The curse of the mainstream

The elitists among us ask themselves this question all the time: can I still like something that has left the underground scene and entered the mainstream or does this mean I am part of the pleb? Given that we don't like elitists, and we are not part of *that* group and we shouldn't care for their feelings and provided that the question is indeed interesting the maybe we can put it differently.

Underground things are interesting by definition for various reasons: they are "hidden gems", unappreciated by large members of the public who is most of times simplistic and looks for more banal things. The few, educated, charismatic, interesting, intellectual, artistic people from the public that really do want to find the the pulsating, new, modern interesting things look for them in the underground, where art is really happening.

There are some rare moments that an artist that is part of the hardcore underground enters the mainstream gloriously and is unconditionally embraced by the public. The question then is: how long can this ex-underground, edgy artist or whatever keep his/her edge? How long can coolness survive outside the underground and on to the mainstream?

Reading a review of Antony & the Johnsons' new album in the Observer I read the following poignant line: "(...) this might have put him in a tricky position as regards the follow-up, with the risk or either lurching too far towards the mainstream and diminishing his impact, or retreating to his more theatrical roots and potential self-indulgence." Antony's example is, I think, interesting because he came from the underground, from the weird Americana scene or whatever it's called, with his first album having him on the cover as an androgynous buddha and then was so embraced by the mainstream with his second album, wining a Mercury prize, collaborating with the priestess of successful underground-to-mainstream transition Björk and in general being universally acknowledged. Ok, he is not Britney Spears but the guy is mainstream now, much to my disappointment (because I am an elitist at heart), the guy fills the Barbican. So the question is *can* Antony and Björk and Massive Attack and whoever else is ex-underground but still not pop, can they be part of the mainstream and still be artistically important?

In Kundera an important writer ever if everyone has read the unbearable lightness of being (now a successful motion picture) or does a diamond only shine when it is in the rough, in the mud when no-one knows it? I am afraid the question is not merely one of elitism, because as my cousin put it, the system fucks you up when you enter it. The system, the entertainment industry or whatever, does not know how to market successfully the underground. It has to glitter it up, making it lose its character.

Don't get me wrong, I am still looking forward to Antony's new CD and I am sorry I'll miss his live here in Belfast. I just can't help but think that his record might have been better if there were no expectations from it (the follow-up to his Mercury prize won 'I am a bird now'). Then again, I might be wrong and mainstream-ness might be translated only to confidence.

Only time - and elitist listeners - will tell.

Brett forever (the past)

I haven't written for over a month and I had so many ideas: I wanted to write about Medea (Dimitris Papaioannou masterpiece) Australia (Baz Luhrman's epic melodrama), my time in Greece, Friends and awesome one-liners between Joey and Chandler and so much more but I didn't. Why? Because I decided to write about Brett Anderson, the love of my life, the best male singer in the universe, the inspiration of my teenage years and his new song: Back to you. Funnily enough, this is not even his song, the obscure Norwegian (!) band Pleasure wrote it. But Brett's voice, oh what a voice, makes me feel 16 again, like when I was first infatuated with Suede.

I got into Suede by a lousy translation of 'She's not dead' in Greek "Elle", can you believe that? I read the lyrics and felt something and went off and bought their first CD, Suede. The one with the two people kissing and with Animal Nitrate in it. I fell it love with Brett's songs, his lyrics, his voice and his photo in the booklet. I used to look at it for hours and dream how it would be if I met him. 5 million years later, and I've never even seen Suede or him live, what a bloody shame. But perhaps I'm saving it you know, I'm saving it for a special time in my life when I'll be desperately needing some inspiration, that's when I'll see him. He even came to Athens and I wasn't there.

But it doesn't matter, this means I will always have something to look forward to in life. Other people are looking forward to their weddings, a special trip, buying a house, I'm looking forward to seeing Brett live. He doesn't look as dazzling as when I first saw his picture when I was 16, when he was wearing lace and was oozing androgynous sensuality, now he looks broken, an ex drug-addict with a life story. But I like him more now. Or perhaps I would like him whatever he looked like.

So, Brett, "back to you" indeed.

I love you, baby

I know this is an extremely tacky post. I also know I don't care.
Who's the best player in the world? Cristiano, Cristiano, Cristiano (forever). And why is that? Because we share the same birthday, ah, ah! Only a different year, of course.
Cristiano Ronaldo - amor, I love you. Although I don't think you're very good looking, and you're certainly not classy like Figo. But you kick the ball and you kick ass, that's for sure.
What happens when you come from a country that has got nothing to show for but a couple of football players? You really like said football players.

FREE THE SHMINISTIM – ISRAEL'S YOUNG CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS. The Shministim are Israeli high school students who have been imprisoned for refusing to serve in an army that occupies the Palestinian Territories. December 18 marks the launch date of a global campaign to release them from jail.

http://december18th.org/

Before the end

Just before the end of the year, I'm trying to lay my thoughts in order.

A lot has been said and written after the murder of a 15-year old in Greece from the police 10 days ago.
This sparkled a unique row of events that involved extensive rioting in Athens and other major Greek cities.

These riots have probably been the worst that Greece has seen in the last 30 years - perhaps since 1974, when the junda was overturned by protests in the Polytechneion in Athens, a night that led to numerous dead people and years of persecution of the students. Because of these current riots there has been an impressive shift in the discussion among Greeks, from the topic of police brutality, unlawful killing and impressive lack of punishment to the riots themselves and the over the top destruction of numerous properties by 'anarchist' groups. Essentially what people are saying is that yes, police did bad for killing this boy but why did all of these awful young people have to go round destroying people's properties?

What people are not discussing is why these people went out, put on balaclavas and started burning down things.
What people are not discussing is where do all of these young people came from.
What people are not discussing is where did all this repressed anger and frustration came from.

Dismissing the riots as acts of 50 'anarchists' misses the point entirely.
Something that is unfortunately not a new practice of the Greek society.
The foreign press can put things into perspective, Greece cannot.

In my country

... cops kill 15 year old students.

This is a warning to whoever wants to come and visit Greece: don't! A cop might kill you too. Especially if you are a 15 year old child, with longish hair and defies authority. You don't need to hold a gun yourself so that the cop might feel threatened: you just need to not adequately respect his authority.

Bitter jokes aside, this is a disgrace. I feel extremely angered and ashamed. I cannot write a coherent post at the moment. For more information read here., here and here (for Greek speakers).

New/Old life

I often wonder whether I am truly the same person I was 10 years ago. My life then was different, the music I liked was different, my feelings were different. I was more pretentious, I thought people should listen to a specific kind of music and they would be cool just because of that. Then I grew up and to my horror I realized that there exist people with excellent music taste who are crap. So I had to reconsider.

One of the few things that have remained constant in my life is some of the music I like. Although I don't listen to some things with the determination that I used to, memorizing lyrics and thinking of them for hours on end, there are still some bands and albums that I listen to with exactly the same adoration. Radiohead's OK Computer is one them, Portishead's live in NYC, Suede's Dog man star and Sci-fi lullabies are some others.

There is also a Greek band that made its mark on me, Stereo Nova. I remember seeing them live in a small club in my hometown, and being entirely mesmerized. Then I bought their CD, Ασύρματος Κόσμος, and learned all their lyrics by heart. They have split for many years now and there was talk about them having split bitterly. But in two days they will play again, for one special time. I am extremely gutted that I won't manage to go, not least because my amazing cousin will be opening the show. Aparently, people are hiring buses from Germany for this show... It would have been amazing for me to go. It would have been a trip to the past, a trip to my past. I could wear my clothes from 1998 and pretend that not a day has passed from then. But I can't do that. I have to stay here and remind myself that I am not the same person I was 10 years ago. And that hurts most of time. Apart from the times that it doesn't.