Hi.. I typed up a lengthy reply yesterday and LJ ate it! Wah! So I'll try again but it'll have to be shorter cause I dont have much time before I have to leave for work.
Firstly, completely igonre the assholes on the elist. They were assholes then, they'll be assholes years from now. They attacked *me* for saying some of the same things. It got so bad - they actually made threats -- that I was afraid to go out for fear they'd slash my car tires while I was inside, etc. The one thing I finally learned about Atlanta (and Seattle) is that the people making all the noise on the elist and on the newsgroups are NOT the people you'd EVER want to hang out at a club with. They're obviously people with too much time on their hands that relish the idea of sitting on their asses and intimidating people with words.
Secondly, its a complete waste of time to try to change them anyway. They go to clubs to either look cool, get drunk, or get laid. None of them give a shit about music or about musicians or about preserving the underground aesthetic. They'll never change. Let them drown in the mindless beats they're attracted to.
The cool people - the kindred souls you're seeking - don't go to those clubs anymore and probably dont read those elists. That's the problem -- trying to figure out how to get in touch with those people. For years I thought there wasn't anyone in Atlanta that felt like I did -- and it took moving to California to figure out I was wrong. Drew lived in Atlanta the same time as I and I saw him only a couple times when he showed up at a club night... but that was it. All along he liked the same music I did. But I didn't know it. In Atlanta right now I'd say that people like Trey are a good place to start (I never knew him while I was there either!). He might not spin exactly what you like but he, at least, does give a rats ass about music in general. And there's Travis (manager of Salome's Wish) - who's done SO much to try to get dark music into things like The Atlantis Music Festival (he's always been a supporter of bands like Myssouri). Mike Cuccarro - who for years ran the only club I could stomach going to - is now pretty much out of the scene with a little boy to take care of - but occasionally he does some promotions and DJing. Those kind of people are the people who you'd coax out of the woodwork with a night like you are talking about but then you have to realize those people are so busy with lives of their own (something those assholes on the elists know nothing about) that it IS hard for them to make it out to club nights... and this leads me to Release the Bats.
I think RTBs is successful with an older age group who like the music we like because its only monthly and its on a weekend night (Friday). Even people who have to work alot, even people who have kids, even people who live far away (San Diego for Drew and Kerri and Frank), they can alllll make arrangements once a month to come to this club. Its kind of like "If I can only go out occasionally, I'm gonna make it there!" Loyalty is further cemented by "bats" related events outside of the club - doing the Bats Day in the Park, going to Jenn and Dave's for afterparites, etc. And suddenly its just not a club but a group of friends who are usually too busy to socialize but make a point to do this once a month just so they can say hello and dance and be themselves. And it just works. Something to keep in mind if you're there. I think once a month is the ONLY way to go and you'd have to somehow reach all those people who have stopped paying attention to the assholes that now call themselves "goth"...
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chiming
I *KNOW* your pain
Date: 2004-02-13 02:48 pm (UTC)From:Firstly, completely igonre the assholes on the elist. They were assholes then, they'll be assholes years from now. They attacked *me* for saying some of the same things. It got so bad - they actually made threats -- that I was afraid to go out for fear they'd slash my car tires while I was inside, etc. The one thing I finally learned about Atlanta (and Seattle) is that the people making all the noise on the elist and on the newsgroups are NOT the people you'd EVER want to hang out at a club with. They're obviously people with too much time on their hands that relish the idea of sitting on their asses and intimidating people with words.
Secondly, its a complete waste of time to try to change them anyway. They go to clubs to either look cool, get drunk, or get laid. None of them give a shit about music or about musicians or about preserving the underground aesthetic. They'll never change. Let them drown in the mindless beats they're attracted to.
The cool people - the kindred souls you're seeking - don't go to those clubs anymore and probably dont read those elists. That's the problem -- trying to figure out how to get in touch with those people. For years I thought there wasn't anyone in Atlanta that felt like I did -- and it took moving to California to figure out I was wrong. Drew lived in Atlanta the same time as I and I saw him only a couple times when he showed up at a club night... but that was it. All along he liked the same music I did. But I didn't know it. In Atlanta right now I'd say that people like Trey are a good place to start (I never knew him while I was there either!). He might not spin exactly what you like but he, at least, does give a rats ass about music in general. And there's Travis (manager of Salome's Wish) - who's done SO much to try to get dark music into things like The Atlantis Music Festival (he's always been a supporter of bands like Myssouri). Mike Cuccarro - who for years ran the only club I could stomach going to - is now pretty much out of the scene with a little boy to take care of - but occasionally he does some promotions and DJing. Those kind of people are the people who you'd coax out of the woodwork with a night like you are talking about but then you have to realize those people are so busy with lives of their own (something those assholes on the elists know nothing about) that it IS hard for them to make it out to club nights... and this leads me to Release the Bats.
I think RTBs is successful with an older age group who like the music we like because its only monthly and its on a weekend night (Friday). Even people who have to work alot, even people who have kids, even people who live far away (San Diego for Drew and Kerri and Frank), they can alllll make arrangements once a month to come to this club. Its kind of like "If I can only go out occasionally, I'm gonna make it there!" Loyalty is further cemented by "bats" related events outside of the club - doing the Bats Day in the Park, going to Jenn and Dave's for afterparites, etc. And suddenly its just not a club but a group of friends who are usually too busy to socialize but make a point to do this once a month just so they can say hello and dance and be themselves. And it just works. Something to keep in mind if you're there. I think once a month is the ONLY way to go and you'd have to somehow reach all those people who have stopped paying attention to the assholes that now call themselves "goth"...