Revisiting: Hold On, I'm Coming: The Independent Record Labels of Memphis, TENN.

 

   I'm not into self-promotion but I do think that I was on the money when I wrote this post about the independent record labels of Memphis Tennessee back in 2007 (based on a few books I'd read at the time).  Some of the stuff I say at the end has proven to be more true since we've learned more about the nature of the music streaming ecology, which, in 2007 barely existed.   I stand by all of what I wrote here back in 2007.

Originally Published 2007
Hold On, I'm Coming: The Independent Record Labels of Memphis, TENN.

Sun Studio Logo from Memphis Tennessee

Stax Records Logo

     It's a sad fact that those who like to wag their gums about what independent musical acts are 'good' or 'bad' are hugely ignorant of the actual history of independent music. Indie music didn't start with punk rock in the 70s- it extends back in time to the beginning of the music industry itself.
   

    I've been reading up on Sun Records and Stax: both from Memphis. Both were true indie record labels. Both had a decade plus long 'hey day' followed by descent to obscurity. And you know what? They had hits- for a time- then they didn't, and they disappeared. But man could they sell records back then.

    

     Take Stax- Stax sold almost entirely through mom and pop record shops located in "urban" neighborhoods- but the records sold. Here are some take aways from both stories: Hit records sell for a long time, a successful artist is someone who can sing a song written by someone else and make it into a hit, easy access to a recording studio is important.

      It's funny, because neither Stax or Sun had what you would call a "scene." In fact, if you actually look at the history of the independent music industry, you see that the idea of geographically specific "scene" doesn't reflect the reality of what independent records used to succeed.

   You can tell it's not the location that gives rise to the label, because indie labels typically disappear after the cluster of artists that rose to prominence either dies (Otis Redding, Buddy Holly) or is absorbed by the "major" labels of whatever era.

   Time and time again, independent record labels release a hit record, have trouble with expanding or being absorbed, fail to maintain their relationship with the artist who had the original hit, fail to duplicate the success with different artists over time and generally lose the personnel who were around during the glory days.

   I think the aspect of that is most applicable to the blog rock/indie scene of today is the relationship with the artist who has the original hit. I would hypothesize for the average independent record label starting in 2010 viability is an either/or. You either have an artist who sells or don't. I can't think of a single indie band where I would say it's the record label that "broke" the artist.

    Almost every independent label of today wants an artist to "walk in the door" with a finished product. In that sense it is analogous to the 50s-60s Sun/Stax mode of production where artists would come from the surrounding hinterland to record, and the labels would cherry pick the best, and the records would then sell. That is almost exactly what happened with bands like Wavves, Crocodiles and Dum Dum Girls.

   Neither Sun nor Stax had anything resembling "A&R": They literally relied on people coming in off the street. Another similarity between then and now is the phenomenon of sales independent of the largest institutional players in the music industry. Perhaps this sounds circular- but all you need to sell records is a place to sell records and a reliable postal service. The places that sell records are always looking for records to sell- it never ends.

   I would refer to this phenomenon (then and now) as a "fragmented marketplace." By fragmented marketplace I mean a marketplace geographically dispersed, unclear preference for format, no common sources of information, etc. While the disadvantages of a fragmented marketplace are obvious (Um- no one buys physical media, large sellers of physical media disappear) some of the advantage are less obvious.

    For example, one of the advantages of a fragmented marketplace is something I call an "infinite roll out." I'm using "roll out" in it's public relations/advertising period as in

ROLL OUT: The time period in which a new company, service or product is introduced to consumers.

     My thesis is that fragmented marketplaces give you basically an infinite amount of time to introduce your product/album/etc to the market place. Independent labels exist in a place that is beyond quantifiable time in that regard. They are not on the schedule, not on the list of "new releases."

   Here's the conclusion: In this context the label is just a conduit for the artist- it doesn't extend beyond whatever artist has a hit. But it's the environment provided by the label to the artist that allows the artist to have the hit, in that sense the label is both wholly unnecessary and completely indispensable at the same time.

The Fortunate Pilgrim (1965) by Mario Puzo

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

The Fortunate Pilgrim (1965)

by Mario Puzo

Hell's Kitchen

Manhattan: 28/33

New York: 77/105

 Mario Puzo had one of those mid 20th century literary careers that is still recognizable today:  Early struggles with works of "serious" fiction, like this book, his second novel, failed to bring him the success he thought he deserved.  He decided to write a book that would sell and created a 15 page outline of The Godfather for his publisher.  Film Producer Robert Evans got his hand on the outline, recognized the potential, and optioned the finished work- before it was published.  Given the circumstances, there is no question that Puzo simply must have written The Godfather with the movie version in mind- I didn't know it at the time, but when I read The Godfather I thought it shared more similarities with the completed film based on the book than anything I'd ever read before.

 The Fortunate Pilgrim was Puzo's love letter to his Italian-American mother, who, if the book is to be believed, raised a whole family by herself after her first husband died and her second husband went insane and died.   There is no denying the serious intent of Puzo, but it also seems impossible to deny that he was anything more than, at best, a gifted story teller and at worst, a hack with impeccable timing.  You might say the same about Francis Ford Coppola as well. 

  Still, there's no denying the pleasures of The Fortunate Pilgrim. I actually highlighted a bunch of prose that left me enthralled:

On this Sunday afternoon, when everything was still, the abandoned yellow, brown, and black railroad cars made solid geometric blocks in the liquid golden sunshine, abstractions in a jungle of steel and iron, stone and brick. The gleaming silvery tracks snaked in and out. - 62

And the narrow skull turned toward her, the face elongated in the bare-toothed grimace of a wild animal trapped in terror. a face of hopeless satanic madness.  -118

The voice was the horrible hoarse voice that some whores have, as if torrents of diseased semen flooding the body had rotted the vocal cords. -253

  It might be hacky, but it is also effective prose.  The Fortunate Pilgrim does a great job fulfilling its location on the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America map- in Hell's Kitchen.  This is a clear snapshot of the "before" when Hell's Kitchen was the breeding ground for Italian and Irish gangsters.  

Revisiting: Show Review: Avenue D, Beauty Bar San Diego 5/13/06

Revisiting: Show Review:  Avenue D, Beauty Bar San Diego 5/13/06

   I've been listening to the Charli XCX record, which is very much, imo, a love letter to the "indie-sleaze" era, and don't you know I lived it.   Back then they called it 'indie-dance' and here is one of my show reviews from that era.

May 14th, 2006
Show Review:  Avenue D + DJS
@ The Beauty Bar, San Diego May 13th, 2006.

      As I was walking out of the Civic Center Plaza in San Diego to my bank down the street, I passed the venue known as "Fourth and B". For the first two or three years that I was in San Diego, I would regularly confuse Fourth and B with On Broadway. Now I know the difference: On Broadway is the place that gainfully employs man-about-town Morgan "High Octane" Young, Fourth and B is the place that's being driven out of business by the House of Blues.

    I saw there on the marquee that DJ Tiesto was playing Fourth and B. Not only, that... it's sold out. What... the... fuck. In my "weekend preview" post, I talked about how San Diego was one of the centers of the "indie dance" movement. A fair question might arise, what is "indie dance".

      When you are trying to define a concept, it often helps to explain what the concept is not, which helps orient the listener to the ideas that you are trying to communicate. So let me try that approach: Sold out tiesto show at the fourth and b is NOT indie dance. Sold out Tiesto is what indie dance, in large part, arose in opposition to.

      That sold out Tiesto show was on Friday night. Last night, Avenue D took the stage at Beauty Bar San Diego and showed us all what indie dance is all about. Two New York girls, shouting out their gleefully obscene lyrics over a pre recorded cd. Maybe they aren't as angry as Peaches, or as art school as Le Tigre, or as talented as M.I.A. But they're white chicks armed with an 808 and they ain't afraid to use it.
          And that is what indie dance is all about. It's about pushing the DJ off his pedestal, smashing up his white label collection, and putting it back together with a bunch of outsiders.
Avenue D drew a hundred plus people last night. It was a good turn out. The Beauty Bar is undeniably the heart of its corner of the San Diego music scene. Most of that has do with the popularity of Gabe Vega. Pop Rocks is an undeniably solid night: Manual Scan and the Power Chords on a MONDAY night? You got the Pussy Galore on Wednesday night, Dirty Fridays, Creepy Saturdays. OK I made up Creepy Saturdays.

       Honestly, I didn't care for Avenue D. Their reach exceeds their grasp. I still had a good time. Good energy- oh- and I heard Blue Monday there for the one millionth time. Can somebody please put a stop to the playing of Blue Monday at every single indie/punk/new wave dance night?

         Hard not to compare Scolari's to Beauty Bar, but I won't for fear of death threats.

The Last Murder at the End of the World (2024) by Stuart Turton

 Book Review

The Last Murder at the End of the World (2024)

by Stuart Turton

  I checked out the Audiobook of The Last Murder at the End of the World by English mystery writer Stuart Turton after reading a favorable Guardian review which referenced Never Let You Go, Kazuo Ishiguro's clone book.  The theme sounded interesting- the last humans on earth try to survive on a Greek island owned by a (female) tech billionaire trying to resuscitate the human race after a mysterious fog (black, with insects inside that eat you) destroys humanity.  Turton comes from a detective-fiction genre background, where his books have been well received, but this book sees him determined to escape the genre restrictions while still keeping important lessons he learned succeeding with that audience- i.e. keep the story moving/everyone loves a murder mystery. 

  Of course, the murder mystery at the heart of the book is the trigger for a much deeper, more interesting book a la Never Let You Go.  Like many authors, Turton is experimenting with a non-human narrator, here its a "bio computer" implanted in the cell structure of the island residents that allows it (Abbie is its name) to control the behavior of the people on the island and function as a voice in their head.  Needless to say, "unreliable narrator" klaxons are going off on page one, and that is part of the beyond genre moves that Turton makes as the author.

  Interesting themes aside, the core of The Last Murder at the End of the World is a standard who-done-it, and I felt like the machinations that Turton engineered to make it plausible within this scenario detracted from the reading/listening experience.  Also would recommend the printed book over the audiobook, since it is narrated by an AI, the audiobook voice reflects that authorial choice.

Hapsburgs on the Rio Grande (2024) by Raymond Jonas

 Book Review

Hapsburgs on the Rio Grande (2024)
by Raymond Jonas

  It's a chapter of Mexican history that Americans miss out on because it happened during our Civil War, but for a brief, shining period there was a Hapsburg monarch who purported to rule over the "Empire of Mexico." Emperor Maximillian was the younger brother of the head of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  After his brother the Emperor produced a male heir, he dropped out of the line of immediate succession and found himself dispatched to Milan to run things for his brother, but he wasn't, you know, satisfied.  Meanwhile in Mexico, the Mexicans had created a republic that, among other things, confiscated and sold church property, which upset the Catholic church and Mexican conservatives.  

  This all led to Napoleon III floating a French "intervention" in Mexico designed to place Maximillian on the throne as a "legitimate" monarch of Mexico.  Needless to say, there were, many, many, many flaws in the plan including:

 1,  The existence of the legitimate government of Mexico, which simply retreated and waged a decade long campaign of guerilla warfare designed to wait out the invading French army.

2.  Trying to take over an existing country using borrowed money and mercenary troops.

3.  The general uselessness of Maximillian

4.  An inability to win over the population of Mexico to his cause.

   I could go on.  I had many thoughts during the course of Hapsburgs on the Rio Grande but my major take-aways were that this would make an excellent comedic prestige television show AND that it really makes American capitalism look good, because while the US was building a continent wide industrial powerhouse, the French, decades after their own revolution, were spending their money in this insane fiasco. 

  Maximillian was not without his positive attributes.  He was an avowed fan of the indigenous population and they actually provided the bulk of his Mexican supporters, including his two top generals.   He himself was not a cruel or rapacious guy, although the soldiers in his employ did get a little out of hand as they tried to suppress the guerilla tactics of the Republic.  There are plenty of indelible moments in Hapsburgs on the Rio Grande, but my favorite was the afternoon that Maximillian spent collecting butterflies while his Mexican Empire was in a state of utter collapse.  How 19th century European monarch!

  

Clear (2024) by Carys Davies

 Book Review

Clear (2024)

by Carys Davies

  I know I read West, the 2018 debut novel by Welsh author Carys Davies (She/Her, I think) but I never posted about it here.  West was about a would-be fossil hunter living on the American frontier in the early 19th century.  Hearing about the discovery of giant bones on the Great Plains, he leaves his family in search of his own discoveries.  The family notably includes his young daughter, who splits narrating duties with her absent pere.   Six years later we've got Clear, a slight 150 page novel about a Scottish minister who is dispatched to a remote island between the Orkney's and Norway to evict its sole tenant as part of the clearance movement in the UK.   Other than describing the fact that this guy goes to this island and interacts with this guy, there isn't anything a reviewer can say that doesn't function as a spoiler for the plot. 

 I listened to the Audiobook, enjoyed the accents and the whole thing was over in a little over 3 hours.

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1989) by Oscar Hijuelos

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1989)

by Oscar Hijuelos

Manhattan

Manhattan: 27/33

New York: 76/105

 Oscar Hijuelos won the Pultize Prize for The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love in 1990.  The copy I checked out from the library said, "The first latino to win a Pulitzer Prize" which sounded insane, but it's true.  I think I'm the record re my lack of respect for the Pulitzer.  To be fair I've read 11 of the past 13 winners.  Before that point in time it's patchy. It was nice to knock this book out under the auspices of the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America, where it represents the Cuban-American experience in New York City.  Cuban-Americans join Haitian-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Barbadians  in the constellation of represented ethnicities from the Caribbean within the melting pot of New York City.  Here is one observation derived from reading these books:  Most of the ethnicities hang out solely within their own ethnic groups in the books selected for the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America.  The number of genuine cross-cultural experience I've read about in this series is very limited.    That also goes for socio-economic status, up and down the board, most novels only deal with characters from a single socio economic group.  You would not expect that from New York City but I think it says something about the goal of most of these writers- which is to relate their own or their parent's experience in fictional form.

   Or maybe it just speaks to the fact of a segregated society, even in the meltiest of melting pots. One perspective I have not embraced is that of the "macho" which is the name for a set of attitudes embraced by men from all over the Caribbean in several of the titles in the 1,001 Novels list.  To be a "macho"- it's not used as an adjective but more like a proper noun- macho as a philosophy.  The basic idea is that you have to be strong when you are with women and "show them who is the boss," whether by physical abuse or mental abuse.  Obviously, none of these characters are particularly sympathetic, though you do come across women who embrace it a la stockholm syndrome.  Today we call it "domestic violence."

  The titular Mambo Kings are two brothers- one, shy and reserved, the other boisterous and flamboyant.   The whole book is told as the flamboyant brother lies dying in a welfare hotel (presumably the location of the map point on the 1,001 Novels map) in flash-back form.  The Mambo King, as he is known after his brother dies (no spoiler alerts for 30 year old books) has a few regrets, but he also has fond memories, mostly of screwing the putas with his big pinga.  The sex scenes are frequent and graphic- pretty risqué even today.  The Mambo King treats his women like shit, doesn't follow his Doctor's advice and dies alone and in pain in a welfare hotel.  He did have some good times along the way!  It struck me as a particularly sad existence, whether intentional or not on the part of the author. 

  I looked through his New York Times reviews- I think it is fair to say that from the perspective of the literary world he was a one-hit wonder.  The reviews remained respectful (and he got reviews) but his obituary only mentions his other books in passing.  Certainly, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love did not interest me in further pursuit of the Hijuelos bibliography.