| Tuesday, November 20, 2007 |
| Stop the music for a minute |
Tomorrow is No Music Day, the brainchild of former KLF frontman Bill Drummond. Not listening to music will "challeng[e] people to consider how people view and use music in their lives," and a radio station in Scotland is actually going to stop playing music all day in commemoration of the day.
There are quite a few days when I don't listen to music at all, although of course that just means I don't deliberately play it -- music is always there in the background, whether it's broadcast over the sound system in stores or the theme songs to public radio shows (I still miss Talk of the Nation's original, marimba-heavy theme to the slow, martial one it switched to a few years back). It would be extremely difficult to go an entire day without listening to music of any type -- you'd pretty much have to lock yourself in a soundproof room. After all, you wouldn't want to run the risk of hearing someone's booming car stereo as they drive past.
Friday is the far more well-known Buy Nothing Day, which bills itself as "a 24-hour moratorium on consumer spending." BND is about as futile as No Music Day since most people can't resist the lure of the doorbuster bargains offered at big stores like Wal-Mart. Personally, I'd rather spend the day scrubbing toilets than get up at 5 AM to be first in line at an overcrowded local mega-mart, so I support BND in spirit. I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to go see the new documentary "What Would Jesus Buy?," which, appropriately enough, opens here on Friday; that caused Joe to ponder whether or not spending money on movie tickets is antithetical to the Buy Nothing credo. I said that since going to a movie in a theater isn't really a consumer good, someone celebrating BND could still go to the movies; after all, you're really just renting a seat for a couple hours. But what about stopping at Arinell's after the show for a slice of pizza? Apparently the only way to properly celebrate BND is to keep your wallet tightly shut, according to this FAQ. "Anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending!" I guess this means that people who depend on public transit have to stay home, then, since they can't spend money on bus or train fare. Oh, it's all too complicated. |
posted by 125records @ 4:55 PM  |
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| 4 Comments: |
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Why should I avoid music to appreciate it more? Dumb idea. Nearly as dumb as BND or Boycott Exxxon or dozens of other silly things.
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I thought BND was the Friday after Thanksgiving...you know, to make it harder, so the folks who did it could feel even more morally superior to the rest of us.
I do think the notion of thinking about what you buy, and buying less generally, is useful - but I think thinking about it should lead to some rather different conclusions about, say, buying a platinum toilet-paper holder vs. buying music. I don't really think of music in material terms at all - even though I'm still relatively wedded to physical media.
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2fs: This Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving. I wrote: "Friday is the far more well-known Buy Nothing Day..."
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All I purchased on BND was a cup of coffee, but I'm actually here with a follow-up on the Journalist cocktail. We just sampled this in the ID test bar and we both think it's sort of a mess. Too many ingredients in the wrong proportions - the gin dominates, as it will, and the rest of the ingredients just taste sort of muddy. Sue, we recommend you keep tasting strengthy cocktails served "up" in our beloved glasses; you might still find something you love and don't feel overpowered by. Ask for a rye Manhattan at a bar you trust.
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Why should I avoid music to appreciate it more? Dumb idea. Nearly as dumb as BND or Boycott Exxxon or dozens of other silly things.