As one savvy 12-year-old put it, [it] was a "cool concept but kind of a bad concert."
reading yesterday's article about Camplified was interesting for a couple reasons. first off it proved that there are no longer any safe havens where children can be guarded against the unholy hand of marketing. to wit:
The artists give live concerts, hold autograph sessions and sometimes participate in activities with the campers, all part of carefully orchestrated marketing campaigns to break through as the next Britney Spears or Backstreet Boy, or even Fefe Dobson, who was just on MTV's "Total Request Live" but only last year was headlining the Camplified show.
(bonus tidbit - one the bands featured, Huckapoo, has members named PJ Bardot, Angel Sparks and Twiggy Stardom who are apparently not pornstars.)
it also reminded me of the time about 9 years ago when Silver Spring's legendary Mitten (not associated with whatever this is) was invited to play a show at a day camp. there was no hidden agenda behind the show, no attempt to prime the markets for an upcoming album or tour, it was simply something fun to do. but not for me. no amount of convincing could get me to go along with the plan, a plan i saw as ridiculous. was it really more ridiculous than playing a church basement? a library? at a terrible suburban "Battle of the Bands"? on the Mall without a stage? to an empty room in Wildwood, NJ? probably not, but i stood my ground and the show went on without me.
this is turn set me to thinking about the possibility selling my electric guitar and amp, both of which have been in mothballs for months. i have access to an acoustic, which would be more likely to be played regularly, and the proceeds would go a long way towards upgrading the t.s.o.a. home computer which is desperately slow and precludes all but the simplest of word processing or e-mailing. but is there anything lamer than cashing in the instruments of youthful abandon and independence for a computer that will probably simply serve my fantasy sports addiction and allow me to post here (yipes) whenever i want?