Ben's Pet Peeves

You know it as well as I do. For each of us, there are some things that just annoy us all out of proportion to the actual event. These are the issues that tweak me, hard as I try to dismiss them.

Chronic Late Arrivers & No-Shows Look - if someone's not going to be somewhere, why do they say so? Why should people wait, rearrange their schedules, and generally modify their lives if others can't be responsible to appear when they say they will?

Litterbugs I have no respect for people who litter. Cigarette butts, fast food wrappings, beer cans... if they're looking for a way to be known as the absolute scum of society, all they have to do is litter. That'll do it.

Vandals They can join the litterbugs - but these people need to look up to litterbugs.

Bob Dylan getting airtime on "Classic Rock" Stations and/or channels Excerpted and slightly modifed from a letter I sent to the people who produce the classic rock channel that is heard on the DSS satellite systems channel 513 (http://www.musicchoice.com)
Let's talk about Dylan. I contend that Bob Dylan is, and always was, a folk singer. The closest he ever got to "rock" of any flavor was the tune "Lay Lady Lay", which was a pretty (though somewhat nasal) ballad. I take that position as a long time rock fan, a fan of good folk music (Joni Mitchell, e.g.) a fairly broad-spectrum musician, and a recording engineer. He's not a rock artist. I rather doubt, even in his weirdest moments, he has ever claimed to be a rock artist. He attempts to be a poet - in fact, other people even claim he is a poet. The bottom line is, if your channel is supposed to be playing classic rock, then we're talking about Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, some tunes by blues crossovers like Janis Joplin (her work with Big Brother & the Holding Company, e.g.), and crossover top 40 types like the Beatles, even (Back in the USSR... there's a great rock tune), but we are not talking about Bob Dylan. That's folk. F. O. L. K. Folk Music! Get it? FOLK! And when someone is busy trying to remember rocking in the late 60's and the 70's, trust me, they are not thinking about Bob Dylan - they're thinking about "China Grove", not "My head in, Got Stove (AKA Now I have an excuse for the way I sing)". When a folk singer needs a backup band to perform, that doesn't make them a "rocker". That just makes them a lousy folk singer. Get Bob Dylan off the classic rock play lists. Please.

Back to my "home page"

Questions or comments? Email me:
ben@blackbeltsystems.com

Chronic Late Arrivers & No-Shows	Look - if someone's not going to be somewhere, why do they say so? Why should people wait, rearrange their schedules, and generally modify their lives if others can't be responsible to appear when they say they will?
Litterbugs	I have no respect for people who litter. Cigarette butts, fast food wrappings, beer cans... if they're looking for a way to be known as the absolute scum of society, all they have to do is litter. That'll do it.
Vandals	They can join the litterbugs - but these people need to look up to litterbugs.
Bob Dylan getting airtime on "Classic Rock" Stations and/or channels	Excerpted and slightly modifed from a letter I sent to the people who produce the classic rock channel that is heard on the DSS satellite systems channel 513 (http://www.musicchoice.com) Let's talk about Dylan. I contend that Bob Dylan is, and always was, a folk singer. The closest he ever got to "rock" of any flavor was the tune "Lay Lady Lay", which was a pretty (though somewhat nasal) ballad. I take that position as a long time rock fan, a fan of good folk music (Joni Mitchell, e.g.) a fairly broad-spectrum musician, and a recording engineer. He's not a rock artist. I rather doubt, even in his weirdest moments, he has ever claimed to be a rock artist. He attempts to be a poet - in fact, other people even claim he is a poet. The bottom line is, if your channel is supposed to be playing classic rock, then we're talking about Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, some tunes by blues crossovers like Janis Joplin (her work with Big Brother & the Holding Company, e.g.), and crossover top 40 types like the Beatles, even (Back in the USSR... there's a great rock tune), but we are not talking about Bob Dylan. That's folk. F. O. L. K. Folk Music! Get it? FOLK! And when someone is busy trying to remember rocking in the late 60's and the 70's, trust me, they are not thinking about Bob Dylan - they're thinking about "China Grove", not "My head in, Got Stove (AKA Now I have an excuse for the way I sing)". When a folk singer needs a backup band to perform, that doesn't make them a "rocker". That just makes them a lousy folk singer. Get Bob Dylan off the classic rock play lists. Please.