Turn Yourself Around, You're Not Invited

One of these things is not like the others. Can you guess which one?

What Was The Hipster? - Mark Greif

Watch Out Portland, Pittsburgh's Lookin' Hip - Bill Toland

Cities and Ambition - Paul Graham

Will The Last Hipster Please Turn Out The Lights? - Zev Borow

Look At This Fucking Hipster - Joe Mande

Recently a friend and I had a discussion on the second aticle in line and how in the hell trendy types like hipsters would end up in of all places, Pittsburgh. (That article is not the correct answer, by the way; it's the next one in line, by Paul Graham.) After all, it's a recovering mill town far from tradtional centers of 'cool'. But our odd article out may have a clue as to why hipsters live where they do (Williamsburg neighborhood of NYC, Silver Lake of LA, etc.)and help us answer the question - are hipsters really here?

Graham often reminds his readers of the case of the Milanese Leonardo. Theorizing that if genetics meant that a person of equal artistic ability to da Vinci grew up and painted in Milan, surely he would have produced something for future generations to take note of. And yet no such person exists. Florence was the city at the center of the art world in the 1500s, and any budding artist would have been a fool to go anywhere else to learn.

So the hypothesis is, as with Graham's voluminous insisghts into tech startups, that for a particular field or pursuit, there is a hub city, or ground zero. That means that people interested in said field would be best served to move there, to live where there is a core of people involved in said pursuit. Silicon Valley is a garden for internet startups for a number of factors better explained by Graham. After all, he created one himself.

As an aside, Paul Graham's essays make for some compelling and fascinating reading. I strongly recommend checking them out.

But hipsterism is a fashion, right? Can't that happen anywhere? True, and there are parts of any city that could seem to cater to any fashion you can think of. But there is something different about hipsterism that should be explained before we go any further. According to Mark Greif (number one on the list, and for good reason) the hipster was, at first, a neo-bohemian creature born of nineties rejection of consumerism, morphed from 1999 to 2003 into a whiteness-celebrating urban redneck (keywords: porn-stache, trucker hats, motorcycle jeans, 'wifebeater' undershirts) with a twee and precious reverse side, and then into a slightly childish and pastoralist 'green' phase (keywords; outdated technology, green, sustainable, organic, recycle) until about 2009. (And I'm not even going to get into facial hair.)

The material culture of hipsters is whatever is waiting to be made cool again, with them at the forefront. A key trend in hipsterism is the possession of, or pretension to have, a priori knowledge of what's the new thing, what to claim you were doing or liking before anyone else (or in some cases, how obscure it is). Subtle advertising and grassroots-level endorsements (and the fact that until hipsters decided they liked it the brewing company was in a death spiral) drew hipsters to PBR. Local music and vinyl collections - both are obscure and highly niche parts of the music business that have been close to the hipster's interst and aesthetic.

So what we have is a culture and mindset walking backwards into the future, while pretending to walk towards now out of it. Where the hell is someone like this going to live?

To answer that question, recall that the activation energy for hipsters was the reactions of the neo-bohemians to their customers (often new money types that didn't look it), and that the neo-bohemians were also artists in their spare time. So this activation energy consists of some kind of artistic/craft/design movement. But is everyone in such a movement always a producer? No. There has to be a consumer for such an idiom and aesthetic to take off. And the consumers of the hipster period did something unusual. They asserted that their consumption of the idiom gave them the same interesting and creative vibe that the original creators possessed. In this sense the average hipster resembles the 'moochers' of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, feeling that they are owed a part of this cool thing without contributing anything of value. Hipsters are largely hangers-on. (So for every year that hipsterism persists, we get hangers-on to hanger-on-ism, as it were. Not to mention that hipsters are certainly overwhelmingly leftist, a la the aforementioned moochers.)

So we've got an interest (however self-absorbed) in an offbeat, often underground creative scene that likes the material culture of the past, but not so much its politics. Well, Williamsburg was a fairly natural deposit of old-city aesthetic until they moved in and isn't far from the arty East Village, not to mention the NYC obsession with art-as-brand (art-as-stuff is a Paris thing nowadays); similar for Silver Lake, but substitute Cali progressive attitudes, a preference for better living, and good weather for any single neighborhood. Webcomic author Jeph Jacques once remarked that the crowd at his local bowling alley was '50% Massachusetts hipster, 50% Massachusetts redneck'. (Given the white hipster, I wonder if a Venn diagram would have been more appropriate.) Massachusetts progressivism isn't so different from California's; and to boot, a nigh-upon foreclosed manufacturing culture that had disappeared or given up was an acceptable background.

Two possibilities emerge. The message these cities and neighborhoods seem to send to hipsters is to look like you're not trying (whether you are or not). Or, hipsters are the people with a natural predilection to invert the larger message of their environment. NYC still respects big money, so the hipsters subvert it by acting and dressing in the inverse fashion from their perception of it.

And what about Pittsburgh? Is the Steel City 'cool/not cool/wait, what?' enough to support the hipster? Well, yes. Yes it does. I should know, as I could easily be described as a hipster. Bloomfield is rumored to be a big hipster enclave in the city, even though (because?) it's Pittsburgh's 'Little Italy'; and Shadyside, though expensive, has the organic old neighborhood feel. (Also an American Apparel. Thanks a lot, Dov Charney.) The South Side hosts hipster tastes to a lesser extent, but the rent is somewhat cheaper than other parts of the city. A lot of bros from Duke and Pitt hang out down there, but there are the few hipster-friendly hangouts. I actually frequent Dee's Cafe, and last time I was there I was thanked by a fairly obvious hipster for playing 'Float On' by Modest Mouse, while listening to two other hipsters discuss whether Jack's was still a good South Side bar, which happens to be my other favorite place to drink down there. (Dee's wins these days for a better jukebox and always having an open seat at the bar.)

I Spent My Change, I Fell Out Of Line

Beck Hansen, in his anti-folk days. Very interesting to hear.



Reposted from beckmangroup, archiving Beck's early days for posterity.

Gazing On A City Under Television Skies

Not a fan of television anymore. (Not the band.)

About the only show I enjoy these days is Craig Ferguson. The surprisingly witty, self-described 'creepy old Scottish dude' is one of my very few connections to the broadcast world, and only a handful of shows on the cable channels interest me. (Mostly shows like Gold Rush and American Pickers. I'm such a dork.)

I think television is over for a number of reasons. Firstly, I see a convergence of the TV device and the PC device, in the same way we've seen a convergence of the cell phone and the laptop computer. Secondly, there's more flexibility with an internet-based source for 'shows'-no need to schedule time to watch. TiVo and DVRs will delay recognition of this fact for some time, but eventually a service whereby all programming is on demand, ie the internet will render such devices obsolete.

Enough people watch stuff via internet piracy. The media companies aren't beating them anytime soon, as we learned in Prohibition and the heyday of phone phreaking. Try to bar people from something, and they'll find a way to get it. Why don't the media companies just use the internet?

Give Me One Good Dose Of Thunder

Never thought I'd be as into music from the 90's as I am right now. Once upon a time I thought only Nirvana mattered; now I find they're not alone.

Take the album Bossanova by the Pixies, for example. Or listen to Bob Pollard shout 'HOT FREAKS' in your ear with GBV's Bee Thousand spinning. All surprisingly good stuff.

Meanwhile, I've been digging through the free vinyl at Dave's Music Mine on the South Side. Managed to get a hold of City to City - Gerry Rafferty; Blow by Blow - Jeff Beck; Tales Of Topographic Oceans - Yes; Feats Don't Fail Me Now - Little Feat.

These would all be cool if id hadn't turned out SOME HIPSTER swiped the discs out of Litttle Feat and sides one and two from Yes... That said I think my dad has Tales Of Topographical Oceans. I may steal it from him just to hear the disc. Incidentally, if anyone has a spare copy of sides one and two thereof, let me know; I'd like to have it to complete the album.

Ten Years Gone

I can't believe it's been three years since I posted on this. This is ridiculous. Naturally, ninety percent of the things I wanted to write about are nowhere near started, if I'm still thinking about them.
That said, one thing that is up and running is my Robotech Republican Compendium. (Fear not, Democrats, if you can put aside politics for some good bad science fiction. This compendium is republican with a little 'r'. Mostly.) While the first chapter isn't quite up yet, one can glean some idea of the world that the story takes place in by reading the synopses of the various combat equipment used by nations appearing in the story.

I'm also actively building LEGO trains again. The Spirit of 9-Volt contains my creations. Of interest is the 2-6-2 Prairie steam locomotive, and passenger cars.

Last but not least I hope to start doing album reviews. I've plowed into a pile of new music since abandoning this blog all that time ago, and it really needs talked about. Also I plan on at least recording a demo of some music I'd written in college for a band project I referred to as The Tunnelmotors. I figure I can share that here, too.

Anyway, I guess I'm back.

People Try To Put Us Down (And, Alarmingly, Are Succeeding)

But it's bad when it's one of our own.

Anyone heard Hilary Duff's cover of My Generation? I have.

I want to OLD SHAME now.

This song is absolute trash.

The worst bit is that I found myself liking it. And therein lies both the defenestrative motivation and a hint at what is wrong with music today. It appears to me that the market is flooded at the top (i.e. the hits and the most popular acts) commercial creations.

No, really. Boy bands? (Actually, most rock bands have, historically been mostly or wholly male. The term 'boy band', hopefully to become derisive, referring to N*SYNC and the Backstreet Boys, is limited to the pure pop sphere. At least I hope so.) They were put together to sell; I cannot imagine a boy band coming together in the way The Beatles or Electric Light Orchestra or even The White Stripes did (excepting the thankfully fictional Fingerbang, and no, that's not what it means, Cartman. Oh wait. It was Cartman's idea. Never mind). So have all these teen idols like Britney, Lindsay Lohan, Christina Aguilera, Duff, Hannah Montana (and her equally kid-friendly alter ego, Miley Cyrus), and the rest of them.

One of my biggset complaints is that virtually NONE of them write their own songs. Most of the bands I've really grown attached to were led by or had one or two good songwriters as members. Realize that you're reading a fan of Rush, Neil Young (and Crazy Horse, Stray Gators, International Harvesters, Buffalo Springfield), Creedence Clearwater Revival, Styx, and Billy Joel; whose songwriters are, respectively, Neil Peart, Neil Young (duh), John Fogerty, Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw and James Young, and Billy Joel (again duh).

I am willing to go so far as to say that Neil Young is the greatest singer/songwriter of our time. He's always made his music the way HE wants to. It doesn't matter to him what other people think of his work; he's going to do something that he likes anyway. He may have rolled into the ditch (albums Time Fades Away, Tonight's The Night, and On The Beach) or flipped out completely (his Geffen contract-David Geffen actually sued Neil for making 'unrepresentative music) but whether he knows where he's going with something or not he does everything he can to get something he will want to show the world.

By contrast, most commercial music is made with the implicit goal of pleasing everybody. The motive is not to do spectacular or groundbreaking or truly emotionally captivating work; it's to sell vapid, worthless records and make money. It seems as though the record companies know this. It would explain why CD prices are still around $15-$20 per CD and all we hear in the top 40 are acts that can't really play playing for audiences that can't really listen. Record execs seem to prefer to rake in the cash rather than be known for picking talent. God forbid something truly amazing and mind-blowing like The Doors' and Led Zeppelin's debuts were back in the late 60's end up on the charts. Seriously. How in the hell could some random Britney single ever fucking well compare to Dazed And Confused (Led Zep) or Hey Hey My My (Into The Black) (Neil & the Horse) or even Have Love Will Travel by The Sonics? It can't.

There's one apparent member of the teen idol singer club I can't really be mad at; in fact, I'm not sure she belongs with the rest of them. For some reason, I'm tempted to lump Shakira in with the Britneys and Duffs and Cyrii that are clogging up the top ten lists, but I just can't bring myself to do so. Probably because she's not really pop, in the same vein as the former, from my point of view. I'm guessing, by virtue of liking Ojos Asi, that she's tapping into something different. That her musical backgroud is different also helps. There are Latin musical sounds mixed with Lebanese influences in Ojos Asi, instead of cookie-cutter pop fakery. And best of all, she's been writing songs since she was eight. Doesn't she also play an instrument or two? She stands out, instead of blending in; and that's one of the criteria by which I judge music. The harder it is to compare or describe something, the more likely it is that I'll like it. (Note: I just checked out her Wikipedia page and noticed that she's 31. [She's still hot.] I think her age lends her an extra point in my eyes for musical credibility.)

One of the ways to counter this deluge of drek is to support independent music. I'm not saying 'burn your Wolfmother CDs in the streets' (because Wolfmother is actually good); but rather find the places in your area that host local and regional bands, unsigned artists, and other random people with guitars (like whoever stole Sonic Youth's instruments back in the 80's, I'm assuming).

I don't usually like to rant and rage, but this needed it. It really did. Once a cover by someone who likes and respects the original artist makes it into the top 40, I'll be happy. I think it'd undo some of the damage Dillary Huff has done.

Thank god I had P.O. Box 9847 by The Monkees to recover with. (That's saying a lot, surprisingly. Even though The Monkees were a commercial product (hence the nickname 'Prefab Four'), they did some suprisingly good work-actually their album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. was some of their best work in my opinion. Also they didn't really NEED Davy Jones, right? He was just eye candy. He played the freakin' tambourine. What The Monkees with just Dolenz, Tork and Nesmith could have done would have been very interesting to hear.)

Incidentally, xkcd.

Electrical Banana

Sombeody just used the phrase 'weapons-grade sex toys'. O-kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.......

All I Got Is Your Photograph

I FOUND IT!

This is the method used to make those awesome psychedelic bumps on Adult Swim! It's called tilt-shift photography. Apparently it results from misalignment of the front lens of a camera, resulting in a gradient of focus. I'm not sure what that means, exactly, but I think I can see why I made the assumption that the scenes in said bumps were modeled.

Some people think that learning how something was done, getting a behind-the-scenes look at something ruins their perception of it. In this case, not for me. Now I know that anything I take a picture of can be modeled-even if only in a photograph.

A lovely gallery of this sort of work can be found here. Even though it's digital manipulation used on some of these images, I still can't get over how powerful they are, as a total experience. Understand that we're excluding their music from this discussion.