[Harp-L] Band Attire and Cheese

[Rooty Baegga <rootybaegga@xxxxxxxxx>]

I have enjoyed both of these threads and hope a neophyte won't be chastised 
for an opinion, or two, or more.

BAND ATTIRE & DRESS CODES:

I need to preface this with the fact that I am allergic to dress codes, 
being a long-time jeans and t-shirt kind of guy.

There's a dress code where I work.  The ONLY thing verboten is blue jeans, 
under the admonition that blue jeans are not professional 
attire.  Shorts?  They're okay.  Sweat pants?  No problem.  Sweat pants 
with holes and or grass stains?  It's all good.  Crop tops with belly 
button rings showing?  Still fine.  Cargo pants?  Okie-dokey.  But, no blue 
jeans.

In fact, I have made the joke (often) that my place of employment 
discriminates on the basis of colour: You can wear black jeans, tan jeans, 
green jeans, corduroy jeans.  The only jeans one cannot wear are blue 
jeans, so it's discrimination on the basis of colour.

Obviously the rule makes no sense and the Emperor has no clothes.

However, we are not on-stage, either.  I agree with those who say band 
members should dress appropriately for the venue.  I also agree with the 
other opinion that says a band that's a democracy might democratize itself 
into ennui.  I have found that bands work better when there is a leader 
whose word is law.  If you're the leader, lay down the law.  I don't wear 
jeans at work because it's against the rule, no matter how silly I believe 
the stupid rule may be.

CHEESE

Why I feel I can talk about the inner workings of bands is because I have 
managed several.  To list my bona fides: I managed Canada's VERY FIRST 
Roots Reggae band, way back in the '70s, named Ishan People, later renamed 
Ishan Band.  We put out 2 LPs, both produced by David Clayton Thomas, who 
was (probably still is) a huge Reggae fan, long before most people had ever 
heard the genre.  The second band was a Queen Street Art/Rock/Pop band 
named Drastic Measures.  It was the Punk era and Art/Rock was a very hard 
sale at the time.  However, we managed one LP on Columbia.  A second was 
recorded, but never released.  The third band was a 9-piece '80s World Beat 
band named Officials, which included musicians from all over the world 
(Africa, Canada and the Caribbean, mostly) including Osibisa's Del 
Richardson (from Europe) on guitar and vocals.

While I may be a neophyte on harmonica, I do understand bands.

Each band I managed was outside of the mainstream.  Consequently, one of 
the pieces of advice I offered to them all was to judiciously sprinkle a 
few cover tunes in their live set.  People "get" cover tunes.  A Reggae 
version of a familiar song allows an audience to better understand what 
Reggae is all about.

Now, all these years later, I might not be so insistent on that because 
Reggae is not all that foreign to the ears.  However, back then it was 
important.

Another thing about cover tunes is that people just love them.  How galling 
it must be to be a songwriter who creates some terrific, inventive, 
melodious music onstage, only to have it totally overwhelmed by the 
reaction to some cheesy cover that has the shock of the familiar.  That's 
the way it goes.  Audiences eat that crap up.

And, the word "cheesy" reminds me of Suzy Creamcheese.  Frank Zappa, 
brilliant as he was (not up for debate!!!), was not above cover tunes.  If 
he wasn't covering some Doo Wop, he was all over things like Purple Haze, 
Stairway To Heaven, Whipping Post, Sunshine of Your Love, or Bolero.  (Yes, 
Bolero.)

Cover tunes, as cheesy as they may be, are still worth chewing on for 
musician and audience alike.

Lastly, how sad it was to learn here that Matt "Guitar" Murphy had a 
stroke.  I have so much music that he's a part of in my collection (42 
linear feet of CDs). I finally managed to see Blues Brothers 2000 on tee 
vee the other night and, while it's not as much fun as the original flick, 
it still had its moments.

I wish him all the best.

=========================================
Rooty Baegga

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