The world is what it is. How we handle it is what we are.
John C.

Well, I promised myself never to bring up the subject again because "it ain't going to go away"....it just gets worse..but here I am back again with my usual gripe.

So I'm having a very busy day, but figured it's OK, I'll go to tonight's park concert and relax listening to good music (every summer there are hundreds of concerts around here...pick and choose, but, unfortunately, I chose the wrong one).

I knew there was something wrong when I noticed no instruments on the stage, only two Grade B Kmart self-powered speakers on posts. Then I saw the group on the side....3 men, a girl....men looked like they needed to sign up for Medicare after the show. Show starts and my suspicions were correct.....Karaoke tracks dished out on a single, solitary laptop. Total musical equipment on stage: one laptop + two speakers + three mini-monitors + four mikes, and, I guess you could throw in three pairs of shoelaces (officially on stage) to bring it up to a grand total of 13 items that you could carry to your gig in a supermarket cart.

How did it come to this? I've been seeing good bands for the last 20 years, and I mean full bands with guys who had chops (especially the Chicago Tribute Band). These guys tonight were playing to a customary audience of 500-600 people and, in addition, to mediocre sounding Karaoke discs, they couldn't even coordinate their voices. Limp patter in between songs. They should have named their group "The Sadists!"

I studied both them and the audience carefully. Singer #1 looked and walked like Rip Van Winkle. #2 dressed like he was setting up the pins for bowlers at the local bowling alley. #3 was so big I could hardly see #1 and #2. He could have passed for the Michelin Man without even a costume. Or maybe the "before" picture for some exercise emporium advertisement. I mean, really, if you're going to sing together, try and make a good visual. Then the girl.....very little singing and dressed in a "glitter" outfit...moved like she should have been teaching Zumba classes instead of singing. I actually thought she was a Xmas tree on stage until she moved.

Audience.....out of all those people I counted only 7 1/2 people dancing, and no one, NO ONE, was moving to the music in their seats. A friend who was with me, got up and left (quote) "before she ruined her hearing!"

Now here's the plus side. Thinking about the status quo, I'm sitting there wondering if this is a blessing. The audiences have been gradually "dumbed down" so much over the years, I'm wondering if it's time for a really good OMB now to enter the arena (maybe coupled with a female vocalist). I'm talking a "Jurgen Sartorius" type, good playing, excellent vocals, entertainer type, mixed bag of music, TOTL keyboard, huge bass speakers, harmonizer, and, of course, the incidentals (on the keyboard hard drive): midi files, Karaoke tracks, original recordings, etc.

If I was a young whippersnapper again, full of energy and determination and drive, I'd take up the challenge. But then again the glitch in the whole thing is, you might end up in popular demand, but your paycheck would probably be equivalent to the cost of a tuna fish sandwich. These park recreation directors who hire the groups are slaves to the "bottom line."

This should be my last "gripe" letter, because I don't think there's enough room left to lower the bar anymore!

Who are we to judge?.....they are getting paid......

it's a free night out for people on a summer night....

and anyone is free to leave if they choose