Now that I have your attention
I thought it would be better to start a whole new thread because this is an important topic. And yes it will be bloody tedious. But here is the deal: ever since Jean Paul Sartre it’s been known in Western Civ that one quality of social interaction is the ongoing appraisal of everyone by everyone else. Sartre called it “the Look” and what he meant by that was how a person was changed when they knew they were being perceived by someone else. Sartre’s lover, Simone de Beauvoir, was the first to write about how men used this system to relegate women to the category of “other.” We are men (persons) but women are not. They are other. Please don’t kill the messenger here — I am just repeating what they said.
That system — appraisal of the others — has been used throughout history as a tool for everything from routine exploitation to monstrous genocide. It works because societies codify and institutionalize those appraisals and use them to diminish or enhance the status of certain groups.
And everybody (or most anyway) buys into those codes.
So the difference between the unknown female on the Ween cover and Marc Gartman is that Marc Gartman is a man whom everyone knows. Even if he were to appear with only a belt on he would still be Marc Gartman. If the photo of Marc were put on the jumbotron in Union Square, that would be a different story because most people would not know him.
What makes it sexpolitation is the use of an unknown female’s body to sell the music of a male band. And all of you fell for it. As always, it was a slam dunk.
Second topic – venues and services for musicians:
If you really believe that there can’t be enough venues then don’t expect those venues to be any good and expect that they will go broke from time to time and/or expect to pay more taxes.
Here is some info about what two cities famous for their music are doing:
http://www.nashvillechamber.com/Homepage/AboutUs/ChamberInitiatives/Nashvill
eMusicCouncil.aspx
Nashville Musicians Association
RMA Nashville – Nashville TN Root'n Toot'n News Site
http://www.detroitbluessociety.org/page30/page30.html
McGuckin Entertainment Public Relations
Austin Musicians' Housing Initative
http://www.musiclab.net/rehearsals
I’m on your side but it’s OK with me if you don’t get that.
