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Topic: A new Robby blog from The Comet (Read 887 times) |
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Shannon
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A new Robby blog from The Comet
« on: Dec 6th, 2010, 11:34am » |
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Exclusive: Robby Takac’s London Adventures and Deep Thoughts on Social Media
The Goo Goo Dolls’ Robby Takac shares his thoughts on the cultural differences between the UK and the US, the power or radio formats and the sometimes absurd world of social media.
Aaaaahhh, sitting having a nice, nice cup of coffee.
(Well in an age of extreme internet specificity I will correct myself, a nice, nice macchiato – actually, let me go on this for a minute – thousands of tweets, tweeps, status updates and blog-o-thingys later I’m trying to re-evaluate the actual value of each piece of information leaving my cyber-launch pad on a daily basis. I mean, I really don’t need to know what Rob Thomas had for lunch, Questlove bought at the fruit market, or anything that a Palin family member has to say at all. But when in Rome, or closer to Rome, you know the rest. You tend to get caught up in the flowing current, so sorry. Actually, to be fair, if it weren’t for Twitter I wouldn’t have known James Phelps, the actor who plays “Harry Potter,” was at our last London gig…and maybe, as noted, his fans could care less about that fact, we’ll never know. I do know the random information channels helped me out at the that moment. Either way, there’s a lot of information humming down these lines, and it’s all out there for your consumption – and of course to help aid in the rise in status of the machiatto within our immediate GGD fan base. Wow, where did that come from?)
Okay, where was I ? Ah yes, at the glorious Café Nero High Street in Kensington. This is one of my favorite parts of travelling around these areas during our “Something for the Rest of Us” UK tour, a great place to steal a few minutes to yourself, charge up on some seriously hi test espresso and to find a refuge to type up a monthly blog for The Comet!
We’re here in London today, it’s cold rainy outside, and warm and cozy here inside as I type away on the ever present wireless signals available here in England. We’ve been here for the past two weeks touring w/ a band called Unkle Bob in the support slot, making our way from Glasgow, Scotland to our second show in London during this visit (the first London show was at the Brixton Academy – sold out to the rafters – so we added a second night at the HMV Forum tagged on to the last night of the tour). These shows really have been pretty amazing. I forget every time I leave to do shows across the UK I start to notice crowds are notably different when we play on this side of the pond.
I’m not discounting our US audiences by any means, we appreciate and are more than grateful for our amazingly dedicated fan base in the US, but there’s a definite difference in the way average people are “fed” and they way they choose to “consume” and make their musical artists a part of their everyday life. Having had the opportunity over the years to experience many different levels of notoriety, critical acclaim and commercial submersion.
The main difference seems to be that in the States, to the general public you’re momentum rides largely on the performance of your latest single release within the current “radio atmosphere,” but the UK audiences seem to really become part of the entire experience, fans of the musical experience in general as opposed to the last thing they’ve heard on the radio.
I must say I believe it’s due to the difference in the radio formats here. With less outlets the airspace available it seems the stations share airtime w/ multiple genres they feel fit their listenership, and with less of a choice of being absolutely pounded mercilessly by a specific format, the musical palette presented on a daily basis is much more varied, making for a more diverse musical experience in your every day travels.
The miracle that is the World Wide Web has now offered us multiple choices of outlets to grow our musical landscape, and share our musical ideas with “like-minded” folks around the world, not just at the end of our broadcast area. I think, once music is in the hands of the people, we have a chance to make an educated decision based on what’s out there, not just what we’re offered. There’s a life lesson in there somewhere, I’ll let you wrestle with that one in whatever context you see fit…
WHOA, I’m late for bus call!!!!! I’ve gotta haul ass to Liverpool for a show tonight, don’t forget to check out the new GGDs disc “Something for the Rest of Us” on Warner Brothers Records and don’t forget to visit www.goodcharamel.com for some bad ass rock from a bunch of Japanese Grlzzzzz (cuz that’s what we do around here).
All the best to you. Going to go visit the Cavern Club this afternoon. For those of you who might not know, it was the Beatles first real gig here in Liverpool. It’s sort of like the Beatles version of the GGDs Continental club in Buffalo, except that they just knocked the Continental down. No GGDs statue. No plaque. Just a big hole in the ground where a building used to be. Just like WTC7. Bummer. But then again, we’re not the Beatles. Oh, and the Beatles…i don’t want to be tossing rocks around in a glass house, but that’s a pretty silly name to…LOL…
Talk soon.
Peace
Robby
http://thecomet.com/posts/exclusive_robby_takacs_london_adventures_and_d eep_thoughts_on_social_m
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Christina
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I got a head that don't let me sleef
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Re: A new Robby blog from The Comet
« Reply #1 on: Dec 8th, 2010, 12:57am » |
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Great blog post; thanks for the link Shannon!
on Dec 6th, 2010, 11:34am, Shannon wrote:| The miracle that is the World Wide Web has now offered us multiple choices of outlets to grow our musical landscape, and share our musical ideas with “like-minded” folks around the world, not just at the end of our broadcast area. I think, once music is in the hands of the people, we have a chance to make an educated decision based on what’s out there, not just what we’re offered. There’s a life lesson in there somewhere, I’ll let you wrestle with that one in whatever context you see fit… |
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I particularly agreed with this part. True words, Robby. 
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"i have never wanted something so badly as having people just show up at ggd concerts dressed as presidential fruit"
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lionhill
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Re: A new Robby blog from The Comet
« Reply #2 on: Dec 12th, 2010, 12:23pm » |
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Agh you're/your mistake. So eloquent otherwise.
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