You Don’t Know Sh*t Pt 2 + More!
Part 2:
Continuing on With Lessons…
or, you don’t know fuck all about shit !
This idea of never knowing which piece is going to resonate for someone surfaced again. Saturday, members of Rise Against visited the museum and this idea surfaced again. Now I’m used to it, their TM (tour manager) went over to the hand typed itinerary from 1980 from when PiL went to Paris – I guess that’s understandable. Then my son, Ian (you might have seen him out with Pigface running merch), called to tell me that a friend of his had really been rocked by one of the pieces, and I did that thing, where I go through a few of the more impactful pieces in my head in anticipation of what is coming next… like ‘oh the drums, or the check from Dick Clark Productions, or the Nine Inch Nails carabiners.’
Once again, the museum teaches me.
The flyering map of the city of Austin from the Chance The Rapper show at SXSW almost brought her to tears remembering her days strategizing the same stuff. I was, once again, blown away. That’s not even really a display piece, I had put a map we had constructed on the back of a poster on the way to SXSW with students along with the flyer and some posters to memorialize the flyering strategy. We marked our hotel, the city of Chicago’s hotel, and the venue where Chance was performing – then marked streets within two blocks of any possible route from one to another. Next, we split up streets so we have maximum coverage.
This wasn’t even a piece on display!!! It was in a closet behind some shirts and jackets, someone looking at the jackets had made parts of it visible – and that’s what had the impact.
Thank-you, Museum;
you don’t know fuck about shit !
—now, there’s a shirt !
Part 1:
You Don’t Know Sh*t About F*ck All!
There are many reasons to be grateful for the museum: being surrounded by all of these important items, meeting and connecting with so many unexpected people who have a love for this ground breaking period of music (Rise Against visited yesterday!). But one unexpected gift from this time has been my understanding that I have NO IDEA what is going to hypnotise people, what item is going to stop someone in their tracks and resonate with them. That has changed me in my approach to people outside the museum too.
Let me explain it:
Wendy Day visited perhaps a year ago and I was there as a guide to point out the important stuff and tell some stories. Wendy stood in front of a piece of the Ministry section as I gently tried to move her along to other important displays, ‘and moving right along…’ But Wendy stayed fixed in place – not in front of the skull, or the cage pieces, or the 2″ of Burning Inside, or the unfinished song with me & Bill from 1989 – but in front of a 4″ x 3″ black and white ad torn from a Montreal newspaper in 1990. “I was at this show’ said Wendy – I paused to allow some space for the memories. Several days later she sent me an e mail – still thrilled to have that small memory prompt in a corner of a display.
A few weeks later I am doing the same thing – “over here is my drum kit from Head Like A Hole and Ministry and and and, and over here is the sign from the American Bandstand dressing room door and ….” I forget exactly who I was giving a tour to, but nothing really seemed to grab them. None of the blockbuster pieces grabbed a hold – until, walking to the door in the foyer and wrapping things up, this guy stopped in his tracks, “Oh my goodness! Wow,” etc etc…I was looking around for the item so that I could fill in the space with a story… but I didn’t see where he was focussing. “Oh my goodness 91X!!’ a faded sticker for a small radio station in San Diego stuck to the side of a flight case. He went off into memories and to a place where he was discovering new music. This faded worn and weathered sticker was his big shiny object. Part of me wanted to say, “Yes but, look at Trents passport photographs ! , or, these Throbbing Gristle buttons!” but, I just shut up and let the memories come.
The fact is, you dont know shit about fuck all really, and especially about what is important to other people or their memories and events that have signposted their lives. A good lesson to learn and a better attitude to have moving forwards.
Thankyou museum.
Free Shirt Friday Continues!
Every once in a while we have ‘Free Shirt Friday’ basically a free shirt of OUR choice – you go to the store, choose your size, pay shipping and a small handling charge and we send you a shirt!
Also consider checking out the new $100 “please don’t even send me a shirt,” shirt where you can buy a shirt that doesn’t exist, that you don’t want, that we won’t make – as a way of showing support and helping to keep all of this going! It’s also something I like to show students – the evidence that music business is so very different than business business!
Only a Couple Tickets Left!
Wednesday April 5, 2023
3PM-6PM CST
We are located 3.5 Miles from the United Center! Come hang and BYOB for a couple of hours pre-show, and steep yourselves in some post-punk and industrial memories! Also, bring something Depeche Mode to donate, because we don’t have anything yet!
PiL, Killing Joke, Ministry, Coil, Einsturzendeneubauten, Sheep on Drugs, Test Department, Betty X, Psychic TV, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Pigface, SWANS – Yes! Depeche Mode – Nope !!
Depeche Mode show gates open at 6:00, doors at 7:30
Tickets $20, or free to founders with code FOUNDERSROCK
Pigface – Gub from Cleopatra Records
Reissue of the 1990 debut album from industrial supergroup spearheaded by legendary PiL drummer Martin Atkins!
Includes contributions from Trent Reznor, Revolting Cocks’ Chris Connelly, The Jesus Lizard’s David Yow, Skinny Puppy’s Nivek Ogre, Ministry’s William Rieflin & Paul Barker, KMFDM’s En Esch, Steve Albini and more!
Wildly experimental, this genre-defying masterpiece has earned its reputation as one of the most adventurous sound recordings ever made!
Contains the original version of “Suck” that Trent Reznor would later re-record for his 1992 Broken EP as well as several bonus remixes!
Check out MmX VI Website!
-Thanks to Goss Advertising!-
Saturday, April 15, 12P-5P CST
Decatur, IL
Now in its fifth year, MmX is a music industry conference with a deep focus on the midwest music scene and the communities that shape it. It draws equally on local leaders and international experts to deliver compelling panels, thoughtful discussions, inspiring keynotes, and new connections.
Rooted in a punk-rock, DIY, hard work, no-nonsense, get-things-done mentality, both events will spark creativity and connection throughout the Midwest region.
Tickets are $20, but you can get yours free with code MartinSentMe !
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