One Part Mission Statement, Two Parts Daydreaming...

As the crackpot, uh "staff" here at the Forces write more and more entries, it is becoming clear exactly what we are trying to do with this blog. When we first started writing it we pretty much just wanted to lay down anything that had to do with anything regarding music, Athens and life. With great pride I purport that we are painstakingly still travelling alongst the path.
Bullet Points!
  1. This site is intended to be used for promoting Athens music. A quick glance around the interwebs will reveal many other sites that are dedicated to this very same idea. I noticed that ours is a little different in one very important way: it remains positive regarding every band that we talk about. See points #2 and #5 below.

  2. I vow to delete every single comment that I deem unworthy. Every other Athens blog has at least one post that contains a thread of comments that are hurtful, ignorant and unnecessary. You'll find none of that here because I usually don't give people the benefit of the doubt. You are a hypothetical music snob whose scope is limited to about fifty obscure bands that are very hard to listen to. Or you are in another band in Athens and you look at local music as a competitive market that you think you can control with your words (but you can't). All you can do is make music. Sorry I think I've said this multiple times in other posts. So far I've only had to delete one comment. But I don't respond, I delete.

  3. Having called out most people for being dumb, we do not profess to know everything about Athens here at Rebel Forces. I know that there are really great bands left off of our list and really important monumental historical stuff has happened that we were not a part of. Anything that is left out and fits this category should be added and it is someone else's responsibility to tell us (THIS MEANS YOU! please). Also I don't consider myself an expert or a very capable writer. There is nothing competitive about this site so if we are way off base about something then feel free to tell us. We have very open minds here and that is why we discuss the happenings of many different bands playing many different styles of music. We don't love everybody but everybody gets a fair chance.

  4. Although this site focuses on Athens in general, we will more often deal with a few specific groups because the contributors either play in these bands or are employed by these bands. Matt works for Brown Cat (Widespread Panic). J.J. plays drums for Blue Flashing Light. I play guitar for Gift Horse. We will write about these bands more than others because hey, you've gotta write what you know. See point #3 about telling us what's going on around here. By the way at no point do any of us speak for or represent any of our respective bands or organizations. We're just some dudes.

  5. Okay, I think this is it for the "mission statement" because this is redundant. But please realize that this site is meant to represent a pretty sincere effort to do no harm to Athens music. Remember Athens is a very unique place. There aren't many towns like it. So please don't come here to be told what sucks. Please be humble and passionate. Listen to music.

In unrelated and less Buddhist news, I've been thinking a lot lately about how nice it would be to have mountains of cash. I wish I could say that I am completely unmotivated by the pursuit of money but I am just a lowly human being. Remember that scene from Office Space where Peter and Lawrence ask each other what they would do with a million dollars? No? Well here it is, cut right before the best part:


..."Look at my cousin man he's broke and he don't do shit."

Okay, If I had a million dollars I would do the following:

  1. Open up a retail store in downtown Athens that sells nothing but local music and related artifacts. Only stipulation: you must be from the area in order to have your disc sold in my store. My store would be called...REBEL FORCES (eureka!). We would sell all formats: CD's, vinyl, and I would have an mp3 database. Bands would bring in one copy of their cheap demo cd or a rare live recording. I would take this cd and enter it into my mp3 database. When someone wanted music from this particular band but it isn't in stock at my store (or anywhere in existence), I could burn it and sell the customer a cheap CDR with the Rebel Forces logo stamped on it. We could also do this with DVR's of live video footage of shows in the same database and sell merchandise from Athens bands. This would include a huge stockpile of t-shirts, original artwork, flyers, movies, memorabilia, you name it.

  2. In the back of this store there would be a small performance space. I would host as many in-store performances and record release shows as humanly possible. These would be relatively chill, relatively cheap, and open to music lovers of all ages. I envision the bigger bands that roll through town possibly playing an in-store show at 2 p.m. on the day of their Athens show. Something like that.

  3. Along with continuing to write this here online version of Rebel Forces, I would start an independent monthly print magazine called...REBEL FORCES (too confusing?). It would be advertisement driven in order to keep it free for the fair citizens of Athens. It would be placed around in various bins just as the Flagpole is now, but Rebel Forces mag would be devoid of all political influence and contain no insight regarding the best place in Athens to eat tacos. Strictly music. Mainly features on bands and upcoming shows and stuff. Some reviews of shows and albums, but no bad reviews. Athens has a cool enough music scene that it's citizens deserve at least one printed paper that is strictly devoted to music. But the Flagpole is still a great publication. Tacos are delicious.

  4. Start a record label called...well, you know what I'd call it by now. Make records with good local bands using local studios and then proceed to promote and sell the hell out of it in my own store. Your band's success is my success!

  5. Make movies. Arthouse films scored by local musicians. Documentaries on bands and the scene and stuff. Random music videos. Maybe even a video magazine that you could subscribe to and get a new short film or collection of music videos every month. Guess what I'd call this video magazine?

  6. Of course, I would continue to create my own music.

Sounds good, right? I'm a little bit of an idealist and a daydreamer, but I like talking about it. So back off. Just kidding. Any rich, bored people out there don't try to steal my idea please because now it is published and documented as my idea on November 11, 2008. I'll just sue you, take your money and then use it to fund my scheme. But if you are rich, bored and reading this feel free to become my benefactor and donate for a good cause. Support the arts. I am seriously thinking about a grant proposal that might help me do this. Not kidding.

In the meantime we'll just talk about some records and other random unimportant stuff. You know, dog fart films and my iPod.

I know that we aren't kicking up too much dust yet, but I hope this long-winded self-absorbed post gives you an idea of where the three of us are coming from. Thanks for reading.

4 comments:

John said...

i like the ideas, and it sounds fun. Work on getting Rebel Forces trademarked.(if you can).

JJ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JJ said...

In due time, bro. In due time. One day this male prostitution thing I'm working on is really going to take off (thanks Man Whore Academy!!!), and when it does, you'll have your benefactor.

Mike said...

Thanks Radeckal. You're the man sir and I like the Gavel and Tone page you got going there. I'm gonna need some legal representation after I get all of this rolling...

Thanks broham. Got my fingers crossed in hopes that the man whore training pays off!

In retrospect, this post is kind of ridiculous.