Yes, I like what I'm doing, but I'm well aware of the "vacuum-bubble." When I was at Vanderbilt, we called it the Vander-Bubble. It's pretty bad in music; there seems to be no real-world relevance to a lot of what goes on. And there is a lot of mutual masturbation going on - especially at the conferences. But there is a turn towards relevance - it just takes time because people are so set in their ways. The most depressing are the composers - man, those guys have their heads up their asses. At least with theory, there is a practical side to it. Musicians need to learn theory and there is a big move towards making theory more relevant to what people are actually doing. So theory is dividing into historians who write about Beethoven and guys who focus on all forms of contemporary music. Both are important, IMO. Two things could fix the "bubble" problem: 1. Better music education in the public school system. It should be a much larger part of curriculums. 2. A move towards relevance, which means really opening the doors to popular music studies. Some people think that the academic study of popular music is antithetical to the very nature of popular music, especially rock. But I disagree, I think the anti-intellectual attitude never did anyone any good.

I have a colleague who is a doctoral student here. He went to Berklee College of Music in Boston and is an excellent jazz guitarist. He's getting his Ph.D. in Music Theory for some reason (?) and he hates that he is forced to study classical theory almost exclusively. He has a point, but it goes both ways - you have to meet in the middle. If you have no appreciation for classical music, you shouldn't be studying music. We debate about this stuff a lot.

Yes, It is J.Mascis. I'm using this pic as my sig in honor of getting to see them in concert next week.

Speaking of Dinosaur Jr., this one goes out to !@#$%!

"Why Don't You Like Me!"
-J.Mascis

I agree. The only reason I'd get my Masters is if somehow I decide that I'd want to teach.....I don't see this happening any time soon.

Why don't you just stay home and listen to Sonic Youth? They are way better anyways.

how does everyone know who that is except me? you can't even see his bloody face!!! haha that thing about 75% of the board being blocked out if we all ignored marley was funny. haha. i still like marley, he's nice.

Noumenal:
I'm the farthest thing from "anti-intellectual," or even "anti-academic" really.
You knew what I meant, I could tell. A lot of what you say makes sense.
To academia: I personally had a disillusioning and nearly completely unfulfilling college experience. Had I not gone I would not know now how distasteful it is to someone of my temperament. However, I do think that if it's an environment one feels comfortable in, it can be a nice life where you get paid to indulge your own esoteric interests in a way that is impossible in the non-academic world. That's nice in its way; I just personally found that environment unbearable, that's all. I did well in college, but I felt the experience to be ultimately unrewarding.
I also like that the debt I carry is for a house, rather than piles of student loans amassing far higher amounts.

I agree with a lot of the rest of your post.

Laila:

It's just a really well known photo of J., that's all.

I like how mp's FUCK YOU post has turned into a chit-chat session.

Best case scenario.

I was just thinking the same thing.

i know because i did a book about dino jr as a project for my editorial design class like a year ago and that's one of the first dino pics google spits out

I can't recognize young J mascis anymore because images like this of him are burned in my mind.





Same thing with Kevin Shields.
http://www.kwmusica.kataweb.it/kwmus...?idImage=63783

I like Dino Jr. and MBV, but I disagree with a lot of their perspectives on music. Kevin Shields is pretty much a dirty hippy that happens to make good music, and J. Mascis is a single coil jazzmaster loving douche that can write a good raucous pop song.

Jim Reid could outfeedback them any day!

SJIND:

I know. when I first saw J. in concert, it was w/ J.Mascis+The Fog, & while he was setting up I didn't realise it was him. But, still can't wait to see Dino Jr.

Yeah, I was going to go see Dinosaur Jr. when they came to pittsburgh, but I didn't have any mode of transportation.

Hey, I'm sorry you didn't get to see them. My transportation is my mom, which is much worse then a bus or something. (ha ha)

i don't know....
marley has said some really naive dumb-shit things....
but i think he means well....
I don't think he is a bad person...just naive.....
i don't plan to ignore him....for now....

I don't get to the gossip room too much, but I have no problem with the two here who are at odds. Marleypumkin is a nice person. !@#$%! is cool, too.

Thanks spiritbears. I try to be as nice a person as possible, & I truly am sorry if I ever have offended anyone on any subject matter. Please forgive me.

-EDIT-
Thank you Amaranth. Like I said, I try to be as nice as possible.

I just like to pick on people.

Amaranth, you never answered my question from the other thread. Can I have your baby? I always wanted to adopt.

whats scary is you are not the first person who has asked to have her! whats even scarier is that the other person who asked to have her was an old man at the dr.'s office.

the answer ofcorse is no!

:)