RVT: Hidden Cameras

Awoo:



Death of a Tune:



Smells Like Happiness:

There is No More Mainstream

Perhaps I should have phrased that as 'the mainstream is just a niche' but the sentiment is the same. I've talked about this to an extent before but it was brought up again by Joel Gibb's comments in the Torontoist interview

"I fucking hate mainstream. Who wants to appeal to mainstream audiences? It should be the other way around. We shouldn't cater to mainstream audiences. I don't like being asked that, because then it makes me feel like, "Oh, what am I doing wrong? I shouldn't be doing what I do." I don't try to think about that. I think about making unique and important and authentic art. How can I think about a mainstream audience?"

The reality is that now when you say 'mainstream' or even 'lowest common denominator you are talking about a niche, perhaps a large niche, but a specific audience that is not anywhere near a majority.

For example:

Rarely does any prime time television program pull in 3 million plus viewers. For the week cited here (December 10-16) the best audience was 3.137 million viewers or roughly 9.5% of Canada. After that it falls of rather sharply to 2.322 million or roughly 7%

According to Reuters Celine Dion sold more albums in Canada than any other artist at 568,000 - so roughly 1.5% of Canadians bought one of her albums. The same article lists the top selling digital album as Timbaland with 98,000 sold or roughly one in 330 Canadians.

I can't really guess at film, it is tracked by box office gross - not number of people and without knowing ticket prices it's difficult to estimate. So let's say that the 'mainstream' is double the number of people in the highest result above - that would make it about 6.3 million of Canada's 33 million people (19%). Canada's current government was elected with a total of 5,374,071 actual votes (36.27% of voters but only 16.2% of Canadians).

It is clear that when we talk about the 'mainstream' we are talking about less than one in five people in Canada. There is no more 'mainstream' there is no more 'majority' it's all about niche's now and as more and more media becomes available, you are going to see a further fragmentation.

According to the Toronto Star there were 750,000 CDs produced last year, almost 20x more than the 38,000 in 2002. The internet has also made it possible for thousands of internet and television stations (not to mention amateur vloggers/podcasters) to seek viewers/listeners around the globe. It is also not difficult to simply collect files - MP3s, Internet video etc., and fully customize what you see/hear. So that you only get the stuff you really want and only check out new stuff when it's recommended by friends.

So, I like Joel Gibb, find little of value in the mainstream but the mainstream as it used to be; the mainstream that meant 'most people' is gone. What passes for the mainstream now is just another, heavily (really heavily) catered to sub-culture, one that is shrinking by the day.

Joel Gibb in Torotoist

David Topping at Torontoist has a new interview up with Joel Gibb who, for all intents and purposes, is the Hidden Cameras - that is to say that the band could just as easily be called Joel Gibb and friends:

"the fantastic and always well-populated music collective whose members have included Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy), Reg Vermue (Gentlemen Reg), Laura Barrett, Maggie MacDonald (Republic of Safety), Dave Meslin (founder of the Toronto Public Space Committee), Bob Wiseman, Steve Kado (founder of Blocks Recording Club, member of Barcelona Pavilion and Ninja High School), Ohad Benchetrit (Do Make Say Think), Don Kerr (The Rheostatics), and many, many others."

I have a few comments on the interview, one of which will have to be it's very own post. First I'd like to say that it's "gay" I get it already. I wish I could read just one interview where it didn't come up.

Topping:"It's certainly an angle that people come at the band with, though––like, here's this gay band. Do you think that's an unfair thing to place on [the Hidden Cameras]?"

Gibb:"I don't care. As long as people write about it, I'm just so happy people write about it. I don't really care. I mean, I just try not to read it. But I don't care. I just think it's great that people can just take whatever interpretation they want to take from it, you know? It's important to be truthful in your art, so that's all I'm trying to do. I'm not trying to up anything."

The truth is I really don't care if Gibb is gay or not, if the music speaks to homosexuals on a level different than it speaks to me, that's cool but at what point can we stop reminding everyone? At this point it's getting a bit, to me at least, like calling Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder 'black music'. As long as it's good music who really cares about the race, religion, gender or sexual orientation of the performer(s)? I sometimes think that interviewers are just trying to demonstrate how homophobic they're not by coming back to the point over and over.

In another part of the interview there is this exchange:

Topping:"You told Eye that this album would have the darkest content you've ever written [one song, Gibb told Sarah Liss, is "a lot darker than anything we’ve done"], and it seemed like Awoo had moments of that too. Is there a movement towards that?"

Gibb:"Yeah. There's a lot of dark songs. But...each song is different, so I don't really want to generalize, because each song is so different..."

Topping:"It seems like some of the older stuff can be characterized by being really jubilant, like "Smells Like Happiness."

Gibb:"Yeah, that naivety is kind of worn, I would say."

To which I would just like to say, I hope it isn't too dark, or the naivety too worn. I mean if you pay attention to the lyrics the Hidden Cameras have had some pretty upbeat songs with some fairly dark lyrics and I'm good with that. But in a world where dark topics are everywhere it is good to escape with music that makes you want to move and dance and that somehow makes things seem not so bad. I hope the new Hidden Cameras stuff doesn't lose that.

Anyway, in a bit I'll post a bit about Joel's comments on 'the mainstream' but for now, you should read the rest of the interview.

Breaking Links: Sunday, December 2

Via Boing Boing the US has asserted, in front of a British court, it's right to kidnap Brits or anyone else it wants to.

"The US has told Britain that it is legal under US law to kidnap British citizens from the UK (ineed, anyone from anywhere) if they are suspected of crimes in the USA -- and that this can be done instead of using formal extradition procedures."

Whistler film fest the new Sundance?

"Actresses, film directors and producers have all been rolling into this mountain resort for a film festival that hardly anyone had heard of when it started seven years ago.
Now, it is touted as having the potential to become the next Sundance."

cordweekly.com with another Hidden Cameras interview about new material:

"That said, he will provide very little information about his new material. When asked about new songs and new stage ideas, Gibb says, “I don’t know if we’ll be ready for Waterloo, but there are new songs and new tricks.”"

The story is a couple of days old, but in case you missed it: Environment Canada is predicting the coldest winter in 15 years.

"In its first winter outlook of the year, the agency predicts that until February, climates across most of the country will be the coldest in 15 years, with the exception of a small pocket in southern Ontario."

Breaking Links: Friday, November 30

Bookninja on the American TV writers strike:

"I just want TV back on so more of the people I dislike will stay in at night at leave the coffee shops and pubs empty for me."

Exclaim! has an interview with Hidden Camera Joel Gibb:

"People don’t like Bavarians in Berlin, which is why I kind of liked wearing the lederhosen. "

Spacing has a good summary of the tragic developments in Queen West.

"Despite the best intentions of the city, I’m afraid I have a feeling of impending doom about all of this. The attempts to retain spaces for artists and affordable housing are honest and well intentioned. The result, however, will necessarily be the replacement of a vibrant, incidental place which harboured a vibrant culture, with a designed, manufactured place which will be home to a designed, manufactured culture."

VoCA's Top 5 are up

"Every *SECOND FRIDAY* VoCA will introduce our 'TOP FIVE' - five Canadian artists whose exceptionally well-made, well-conceived and original work we've recently featured, and recommend to art collectors."

Natalia Yanchak on Morrisey, NME and Cultural identity.

"Dear NME: Have you been to Quebec lately (Pop Montreal doesn’t count)? Have you heard about Bill 101, which since the late 70’s has sought to empower a forced French identity and culture on anyone who wants to live here? "

According to Fox, long known for their objectivity, Canadian beer drinkers are a threat to the planet thanks Radio 3

"The problem is that the beer fridges are mostly decades-old machines that began their second careers as beverage dispensers when Canadians upgraded to more energy-efficient models to store whatever Canadians eat besides doughnuts and poutine."

Radio 3 has a Tour Diary from the Barmitzvah Brothers

"...Brother Jenny Mitchell will cut your hair for free in exchange for a story. So far she's got 100 stories ..."

The RCMP has seized a computerat the CBC's offices in Winnipeg, though why it was seized remains a mystery.

""We did have an interest in a computer at that location, which is why we went there," Karpish said. She said the CBC is not being investigated by the RCMP. She would not say whether an employee is being investigated."

RVT: The Hidden Cameras - I Believe in the Good of Life

This, by the way is post #300 on this blog!

RVT: Hidden Cameras @ Hillside

With Guelphs Hillside Festival fast approaching here are the Hidden Cameras doing "Smells Like Happiness" at the 06 fest.

Smallest Hidden Camera: Better Video

I blogged recently about the Guelph Hidden Cameras show and posted some really bad video of a little girl who worked her way onto the stage to play with the band. Now mom has posted some much better video of Nora (that apparently is her name) and the Cameras - Thanks Mom!

Hidden Cameras - Guelph part II proportional representation

At the Hidden Cameras merch table, amoung the cds and t-shirts were brochures for the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform. During the show the Camera's Maggie MacDonald called this the 'quietest referendum in history'. She pointed out that in 2003 the Liberals managed to score 72% of the seats in the Ontario legislature while getting only 46% of the vote. (Note that the headline of the page that links to says 'Liberal Landslide' - when it wasn't even a majority of the vote) The Citizens Assembly recommendation is meant to fix that and you will get to vote on it in October.

So, what exactly are they proposing? You can read all about it on their website but I'll try to summarize:

If this system is adopted, when you go to vote you will get one ballot but will check two boxes. One for the candidate of your choice (as always) and one for the party of your choice.

Before the election each party will nominate a province wide list of candidates in the order it wants them elected. Before the election parties must submit their lists and "details on how they developed them" to Elections Ontario. These lists will then be published widely so that you can read the lists before you vote.

90 MPPs would then be elected in local ridings (the same way they are now) and 39 members would be elected based on party vote. The number of seats each party received would be based on the percentage of the total provincial vote by party. So, you could vote (for example) for a liberal candidate locally, but the NDP by party - if the NDP received 20% of the vote on the party side of the ballot they would then recieve 20% (8) of the 39 party vote seats. Starting at the top of the Candidates list mentioned above the first 8 people on the list who were not elected in their ridings would be given seats.

It seems to me that this creates a far more fair and balanced system and works to bring 46% 'landslides' back down to earth. So, on October 10 get out and vote your conscience on this (in this case your conscience says yes). And in the event that this is, in fact, the 'quietest referendum in history' - I'm putting a link to it on the sidebar until October!

the Hidden Cameras in Guelph

Saturday Night I had the good fortune to see the Hidden Cameras in a small church in Guelph with just a few hundred other souls in attendance. If you haven't seen them yet, go - because I swear "gay church folk music" is good for you.

Despite the smallish crowd the Cameras put on a huge show. Uplifting, energetic and highly theatrical. Throughout the show there was a pervasive feeling that everyone in attendance was part of something and that the people on stage (although having more fun than anyone) were merely conducting - directing the rhythm and energies of the party.

At alot of shows I've seen the people on stage, even at small shows, seem separated from the audience. They've already adopted their rock star persona and while you can watch and appreciate their abilities they are removed from you. With the Hidden Cameras there is none of this. Everyone is a participant, everyone is (for a little while at least) part of the group.

I have to apologize in advance for the quality of the audio and video on this. I only had a cell phone to work with and that in less than ideal conditions. It is necessary that I include it though, to demonstrate my point above. When a toddler found her way on stage in during the show, rather than being ushered back to her parents she was put to work, playing with the band for the remainder of the show (she even remained sitting, tapping on the xylophone after they had left the stage.



For more info on the band you can visit thehiddencameras.com there you can also sign up for their mailing list "the Mild Mannered Army" here.