Thursday, October 11, 2007

I'm A Hustler, Baby




I'm glad Ghosthustler finally got some press from Dallas' "alternative" weekly (a mere four months after Spin wrote about them, way to go guys!), but I'm not sure I understand what this article is supposed to be about. I've been able to gather: "blogs," "retro," "future," "80's," and something talking about how Radiohead isn't rock n roll. Someone want to explain this to me?

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48 Comments:

Blogger Logster said...

Radiohead isn't rock n roll but.. "Purple Rain-era Prince and Gnarls Barkley" are?! ... um... what?

1:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

it's difficult to articulate how useless that author is. it's like she's discovered this new thing called "music" and she's unsuccessfully trying to explain it to all of us. you know, because we don't understand it to the same extent she does. and her didactic tone is intolerable. it's like reading an article in a high school newspaper.

1:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Her writing is consistently poor on all fronts. If she could develop an unique point of view...or string together an interesting sentence about...anything...if she had more than a cursory knowledge of music, either old or new....any one of the three would be nice. But at 0-3, she's shown she's inept at everything except redefining the word "irrelevant".

2:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That was a confusing article. Is The Ghosthustler that guy who wants people to leave Britney Spears alone?

2:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

There was no point to Widner's piece.

She's very juvenile for an adult and does a pretty lousy job constructing an article that offers a tenth grader's sense of diction and flow.

A blown opportunity at the hands of authorial constraints in intellect and storytelling.

Why does she have the reins? And when is she getting fired? That pub is tarnished.

3:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

at least she thinks the guy is gorgeous, that has to mean something right?

3:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

POOPOO AND PEEPEE

4:20 PM  
Blogger KeithP said...

I'm equally as lost.

4:24 PM  
Blogger drex said...

robert johnson not rock n roll? he sold his fucking sold to the fucking devil to become the greatest guitar player ever!!!

i stopped reading there and i boycott this article on principle alone

4:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Houston Press music editor is the New Times regional supervisor fyi
http://music.houstonpress.com/about/staff.php

4:31 PM  
Blogger DTC said...

poorly written, badly researched, par for the course. i wish i could do my job this badly and still get paid.

5:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

that sucks that ghosthustler has to be involved with such an embarrassing article. yet another case where the writer says way too much about their own beliefs, does no reporting, and thereby hurts the subject material.

5:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

WHOA WHOA WHOA BACK THE FUCK UP.

Robert Johnson is NOT rock and roll!? are fucking kidding me?

he's the MOST fucking rock and roll out of ANYONE in EITHER of those lists. WHAT-THE-FUCK!

i don't need to read anything else because this person knows dick about music.

5:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah, I was honestly trying to give the article a chance (even though it was about four months late), and then I got to the Robert Johnson line and threw my hands up.

5:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

their "research" was interviewing him for 15min outside of public trust last week for our numbers show. i am so glad we comped them; life changing article.

5:48 PM  
Blogger bill h said...

Okay, now hold on. Robert Johnson is Delta Blues. Delta Blues along with country and Gospel form the roots of rock and roll, but was it Rock and Roll?

I'm no musicaloligist or phd, but isn't that a fair question. I suppose there's phd dissertations out there on what is rock and roll. I imagine lots of definitions for instance emphasize electronics. Robert Johnson sure could play the guitar, but so can Chet Atkins.

Is there a point where music in its roots wasn't rock and roll and isn't there a point where experimental music ceases to be rock and roll, but is something else?



What do you think SR?

5:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, that sucks.

5:51 PM  
Blogger Sam M. said...

The obvious premise of the piece is bad enough--feeling the need to define "rock 'n roll" with picks that nobody's going to agree with...it's a tacky gimmick. But nitpicking about that lets Widner off the hook.

What's worse is that the piece comes off like Steve Carrell in The Office--a big "LOOK AT ME" job without any substance or reason to play along. It's obvious that Widner knew she picked the wrong local group to write about, because she runs out of stuff to say about them so fucking quickly (see: over 500 words before mentioning the band in the intro; a goddamned essay about Kraftwerk).

Where's a more in-depth interview, a detailed account about what these music-makers are like as people? Where's the hard dig into the local promotional forces that made them matter enough for a front page feature? Where's, uh, the reluctance and doubt that should come standard with a young band and a shitload of hype? Just like everything else she's done as of late, Widner takes the easy, "sit at the desk" cop-out route.

I'm not sure why it is that I keep reading her shit and hoping for improvements. I guess it's comparable to Star Wars--I saw all three prequels with the vague hope of improvement, if not closure, even though I knew better.

Til next time, JarJaranna.

6:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Sweet Home Chicago" by Robert Johnson contained the back and forth rhythm that was appropriated by countless musicians thereafter, and eventually dubbed the "rock and roll."

6:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jar Jaranna?
How about Sam Macewinduvich

6:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i didn't make it through two paragraphs, but someone should tell the author that mtv never played music videos. and there's no such thing as a music genre dieing.

7:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

robert wilonskiwan kenobi

9:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Robert Johnson = Led Zeppelin = ROCK AND FUCKING ROLL BITCH

9:51 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

All the poor woman wants is for you kids to accept her.

She's going to do an article next week about that Pokemon craze you little hooligans are all so into as of late.

10:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

she would write about pokemon.. thats sooo 8 years ago..

11:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

At least the photos are good - oh wait they suck too ..the real crime the observer committed was reporting a Joan Jett concert for tomorrow when the shows been canceled for at least 4 months now

2:40 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I FUCKED GHOSTHUSTLIN' ALAN TONIGHT

IT WAS GOOD SO TO SPEAK

3:23 AM  
Blogger Alex said...

GOTTA CATCH EM ALL

3:33 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

now im gonna have to try harder to ignore that band.

8:39 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear God.. that was one of the most bizarre and painful things I've ever read. She narrated the ENTIRE fucking music video.

I'm seriously blown away with how bad that was. Wowowow-

12:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You're arguing about categorization. Lowest of the low.

12:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

2:40am -

"..the real crime the observer committed was reporting a Joan Jett concert..."

You don't need those last 13 words.

Joan Jett? Really?

1:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

also theres that huge picture of beth ditto from the gossip next to an article about some other female artists who are never even listed. actually i'm not sure what that article was supposed to be about either.

2:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

arctic monkeys yeah yeah yeah

4:19 PM  
Blogger Alex said...

"Ghosthustler frontman Alan Palomo looks to the future, but he knows his musical history."

HJAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHH
AH
AH
AH
H
A
HA
HPAHHAHAH
A
HA
H
HAH
AH
AH
AH
AHHAHAHAHAHAH
H

HH
H





FUCK YOU

4:49 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

6:01 PM  
Blogger Beige said...

We all knew the article was going to be trash. What we should have realized is that they were going to put it out whether or not we made any attempt to cooperate. The chick obviously wants to jump Alan's bones. She made no attempt to contact me even though I put a majority of the music together. And most of the article reads like she just got finished looking up electronic music on wikipedia. The only way she even got a shot of Alan was by ambushing him at a show. I talked to him about it and she totally mangled everything he said. For example, "I like to call it Future-Pop".
Complete fabrication.
Not to mention that she got my age and the spelling of my name wrong. It's a travesty, but hey, at least I have something to show my parents.

6:05 PM  
Blogger Alex said...

yeah alan looked kinda scared in that picture... like he was ambushed..

7:14 PM  
Blogger fuzzbuzz said...

Pikachu is my hero! ;(

8:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

breaking news:

dallas' the secret handshake wins $500 in free taco bell.

http://www.tacobell.com/feedthebeat

hahaha.

p.s. 12:44 thank you. i thought i was the only one bothered by the 2-page play-by-play of their video.

9:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

p.p.s. i gots the new danava cd. album of the year 2008.

9:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

1:32 pm --a duh!

10:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

she's a lesbian.
she doesn't want any disco penis from that kid.

8:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"The TV's fuzz quick-cuts to images of young hipsters being punched in the face by a hand encased in some sort of futuristic glove"

srsly? futuristic glove?

7:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098663

7:24 PM  
Blogger JessecaB said...

I'm surprised any of you made it through the whole article. I got lost in the introduction. She doesn't even mention the fucking band until 500 words into the article. What a horrid writer. I say once again, I should have her job...except the Observer is a joke, so I don't exactly want to write for them.

7:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jeez... this was the cover story?

10:51 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Guys let me tell you about this great new local band, really heavy. They're called Pantera. I think they're death metal.


Pulitzer committee holla at me.

8:11 PM  

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