that is stirring.
Did you see my MySpace blog about it?
You girls are a fucking pillar. Fuck tha haters!
Internet media seem to bring out the worst of even the best, with all of the speed but with virtually none of the contextual cues or social restraint of real, face-to-face communication. Innocent remarks and situations are easily misconstrued, and surprisingly many people think that deliberate exacerbation as recreation is acceptable because, "it's only the Internet," forgetting that there are still real people with real feelings on the other end of that bitstream.
Add to that the real and perceived injustices, wounds and other baggage that everyone carries around with them, and it's a wonder that there's even pockets of civility. Each of us is faced with the daily choice of going with the (negative) flow or swimming upstream against it.
I appreciate that your personal choice is to swim against it. Hang in there, Bella... you're awesome. *hug* -- L'Zard
Sounds like you've got time on your hands and a huge budget. Fly me in and I'll help out, no biggie!
Thanks for the support, guys. It's really mindblowing to me that someone has that much criticism for something that's #1 a lot of work #2 a non-paying gig and #3 is supposed to be about MY OPINIONS, and not a thorough survey of everything going on in Chicago comedy. Although, really, it's just one crank making lots of noise.
I had a feature at a spoken word event two weeks ago here in Toronto, and you did not get up off your ass to come on down (at your own expense) from Chicago and review it. So, you suck.
Timothy, how can I ever make this up to you? I tried to book cheap tickets on one of those websites that William Shatner shills for, and I couldn't get them to offer me a ticket for less than $300, and since I only get paid...$0, it just wasn't feasible. Heh.
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