Wednesday, April 08, 2009

How not to do promo, lesson one



Back in the days before I became impoverished and marooned within a life of confusion, I did a bit of radio interviewing over various entertainment-oriented projects that I was involved in.

During that time, I was occasionally asked some extraordinarily asinine questions at disgracefully early hours of the day by interviewers who either lacked research skills or on-air conversational savvy. Happens.

Inside, I might be cringing, or seething...or some other descriptive adjective that involved restraining myself from sawing off the host's head with a plastic butter knife.
Outside, I strived to maintain a modicum of poise in order to get through the ordeal and back to where the women were hot and the beer was cold.
Unfortunately, not all of my compatriots retain this ability...and some take opportunity for granted, becoming obnoxious when the conversation strolls into problematic zones, even some performers who should know how to play the f*cking game by now.

I'm going to be blunt here, Billy Bob. Whatever you've supposedly worked on for all these decades that trumps your accomplishments in other spheres just got a oil drum of douche poured over it, live and in living color...And you took your three bandmates along for the swim.

Enjoy that Canadian tour.

13 comments:

Utah Savage said...

Holly crap. What an asshole. He sounds incredibly fucked up, stupid, and rude. What the hell is the point of all the attitude and almost prissy touchiness? And he insults Canadians on top of it all. And then he refuses to bring his drums and doesn't play. Yikes!

darkblack said...

Doesn't wanna sing, and he's the lead vocalist too, Utah.
A fiasco all around, unless the intent was to get some cheap heat sans finesse.

I found the occasional bit of information that he did deign to venture forth somewhat pretentious..."'Cosmic Cowboy music' is something that hasn't been around for 30 years"...?

Doug Sahm was playing it until his dying day 10 years ago and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is still touring today, to name but two.

Double B needs to stay out of Willie's weed patch if he can't handle the altitude.

;>)

VG said...

Crickey!

His band compatriots looked a tad upset.

Naive question, but in live performance does it ever happen that the band kinda accidentally on purpose hangs one member out to dry/ wrong foots him, to give him a little "message"?

darkblack said...

All the time, VG.
Of course, it should to be subtle lest one don a like cap of foolery...But many ignore that simple dictate and thus create a duet.

;>)

Cleveland Bob said...

Brother Dave and I saw BBT warm up Elvis Costello a few years back and HE WAS AWFUL.

He's always struck me as an enormous ass clown and this video cements it.

The host is cordial, helpful and affable and Billy Bob just couldn't be worse..."ya know what I'm saying?"

Plus, he makes fun of poutine! What a tool.

darkblack said...

It shows a rather overweening degree of hubris to presume that, having had a prominent career in another field of entertainment, one can completely erase that reality from the public mind so that they might perceive one's current offerings in an untouched light, CB.

Certainly, a lazier journalist might have harped on the filmic history at the expense of the current musical product, but Jian Ghomeshi did not and attempted to keep the discussion focused on the task at hand in spite of Billy Bob's repeated attempts at self-derailment.

The current bit of flackery offered by his publicist: '...(Thornton) simply elected not to engage with the interviewer because of the direction of the interview from the outset'...is somewhat incongruous when contrasted with the actual interview.

My perception is that Mr. Thornton has a rather minor talent for music and a colossal talent for aggravating self-publicity.

;>)

VG said...

db- most fascinating what you say about the "hanging out to dry" maneuvers! I had no idea. But the 3 looked so pissed off, I started wondering how they might deal onstage. Not quite sure what you mean generally about a duet tho, you mean one band member might act alone against another, and then it turns into a "gotcha" "gotcha back" duet?

Jeez, I wonder what the "roadies" (?) think of BBT. Your drums, Mr. Thornton? Well they were all here last time we looked...

darkblack said...

Yes indeed, VG...The escalating gamut of one-upmanship over real and imagined slights ranging from a randomly duff note in a harmony vocal, to a festive assortment of 'clams' within a melodic or rhythmic expression, to whom has received the most 'come hither' glances at another bandmate's expense...and so forth and on.

One documented anecdote would be the titanic struggles for dominance musically and physically between Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce during Cream's salad days, varying from onstage fistfights to threats of disembowelment - another which I personally witnessed was a well-aimed drumstick to the head of Sting onstage courtesy of Stewart Copeland, due to a misunderstanding over tempo and initiated by some particularily waspish remarks directed toward the drum chair.

;>)

Unknown said...

I think he was stoned out of his mind..just a thought. ;p

darkblack said...

He's a little long in the tooth to wake and bake, D...But then, so am I.

;>)

Unknown said...

That makes three of us then m'dear. ;p

zencomix said...

I had to stop watching a little over 3 minutes into it. yeesh!

darkblack said...

A comparable bit of theater might be Snyder vs. Rotten, Zen...Perhaps Mr. Thornton was feeling 'pretty vacant' yesterday.

;>)