(I also know, my image is broken… not sure why)

Alright, it’s not that sad but I am always curious. But now I have found myself making the same mistake. Yes, I know it has been a long time since I’ve posted here. What are my excuses? Well, I wouldn’t neccesarily say they are excuses… I have reasons. The last two months have been quite busy! I’ve recently moved to Denver (but fortuantely still work in Boulder)! No, the commute isn’t all that bad. In fact, it has become the only time I get to read and I have already gone through 5 books. Also, work has become more busy than ever. I believe we are making great strides at Collective Intellect even in the current economy and it will be very interesting to see what 2009 brings. I say, bring it on! So, those are my only two real reasons but I feel they are quite good but not good enough. Therefore, I am not going to call it a resolution, one of my goals in 2009 is to put forth more time and effort into this blog. It deserves it. Believe it or not, it actually gets a number of hits (even though I haven’t posted in so long). So I must be somewhat interesting. Also, since a goal in 2009 is to entrench myself further into the wonderful community that is Boulder this blog has and will continue to be a catalyst of being a part of that much larger conversation!

One such band taking on this task by themselves right now is an immeasurable-talented band from Denver, CO: Fiance. Now, I will admit I’m a bit biased. It was just a few short years ago that lead singer Patrick McGuire and I were sitting in his mom’s cramped arts & crafts studio creating the sound that would become Fiance. In the beginning there was quite a range of sounds coming out too! But it started to come together. A drummer (me) and a pianist/guitarist/singer/songwriter (pat). Besides drums the only thing else I brought to the table was plenty of experience and a good ear. Unfortunately, school and my other band and plenty of other stuff at the time got in the way and we parted ways on not-so good terms. But with an excellent guitarist and bassist in the mix just as I left I still knew and had faith that these guys would make some magic and many drummers would kill to play a role alongside ‘em.

So after two great releases, Girl From the Ivory Coast and Please, Ambitious, Please, they are gearing up for their third. Unfortunately, they do need a little bit of help. Check out their plea here. I strongly recommend checking them out and helping ‘em out if you can! They are one of Denver’s best and that’s no short list as the city has been gaining a lot of attention for producing some excellent acts. I highly recommend listening to the tracks Alaska and Pretty Model’s Hands. Also, feel free to share your thoughts on how you feel about ‘em!

Why has this occurred? What has pushed me so off of politics?

Well, I will admit first that the last 7 years have created this intense political situation. That doesn’t mean I place blame on any single person. I believe in fact that it is a mix of a number of events where responsibilities lie on both parties. I could go on, and maybe I should, but that is a whole different argument. There is one thing I want to admit here though and that is that the last seven years have also been unlike any in our history. Never have our leaders been confronted with so many obstacles as well as so many different avenues to respond to those obstacles. Again, that is for another discussion but it is something that I’m afraid most haven’t considered. In our loss of reason and rationale in favor of blaming, yelling, and emotions we have failed to confront problems with solutions. Both our leaders and our citizens. In fact, it has reached a point that I feel maybe we are losing our sense of creating solutions. As a country, complacency seems to have become the standard. Examples of this is an entire political party who in the face of a President they disagree with they failed to push and even come up with alternatives. In the end, they bucked and were forced to follow the President like a punished dog. Now, with a constituency demanding solutions you would think that this party would lose its following and those constituents would rise up for leaders who would offer solutions. Did that occur? No. They followed their party leaders in the blame game, rallied together by a created-hatred and roused by emotion and stood behind leaders who failed to lead. On the side of the aisle, they allowed an Administration to get away with too much. They followed the decisions of cabinet heads far too long, when it was clear they were failing, and they didn’t stand up to demand a change of course. Party politics was the name of this game. One party led, often at fault, and the other was weak and failed to even lead. This is an admission of my country that makes me sick to my stomach, literally, and politics is what brought this revelation to me.

Now, I can’t say that our politicians are what have caused me to want to shun politics. If that was the case I never would have gotten interested in politics in the first place! Politicians are just that: politicians. That’s not to say there are not honest public servants among them but politics is known to bring out the worse in many and it will continue to do so. That also doesn’t mean we sit back and accept that fact though, it just means as a public we are responsible for holding them accountable. Something we have failed to do.

So why am I so turned off now? Well, besides the few revelations I’ve already shared, I have also realized how divided as a nation we are. This has come to hurt me the most. The division I am referring to is not divided by political party membership, no; it goes much deeper than that. The line of division is along the spectrum of needs affecting so many Americans right now and the ignorance of those needs by so many others. Now, I know this is nothing new. We are a country with a landscape so varying that individual’s needs will always be different and in many ways it’s this difference that makes us so great and strong as a nation. What is scaring me about this division though and the politics of the day is the ignorance of these needs. This ignorance is found in our decision making. I have come to the realization that policy is what makes me love politics not politics that makes me like politics. And yet this election process has been so blind to policy that emotions and baseless reasoning has become the voice (and votes) of the day. Never in conversations with those around me has policy been a part of the reasoning behind their choice. Never has what is currently facing our nation and its people been part of the conversation surrounding this election. When I bring it into play, a joke overrides it. Too many of the voters I know don’t really even now the policies of their own candidate. Now, that doesn’t mean I want to place blame on my friends. I know this is politics, I know that this is the name of the game. This is just what happens. But right now we have too much on the line with this election. This election has made me think long and hard, more than ever, about the family from a small town in the middle of America whose son is on his third tour of Iraq. Who is going to be the best Commander in Chief for him? For the mother of two in Illinois who worked her way through college, brought a better life to her family, yet is struggling paying for her mortgage. Or what about Joe the plumber who is considered a part of the highest tax bracket yet is trying to pay for a business and his employees. Who is going to be the best economic leader for them? Who is going to be more than a voice and a leader? Policy and follow through is what makes a leader, not words. Are we judging our leaders on that though? What are we even basing our decisions upon? How are we going to hold them accountable? It’s these questions that most of us don’t seem to be answering. This has also made me worry that perhaps we’re not thinking about each other. Are we being blind to the real people that are the faces of the problems here in America as well as around the glode? These problems and their solutions do not seem to be a part of the conversation and it needs to be. Playing on Barack Obama’s name and Sarah Palin jokes aren’t adding to the conversation, they are defeating it. But we’re playing along. We’re not asking the questions. We don’t seem to be looking for solutions. I hear about hope and change but besides a new name plate in the Oval Office, what exactly is that hope and change being spoken of so often? I hear about being a maverick but what does that look like if you get in the White House? How are you still going to work across party lines when you’re in the Executive office?

Who wants to be a part of this dialogue? ‘Cause I’m sick of the politics. I want to hear answers and questions. Whether they come from the candidates or more importantly from the people who are going to make that decision.

Now, let me say when I first came across this and read it I was not at all shocked. I mean, I didn’t think it was as bad as it was; I thought at least a few popular fashion bloggers had broke the mold and gotten in. But when I think of the NYC fashion scene I imagine an elite, snobby, social scene where only the New York insiders have a key of which is obtained by either pedigree or, at the very least, a fierce place in the Hamptons. A place where groundbreaking, cutting-edge or innovation certainly does not flourish. Where change is painfully drawn-out then accepted. I still have to wonder though that in this day and edge where the blogosphere has become almost the front-line for real-time news, why has Bryant Park failed to be open to it? Kelly Cutrone, the b#$%h (sorry) behind People’s Revolution sums it up best:

“I don’t want to sound completely outdated because I’m in fashion and we’re not the quickest as far as technology goes. But at this point in time, the blogging world is the Wild West. It’s a new media, and we’re all the rats in the laboratory in what this is going to mean. … Once something has been said, it’s like taking a nail and putting it in a piece of wood. You can take the nail out, but the hole is still there. Once it’s up on the Internet, you can’t get it off; it’s just there forever.”

On Ms. Cutrone’s take, first, as I previously noted, yes the fashion world is notoriously behind to the outside and technology often equals change. One aspect of this that I’ve complained about for some time is the lack of use of the internet by designers. They fail to have updated websites, they fail to promote their designs to the world via the largest market medium favoring instead the same small, elite group that sit next to the runways during fashion week hoping for a possible mention in a 200+ page magazine that reaches a fraction of those looking in. And perhaps my biggest complaint is THEY DON’T SELL ONLINE!! I have yet to figure truly why not (though bluefly.com is taking advantage and making headway). I’m hoping soon an elite designer will open up a full online store of their product. If one has let me know ‘cause I have yet to find it. I also want to somewhat agree that the “blogging world is the Wild West”. It is in the sense that it’s growing, continuing to be explored and developed, and it’s open to everybody. But it is not, as her intention seems to point out, a place of just lawlessness where cowboys and outlaws rule the information flow. True, there are extremists and it is home to a vast and diverse bunch with all sorts of aim. In fact, I have been critical before of the blogosphere’s take on politics in that we sometimes fail to take it as commentary, most often plagued with bias and instead take it as news and fact. There is a responsibility to be a bit more critical of the information within this open media. However, that is also what makes it great. It is a real-time flow of conversation. Whether it is politics, sports or even fashion.

What Ms. Cutrone fails to answer though is why exactly the fear? She hints at it by referring to “rats” in a “laboratory”; that in a carefully constructed world they don’t need outsider breakin’ in and exposing often for what it truly is. But my take on it is simple: they fear criticism from the “normal people”. We’ve seen this before. Politics was already filled with critique from elite writers in the major papers, it didn’t need the average joe’s (voters) pining in. Today though, they are on the front lines, raising (and sometimes answering) the tough questions, and they are keeping politicians on their toes 24/7. It’s that exact same action that scares the fashionistas though. Fashion is art, what makes us qualified to critique it? I’m going to answer that though. You see, unlike the art that hang on walls and rely often on interpretation and an understanding between the artist and the viewer to be appreciated and scorned by everyone else…fashion is like another form open to critique: music. Fashion, like music, is regularly consumed and as such it’s open to consumer reaction. Sure, not every (or even most) of the designers showing at Bryant Park are readily consumable to the average shopper but the trends that derive from it are. Why shouldn’t we then have a voice and thus a say on what in some form or another we will be wearing next spring/summer?

It does appear that things are beginning to change though. Ms. Fredrickson of Coutorture.com (from the Observer):

“…this year has been the best yet” for access —besides Ms. Cutrone’s, that is. “I think a blogger is so much more likely to get more coverage about a designer than, like, an assistant accessories editor from Marie Claire who might feature a shoe of theirs on like page 132”

Yes! Hopefully after some pain and suffering and time the fashion world will realize that there is actually benefit and opportunity in opening up dialogue and participating in conversation and pushing advancements. It’s begun in other ways. Project Runway is a good example. It has found and elevated talented designers that may have fallen through the cracks. It brought exposure to Bryant Park and instilled the desire in others to pursue design. No doubt we will hear in 5 or 10 years that Project Runway is the reason why a designer started to design clothes. But there are still barriers and the New York Observer piece does a good job looking into and exposing those barriers so definitely check it out. In the meantime, I’ll be waiting and watching from the outside looking for the day when conversation becomes an aspect of design. I believe only social media can make that happen.

]]> http://neilrobertson.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/welcome-to-new-york-fashion-week-no-cell-phones-cameras-or-blogging/feed/ 3 neilrobertson http://www.shinystyle.tv/ http://neilrobertson.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/kings-of-leon-only-by-the-night/ http://neilrobertson.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/kings-of-leon-only-by-the-night/#comments Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:18:14 +0000 neilrobertson http://neilrobertson.wordpress.com/?p=60 ]]>

Finally. Only by the Night has been leaked.

I’m usually not a fan of leaks and always wonder how the band feels when it happens. But this was an album I have been dying to hear. So in a guilty-pleasure sort of way, I am glad it happened. Though I expected it to happen much earlier and really could have waited two more weeks to get it on the release date. Although I will also say, it would have been even better to see it released in similar fashion to Bloc Party’s Intimacy. The album was done and polished and instead of making their fans agonize or lose its build-up to a leak online they just pre-released it online with the hard copy shipping on its regular release date in October. But don’t worry KOL, I’ll still be buying it when the album officially releases and will also be seeing you October 23 when you stop by in Denver so you’ll still be getting some of my cash.

Nonetheless, as this was an album I have been picking to be possibly my favorite of ’08 (with Bloc Party’s in the bunch as well) I did find a way to listen to it and I’ve spent a good chunk of my day doing just that. Now, I usually don’t do music reviews and you can read here why that is. I don’t categorize myself with that bunch. But as I attempted to make a joke last week about the album being pushed back to November due to the frequent complaining from friends that they couldn’t wait any longer, I felt that here I too should first, apologize: I’m sorry, I was kidding. Second, say ‘congrats, the wait is over!’ And third, share my thoughts as there has been quite some discussion on it throughout the day and as a musician and one who lives by music…why not!

My thoughts then. Getting right to it (and to prevent wasting the time on a 2500 word review) on the initial measure from the opening track my ears were pleased. Closer opens Only by the Night with a rhythm that welcomes you to an album with expectations that this is going to be big and it’s only just begun. Followed by Crawl, a driving song that hangs onto the coattails of much the same emotions developed from the opening song, you really do feel that by track 3 or, at the latest, track 4 this album is going to explode wide-open with a rock sound meant to ring across oceans. Or at least stadiums. But, if you had already heard the single Sex On Fire and you realize it’s track number 3…you are left with, well, the same emotions as tracks 1 and 2. Great songs which keeps your expectations up but the album almost slows right when you expect it to do the opposite. But again, good tracks so far so no hard feelings.

Now for track 4, Use Somebody. The big sound: check. Driving force: check. Consistent: [blank]. Over-Production: maybe. The elements I was expecting are there but they fail to carry throughout and a fear that a turn for the album already is about to come about begins to somewhat scare me. But…

Then. Manhattan. This was THE track I’ve been waiting for since habitually listening to some rough live recordings on Youtube the last two months and the reason for the high standards I was placing on this album. Now, again by track 5 I was thinking ‘bigger’ by now but I’m happy to be hearing my song. A little problem though: it’s slower and less powerful than the live versions I’ve come to love. WHY?! ‘It’s ok’ I tell myself. I’m a man of reason. I realize I tend to always like live albums over studio versions and the live sound of a rock band represents its true element. So I realize also that it’s tough to capture that in the studio and even though I think they could have tried harder to accomplish that same sound, I still love the track (yes, love). I even become ok with it as a studio track, especially with the second half of the album still left, and it just leaves me even more excited for the real thing.

Now for Revelry. It seals the fate of the turn in the album I was fearing earlier. My expectations to this point have not been met and now the album is about to fade. Yet, I still at this point find myself not concluding for some reason that I’m fully disappointed. I will admit that I am lost. I’m still holding onto something. Just not sure what. What exactly were my expectations? Were they really the ones of being bigger, louder, heavier that I’ve already mentioned a million times in this post? In a way, yes. U2 was in my head going into this album (based on Manhattan somewhat) but not necessarily Joshua Tree U2. I mean, that would have been great. But I loved All That You Can’t Leave Behind and it didn’t carry that same large sound that’s come to define them. So, I begin to become comfortable with what Only by the Night is offering. Plus, 17 hits home [cough*cough].

Moving on…the final four tracks contain three tracks on par with the entire first half of the album. Notion, Be Somebody and Cold Desert. The same emotions I described before are evoked. In fact, the only song I have yet to become comfortable with after listening through the album four times today is third to last, I Want You.

This is all from first go with the album.

Whew! By the end of this first turn I’m left with a good album and a transcript of an internal debate. After quickly jumping back in with an open mind and less based on unfounded expectations…I realize though that I really do love this album. It’s more than good. Great? I’m not going that far ‘cause great usually means almost all of my very high expectations were met. But nonetheless I am convinced this is a special album that I will become more and more fond of. Plus, even after listening to just the first half of the album on the first spin I could already hear the awesome live translation that will become of it and when that happens by track 5, how is that not a good thing? Again, I live for music and most of the time to me it’s best live.

So, those are my thoughts. As there were so many people also waiting for this album, I would also really love to hear your thoughts! There already seems to be much chatter about it! Here is another review to check out…and far better written than mine!

Delivery is a film done by a really good friend of mine, former Boulder-ite, fellow college alum, drinking partner, and Sundown Salloon frequenter, Eli Berg. It also stars another friend of mine, Chris Reinhard, whom you can pretty much use the same connections listed previously to describe our relationship (though soon to be flat-mates as well).

Anywho, the trailer is up! It’s a great short and hopefully you’ll all be able to catch it soon! 

Synopsis: Delivery is a coming-of-age comedy that threads a needle through the lives of two flower delivery boys on their final day together. One, a 17-year-old high school senior with a college acceptance letter and a case of the ‘what-ifs,’ trying to find his place in the world; and the other, a 35-year-old stone-jawed modern day superhero searching for meaning in a seemingly dead-end job. Dark comedic antics abound as the two encounter a series of unfortunate mishaps, from a pyromaniac hitchhiker, to a creepy cult, to a young girl who might just be clairvoyant. And at the end – in the wake of a hysterically misguided carjacking – both characters come to epiphany-inducing realizations that will redirect the course of their lives forever.

Also, check out www.deliverythemovie.com