JAh

i am a fan of joseph arthur. i am. but i am starting to realize that some people really think the sun shines out of that guy's ass. he is constantly working on something, which i think is awesome, but i don't have to love everything that he does. but i'm discovering people online (message boards! eek!) that would probably buy (and love) a pile of shit if they thought it was his (especially if the order included an "art print"). i'm not necessarily saying that i think any of the music or art or poetry that he has produced should be compared to a pile of shit, but you know, not everything is the most wonderful, spectacular, mind-blowing piece of art in the world. take for example joe's new blog, bag is hot. first of all, maybe i'm missing something, but i don't understand what the fuck "bag is hot" is supposed to mean. second of all, i'm not that thrilled by the content. it's cool, but mostly i just don't get it. but i am reading things like, "I am speechless with wonderment (good word and apt) at everything Jo (and his organisation) is doing just now. It just blows me away completely and I fall down in admiration, awe and moaning pleasure noises." and i wonder why i don't feel the same way. are all these people actually seeing or hearing something that i'm not? or are they forcing themselves to connect with a piece of art because they love its creator? i guess i've never been like that. i can fully accept when an artist that i love makes something i am not wild about (see 50% of the songs on the gomez album "how we operate"). i've never blindly followed anything (except for maybe a couple of boys that had a shitload of charisma. i was young and stupid). i wish i could find the blog or interview that i read this on, but once upon a time i read that someone told joseph arthur, "i listened to your new cd once and then i threw it across the room because it was such a piece of shit." and joe's response was one of delight. he basically said, "good. i don't make my music for everyone to love. if it evokes any kind of reaction, good or bad, then i've done what i set out to do." so at least i can take comfort in knowing that if i ever voice these feelings to joseph, he won't be offended. also, these joseph arthur tour dates were just announced: 2008-07-09 Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA 2008-07-10 World Café Live, Philadelphia, PA 2008-07-11 Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY (with band) 2008-07-12 Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ 2008-07-15 Troubadour, L.A., CA 2008-07-18 Great American Music Hall, S.F., CA i'm sure he'll make his way back to austin at some point but i'm going to try to hit those east coast shows. i know brynn and bri will be there and i haven't seen them in FOREVER. i hope that we can be reunited before july but who knows. now gomez just needs to announce an actual tour, not these stupid festivals and dave matthews shows.