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"he's not a very good hippie!"

I was looking over the list of musicians for the Fest.

So far, out of the 281 listed 'confirmed bands,' there's only one person I can honestly say I don't give a hoot to see. Paul Baribeau.

Last year, I literally did research to determine which bands I wanted to catch. When I came across his myspace page, I got excited. His pictures and his songs made me feel like he was a very nomadic/hippie/about love kind of guy.

So I walked like 23 blocks, seriously, to his show (which was at a bakery?). Susan and I then sat on the asphalt with however many other fans and listened to him sing about doing things you want to do and loving the people you want to love in life before your time is up and not regretting any of it.

When all his happy, heartfelt singing was over, Susan and I approached him to say a quick thank you and show our gratitude, and Mr. Baribeau completely blew us off. Apparently he had more important things to do but, by the looks of things, showering was not one of them.

He's playing again this year, and while I do enjoy his music (although not enough to buy any of it), I have no intentions of seeing his show. The most important interaction I will ever have with a musician is the first interaction and he royally screwed himself in my eyes -- not that he cares.

You don't shun your fans ... especially when you are barely big enough to play in a bakery's parking lot in the heat of a Florida day. You are not a superstar, you don't get to drop down your hater blockers and walk the other way with your piece of shit guitar case in your hand. You just don't. And fans who sit on the bumpy, painfulass asphalt deserve better than to be all but ignored when trying give you a gracious compliment.

Comments

Joe Costa said…
And this is why so many talented bands end up failing. No respect for the people who bring them any sort of support.

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