Observation Or Skepticism??

With all of my heart, I really try to be an observer of things. Sometimes, however; the evil head of skepticism will rear it's ugly head. I find that the older I get, the more this seems to happen. So, with that said, I should get started. It has been some time since I posted anything and apparently I am a Sonofabitch for it - thank you, Bevan!
I have been a lover of music my entire life. I love all types of music - admittedly, I do have my favorites - and there are some things that make me want to puke violently. For instance, to me, there was almost no better singer in the world than Otis Redding. The first four words of this Otis classic: "These...arms...of...mmmiiiiiiinnnnee..." nearly make me weep every time I hear them. BUT - to hear Michael Bolton sing them makes want to pick up an Uzi and wipe out an entire city block of babies and puppies!!
This leads me to last week's CMAs or The Country Music Awards. I am a big fan of country music. Don't laugh - so was Ray Charles! I like "Country Music". George Jones is "country music". Waylon Jennings is "country music". Brad Paisley is "country music". This new age, poser-hillbilly swill that's being fed to us today is insulting. This year's awards were held in that country music Mecca that is...New York City. I can only assume that the country music business, which is basically based in Nashville, Tennessee, was trying to expand it's market in a city that doesn't even have a country music radio station - or maybe this is yet another attempt to further push the envelope of crossover music that seems to be eating up the entire music industry these days. This movement, sadly, is literally producing a flood of artistic mediocrity throughout the business. I specifically remember a performance by Willie Nelson, Paul Simon, and Norah Jones - all of them very respectable artists - masters in their fields - but they literally have nothing to do with each other at all. Willie sang a Paul tune and Paul sang a Willie tune - all I can say is that this should never, ever happen again! It was a total trainwreck. Someone was paid a shitload of money to come up with this stroke of genius too - I'm sure the intention was to meld the genres, but why?? The individual genres are golden on their own, why push the crossover idea? I like the idea of different music genres. To me, each one represents a different color on an artistic palette. Individually, they can produce a beautiful painting, but when they are all mixed together they form a huge, mushy, mess of grey-brown bunk!! I do not need some cornbread, white cracker belting out some cheesy country song to a rap beat - if want rap, I'll listen to rap...by someone who is much better at it!!! Then, there are the country groups...I know that they are "cute and all", but someone please stop them from producing any more of that screechy, trailer-love music! Plus, it's way too confusing!! This one particular group I'm speaking of dresses like Green Day, but sounds like Air Supply!! In fact, these guys make Air Supply sound like fucking Motorhead!! You know, I think I actually saw one of these guys on stage with a Black Flag shirt?? This dick couldn't name a Black Flag song if his life depended on it!!!

See where this could all get confusing??

So as an open plea to the music industry...PLEASE stop trying to force feed us your imitation music. There are so many people out there that are much more talented that we, as fans of music, WANT to hear. We are aching for it!! Money in our pockets ready to burn for some good music - NOT pre-packaged junk!!

........and enough with the award shows!