Well That Does It Folks

The kindest thing I can say about Hopscotch's 2017 lineup is that it's better than Bumbershoot's, but this is profoundly disappointing.  (The cruelest thing I can say is that while I don't know what the background graphics are supposed to represent, it look like the bands are listed on one half of a turd.) So many of the headliners are pop bands, dance music, or hip-hop, and while I understand that's all very popular and sells a lot of tickets, it also shows that the indie rock renaissance of the '00s is clearly over.  There's no longer any reward for being innovative or for trying something new, unless you want to be one of those bands in small print at the bottom of the lineup (I know the poster above is all in the same font, but you know what I mean, so bear with me).

It's over, boys and girls.  One of the best decades in popular music lasted from about 2005 to about 2015, but these are the Trump years now and it appears that commerce will be revered over talent, masked dj's will get billed above artists baring their souls, and success will be determined not by artistry but by sales.  Pitchfork is now owned by Conde Nast, and that pretty much says it all right there.

It's been coming to this for a while, now, and to be honest it's not entirely because of the disappointing Bumbershoot and Hopscotch lineups, but it's time to hang up this old blog.  I spun Music Dissolves Water off of my long-time blog, Water Dissolves Water, a few years back to separate the MDW posts about music from the more spiritually-oriented posts at WDW, but who am I kidding? There was never anything particularly profound being said over at WDW, and the Buddha pointed out that there was no difference between the sacred and the profane, so the most enlightened thing of all may be to just post about what I want, when I want, where I want, without worrying about appearances or impressions.  So if I do have something to say about music, or want to share a show experience, or post a new song or video I just discovered, I'll be doing it back at WDW like I used to back in 2012 (ah, remember 2012? Things were so much better then!).

Having said all that, I recognize that this weekend is Shaky Knees here in Atlanta, and I may post some pics from the festival here, so this most likely won't be the absolute last post here.  Might as well go out with a bang.  I'll leave this site up as long as Blogger will let me, and who knows? - maybe I'll end up dropping in here every once in a while.  Also, if anyone wants to take over this site, contact me and I'll give you the keys, so to speak.  But in the meantime, come join me over at Water Dissolves Water and we'll talk about music and god and the buddha and politics and stoic philosophy and Atlanta's fucked-up traffic and climate change and some fuzzy-minded ideas about the meaning of life and whatever else happens to pop into our heads.

Just don't expect me to compartmentalize my mind any more into "music" and "not music."

Thanks for your understanding and for reading.

It's been real.  Buh-bye.