Consumption Trumps Creation: On Content

One of the grossest terms ever coined is “content creator”. I can’t help but get the feeling that “content” is meant to be consumed, on to the next thing as soon as it’s finished. “Content” is cheap filler, thrown together with the cheapest ingredients, corn syrup-sweetened, and dyed to look like the real thing. Increasingly, our online spaces are inundated with highly-palatable, content-free “content”. 

Like Fruity Pebbles, I can get through the whole box before realizing I’m still hungry. My mind craves real connections, and consuming content is never going to scratch that itch. That empty feeling I get when I look up from the screen is indicative of a need that’s going unfilled while I’m cramming myself full of empty calories. 

For almost the entirety of human history, all of my interactions would’ve been with people I knew personally, the same 100 or fewer people I’d known all my life. Early in the days of social media, online interactions had the potential to follow the same path. Your Facebook feed showed only those you had chosen to be “Friends” with and you sought out the forums you were interested in. But attention can be monetized, and where there’s money to be made, someone will choose to make it, no matter the human suffering it creates. 

Now, do I think Zuck and his peers purposefully chose to make their platforms both addictive and depressing? No, I think they only cared about it being addictive and depressing was an unfortunate byproduct. I do, however, blame them for continuing down the path when the negative effects were made clear to them. But as old pal Upton Sinclair said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

So, if the platforms aren’t going to get any better, I have to take things into my own hands. 

For one, I no longer have any social media apps on my phone. While there are some great things about being able to connect with people from all over the globe, I know my monkey brain wasn’t meant to be blasted with the worst (and therefore most engaging) news every day, all day long. I still have the accounts because, like I’ve said before, I can still see the glimmer of good in social media. I’ll just have to log onto the web version on the laptop. 

The laptop, a 2020 MacBook Air has been on the fritz (a topic for another day) and the replacement is going to be a Mac Mini - don’t get mad at me, I’m stuck in the ecosystem, I can only fight the man a little at a time.

When the iPhone goes, it might be gone forever, replaced by a flip phone, a nice camera, and getting lost sometimes.

Consumption Trumps Creation

Too much consumption that trumps creation / So many images, obliteration / I could see how late the sun sets / But I’m installing new reality / Proliferate our new appendages / That relay all our new messages

Stephen Steinbrink, “Trust”, Arranged Waves, 2014.

Feeling empty lately? Me too. Maybe it’s just that I work from home and my days largely consist of switching between screens but most days I come up for air at some point fully dispossessed of my own body. It ebbs and flows, of course but I can’t help but think my dissatisfaction with real life has something to do with my ability to firehose information into my brain 24/7. When I look up, everything seems grayer.

I consider myself a creative person, but what do I create on a regular basis? I force myself to play guitar, and every once in a while I write a song, but how much more would I get done if I wasn’t gravitationally attracted to screens all day long? I’ve seriously considered ditching my iphone for a flip phone. Aside - Ideally, I would get a phone with a slide out keyboard but our tech billionaire overlords have decided we would all rather strap our computers directly to our face instead. But if I get rid of my smartphone, how would I accept my two-factor authentication pushes for work? 

Even more bothersome - some of the things I still find enjoyable in analog life, adult rec league sports (lol, I know) and my artist collective, Meltwater Pulse, mainly communicate through online means: How would I respond to my kickball team group messages? How would I get feedback on the songs I do manage to record?

The big piece of advice for engaging your creative side tends to be “Get bored”. I’ve proven to myself that I can’t be trusted to stay away from technology long enough. Therefore, something major has to change. Right now, I’m not sure what that is…

JoJo Siwa flops into the spotlight with “Karma”

If you’re going to rebrand from teeny-bopper to Very Edgy Adult (™), you may want to pick a song written by someone who hasn’t exclusively produced music for the Disney Channel.

For the blissfully unaware, JoJo Siwa is a child-reality star turned YouTuber turned children’s toy tycoon turned “singer”. At just 20, Siwa’s most recent rebrand has been largely panned as cringy. As much as I hate to pile on, well, here it goes.

“Karma” was written by Tim James, Antonina Armato, and Desmond Child, whose credits include “Bet on It” from High School Musical, “If We Were A Movie” from the Hannah Montana soundtrack, and “She Bangs” by Ricky Martin. To be honest, I would classify these songs as “Bop”, “Jam”, and “Banger” musically, but what they have in common is their less-than-stellar lyrics. “Karma”, as a result, is the best showing of a team whose harshest critics have historically been 14-years-old.

[Verse 1]

I was a bad girl, I did some bad things / I swear I did it all for fun and it meant nothing

It never happened, it was a secret / Like when a tree falls in the forest, no one hears it

As she’s said herself, Siwa is looking to have her very own Miley Cyrus Bangerz moment. After all, Cyrus had also been itching to break out from her squeaky-clean Hannah Montana persona before reinventing herself. At the time, though, Miley’s insistence that she “Can’t be tamed” rang true, following leaked videos of her [gasp] smoking drugs. This lapse in memory is understandable, considering Siwa was seven at the time of the scandal. In the present, it seems she’s more concerned with the attention she’ll get from claiming bad girl status than actually achieving it. 

Then, there’s  the production. Right off the bat, you can tell this song is the best effort of an underpaid sound engineer to blend two voices together. Siwa, despite her best efforts, cannot hold a tune. Throughout the song, you can hear artifacts from this blending and aggressive pitch correction, which lands the vocals firmly in the uncanny valley.

Brit Smith in her version of “Karma”

One can’t help but compare this song to the hypothetical better song it could’ve been. What’s that? That version exists? Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that “Karma” has a long-lost twin who got accutane, braces, and a makeover. “Karma” by JoJo Siwa, meet “Karma” by Brit Smith.

While entangled in the same lyrical mess as Siwa’s version, Smith’s take on “Karma” has the power of an actual singer and freaking Timbaland on its side. I highly encourage you to listen to these side by side and never again take the influence of a good producer for granted.

Despite Timbaland’s best efforts, though, nothing can save this song from itself. 

[Verse 1 - continued]

Another late night, another crazy mood / And I didn't think twice what it would do to you

I was a wild child. you always knew it / It was a matter of time before I blew it

If this song wasn’t written in 2011, I would swear it had been ChatGPTed together from every song ever featured on Love Island.

When we get to the pre-chorus, we finally find a part that has the potential to be interesting. Invoking religion is about the most dangerous part of a song that’s presumably about how very edgy the singer’s become. The little jump up in the melody on “thou shall not cheat” is the least derivative melody in the entire song, and is performed serviceably by Smith and the way you’d expect by Siwa.

Siwa and Malia Murray in the “Karma” video

[Pre-Chorus]

Thou shall not lie, thou shall not cheat

Thou shall not get caught or you'll end up just like me, oh

Siwa stares down the viewer, daring them to close the tab during the unbearable, unnecessary two measures of drop out.

If you’ve ever been to a Kohl’s department store, you’re familiar with the type of production treatment the chorus got, no need to listen for yourself. 

Yes, Siwa says “effed” around, which is WILD because even the Brit Smith version says “messed around”, you know, the thing you would say if you didn’t want to swear? But you want to… almost swear? You changed it TO “effed”? What is this song?

Another sizable difference between the two versions is the eight count dropout that is undeservedly stuck in the Siwa version after “thou shall not get caught”. What have you done to earn that drop out young lady? TWO BARS? We haven’t even gotten to the first chorus yet! This is lunacy! You know what, I take back my mild compliment about the pre-chorus.

[Chorus]

Karma's a bitch, I should've known better

If I had a wish, I would've never effed around

When I saw the pics of you and her, I fеlt the knife twist

Karma's a bitch, and she's with you right now

I could talk about the last line of the chorus for days. This shoehorned attempt at being clever betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of how to tell an effective story. Rhetorically, if the point of the song is what goes around comes around, the punctuation on the end of the chorus needs to be introspective, not a hastily-made jab that makes the singer look like an idiot, an asshole, or both. Why not “Karma’s a bitch, I guess I found out”? Because this is not a good song, it’s not trying to be a good song, it’s trying to get people to talk about JoJo Siwa and in that respect, touché. 

Analyzing the second verse and the bridge might actually prove fatal, so I’m going to stop here, barring two small comments. One: The song gets points for having a bridge. It’s not a good bridge, but it’s there. Two: I’m not going to comment on the music video or dancing because mine are an abomination so I’ll leave you with a selection of my favorite comments:

Why Me?

I am often asked about my resume. What kind of path takes someone from a personal care company, to a radio station, to a legacy brand, to a startup coding bootcamp, to a 100+ year-old opera house? 

To give you some background, I’ve always been curious about the world around me. I got a bachelor’s degree in biology because I wanted to see a little bit about how the world worked. But that wasn’t enough. I wanted to be able to create! So, I applied to be a radio DJ and started a music collective and worked as a concert photographer. Again, I found that it wasn’t enough. I wanted to be able to build something bigger than myself. So I went to business school to figure out how to do that. 

Along the way, I learned how to organize processes and create a successful roadmap for the future.  I ended up applying those skills at both Harley-Davidson and devCodeCamp. I saw firsthand the differences between a small startup and a company that was founded when Teddy Roosevelt was president. I saw how effective communication at a small, agile company sets it up for success. In managing the transition from one ordering process to another at Harley, it became clear that a roadmap could only be as effective as the buy-in from every team involved.  

At Marquette Radio and Devils Lake Lavender, I began to really dig into the importance of the social aspect of a brand’s success. Through engagement with our audiences, we found great growth, making Marquette Radio a household name at the university and growing DLL’s Facebook page to over 4,000 followers in the first six months of operation. It was clear that understanding our core customer was the single most important thing we could do to grow brand awareness. 

After doing some freelance design work for the Al. Ringling Theater, built in 1915 as a gift to my hometown from its namesake, I was asked to step in as the Interim Director of both the Marketing and Community Relations departments. It was a daunting task. I would be taking over for two positions and starting on the first day of a three week run of musicals. I was intimidated but ready to take on the challenge. There is no doubt in my mind that my decision was one of the best I have ever made. Every day, I needed to employ skills I had been accumulating for my entire career. Every day was different. The uncertainty energized me and the triumphs bolstered my confidence.

Which brings me to the final answer to the question, “Why Me?” 

Tenacity, attitude, perseverance, and a knack for listening allow me to navigate the world around me with a sense of endless possibility - for myself, for my company, for our clients. What do you want out of our interaction? I can give it to you. That’s what sets me apart and that’s “why me”.

The Art of Tenacity

This post was originally published as documentation for graduates of devCodeCamp’s 12-week coding bootcamp as part of their job-preparedness training

Thousands of tools exist today to help you find the perfect career. This resource is one of them. However, no matter how many tools are invented, it will never be easy to find a job. The main point of this introduction is to prepare you mentally for the marathon that is the job hunt. This process will be full of ups and downs and there will no doubt be a point where you want to quit. Unfortunately for you, you’re not allowed to quit, sorry!

Job hunting requires tenacity, defined below. You have to decide that you really want what you’ve set out for yourself. Mentally preparing for this challenge will be incredibly important to your success. 

Tenacity is not a skill everyone is born with. Luckily for those of us who were not blessed with this gift, tenacity is something you can learn. Here are some of my tips for building tenacity. 

1. Practice doing things you don’t want to do. 

2. Find ways to make things you hate doing less horrible. Do you like listening to music? Maybe a snack once an hour will help you. Find your joy. Use that to make your experience better. 

3. Figure out when to put your head down and work through something and when to walk away for a while.

4. Learn how to take a temporary break to increase your resolve. 

5. Know why you’re doing something. Keep in mind these end goals when you run into roadblocks.

6. Keep in mind the following: When you have achieved your goal, you will look back on where you are now and be in awe of how close you were even though you didn’t know it. When you sit down at your desk at your first job, you’ll think back on where you were one week before, one month before, six months before, and a year before. You’ll remember how distraught you felt. You’ll remember how much you wanted to give up. Then, you’ll remember that you didn’t give up. Tenacity is a skill, and like any other skill, you have to practice it. Begin practicing now.

Crowd Carries BORNS at Riverside

This post was originally published on Marquettewire.org

Garrett Clark Borns, known better as BORNS, first visited Milwaukee in 2013, playing Summerfest’s Emerging Artist Stage. Since then, it seems, the Michigan-born musician has gained quite the engaged fanbase.

Last night, before his set even started, the audience made enough noise to trick the unassuming ear that the artist had arrived onstage.

At one point, cheers of, “Garrett, Garrett, Garrett!” rippled through the crowd like a verbal wave.

When the artist finally took the stage, it became clear to anyone who had followed his music that BORNS was playing his newest album, “Blue Madonna,” front to back.

This was an interesting strategy, one that is rarely used outside of 10-year anniversary tours of incredibly popular albums.

The performance itself lacked the charisma of BORNS’ tours following his 2015 release, “Dopamine.” He strutted around the stage, knowing the audience would scream with his every move. This is in contrast with his earlier tours, during which he wielded a guitar for the majority of the show.

I would have liked to see BORNS’ voice featured more prominently. At times, he seemed buried under heavy synths and backing vocals.

The majority of the audience, it is worth mentioning, did not have the same qualms as me. Every move and song prompted high-pitched and prolonged screaming. I’ve never been to a show at which the audience sang so loudly to every song that the band was drowned out at times.

Following in the mold of unusual concert procedure, BORNS and his band went on to have an encore that lasted six songs. That is entirely unheard of and uncalled for in my opinion. Encore sets are to be three songs maximum. Stick to that.

Overall, BORNS was an entertaining concert. I would have loved to hear more from him and less from the screaming girls in the crowd, but I will definitely be returning if he comes back to Milwaukee.

SETLIST:

God Save Our Young Blood

Faded Heart

Sweet Dreams

We Don’t Care

Man

Iceberg

Second Night of Summer

I Don’t Want U Back

Tension (Interlude)

Supernatural

Blue Madonna

Bye-bye Darling

Encore:

Seeing Stars

10,000 Emerald Pools

American Money

Past Lives

Holy Ghost

Electric Love

With Mosh Pits, Spit Fits, Screaming Females Tears it Up →

This post was originally published on Marquettewire.org

View fullsize

Have you ever been to a concert that changed your outlook on life? Until yesterday, I couldn’t say I had. After traveling nearly two hours to the Brauerhouse in Lombard, Illinois, I thought, “This show had better make my night.” It did me one better.

The show started Chicago natives Rad Payoff, who played their hearts out and showed their potential for further success. Street Eaters was slightly less impressive, yet if they had filled their sound out with more treble and less bass, they might have been a better precursor for the headliners of the night.

Screaming Females’ Marissa Paternoster started the show with a quaint hello that did not prepare the audience for what was coming next: A frenzied, bordering on out-of-control show that didn’t allow a single lapse in attention.

After the first song, the energy in the crowd was palpable. If you listened, you could pick out a few mutterings of “I can’t believe she’s right there,” and, “This is insane.” Otherwise, the ambient noise in the room from screeching amplifiers and piercing guitar pedals overcame any single party.

The 5-foot-2 Paternoster has no business controlling a room the way she does. Foaming at the mouth helps, I guess. When you’re busy shredding away on guitar, it only occurs to you to wipe the spit off your mouth after a song ends.

The rest of the show only got more manic. Paternoster jumped in and out of the crowd, screamed, ripped off her VIP backstage bracelet, stood on stage monitors and headbanged all to the audience’s delight.

As much as one tends to gravitate toward the rock goddess at the forefront, the rhythm section of Screaming Females is the basis for the pure rollicking joy they produce. “King” Mike Abbate on bass guitar held Paternoster’s frenzied solos to the pulse while giving his own life to the setlist. Even if you extracted the lead guitar, this show would have had the same vitality. Jarrett Dougherty’s drums accentuated each change and ushered the crowd into a feverish rave.

Abbate told of his love for Milwaukee after the show, even confessing his love for the Riverwest Co-Op’s breakfast the morning after shows. He even hinted at an upcoming tour date in Milwaukee.

If Screaming Females blesses our city with a show in the near future, I implore you to go. This band has transcended punk music and joined the greats.

SETLIST:

“Foul Moth”

“Lights Out”

“Criminal Image”

“Burning Car”

“Rose Mountain”

“Empty Head”

“Help Me”

“A Good Flying Bird”

“Halfway Down”

“I Don’t Mind It”

Encore:

“Boyfriend”

Appeal to sponsors: Bring back New Music Stage

This post was originally published on Marquettewire.org

Last summer when I pulled up Summerfest’s website I was crestfallen to find the New Music Stage, which hosted many local and up-and-coming acts, had been nixed. Grafton’s K-Nation Entertainment, who had been the sponsors of the stage until 2015, pulled their sponsorship, citing the difficulty of running such a stage while maintaining their business. Apparently Summerfest could not or would not look for another sponsor.

Brett Newski. Photo courtesy Milwaukee Magazine

The final headliners in 2015 included Milwaukee natives Brett Newski and Direct Hit! and Appleton crooner Cory Chisel.  The stage gave an opportunity for bands whose audiences usually consisted of bar patrons in Riverwest to bring their music out into the open and to a larger, and perhaps more diverse, crowd.

While the upper echelon of Milwaukee’s music scene will be dispersed around the Big Gig performing at other stages — IshDARR, Dead Horses, GGOOLLDD and Vinyl Theatre — missing will be the great smaller bands that make Milwaukee such a great place to live year-round.  Having local music put on a pedestal at our own festival used to differentiate Summerfest from every other summer music festival where the same bands play over and over again.

If we’re going to say Milwaukee has an amazing music scene, we need to be able to prove it and support these promising bands.  So here’s my appeal: Milwaukee companies, we need you to step up so we can demonstrate that we want to invest in ourselves as much as we want to pad the pockets of already-rich megastars like Tom Petty and Red Hot Chili Peppers.