An open letter to Raine (and the gang) concerning Jared Paul

[Gadmo]

An open letter to Raine (and the gang) concerning Jared Paul and Irving Plaza: July 31, 2012

Dear Raine (and the rest of the band),
I'd like to take this opportunity to discuss the Jared Paul incident at Irving Plaza outside of the confines of 140 characters.

First, my credentials: I've been an OLP fan since I first accidentally saw you guys live in April of 1995. You were opening for the Ramones in Port Chester, NY. You blew the doors off the place and made an instant fan out of me. In the intervening years, I've seen you play around 15 times or so. I was a member of the first OLP fan site, Transparent Humans, and even won tickets to your NYC Clumsy release party, held at the Elbow Room. I started writing reviews of the shows I've seen for the now defunct ourladypeace.cc site after the HIPT shows at the Bowery Ballroom. The reviews were glowing, but the shows were fraught with technical problems, rendering them subpar. I felt like the reviews that were posted lacked credibility by failing to address this and wanted to write an honest review. Since then, I've done just that. I'm not shy about saying if a show isn't the greatest, but I love writing a review that's glowing (of course, only if that is my honest opinion.)

As for yesterday, well, as you said on twitter, the show was interesting (to say the least.) I don't believe that the negative reaction to Jared Paul was contextual, in that I don't believe it was necessarily his message that elicited boos and jeers. Although, there were both cops and service-people in the audience who may have (and possibly justifiably) taken offense to Mr. Paul, I think Rob S on twitter ‏(@RFC44) hit the nail on the head when he said, "I think the timing of the poetry last night was more of an issue than its message. Crowd was geared up and got antsy." This is exactly right. This was a crowd who had been excited to see you guys play and were under the impression that after the opening band did their thing, you guys were up. Jared Paul was an interruption, and a long one at that. While fifteen minutes doesn't seem so long over the course of a day, it is a huge chunk of time relative to an hour and a half set. On top of that, when Mr. Paul finished his first poem, people were expecting him to say thank you and get off stage, instead, he prolonged the wait to see you. The boos didn't really start until a few minutes into that second poem (there were a few scattered boos before that, but certainly nothing overwhelming.) Mr. Paul only started feeling the wrath of the crowd when he overstayed his welcome (the welcome of the crowd, not the band).

There is no doubt that there's been a bit of an uproar since the show last night, and it's understandable, but I think you're missing the point to say that everyone has a right to speak their mind and express their opinion. Of course they do, but I don't believe that the majority of the crowd was reacting to Mr. Paul's rhetoric, so much as they were reacting to his delaying the start of the show they came to see. I believe that simply putting him on the bill, announced, with a set time, would have totally changed the reaction from the crowd. Instead, he was a surprise, and the crowd grew impatient. It happens.

I also think it was a mistake to chastise the crowd for being disrespectful (which was done during your re-introduction of Mr. Paul during the encore.) By the way, if you noticed, the crowd's reaction to him during the encore was totally fine, which is also indicative of the fact that is was not the message that drew the reaction. Boos are not inherently disrespectful, (although, they often are.) Sometimes, they are simply the crowd communicating to the performer in the only effective way they can. I remember you saying at a show some years ago how touched you were to hear your lyrics sang back to you. That's the same thing as last night, just the other side of that spectrum.

I'd like to wrap up by saying that of course politics have a place at rock shows (U2 is politcal and they sell out 60,000 seat stadiums), but last night, the performance of Jared Paul was simply mishandled. Given a different setup, I believe the reaction would have been different (although some people may still have gotten offended, but that's their problem, not yours).

You guys still played a hell of a show. It really was fantastic. Like I said, I've been a hardcore fan for 17 years, and will continue to be for as long as you guys keep doing what you do. I guess what I'm trying to say is, sometimes, listen to your audience, even when you disagree with what they're saying. They deserve to be heard, even when they're negative. Just because they're negative, doesn't mean they're wrong or that their opinion should be dismissed. Just as Mr. Paul deserves to be heard. One thing the crowd and Mr. Paul did agree on was a mutual love of you guys. Keep up the great work and I look forward to the next time you're back in NY.

Love,
Gadmo

PS - The guy in the crowd toward the end of the show didn't call you a dreamer. He requested Dreamland. (But I think you knew that.)
PPS - I'm still bitter that we didn't get the Clumsy/Spiritual Machines shows down here. Oh well.

[auolp]

While I agree with the general premise of what Gadmo is saying...I think the message was at least part of the problem. Life is hard and one of the main reasons we enjoy music so much is because it allows us to escape everyday life and enjoy ourselves. Personally, I don't want to hear about politics/wars/social issues at a show...I just want to enjoy my favorite band playing my favorite music.

Now, I am not advocating that awareness and activism are a bad thing or that music and art shouldn't portray a powerful message. Nor am I saying that using your platform to stand up for what you believe in is a bad thing. However, I just think it needs to be done in the proper context and perhaps in a less "in your face" manner. I think that is one of the great things about OLP...many lyrics are open for personal interpretation. People of all shapes, sizes, ages, and beliefs come to OLP shows and many of them are just looking to forget about all the BS going on in the world for 2 hours.

[MattCTUSA]

Thanks for the post Gadmo. That Port Chester Ramones show was my first way back when, too..and was also fortunate to have been inside the elbow Room, not too far from Joey Ramone! I really miss living on the East coast at times. Great to see another old timer still around!

Peace,
Matt