Local Anesthesia is a new regular feature that focuses on music and issues concerning Louisville.
As reported a couple of days ago, I honestly feel a little sore about the Black Angels not coming to Headliners. In part from the sobering, sinking feeling of not being able to see a band of this caliber at a good venue five minutes from my apartment, but mostly on ethos. This recent turn catalyzed a need for me to share some observations as both a local and an outsider – a recent transplant to Louisville who has been in the music business and truly fell in love with this city. And someone who’s recently adopted what could be considered in this town as a reasonably controversial opinion.
It’s worth noting that I have no vested interest or involvement in any of the parties mentioned, and have no empirical evidence to present, as it were. I simply am offering observations as a townie, and inferences/insight as a music promoter. But I think what I have to say is fair.
First, it’s unequivocal that Louisville gets passed over for awesome shows. A lot.
There’s a few reasons I can entertain. Louisville is not located on a major east-west corridor. When managers route a cross-country tour, they tend to build a logical itinerary along either I-80 to the north or I-40 to the south, neither of which is close to Louisville. Looking at a map, you can see how this is the most utilitarian and economical approach to tour the nation. In addition, seemingly more notable music scenes like Nashville, or college towns like Bloomington always present a reliable gig for someone booking from behind a desk. This, too, is understandable – booking colleges are a guaranteed revenue stream (student activities committees are required to spend their budget, or else they lose it) and guaranteed audience (college kids have the leisure time to attend shows), and a place like Nashville is a legendary “music city.”
However, Louisville’s music scene is certainly nothing to guffaw at. The city has played host to some amazing live shows and festivals, including acting as the flagship American city for Terrastock 7. But a massive void still remains in this city’s live music calendar, namely a deficit in diversity. Having lived here for almost a year, I feel safe in identifying another obstacle not related to any of the aforementioned, but rather, a well-known but culturally static and non-innovative entity that pulls a lot of water in Louisville and does little to further the city’s music locally or nationally. Surprisingly, I’m not talking about a conglomerate like LiveNation or Clear Channel, but our own WFPK (though some of the discussion later may parallel the criticisms toward the aforementioned corporations).
For our of town readers, WFPK, also known as “Radio Louisville,” is a large and popular listener-supported, NPR-affiliated radio station that plays a lot of what I would consider coffeehouse rock – mostly folk, alt country, and what I sorta mockingly describe as “candid, demure, sophisticated” singer-songwriters. Stuff you’d hear inside Starbucks. FPK doesn’t exactly sound like the most nefarious, formidable presence. I mean, I’m not even sure if the station, a member of the multi-station Louisville Public Media, is a 501(c)3 or not, but it certainly is not an organization that rakes in the dough by any stretch of the imagination.
Regardless, the problem with WFPK is not its business practices, but its influence. The issue, as I see it, arises from a music community, our music community, wherein promoters, publicists, talent buyers, and venues are, unwittingly or otherwise, overwhelming friendly to WFPK, creating a sort of ideological monopolization of live music in Louisville.
As far as events outside Derby, Fourth Street Live’s decidedly shitty concert series, or any of the big arena tours that roll through Freedom Hall, WFPK owns this town. That is to say, WPFK is often the presenter, promoter, and/or sponsor of a wide range of concerts and events. On the surface, this sounds like simply a symbiotic relationship between media and publicists. The problem develops when, to cite some legalese, a marketplace of ideas in the Louisville music community no longer exists.
WFPK has a remarkable presence over music in this town, and in the case, “wide range” really means vast majority. Open up any given issue of LEO Weekly or Velocity and look at the ads for shows and events. You’ll see the red and black logo everywhere, indicating that the station is, on some level, involved in almost everything. Go to a show at Louisville’s most visible venue, Headliners, and behold the spotlight illuminating the curtain – a giant two-story WFPK logo that says “hey, tonight’s event is probably brought to you by us.” Visit the city’s largest independent concert promoter, Production Simple (who have hosted some phenomenal shows in the past), and notice how many listings are preceded with “WFPK 91.9 Presents.” Compare that and other venue’s concert calendars with WFPK’s playlists. Compare the lineup of the city’s largest music festival, Forecastle Fest, with WFPK’s playlists. Patterns emerge. The station is involved in a lot, and seems more or less the go-to guys for show promotion.
Here is where the notion of helping vs. hindering music really comes into play, and why I side with the latter. While it is ultimately a nice gesture that this organization assists to promote events and book shows, some of which are free (such as Waterfront Wednesdays), and while some artists have certainly been helped by WFPK, on a macro level WFPK’s influence, I believe, hinders music progression in Louisville. Because WFPK has a power over those involved in making live music happen in Louisville, they probably also have a say. This would not be an issue if WFPK featured diversified programming. Unfortunately, they don’t. This means that only certain music is really championed here in town – obviously, music that WFPK would play.
To elaborate further, when an organization like WFPK becomes a powerful entity that has its finger on a vast array of citywide events, the station’s namesake becomes a commodity – a trusted brand identity that makes your job as, say, a club promoter easier. You’re immediately reaching thousands of potential attendees with spots on FPK’s drive time, and it sure beats stapling fliers on poles for hours. But this relationship only exists when a show is relevant to WFPK’s programming. So maybe you tow the line. Maybe it’s better that you book the Rhett Miller show over something more challenging, sell out the room, make a killing in bar sales, and have WFPK rally the troops with its airwaves. Everyone takes a cut, everyone’s happy, and not a sweat broke. Easy sleazy. I am not citing a specific example here, I’m merely illustrating how a talent buyer or promoter could pander a bit to WFPK. All things considered (no pun intended), it would be an easy trap to fall in to.
Of course, like promoters, WFPK also has people that make their lives easier. As with any sustainable business, WFPK has a duty to appeal to its core audience. Without getting into a debate on agenda setting theory, WFPK’s bread and butter undoubtedly comes from professionals holding down $50K/year jobs that can afford to donate $100 here and there and receive a sweet tote bag for their gift. Ah, the oft fabled power struggle. As Stephen Levitt beautifully summarized in Freakonomics (and I’m paraphrasing here): morality is the way the world should work; economics is the way it actually does. But hey, I understand that. It’s not scruffy dudes like me, who get stoked on Spacemen 3 spazz outs and completely insane freak folk, that throw cash to the station, nor is it any given member of my mid-20s demographic who tend to rarely listen to the radio. I respect this balancing act and sympathize with the notion that you don’t shit where you eat. So it follows that the music that appeals to this target market gets priority, to some extent, in the programming. To that end, it makes logical sense why WFPK is never adventurous with their playlists or events, despite the fact that they’re in a position where they could try to be progressive in some aspects considering their established name in the community.
Concerning WFPK’s programming, some of the music they play is not intrinsically bad, per se. But they play a lot of bland stuff (known to this blog as “borecore”), and it’s all in the vein of what is known in industry jargon as the AAA format, or “adult album alternative.” You hear some good songwriters on WFPK, but nothing new or too outside the box. You hear the new Son Volt, the new Decemberists, some old Decemberists, maybe a cut off Thom Yorke’s solo record if someone’s feeling saucy. Not exactly an edgy playlist. I’m sure at least one person on the staff is describing Wilco (The Album) as “visionary” as we speak. It’s worth mentioning that you also hear a lot of shit, too. In the afternoons, WFPK features a “Guilty Pleasure of the Day.” Often, the guilty pleasure is actually a better song than a third of their programming. That’s probably an issue on multiple levels.
WFPK switched to its current format in 1996, and interestingly enough, a lot of the songs aired come from new albums by artists that were around during that time. Even when WFPK plays a “new” artist, it’s usually someone poorly knocking-off something done decades ago, such as Vampire Weekend. The station seems to be in some sort of metaphysical realm where time is slowed.
I’m not the only one who feels this way. The Courier-Journal’s Peter Berkowitz published an article last year about WFPK just not being as good as it used to be. The second and last paragraphs really encapsulate the crux of the issue:
Billy Petot, a 30-year-old insurance agent and part-time musician, is less diplomatic. [Editor's Note: Petot is also a fellow WRFL alum and member of excellent local group Whistle Peak]
“WFPK is too white, and often times too stale,” he said. “A lot of the music lacks flavor. I don’t feel like the station introduces us to anything or promotes something that hasn’t already been tested. It’s like Hillary Clinton waiting for the poll numbers to decide her stance on an issue.”
Long viewed as the city’s most adventurous radio station, the WFPK that you now get depends on when you tune in. Dial up 91.9-FM and you might get to sample what the early adopters are listening to. Or you may get the soundtrack to “Grey’s Anatomy” — or worse, “Closing Time” by Semisonic. All within the same set.
“I feel like WFPK only introduces me to new music from old artists,” Petot said. “If Louisville is the cultural center it claims to be, why don’t we encourage that culture by introducing folks to new art that is starving for promotion?”
I also feel like WFPK is a little out of touch. Another poignant illustration concerns one of the website’s Question of the Week features last month. Program Director Stacy Owen wrote: “Locally there’s backseatsandbar, myoldkentuckyblog and WFPK’s Weekly Feed. What other music blogs are your favorites for finding the latest news and mp3s?” A couple of the regularly-updated Louisville blogs were omitted (including this one, but I’m not bitter… I do cuss on this blog and half of what I post would horrify Friends of WFPK) while one that was cited that is not even a local blog (My Old Kentucky Blog is based in Indianapolis and discusses Brooklyn a lot more than Louisville), and one was their own, The Feed, which is updated once a week and usually features whatever songs were slammin’ on Hype Machine last month. Last week’s installment included a new song from a struggling up-and-coming new rock and roll band called The Pearl Jams. Nice.
The C-J article mentioned above also discussed a little bit of WFPK’s history, and its original program director Dan Reed, who is responsible for establishing the AAA format and now runs Philadelphia’s WXPN, home to the wildly-influential World Cafe on NPR. Evidently at some point before my time, WFPK was edgy. It certainly isn’t anymore. Here are a couple of very telling quotes from within the station:
At the door to the music library, we run into afternoon DJ Marion Dries.
“Stacy, did I hear that Moby has a new CD out?”
On this day, Moby’s latest CD has been out for two weeks. Owen dryly acknowledges this to Dries, and the tour moves on.
And…
Still, new music can be a struggle for 55-year-old Meyer, an unabashed fan of Hendrix, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Bob Seger and graying Louisville singer-songwriter Tim Krekel. When the male singer Cass McCombs was heading towards town last fall, it took Meyer a few days to stop referring to “her new album.”
Ay carumba. An organization that wields a lot of power in this town and influences so many facets of our music scene should really be a little more ahead of the curve than this.
So if an organization like WFPK has its finger in many pies and features a playlist of very limited scope and ample staleness, then it follows that the safest shows to book, shows that have WFPK’s unfettering support, will have to fall in line with this paradigm. This leads to total stagnation in the live music scene.
The local concert calendar has been indisputably saturated by a lot of watered-down, totally unexciting, Nissan commercial-ready jive, and I have no doubt, based on my observations outlined above, that WFPK is partly responsible for this. However, I believe there is a quick, preliminary remedy to not only help the station’s programming grow and its influence to diversify, but to also give the local scene a boost. How about – start spinning what’s really going on in Louisville? Not local musicians who sound like what’s popular nationally, but musicians who are doing very distinct, original music in town. Why aren’t R Keenan Lawler, Invaders, Phantom Family Halo, Shedding, any of these guys that are doing something unquestionably more interesting, and most importantly adventurous, getting the same support from WFPK that, like, Ingrid “Old Navy” Michaelson is getting? They need exposure, and WFPK is certainly big enough to really make an impact. WXRT in Chicago, while also an AAA format station and not the coolest kid on the block, still had the balls to play Pelican on their local show. Doesn’t Louisville deserve the same service? This is the first step to moving things forward.
As stated earlier, it’s completely reasonable that FPK is aiming for a specific target market and demographic, as any good business would. But who’s reaching the other market of young music fans? Who’s reaching the small yet loyal demographic that thinks Phoenix, and certainly stuff like Josh Ritter, is kinda lame? Where’s our response?
Now for the inspiration for this post. Last week, I posted some news about a festival Lexington’s WRFL is hosting. The station has confirmed appearances by some legendary, truly genre-bending artists that I will not mention right now. As I’ve discussed in various entries, I lived in Lexington and booked shows at The Dame Music Hall. I can tell you unabashedly that Lexington is rather puritan community that’s not friendly toward art. It’s a place where a 35 year old, annual masquerade ball for charity, The Beaux Arts Ball, can be shut down by police because it’s late and all the freaks are bumming out Lexington’s bourgeoise. It’s a place where the police would surreptitiously video The Dame’s patio looking for excuses to come in and harass patrons – particularly on evenings when we had a punk or hip-hop group performing. It’s a place that’s home to the University of Kentucky, a strictly dry campus… except for tailgating parties during a UK football game. It’s a place where the city government has a fervent debate concerning whether it would be appropriate to build sidewalks along busy roads considering some people’s immaculately manicured front lawns might be at stake. It’s a place that boasted an organically grown, blossoming entertainment district that was completely leveled to make way for a high-rise hotel and condo development that remains, to this day, a hole in the ground. It’s a place that is hostile to unique expression and interests outside of horses and basketball. It’s a quaint picturesque college town that wants no boats rocked.
Louisville is none of the above. Louisville is a cosmopolitan town that prides itself on being regionally ambiguous and distinctly unique. It’s a place where the city government is greatly supportive toward local business. It’s a place that spawned the movement “Keep Louisville Weird,” and has fan clubs called “Possibility City” and “Why Louisville Loves You.” It’s a place that’s attractive to the creative class – to artists and thinkers and people interested to doing things a little differently. The city’s funky aesthetics – a jaunt up Bardstown Road, a barhop through Germantown, a sunny afternoon stroll down historic 4th Street in Old Louisville, or a nighttime gander at the city’s magnificent skylight whilst driving south across the Rogers Bridge, whose cantilevered trusses are basked in warm purple floodlights – will all demonstrate that pretty quickly. You can cut the potential here with a knife. But where’s the music scene that will put us on the map?
We know that there’s an audience for important, forward-thinking, internationally-revered music. Look at some of our hometown heroes: Slint? Squirrel Bait? June of 44? Rodan? The For Carnation? Sapat? Tara Jane O Neil? Crain? Hello, McFly?!?! According to this interview Backseat Sandbar did with the festival organizers for last year’s Terrastock, this name dropping is what got Louisville the festival. So what is the current stifling factor? Is it pursuit of the aforementioned easy way out on the part of our music promoters? Is Louisville just not interested in its rich history of boundary-pushing indie, punk, and psych?
Doubt it.
Is it lack of a tightly packed music scene like WRFL can provide to Lexington?
Hmmm, possibly. This is my call to action…
Louisville has a strong music scene, and a lot of folks like the Backseat Sandbar guys, Joel Hunt, the Sapat boys, Ken at Transpanther, Sean from Buzzgrinder, Matthew at Derby City Espresso, and a few others are working to bring great acts through and pair them with relevant and deserving local artists. And there are some really great artists in town. Read my review of Invaders’ newest for a taste. It’s time to band together to get some things moving. It’s time to reach a demographic that, outside of Terrastock and the awesome annual Good Folk Fest, has been under-served. I will be publishing ideas I have for the city in later posts, and I welcome dialogue from others in the music community. I want to network and help build the type of community that WRFL has built in Lexington, wherein people cross-pollinate their music projects, are dedicated to attending and participating in live shows, and maintain a compact, explosive scene. Sure, Louisville does have a music community, but it needs to be tighter, more succinct, and more proactive. I want to help light a fire. Care to join? My buddy Sean at Buzzgrinder has outlined some great ideas in this guest column on Consuming Louisville. There’s a great start. It’s time for the rest of us to respond to complacency. WFPK doesn’t have to be the lone ranger in town, ya know?
Despite the lengthy prose, this entry is not meant to serve as an indictment on WFPK or anyone in Louisville. I love this city and its people. This article means only to demonstrate that we should have different movements in our live music scene, and now is as good of time as any.
While The Decibel Tolls tends to be immature and vulgar, I do enjoy good, thoughtful discourse. Feel free to comment with your thoughts! So… enough with the bellyachin’ – on to more positive topics. But before I go, here’s a great song about bellyachin’. It’s called “Boo Hoo,” which is probably how the vast majority of this article comes across. And a Bark Psychosis song, because it felt right.
MP3 :::
Marvin Rainwater – Boo Hoo
Bark Psychosis – All Different Things
