I had an experience this weekend that really annoyed me. It's the 50th anniversary of our town's high school (this is what passes for excitement here), so there's going to be a big to-do over the 4th of July weekend, part of which involved a concert by local musos. Some friends of mine and I thought to throw together a pickup band for the occasion, essentially donating time and also paying the ($75!!!!) ticket price. We're all solid players who know a lot of songs, and most of us have played together before.
Then the lady organizing the show asked us for a set list.
So we provided a list of songs.... mostly rock stuff gathered up from the last several decades. Since we knew it was going to be an all-ages-including-old-people-and-kids situation, we avoided anything we thought questionable.
We didn't expect to have Maude Flanders as our commissar.
Some of the comments about songs:
Brown-Eyed Girl is 'too much about sex."
The Saw Doctors' "I'd Love to Kiss the Bangles" takes the Lord's name in vain.
Warren Zevon's Werewolf of London "would scare children with monsters."
The Ramones' Rock and Roll High School 'would start fights.'
Jimi Hendrix Red House "would make people sad."
Boney Moronie is 'immortal.' I think she means 'immoral.'
Fortunate Son is 'offensive to vertrans' (sic)
Makisupa Policeman is "insulting to police officers."
It goes on and on (and on!) in this vein for every song we suggested, and then suggests we play some country music, suggesting 'Garth Books' and 'Billyray Siris,' and requests we send in ANOTHER set list to be 'approved' before the show. To add injury to insult, she caps it off with a request for $500 to be paid into the event's general fund.
The general consensus among the various musicians, from our group and others, is that we're so annoyed that we don't want anything to do with the event.
Then the lady organizing the show asked us for a set list.
So we provided a list of songs.... mostly rock stuff gathered up from the last several decades. Since we knew it was going to be an all-ages-including-old-people-and-kids situation, we avoided anything we thought questionable.
We didn't expect to have Maude Flanders as our commissar.
Some of the comments about songs:
Brown-Eyed Girl is 'too much about sex."
The Saw Doctors' "I'd Love to Kiss the Bangles" takes the Lord's name in vain.
Warren Zevon's Werewolf of London "would scare children with monsters."
The Ramones' Rock and Roll High School 'would start fights.'
Jimi Hendrix Red House "would make people sad."
Boney Moronie is 'immortal.' I think she means 'immoral.'
Fortunate Son is 'offensive to vertrans' (sic)
Makisupa Policeman is "insulting to police officers."
It goes on and on (and on!) in this vein for every song we suggested, and then suggests we play some country music, suggesting 'Garth Books' and 'Billyray Siris,' and requests we send in ANOTHER set list to be 'approved' before the show. To add injury to insult, she caps it off with a request for $500 to be paid into the event's general fund.
The general consensus among the various musicians, from our group and others, is that we're so annoyed that we don't want anything to do with the event.
