Farewell to Borders Books and Music

I do not know if I am alone on this but I have bought a bunch of CDs at Borders Music. Perhaps not recently, but not to long ago. I recall walking thru their aisles of CDs. I remember being so happy find a amazing selection of Rory Gallagher CDs. I walked out that day with Tattoo, one of his live collections and Top Priority. I was routinely surprised with what I was walking out of Borders with.

Well all good things come to an end. Two things are happening. Number one, here in White Plains, Borders Books and Music is gone-closing in another week or two. And number two, Borders is largely getting out of the music business.

I speculate on the later of the two but considering the 40% sale on all CDs and where we are today, it just seems right. People just are not buying CDs today. The records companies certainly know this. The situation with the music business, meaning the big labels is common knowledge. so like the labels, those stores that were selling CDs today are having problems. Borders, and the one in White Plains especially, had a huge music section, and with that, they had a major liability with the shrinking of that market.

So when I got the email telling me that the White Plains store is closing I was not all that surprised. Then a day or two later, this three day weekend, I got another email that Borders, all Borders, were selling all CDs at 40% off, and that just confirmed my suspicions. The death of CDs, and and the closing of Borders was in all likelihood tied together. Just a case of the times are a changing.

On top of that, White Plains Borders, just is or was in a miserable location. It was kind of hidden. I recall when I first moved to White Plains and discovering Borders, I was like oh look, a Borders is down the alley. And once the huge City Center Megaplex complete with the Starbucks enhanced Super Barnes & Nobles opened up in the middle of town, you knew it was only a matter of time till Borders was done.

Going back to the music, though, you have a Barnes & Nobles and a Circuit City next to each other and neither of them have a CD selection to speak of. Basically they offer the recent releases and more popular artists and that is it. Borders, coming at the problem with an old school music approach, offered a complete or more complete listing of artists and catalogs. they were proud that they offered a pretty complete offering of Rory Gallagher, where as Barnes & Nobles you wont see any of those, and the guy behind the desk will be asking if you mean the comedian. (And the staff at Borders was in general better for those might want to ponder that point.)

So Borders White Plains had a double or triple whammy, no sidewalk traffic-hidden away on this side street, challenged by the Barnes & Noble Megastore, and stuck with this giant music / CD section. I think they wimped out. Sections can be redesigned and new products can be offer. Their book selection diminished too as the years went by. They put a card and calendar section right in the middle of the store. They screwed up the store. Their cafe sucked, and did not even attempt to compete in the cafe business.

Oh well, for me, they were another group that did not take advantage of something they started. They use to have folk and acoustic acts on Friday night, poetry readings, and book readings-different stuff. It was a place to grab a coffee, hang out with my wife and son on a Friday night. Today there is nothing. They forgot who they were. Instead of letting that stuff go, they should have bolstered it and reinforced those practices. More book readings and signings. More musical events. They gave up. I know I do not know the details and how bad it was, but for my money-they did not try. Anothe quality product from the Kmart/ Sears Group. I think Borders is still a Kmart store.

Well with my 40% coupon in hand I found no Gallagher, or even Deep Purple or even the recently re-released UFO albums. I did grab a few CDs, Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine and INXS. That last with one of my favorite pop songs,"Don't Change"

Farewell White Plains Borders Books and Music

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Whores and Money. . . the thoughts of one promoter

Musicians have their music to allow them to vent. . .I mean express themselves. What does a promoter or a promoter want-to-be have? And often there is a lot of anger in their self expression, granted not always. Megadeath and much of metal love to talk of death, and destruction, granted they are not always angry when they do it. Half of Eminem's songs are rants against his wife, other rappers, and his mom.

I do not know what tools a promoter has to endure such crap, and no doubt we have our own frustrations - wives, venue owners, musicians on occasion, and just life in general. Granted booking of shows and perhaps that is the ultimate remedy, but one also does need to look at what one is doing, and one's thoughts and feelings on the subject. So I write it down - Dear diary. . . and with the blog, perhaps for public consumption-all five or six visitors!

This, however, is not what I intended-I digress. The above perhaps is a preface. The actual intent of this little piece is to talk about whores and money or what I would do to see a little success. The title does dramatize and exaggerate, but that is what a title or headline is for. No in the end all I point to here is the idea of hooking up a cover or tribute band with an original band.

That is it? Whores and Money translates to teaming cover bands with original bands?

For this promoter it does. I am working such deals for a one or two bands right now and do ponder such things. The basic idea makes sense. Get a Cover or tribute band that is going to do one good set and (hopefully a good draw), and have the original unknown band start the evening. One has to start somewhere. They warm up for the bigger act, just like anywhere else.

On top of that you have the entertainment value. The audience knows, and enjoys the cover or tribute act, whether it is a Springsteen tribute, a U2 Tribute or a Kiss show. People know what to expect. They know they are going to have a good time. Friday or Saturday night, you go out for a few beers, maybe a few shots, hang out and just take in some good music. Nothing wrong with this picture and most important-the audience came out!

On top of this, they do get exposed to the original act. They check out and hear something new, and might just open up to this new band doing new songs that they never heard before. They might just actually listen and dig these tunes and arrangements that they never knew existed before the band started playing their instruments.

And then once the original act is done-the Tribute act takes the stage. What eaxaclty is wrong with them? They had to rehearse and master the music, the voice, the style, the persona of the acts they are doing. Likewise they had to give up a bit too. They cannot show up at rehearsal with an idea for a new song unless that idea came of Bruce's or Kiss' CD or album. They have paid their dues. And nothing wrong with this. There are lots of musicians who just love playing and do not desire the creative or composing element. They enjoy performing live or playing classics or artists they have focused on.

So what is the problem. . . Stay tuned and I will see if I can come back with an answer.

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The Wonder of iPods and Technology that Sucks

This Christmas I acquired my first iPod. I know I am moving a little slow over here. iPods have been out for quite awhile and today there are numerous variations. I guess I am just set in my ways. Perhaps I like running back and forth to my car with CDs in hand for my various trips through the day and night.

I had gotten a Sony devise- another MP3 player last Christmas and I got stuck on their request for me to install yet another media player on my PC. I never progressed past that point. I think there are currently five versions of media players right now on the machine. another was not needed. Besides, it was just not believable to me. I seemed so fragile and I was uncertain how I would select a song or artist. So it sits in my office unused.

the iPod though was quite a different result. The days following Christmas were largely spent loading all my CD, and there was a bunch, into my iTunes. So if nothing else, it got to move most of my collection, (the listenable component) into iTunes. Now the part that i knew, but now witnessed, was that I could take all those tunes and move them into my iPod. It was Amazing!

That tuned out to be 1700 songs. Who knew I had that much music! I had not pondered before that how many songs or music I had. Nor had my wife, when she bought me the thing as a Christmas gift. She got me an iPod Nano, which holds only - only - 2000 songs. Sadly, I will exceed that sometime soon and will either need to truncate my collection or move onto a bigger device.

I was and am amazed that now I can carry in my pocket my entire collection of music. And with that knowledge and capability, I am now inspired to scour the earth for music that I have since lost. Bands like Blackfoot, UFO and even Deep Purple or Zeppelin - stuff that I know but that have been pushed to the periphery.Things I once had on vinyl and now want and need in a digital format. New stuff that I have had samplings of but now want to add. Bands like Radiohead that I hear a snippet of but just are a step or two away from me reaching out and getting. This new little device which fits in my pocket simply inspires!

Now here is where my saga begins. For those of you who know me, I listen to my music in the car. Even though I work from home I still generally hop in my car to go somewhere and when I do I am carrying some CD to pop in for the trip. Whether it is a mid-day trip to Dunkin Donuts or a trip into the city at night to see Do You See the Dark or Statues of Liberty, it is always with music in the CD Player.

Well, my decision to buy an iPod was calculated. I knew where and how I listened to music and knew that if I were to get an iPod I would have to figure out how to get it connected into my car stereo. I did a little research on the web and among friends and the verdict seemed to be that it was no serious issue to connect it by simply using the FM radio. I thought it was a cool solution and told by several that it worked. Looking back, I am afraid I was cherry picking my intel.

The idea behind the FM radio solution is simple. You plug this device into your car cigarette lighter, and your iPod sits on top of it. It locates an unused frequency in the FM band and broadcast a small signal that only my FM radio, which is a foot away an pick up. Yes I have now become an FM Broadcaster! (Stay tuned for more to on this theme!)

So it is a very cool tech-savvy solution. But it does not work. It is not able to find an open frequency. The music fades and it has every pitfall of the FM band-the fading, the static. Sadly the solution is not listenable. I will be in the middle of some piece of music and it fades. So what I am realizing is that this new very cool piece of technology ties into into certain ways of listening. Car listening is not quite there yet. No doubt it will be figured out-I have no choice. I do want my music library in my car.

More on this to come. . .

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