Musicmythought

It is true about the “everything is possible” Internet problem. And the ability to zap so quickly between selections (in small poor quality YouTube style windows) creates a terribly short attention span. It can never replicate the feeling of gathering with friends (which was always an important part about watching the old television video programs) on a given night, to enjoy, or make fun of, the new crop of videos. The format problem though probably can’t shift back to television, unless teenagers still gather to watch shows together in front of the television. It would also somehow have to adapt to the addictive model (stayed tuned until next week) that HBO (or “Grey’s Anatomy”,”Lost” and “24”) had the ability to revive from the classic model of network television (at least in the USA). Though even now DVD technology, TiVo and On-Demand are giving that special niche a glimpse of obsolescence…. There has to be a quality to this new type of programming that can not be replicated (and therefore defeated) by the Internet. Not to mention that there is a big disconnect in the videos now created. Watching a grey haired J. Mascis ride a skateboard through a mediocre song or Sonic Youth attempt low-fi HD videos of girl terrorists at NYC rooftop parties is terribly antiquated and depressing. Although yet another forest and troll video is really not needed either, right (when Kanye West makes one too, the shark has been jumped)? The road forward is a bit grim at the moment for the music video and death might be soon calling.

That is unless perhaps a new format can revive the near dead; this might have to take place in a completely new arena. Could there be a film festival solely for music videos? One that travels town to town on a train, the way Willie Nelson always wanted to tour (just slide open the freight door for a few hours, play a few tracks and then head to the next town). Or could there be (sacrilege) something of a music festival meets biennale? Doug Aitken could be in the first exhibition with his conceptual and poignant LCD Soundsystem video (When Someone Great is Gone), or even perhaps even Stan Douglas (with his inspirational deconstruction of an older music video model, the 1992 “Hors-Champs”). Long form films/videos could also take part: Charles de Meaux’s “Marfa Mystery Lights, A Concert For The UFO’s” or Tacita Dean’s recent collaboration with Merce Cunningham (via John Cage). Maybe even one day MOMA would have black box rooms devoted to “Windowlicker” and “Come to Daddy”; and group show collaborations between artists and musicians. Is the hybrid form not almost there already?