So, we kicked up a little dust with this last podcast. Our commentary on Cindy Chaffin and TexasGigs.com seems to have raised the ire of quite a few people. To them we say, “Thanks for listening!”
But to the rest of you who might be curious about the hullabaloo, here’s what was said about Cindy:
L: Cindy Chaffin has been doing TexasGigs.com and live broadcasts from shows for years now.
R: Well, for a couple – well, TexasGigs for years and live broadcasts for about a year and half.
L: And most recently, she’s been doing podcasts herself with, uh…
R: Because, you know, we haven’t had her on.
L: Right, yeah, well, we think that.
R: Cindy, Cindy: I still love you even though you’re wrong about a lot of shit.
L: She provides an invaluable resource. Uh, and she is the foil, or we are the foil to Cindy, because we are discriminating.
R: Although, you know, Lindsay: I saw her earlier this week and she said, “Hey! I’m not a cheerleader! I’m not a cheerleader! I don’t talk about bands I don’t like. I just don’t bring them up.” And I said, “Well, Cindy. You know, the problem then is, your taste is not particularly great.”
L: OK. We’re going to stop down right now because there was a band, uh, there was an artist that she recently found and recommended. And I was like, “oh, this looks interesting” – until I listened to it. And this is why - Cindy provides a great service; I love her website - I think her taste is off.
R: And, and, well let’s, he asked the question; let’s answer the question. TexasGigs.com tries to be more than just Dallas, but she’s based here. They do - and for our listeners - they provide a very good listing of bands that are worthwhile to go see. And, a listing – they try to do a listing of all bands. But, they point out which bands are worth going to see. They also have Texas Radio One, which plays live music that they will - they will send Cindy or someone else out with a computer and you can listen to the show as it’s being performed. They now do a podcast. And all of that is great. I’m really glad she’s doing it. She has put her heart and soul into it. That’s great. We are just a different animal. We are trying to be critical. She is trying to promote; we are trying to promote, but we are trying to promote only the good and get away from the bad.
And here’s the official response.
But, boy: did people get angry.
And all of that is fine. Amusing, even. It’s not everyday we get called jealous, cynical, drunken, flaming, hipper-than-thou cocksuckers living in our mother’s garage who work in custodial maintenance, drunkenly bloviating incoherent nothings which bolster our unfilled musical egos. And no one seems to like my glasses.
Vitriol aside, we stand behind our words. In brief summary, they were:
- TexasGigs.com is an invaluable resource
- We admire Cindy for her work and passion
- Cindy is not a critic, though we attempt to be
- We think she likes some crap music
I would think that anyone consuming the work of both TexasGigs.com and dconstruction.org would agree to the first three points. The fourth is a matter of taste. Just like my glasses.
dconstruction
Post script: have you seen the new Texas Gigs? It’s swell.
December 20th, 2005 at 2:37 pm
At times I enjoy your show. But I have a real problem with your comments about Cindy and her website. As you point out, you are music critics. So it is fair for you to act as music critics and criticize music itself. But whatever expertise you purport to have which allows you to criticize the artist she was promoting does not therefor grant you license to criticize the promoter herself. That is nonsensical. So stick to what you purport to be - music critics.
The only reason why you might feel obligated to tell your listeners that Cindy has bad taste is that you believe you are entitled to because your taste is inherently better. There is no yardstick to measure this claim to superiority - and can only be explained by sheer self-importance. Granted, you are running a music critique podcast, an undertaking which in itself requires unabashed ego to even conceive. Yet, perhaps that is the point - to create a program where you claim to be fostering a scene for music to flourish - but instead use it as a medium to drunkenly blovate incoherent nothings which bolster your unfilled musical egos. Indeed, the artist she linked to was quite bad. But you can tell by listening that that kid’s heart is the right place. Listening to you guys leaves serious doubts.
December 20th, 2005 at 3:00 pm
The only thing I’d like to say on this subject, then I wish it death…is that I sat through an entire set of Kirk Thurmond’s at The Door. I then invited him in for an interview and live play. Both performances were great.
The only issue I had with what was podcasted on said show was the part where it was presented…and I quote…”this is Cindy’s pick of the week…” and ya’ll played some crappy track you pulled off his PureVolume or whatever.
He’s a young kid with a lot of promise…and I think he deserved a little more of a listen then one self-produced song when the plan was to rip him and his music to shreds.
Now please-o-please can we change the subject!
December 20th, 2005 at 3:17 pm
mommy! daddy! STOP FIGHTING!
December 20th, 2005 at 3:21 pm
in an actual response I’d like to say that I appreciate both of you for what you do. I’m all about promoting Texas bands over here in DC and I find Texasgigs.com to be a great source of bands I’ve never heard of. Though I do not promote any band I don’t like, maybe bands I wouldn’t normally listen to (case in point My Education) but certainly bands I feel have done something worthwhile and other people will want to hear it. As a form of media, I am the filter through which information is disseminated, just like you guys. It just so happens that the dconstruction boys are like cheese cloth with a very fine filtration system that only lets so much through to the other side.
Also, look at my playlists and compare it to the list you see over there on the right…lots of familiar names no?
December 21st, 2005 at 3:47 pm
It would be easier for you to bash Cindy’s taste if you actually included all of the good bands in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, but you don’t. There are lots of bands who aren’t in the FW Weekly/Dallas Observer cliques that are awesome and overlooked and only Cindy gives them the credit they deserve, e.g. The Burning Hotels, Modico, The Chemistry Set, Record Hop, and I don’t even see Midlake listed. Those bands seem to fit in with your taste, so why no mention? I’d rather read and hear about more bands from Cindy and then check them out to see if they are good, then hear about a select few from you guys and miss out on some of the gems you look over.
December 21st, 2005 at 4:16 pm
Brad (who left a bogus email address, otherwise we would have sent this directly to you),
Thanks for listening - and commenting.
It seems you’ve missed the logic of our band listing. It includes only bands we’ve played on the show. To date, we’ve not yet played the Chemistry Set, Record Hop or Midlake (though the Chemistry Set makes the second half of the Valentines conversation, still in editing). As such, they’re not on the list. The Burning Hotels and Modico are not too familiar. We’ll have to check them out. Thanks for bringing them to our attention.
But you bring up a good point: we’re not here to shotgun a bunch of bands at you (see Andrew’s comment above). If you want that, then Cindy’s your girl. Hell, if you want that, then go to Myspace and do a regional search for bands. Here, let me do it for you:
Criteria:
Genre: Rock
Location: 5 miles within 75214
Results: 380 bands
That’s a lot. Within 20 miles, there are 1,430 (!) bands. Hopefully, some of our listeners find our service - which is to give critiques and very narrow recommendations - useful in this vast sea of mediocrity. But, if that’s not your bag and you prefer to wade through the sewage yourself, more power to you.
Also - and this isn’t directly intended as a defense of our “bashing Cindy’s taste,” which we find a bit strong given what was actually said - your “all or nothing” logic seems a bit specious. Because we don’t list every good band, we therefore have no basis of taste? Especially when there are literally thousands of bands to evaluate in the DFW area, I think having to list every good band is an overly stringent criteria for taste, don’t you?
I’m not saying we have taste, though.
Regardless, we do what we do because we enjoy it. I hope you do too, even if only on occasion. And if not, well, there’s no accounting for taste, is there?
December 21st, 2005 at 7:57 pm
my bad on the email, forgot the 8 before the @, it should be correct now. I appreciate the reply, I hope I wasn’t too harsh earlier. I guess I got the wrong impression about what you guys are trying to do. I appreciate the fact that you are helping to “give critiques and very narrow recommendations” to the audience, it’s something that is needed in this area because there are a lot of mediocre bands, and bands that are just plain awful. I guess I just feel like some of the bands in Fort Worth are overlooked sometimes and my accusations were not meant to be personally offensive. You should definitely check out those two bands though, I think they are both new on the scene but they have a good sound. There are several others, but I don’t want to get into promoting other bands. Sorry if my first post was ill-worded. Have a good night and keep the show going.
December 22nd, 2005 at 12:33 pm
This is great. This forum here and in the podcast form is one of the best things to happen to the DFW music scene since I’ve been here (’96). Whether the bands or the music is good or not is irrelevant, people are talking about it. That’s what creates a scene.
I’ve always complained there is a lack of cohesiveness in a city(s) such as DFW with such a wealth of talent and now we have debate over who plays and promotes what bands and why etc…that’s awesome. I think we’re definitely on the right track. Dissention is good, variety is the spice of, diversity just ROCKS! So let’s keep it up the debate and feed the scene we all want to create and be apart of, but keep it respectful of peoples opinions…and hope more live music clubs will get on-board and let these good bands play on a decent bill on a decent night.
December 23rd, 2005 at 1:33 am
For my favorite bloviators… more in my MySpace blog. And thanks for the TexasGigs compliment. We’re all rather proud. Go Cindy! Rah Rah!
December 23rd, 2005 at 11:54 am
dearest KatieMac,
hint:
If you’re gonna be a name dropper (which you are - flagrantly), please drop some noteworthy names. John Dufilho does not a relevant figure make. No knocking John, but he is what he is. Aren’t you a little old to be living vicariously through a bunch of twenty-something garage rockers?
Also - shooting blurry, canted photos on a Nikon D70 running full auto doesn’t make you a “photographer” - a term that’s thrown around like turds in the monkey exhibit. Whew, i need coffee.
December 23rd, 2005 at 9:23 pm
Wow, Paul. You should let that coffee go and get a beer. No last name, no email, no website? At least stand behind your bile and say who you are, since you apparently know me so well.
December 30th, 2005 at 6:04 am
actually, yes…i do have a valid email address, which was entered when i originally posted. you can bug Jenks or Linds for that. a website? sadly - no…i refuse to maintain a cyber-altar to the God of Me.