- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Letters posted here are associated with the following Salon Premium Member:
Published Letters: 2
I think this has changed into people simply listing their favorite acts. How about listing acts you like or love but simply are abysmal live (in your opinion, of course). Allow me to start --
New Order (circa '88)- great, great music. The band is a black hole on stage. It may be intentional and part of the shtick, but it certainly does not engage the crowd. Maybe an outdoor venue was to blame.
Weezer - Little to no acknowledgment of the crowd. No energy. No change in songs from existing record versions. Could have been a group of guys dressed as Weezer on stage lip-synching for all I could tell.
Wilco - zzzzzzzzzzzz...wha?
Pixies (reunion tour) - Plowing through the setlist just to get off stage and cash their checks. A damn shame. Bonus points for booking completely intolerable mismatch 'The Thrills' as openers.
Gee may shroud himself in olde-tyme values but is above all else a self-promoter. That he has the American record for University President/Chancellor positions held bespeaks a man who has a level of loyalty near that of Nick Saban. 'Thanks for hiring me. I won't be needing a house. Just build a helipad next to my office. What town is this again? Nashville?'
Gee's dissolution of Vanderbilt's athletics department may have had some hint of outrage at the NCAA/BCS/SEC but it was largely the action of a Chancellor who was pushing the envelope to see just what he could get away with on sheer ego and charisma. The charge he is leading here is about the furthering his persona as brand and has little to do with the relation between amateur and professional athletics.
