I’ll Take a Tall, Non-Fat Joni
Hear Music, the record label owned by Starbucks has recently announced that Joni Mitchell will release her newly recorded album Shine in September of this year following in the footsteps of Paul McCartney. This has come as a shocking disappointment to some of her fans. Not this one.
Let’s face it. We boomers are no longer the main demographic of the MSM. We thought the 70’s would never end, and for some of us, they haven’t. Many friends and acquaintances that came of age in the late 70’s and early 80’s still wallpaper their lives with the likes of Steve Miller, The Eagles and Wings either from their greatest hits CD’s or the ever-popular classic rock radio format. We think that Lenny Kravitz and The Black Crows are new bands. When an artist like Joni Mitchell releases a record, where would anyone beyond her most ardent fans even be alerted to its existence?Most 40-through-60-somethings spend more time at the doctor’s office than at the local record shop, and quite frankly, who can blame them? I recently wandered into an FYE (I was killing some time at the mall while my wife was towel and contact-paper shopping) and couldn’t endure more than five minutes of the nastiness that came oozing like napalm through the aisles. Some gangsta rapper was informing all of us in the store (in case we missed it) to his current condition (he was HORNY LIKE A ROCKSTAR!) ad nauseum. Indeed, had I been able to suffer that particular brand of voluntary torture for a few more minutes, it was doubtful that I would have found anything I’d be interested in anyway.
Where can I go to hear something new that I might actually like? Starbucks seems as good an answer as any I’ve heard in a while. Never mind the corporate greed that imbues every city and suburb here in The United Stores of Generica. Never mind the pretentious suit-clad investor-class wannabes that come in for a triple-non-fat-grande-mocha-sotte-voce-cafe-americano-frappacino in between cell-phone calls to their brokers, masseuses and bored spouses. Never mind the privilege of paying $3.79 + tax for .25 worth of over-roasted coffee, steamed milk and hot water. The fact is, I’m more apt to be there and hear a new Joni song than almost anywhere else I go, and this then, is a good thing.
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Actually, you can get music info on boomer-type stuff from major newspapers (and their online offshoots). The coverage is not good, because they split the difference and try to cover new bands, old bands (for the old farts who still read), and better yet - from their viewpoint - new bands that remind them of old bands. But even bad coverage will let you know when the likes of Joni Mitchell and her colleagues have new albums out.
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Radio Paradise (an internet radio station). Seriously. Check it out.
http://www.radioparadise.com/
They're popular with young people, and play a lot of new or semi-new music, but have great respect for the past (the Beatles, Neil Young, the Clash, Nirvana, you name it). Plus, a brilliant new means for assessing true popularity.
With all due respect to Starbucks, you can do better.
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Now, if you put it in front of me where you know I'm going to be - like Starbucks for an example, well then you've got a sale mister - or, uh, missus!
I guess that's what you were already saying.
Hey, marketing......like, y'know?