Culture?

[localcrew]

I don't know about 'this scene' in particular but I would say that in general people are looking for something bigger than themselves.

They are also looking for a connection with this 'other' as well as connection with others. The root of the word religion means to connect (to this source). This is something people yearn for on a primordial level. We hope for a transcendent experience.

It is as has been noted here something that has been removed from our experience over the years to be replaced by events that merely signify or represent the experience such as Church or sporting events.

The most likely place for these transcendent experiences to occur seems to be the rock concert and I would suggest improvisational music is one of the most likely channels as the musicians themselves leave the possibility open in the music for 'other' things to come through.

This is what made the Grateful Dead so enduring and significant as they realized this decades ago and actually crafted their style and songwriting to be (as Joseph Campbell would say) transparent to transcendence. The possibility of things occuring on a psychic and/or spiritual level was VERY high......or you could just enjoy the music....

This is something that most jam bands have lost sight of but who can blame them; it takes a huge leap of faith to accept all this as well as a level of genius to operate on both levels at once coupled with an ego that can let this 'other' energy share the stage with you. Most musicians let the ego take over which closes the door so to speak....we're 'only human' after all....

But on the more down to Earth level I would guess that people in 'this scene' enjoy bands that actually are interested in playing good music and improvising a bit as opposed to bands who are simply trying to find a formula for success..

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Very nicely put .

[Patchoulia]

I come for the music. I only come for the music. I do not come out for the "hedonism" and I have little interest in meeting people or socializing. I am there for the music, and that is all.

Everyone, be sure not to talk to StoneMtn--ever!!--he's only there for the music!

Oh, you and your endearing misanthropic ways..

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

I guess that explains why after all this time I've never been able to actually meet and talk with him. I should schedule something out in the middle of a field somewhere instead of a Nero show.

[SaggyBalls]

As far as 'identification' - I talk to a lot of people that don't really care to BE identified, or labelled, and care to be 'individuals' and all dress similarly, are open to the same media, and tend to live in similar neighbourhoods. Many people identify with their job, their relationships, their personal tastes, their interests, their skills, their alignments - but is that really a just identity for anyone?

As of late I've been wanting to identify with being a 'disc golfer' but I've really only got out a few times this year and really don't care to identify with anything worldly. As for my relationships, if they ever end and I identify myself with them I would have identity crises. As a musician, the only way to identify myself as such is to play regularly which is difficult when there are so many things I spend my time doing. I'm a poet that doesn't write, a musician that rarely gigs, a poor disc golfer, a lover, a Sales Administrator and Business Developer, lucky cook and eater of fine cuisine, and music fan that doesn't actively pursue new music for hours each week. I've got an online persona that people in 'the scene' seem to recognize when they first meet me...'so YOU'RE canned beats...' whatever the fuck that's getting at I'll never really understand. it's pretty interesting while entirely appropriate that people haven't really been friendly with me after hearing a few people identify me as being 'from the messageboard' at shows. I'm completly suprised and wholly appreciative that I've been as welcomed as I have. Truth be told, very few people have been specifically indifferent to me as I feel very indifferent to so many people.

What does this REALLY lead to? a truly ambiguous personal identity that most likely conflicts with each and every person's understanding of me personally. How does this relate to 'the scene' - well it could be that I appreciate the fact that this is entirely apart from my family and my work. Perhaps it shows that I identify with being argumentative or my longwindedness, as this post as countless others have bloated up into article length.

If anything, I identify with being open to concepts...Perhaps that's what draws me into 'jamband' music...that it's more conceptual than specific...Bluegrass, Jazz, dub, funk, soul, rock, folk, and gospel elements, musicians that sort of get the concepts but aren't all totally immersed in just one focus.

It meanders, there's some meaty thought in there, it strings a listener along and says some really important message then flips around to make another parallel point, only to go elsewhere or come back to the original point...why I identify with this scene.