Just Say No To Outdoor Summer Concert MC's

The summer means lots of outdoor free music events, but of course, they're never really "free" in the true sense when you examine closely. That's right, people sponsoring the event whether it be Snapple, Budweiser, or NAMBLA will always figure out a way to insert their agenda repeatedly into your experience, which of course, makes perfect sense, and is something we have pretty much accepted in our daily lives in this consumer-driven world. At the risk of going Andy Rooney, I have to say for some reason this year I find all the people MC-ing before, between, and after sets to be particularly prickly to my ears. I don't know why. Is it having absorbed all the recent SCTV box sets and realizing that Bobby Bittman (pictured) was somewhat of a harbinger of things to come, even though he was a parody of the past? Or is just that hearing a cheesy guy come out to pump everyone up and say things like "Give it up for my maaaaaaaaaan, J Mascis" in Central Park last night after Dinosaur Jr. finished is just downright annoying?. Or is it just the timing in these stressful times, where your entertainment should be a modem for escaping information-overload, thus making the usual routine of annoying interruptions amplified. I dunno, but the WFUV plug at a show involving the Magik Markers (who opened for Dinosaur Jr.) was pretty out-of-place too, one has to admit, and having Yo La Tengo's quieter moments interrupted by the buzz of the "Jack" plane overhead had me thinking of the blimp in Black Sunday crashing into the Super Bowl. These Jack people hate Matador, I know it! Anyway, I shouldn't vent, nothing could have been as bad as this guy (MP3). Says our friend Bill W.: "I'd like to 'put my hands together', with his neck intervening." I expect responses to this post from this weekend's Siren fest, especially if the US Army has that sponsorship booth there. Will Don Rickles don his CPO Sharkey garb and introduce Dungen?

Comments

[HyenaSparerib]

yolatengo.net is no longer the site of that band, but "has recently been acquired by pool.com" which appears to be some sort of commercial directory.

[alex p]

I'm pretty sure the K-Rock guy who introduces Pavement is actually Rian Murphy from Drag CIty. It was just a very funny joke.