Selling out.. Getting in bed with corporate America... Once the mark of death for credibility in the music industry, it's now nearly as common and accepted a tool of promotion as headshots or the casting couch (oh, wait, did I just say that?...my bad). I don't know about the rest of you, but this strikes me as a somewhat distrubing trend. Come on now, who else was vague unsettled by that commercial with Tina Turner singing the praises of Target (or "Tar-shay," depending on your capacity for denial)? Britney signing a promo deal with McDonald's isn't nearly as bad, simply because Britney herself is a product in the same way as a Crispy McChicken sandwich. But there's just something about a genuinely talented artist agreeing to publically align themselves with the skank that is big business for the sake of exposure and/or excessive monetary gain. The artistic purist in me balks at the notion that you can sell-out and still keep your personal dignity, but I suppose, if someone offered me the opportunity for wealth and fame, I too might do something pointedly ridiculous as well -- like preach the virtues of mouthwash.
Now for relevance -- did Rockapella sell out by agreeing to hawk coffee and candy bars? Maybe. One thing's for certain: that big ol' photo of Jeffrey, staring dreamily into a steaming mug up on the Folger's website, is just TOO ironic sometimes. But considering they've already made the arguably necessary decison to sell-out with the in-crowd, they might as well dive right into the deep end of the pool. Why stop with coffee and sugary junk food? Since Folger's was such a phenomenon (although I still wonder about its ultimate affect on album sales), who knows what stardom may await with a similar endeavor?_As a public service to our dear boys, I decided to brainstorm a few new options for corporate sponsorship...
LOREAL -- Heather Locklear needs a new gig and Preference hair color needs some new poster boys. Sure, we know they're worth it, but now that Scotty isn't the only blonde bombshell in town, just think of the possibilities...
GATORADE -- "Is it in you?" Talk about a match made in product-placement heaven. Maybe they could have a sequence of Elliott playing rugby and sweating purple stuff. Hey, it works for MJ.
E*TRADE -- "Hi, I'm Jeff Thacher. I know you all must be thinking, spitting for a living seems like such a secure form of employment, why would I ever need to invest? But just think of pitfalls that could, in a split second, deprive me of my lifeblood -- a sprained tongue, no clean overshirts...or just the horrible, crippling realization that I spit for a living..."
MILK -- Got pella? This probably seems like an obvious freebie but you have to give credit to those "got milk?" ads. And what better sponsor could you ask for RoCOWpella than the National Dairy Association.
Just a few suggestions, should the boys decide that Folger's just ain't putting out what they should be for such incredible talent. Not like they don't have choices. So not like I'm trying to imply that selling out is a bad thing or even at worst a necessary evil for those on the brink, but be honest -- don't you cringe even a little for every Suzanne Sommers infomercial you see at 3am on FX? I know I do. But maybe that's just me.
Roughly one year ago -- ten days after experiencing four hours of Rockapella live at The Bottom Line in New York City, and five days before Christmas -- I sat down at my desk and created a website. A collection of a few photos, a few links, and a lot of very weird stories. It was really more for my own ego than anything else -- I was now personally responsible for cluttering up a corner of the Web with my own nonsense. Big props for me. Most of the fan sites I'd seen had been gathering dust since late 1997, and I felt that it was up to me to keep the ball rolling. And it was pretty fun.
But not for long. Being the new kid on the block in the web-based Rockapella fan universe is hard. I got lots of nasty guestbook entries, several slaps on the wrist from Ann Edwards (although she was very nice about it, I can say that much), and no recognition from the official site. I got discouraged. What started out seeming like a fun hobby and a productive way to promote the group was beginning to seem more and more like a constantly battle for acceptance. I thought of just deleting the entire site and tucking tail between legs. But then again...
I was different then too. A weiner, if you will. In many ways. I look back to the very first WebDesk and think to myself, "Oh my God." There was a time when I would cringe at the thought of getting a rude guestbook entry or a snide e-mail...I'm entirely too emotionally dependent at times. I was content to bicker and be flip on the page, but could barely bring myself to utter more than a simple greeting at meet & greets. Not from shyness, per se, but simply from this odd feeling insecurity that I just couldn't shake for the life of me. But then I met some people --two people to be exact. Gave me a whole new sense of self. Made me like who I was. And while this may not seem all that related to the site and it's growth over the last year, I truly did become the WebDiva in every sense of the term. I'm bad, bad and dangerous to know, and I like it that way. And I know who I have to thank for it.
So I kept at it...more from an aversion to being a quitter than anything else. Then, slowly, something amazing started to happen....we got picked up as editor's choice at a slew of search engines. People started e-mailing me saying it was the best Rockapella fan site they had ever seen. In the meantime, I moved to Manhattan...packed up my life and settled in downtown, Rockapella central. Or so I thought. Turns out there wouldn't be a single Manhattan show for the extent of the 2000 tour. So it was me and the fish smell and no Rockapella within subway distance for the extent of the summer.
Ah, yes, and then there as the whole Oxygen thing. What started out as a measly file-fax-copy job blossomed into something I've come to love. I worked for months to secure licensing for the entire J-Bird catalogue, the two Rockapella CDs included. Even before we had the license actually signed, I had them made Artist of the Day (twice). Got some people excited about them. But I still held to my secret agenda of getting them in studio and on the air. Took a little while longer to get that last bit done, but I think it came off pretty well.
Although one thing that I never anticipated when I first sat down and started slogging my way through the old version of PageBuiler...all the wacky folks who would come into my life in one way or another as a result of this little chunk of web space I chose to inhabit. And, don't worry, I'm not having a Hallmark moment here, but I have to say that it sort of scares me to think of what I would have missed had I not decided to put this thing together. One of them, for certain, was life changing in a lot of ways..the others also immensely valuable. It's amazing what a modem and some concert photos can do, isn't it? To be quite honest with you, and at the risk of losing some credibility as a hardened, bitter cynic, I really don't know what my life would be like without this site. I really don't.
[cue "Oh How The Years Go By"...]
So here we are -- and here I am -- one year after I first got the notion to clutter up cyberspace. Much has changed, some things haven't (still no props from the official site, but I try not to let it get to me), but what a ride it's been. We're now one of the largest, most well-recognized and most popular Rockapella fan sites on the Web. And I thank you all for that.
You know something? This is pretty fun.
