Ranting on dancing

So I went off on a pretty solid almost full-on rant in an e-mail to one of the music reviewers from the Globe over her contentions about what happened at Cat Power @ the Orpheum this past Thursday. Here's what she (Joan Anderman) said:

"But there was no mistaking who's the boss. When keyboardist Gregg Foreman bullied the audience into standing up, Marshall stepped in to say we didn't have to listen. 'Sit down,' she instructed, and then launched into Patsy Cline's 'She's Got You,' the night's saddest, quietest song."- The Boston Globe, Living Arts section, February 8, 2008.

So maybe it was the fact that she puts the statement into first person plural, as in the whole audience, that pissed me off. I am certainly not in that we even if I was in the audience. Whatever it was, I wrote the first missive of my life. Actually one other time I wrote a philosophical dissertation called The Objective Value of Improvisation in the Live Music Experience when a local Memphis reviewer semi-trashed my friends' The Gamble Bros for being too jammy. While it was a pretty solidly organized project, it had a missive-like quality to it as well, and I'm sure was taken as such (i.e. ignored). Anyway, I'll get into that whole discussion at some later date (I know I always say that and have yet to come through on it ever, but it'll come). For now I just wanted to include the contents of said letter because I didn't fully represent my position over on Hyperanaphlaxis, and I just wanted to rant a little more publicly. So, here's what I had to say about the situation.

First off, I want to say that I'm not an angry ranter. Okay, let me correct myself and say that I am an angry ranter, but not one who normally sends letters to the editor or angry e-mails to journalists because someone doesn't see things the way they do. So, having said that I do want to rant just a little bit because I don't think you accurately portrayed what went down at the Orpheum last night in the last paragraph of yr review of Cat Power's show. Was Foreman bullying the audience? Perhaps, perhaps not. Perhaps he was venting his frustrations at playing for a rather unresponsive audience. Now, that is a matter of interpretation, but Chan did not "instruct" the audience to ignore him and sit down. She told the audience that they could sit if they so chose. This undoubtedly based on the fact that they were no more responsive while standing than while sitting, so what really was the point? Later in the show she offhandedly and semi-sardonically thanked the audience for sitting there and clapping, no doubt a reference to this little moment.
What, you might ask, if you haven't already deleted this e-mail as an obnoxious rant from a sycophantic Chan-loving fanbody, is the point of all this? While all of the previous sentence may be a truism other than maybe the sycophantic part, I am also a true believer in the healing power of music as part of modern day spiritual rituals of soul retrenchment for the positive push thru to a better and more solid world for all of us stranded here on Spaceship Earth, and as part of many traditional spiritual rituals the participation of the audience as interactive dancers is a necessary and key ingredient. Taken as a given that music is one of the only forms of modern entertainment that can engage the audience in a participatory, interactive process that is both spiritually and physically healthy, it boggles the mind that a crucial element of it is shunned so often as some kind of boorishness or reprehensible behavior. It's almost like dancing is the new smoking. 'Come on buddy, take it outside.' That's how I feel sometimes when I go to a concert, and for me it's not just a minor inconvience to have to remain sitting, it is an emotionally very heavily afflictive situation. It twists my soul up into a pretzel and nibbles away. While I can at least understand the rationales behind conservative positions on fiscal policy or social issues, this I do not get. Okay, I'm done now. Just a thought.

So, while I've now outed myself as a Chan-loving fanboy, I do think my point is made. Just because you spent 10, 20, 30, 50, 100 dollars on tickets does not mean that you don't owe (that's right owe) those musicians up on the stage yr intensity because their trying to give theirs to you, and if you just sit there like it's just an amusing way to pass the time, then the show you get will be less than it could have been if you were willing to participate and really show how much the music moves you.

I've gotten way out to the outer reaches on this stuff, and I don't really begrudge people who feel uncomfortable dancing or whatever the situation may be. Actually, I of all people can understand what it means to feel uncomfortable in public situations, but it gets easier I promise. If that's all that's holding you back, it does get easier, and you do feel less self-conscious after much practice. Admittedly not when yr the only person dancing which has now happened to me on way too many occasions, many at the aforesaid Orpheum because of the theatrical conversion design. I also wanted to say that I really respect Joan Anderman's opinions, and most of the time I'm in total sync with her reviews and stuff. Maybe that's why this one, especially after reading the trash that The Village Voice had put out on Cat Power, really set me off. That's what a rant looks like, folks, and I'll get to my actual discussion of the show as I get to it in the chronological move. I've got like a dozen more shows to get through before I get there. So hold on to yr hats, the wagon train's moving out.