Is this not the key to longevity? The struggle of the mind vs. the spirit? Thoughts of this nature are excellent for immolation of the art.

Posted by: ChinRingDingO at September 24, 2003 08:48 AM

Chin I don't think this is a mind vs. the spirit issue. I think pitcher is having a crisis of ego. Is he, at this late stage of the game, not 'making it' because he just isn't very good at his art? I beleive that is the question at hand and I don't think they are 'excellent for the immolation of art.' I think they're painful and difficult to wrestle with and leave one on the ground searching for air.
This leads me to a thought about pitcher for all of you to answer. Let's take a poll, shall we, and be honest with him. He posed the question, let us, the jury weigh in on the matter. I would like everyone to respond in a level headed way what they think pitcher should feel regarding his music. I think this can be a great learning experience for him and it may answer his question. I prefer not to see 'anger and vitriol' but then again JR has been missing for some time now. Maybe he found a cave?
Anyhoo, I'll start.
pitcher, you can't sing very well. Fom the MP3's that I've heard on this site this is the reason you have not 'made it.' You write good songs, sometimes great, your guitar playing is fantastic, but the voice is lacking. It's in key, you hit the notes but it simply does not connect.
That's my honest opinion. Take it as you will.

Next?

Posted by: t at September 24, 2003 10:40 AM

first, your opinions are always welcome, and i am grateful for honesty...we live in a world where it has become all to vacant.

secondly, i did not pose a question, and you folks are not a jury.

Posted by: jeff pitcher at September 24, 2003 10:59 AM

I always like that song "for a ride". I picture someone so crippled by their own inner pain that they're fairly carried into the car like a small babe the way a parapalegic would be. It works for me.

Posted by: Trex at September 24, 2003 11:16 AM

Yeah, he doesn't sing well. I agree, pretty good songs, brilliant guitar, mediocre lyrics and lackluster vocals.

By the way, in my humble opinion, this is why everyone comes to this site. To watch a 30-something artist who is good, but nowhere good enough to "make it." It is the conflict between his love of beauty, poetry, the sublime, and his base desperation for fame. It is the way he veers wildly between transcendant boheme and whiney man-child.

I see him as a Mike Holmgren type myself (if you'll excuse the sports metaphor). He wants to be coach and GM, but should really just stick to coaching. Pitcher would make an excellent guitarist/background vocalist/songwriter in a someone else's band. Holmgren figured it out and I bet we see the Seahawks deep in the playoffs (you heard it here first).

Anyway, this site is actually getting relatively infamous for this. Someone told me there is a site somewhere that has listed links to over 85 blogs and weblogs of men and women just like Pitcher. It's called www.fametantrum.com or something like that. I either haven't found it, or my friend is giving me shit for checking into this site a couple times a week. I'm not sure.

I feel bad, by the way, that I just wrote this whole email referring to JP in the third person, but I guess I was addressing t's question. Sorry, Jefferson.

Keep in mind, I do think you are a wildly talented guitarist.

Posted by: Baba Minor at September 24, 2003 11:19 AM

but you see this is the beauty of life....for it doesn't matter what another thinks...it's in what the world wants for you. life has it's own agenda and sometimes we have no control over that. i say jefferson should do what his heart desires, what makes his soul sing. let it not be about "making it", but about putting yourself out there...you can't go wrong with that.

Posted by: anobserver at September 24, 2003 11:58 AM

A couple of notes about the concept of "making it."

The idea of an artist trying to "make it," to be "famous," etc. is much more complex than many seem to realize. Americans, for whatever reason, worship their artists once they reach a certain level. This is why the average American knows the status, say, of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's relationship or lack thereof.

It is because of this worship that there are essentially two tiers of artists: those who are famous and those who are not. Unfortunately, it is difficult (if not impossible) for these two halves to mix, in large part because there are such incredible time constraints on those who have "made it" (a point well made in "Meeting People is Easy," a film about Radiohead).

What this means is that there is a bit of a schism in the art world--a community that is bifurcated by the financial success of certain artists over others. Jeff Pitcher, for example, can't call up Morrissey and invite him over for tea for this reason, even though they'd probably both get along famously.

If you are one of the upper eschelon you can travel in those circles. This is, for many, many artists I know, a big reason why they strive for success. Because they want to be able to talk with, hang out with, and/or make music with the musicians, artists, poets, etc. that they look up to.

Furthermore, the financial issue is this: one wants to make a living doing what they love. Obviously that's not a reality for many of us but it's certainly something worth working towards. In all other forms of business, achieving this goal is celebrated. In the arts, it is shunned and labeled as "selling out."

Creating something and then hoping that others will enjoy it (or react to it, or be disgusted by it, etc.) is part of the circle that makes art: i.e. artist > art > audience. With no audience, part of that circle is broken and the process remains in many ways incomplete. Wanting a large audience for your creation seems to me a natural expression of human productivity.

Art is not utilitarian in the sense of building a bridge. It is, in fact, a weird, emotional, intangible product of (yes) an ego that is simultaneously its own being and a product of its culture and environment. Both of these facets working in tandem create the desire to "succeed" in art--to get your music heard.

There are also other more tangible realities of the working musician that seem to come more easily to our more successful cousins. Booking agents, lawyers, managers--all facets of the successful musician's life that are completely inaccessible to us. Above the Orange Trees has no booking agent, no lawyer, no manager. All the activities it does--including pressing CDs--it must do itself, pay for itself, etc.

Furthermore, there's the sheer issue of playing music to an audience who is interested in listening--of playing a room, having it fill up, and then having the audience actually listen to what you are playing. So often artists at our tier (Jefferson & I) are struggling to find that audience and it's a difficult road. Night after night of playing to noisy barrooms with patrons shouting "play something we can dance to" gets old rather quickly. Too much of that will make anyone desire "success."

In any case, a few thoughts from someone who both reads too much and thinks too much about art. I wish my father would have taught me how to fix cars instead but for whatever reason he wanted his children to be better than that. Fool.

Posted by: Christian Kiefer at September 24, 2003 12:49 PM

t: I feel that you have misconstrued my comment, and turned my tail back into my mouth. I believe that it is a struggle of mind vs. spirit, the mind struggles to make sense of art, while the spirit provides that very art. It is not a matter of whether or not Jefferson is a good singer/guitarist/writer/artist, it is a matter of Jefferson creating art. My hands clap, and my lungs push back the tide.

Xian: I agree in large part with your breakdown of "success" in art. I, as you well know, couldn't sing my way out of a paper bag, but goddamn I have fun doing it. Whether in front of my wife and the bartender, or in front of 300 drunk sacks of testosterone and estrogen breathing up all of my air. After I finished singing my first song on stage in front of said sacks, without throwing up on myself or them, I felt successful. Then again I measure my life in thimbles.

Jefferson: Your art speaks volumes for your spirit. I hope to see it in person one day.

Posted by: ChinRingDingO at September 24, 2003 04:19 PM

Ta (Chinese; verb)
a type of understanding of a situation, person, motive, and/or idea that enables one to take them lightly.

Posted by: summer at September 24, 2003 04:20 PM

great comment christian. it takes a lot of shmoozing to "make it". i do think ATOT could "make it" or "sellout". and if they did it would be fantastic. first they neeed to play a lot more, and not only that, play around the US. you cant get anywhere by playing sporadic shows in sf, east bay, sac, and davis. you cant reach the masses. they need a band mate who is a shmoozer to get a (good) manager, become signed, tour much more around the country so more people can hear their great music. its sadly mostly about schmoozing. it is pure luck and [good?] fortune when a band is signed without doing those things.

i know i am not a jury, but i will share my thoughts: we all agree that jeff is amazing at guitar and songwriting. everyone in that band adds to the beauty of the music. the music is captivating. so captivating that i listen to ATOT in the SUNSHINE!! i thought i could only listen to the music in S.F, with the sad weather. not true. i moved to san diego 3 weeks ago and i play it loudly in the warm, sunny weather, looking out at the ocean. the music is even more to me now. about the voice: jeff has a unique voice. like chan marshall from cat power. it is a different voice. no one else sounds like him. i think that is a good thing. come play san diego soon.

xoxo Suzanne

Posted by: Suzanne at September 26, 2003 09:06 AM

Rethink band name. For God's sake and your own...rethink. band. name.

Posted by: Umlat at September 26, 2003 03:53 PM

Rethink. band. name?

if Toad the Wet Sprocket didn't suffer for their name, how important can a band name really be?

Posted by: jos at September 28, 2003 10:02 PM

The name Toad the Wet Sprocket is dadaistic genius.

Posted by: Umlat at September 29, 2003 09:04 AM