Welcome to Twitter, Asshole!

I’d like to think of myself as a pretty tech savvy guy. I design and develop web sites, I record music, I write on this blog, I use the email. For all its social value in self and/or band promotion I have still shunned Facebook for years and will continue to do so, probably, forever. But the other big “social media” boom of the past few years has been Twitter. Maybe there was something there for me.

Today, I signed up for my first ever Twitter account: @jadedbitterman (isn’t this where I am supposed to ask you to “Follow Me”???). Well? Follow me! Again, that’s @jadedbitterman.  Don’t ask me what you are supposed to do with that, I literally just signed up! Aren’t there, like, 78 icons and buttons all over every site with the “T” logo? I assume you click that and something happens.

As I signed up I was first asked to select some people to follow. I found a couple of friends I knew had accounts and then headed right for Neil Young. I saw a photo that looked legit and it had his name. His tweet said something like, “Playing with my trains with T.” Must be him right? Neil. Trains. Photo that looks like Grandpa Neil. Probably was. Here I am having a digital conversation with one of my musical heroes! Holy shit, I’m fuckin’ BOYS with Neil Young. Then I saw it was posted 351 days ago. Wow, Neil, we don’t talk much anymore do we?

I soon also realized, ok, cool, I can “tweet” all my random thoughts, photos, videos, ideas, jokes, music promotions, links, and whatever the hell else I want to. Then it dawned upon me: I have no one following me. How the fuck do I get people to follow me? I can easily follow them. But all I see is #this and #me that, tons of links and text and garbage and retweets and…Oh, wait, did Rihanna really just Tweet that?

So here I am, having at this Twitter thing. #followme #jadedbitterman #music #jokes #commentary #bumslogic. I am not sure (yet) why I did that. Someone told me to put hash marks on words to attract followers.

@jadedbitterman

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Well We Ain’t Back In The Day

There is a line from The Soprano’s that Tony uses to end a long Paulie Walnuts rant about the good old days. He says, “it’s just that ‘remember when’ is the lowest form of conversation.”  We here at Bums Logic might have a lean towards a back-in-the-day mentality–especially when it comes to music–so we understand that some readers might not always want to hear about “how much better it was back then” or “you gotta listen to it on vinyl vs. mp3…and CDs just suck!”

Django didn't need Pro Tools to be fuckin awesome!

Living through the 80s, 90s, and 00s, we have been lucky enough to not only witness but take part in the so-called digital revolution. We have seen a changing of the guard. Yes, we have reached an age where we find ourselves muttering, “remember when…” or what we here a Bums Logic like to refer to as a “get off my lawn” moment.

Just how different are things now for playing in a band? Let’s look at a few changes that have taken place over the past 15-20 years:

Performing

Back In The Day
You started a band with your friends and classmates. You hoped that one of you had either a basement or garage and parents or roommates willing to let you practice in their homes. The band rehearsed as often as they could and tried to learn and write as many songs as possible. If you were lucky, someone had a tape recorder they could put in the middle of the room so you could record yourself a “demo tape.” You played as many local gigs as you could and got as many of your friends and classmates to show up as possible.

Today
You start a band with your Facebook friends or connect to other musicians through Craigslist. You each get an iPad and download an instrument app. Sign in to Skype and have a virtual jam with your drummer in Australia, keyboard player in Japan, bassist in Italy, guitar player in Sweden, and singer from San Francisco. Each musician never has to leave the comforts of their own home (and you can use ear buds!). Record the entire process in audio and video (easily done with your laptops and/or smartphones). You write as many clever songs as you can this way and have your friends follow you with their iCameras and film you performing in various public locations in your locale. You become a huge YouTube sensation and become the first band to ever appear on Letterman via Skype.