It's That Crazy Christmas Time of Year

Well, it's that time of year again; Thanksgiving has passed and it's the Christmas season, officially.

I say "officially", because we all know that the Christmas "season" comes around earlier and earlier every year; usually once Halloween is over. This year though, not only did the Christmas season start at the beginning of November, so did all the controversy over the holiday.

By now, I doubt there are many people who haven't heard about the 2015  red Starbuck's cups.

Every year during the Christmas season, Starbucks serves their hot beverages in special holiday cups.  In the past, the cups have featured ornaments, snowmen, etc. for the holidays.

This year however, the company decided to go with a plain red cup.  The next thing you know, there's a media frenzy about how Starbucks is against Christmas, and Jesus, you name it.

What a lot of people don't know is, this probably wouldn't have been such a big deal, had it not been for one man,  Josh, Feurstein. Feurstein is a self proclaimed disciple of Jesus, and he's the person who declared that Starbucks was anti-Christmas.

Funny thing is, when I saw the red cup, *my* first thought was, "ah, more corporate greed; less printing on the cups saves money for Starbucks, and makes them more profits".

Back to what was happening in the public eye though.  People everywhere were buying into the idea that Starbucks was anti-Christmas. There were those who boycotted the franchise because of the cups, as well as those who thought it was okay that the company took a somewhat "neutral" approach to the season.

In between all the yays and nays were those, (myself included), who just didn't care one way or the other about the color and design, or the lack of one.  It's a cup, you use it, it gets thrown away.
 
To me, that was the bigger concern. Even with recycling and all, it's still a cup that gets tossed after one use.  And though some are recycled, most just get thrown into trash cans at home or work, or on a street corner, to be added to landfills.

 Others took a humorous approach to the cup controversy.  Weird Al posted a pic of a Starbucks cup in a sleeve with a sticker added, suggesting the paganism of Starbucks.

 To me, it was funny, because, though Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, it *is* attached to a pagan holiday.  That's a whole other story though, so we'll skip that for now.

 One of the DJ's, Chunky, from "Chunky Mckinzie & Jake" on The Bull in Portland, Oregon made a great point about the Starbucks cup situation.

Chunky is Jewish, and posed the question of why doesn't Starbucks have blue cups for Hanukkah?  He was being lighthearted about the whole thing of course, but again, in my opinion, he did make a great point about how people aren't getting all up in arms about not having Hanukkah cups and other items in honor of their holiday; why are Christians making such a big deal over a cup?

By now you're probably wondering why I've brought all this up again, since it seems to have finally calmed down and gone away.  Truth is, I wouldn't have brought it up at all, except it kind of helps set things up for why I'm writing this post now.

It seems now that there's no longer a huge issue about Starbucks red cups, the focus has turned to Reese's Peanut Butter Cups; specifically their tree shaped offering for the holidays.

Yes, you read that last paragraph correctly.  People are all bent out of shape because it seems this year's Reese's peanut butter trees are more blobs than trees.

Okay, I get it, people buy these specifically because they're tree shaped, for the holidays.  But really, is someone's entire holiday going to be ruined because a piece of candy isn't tree shaped?

My warped sense of humor kicked in when I saw this latest uproar in the media.  I looked at the pic of the tree blob and thought, "hmmm...Reese's Easter Egg candy must not have sold well, they're repackaging them for Christmas".  It makes sense to me anyway:  Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Christ, and Easter is to celebrate his rising; the two holidays are connected in that way at least.

As with the Starbucks cups though, I really don't care about this latest issue with Reese's Peanut Butter Trees.  It's a peanut butter cup that's been shaped into a tree.  The two items taste the same, the candy company just makes an extra profit by charging more for the special shape.

 It's going to be fun to sit back and watch though, to see if this latest controversy will have the longevity the Starbucks one had. 

Concerts + Crowds = Chaos

I've been going to concerts for as long as I can remember. I'd also estimate that at least 50% to 75% of those concerts over the past half century have been general admission seating.

For those who may not know what general admission seating is, it's where everyone pays the same price for a ticket to a concert, regardless of whether they're in the front or back of the concert venue.

I remember in the late 70's large venues held concerts that featured "festival seating".  In other words, it was general admission, with everyone scrambling for a seat when the doors opened.

There were often injuries that resulted from this; and in 1979, at a Cincinnati, Ohio Who concert, eleven people were killed in a stampede for seats.

Despite this tragedy, to me at least, it always seemed once the rush for seats was over, the crowds at any given concert were fairly decent and friendly.

Then again, maybe it was the types of concerts I went to back then.

I was more into oldies, pop and country rock at the time.  Probably the most "hard core" rock act I'd seen by then was when Aerosmith opened for Three Dog Night in 1974.

By the 1980's, there were some rock acts that were known for having rough crowds at their shows.  Most of those artists and bands though actually catered to that type of audience, so it was almost expected that things would get crazy at concerts.  In fact, I went to college with a guy at the time that spent his weekends at various local hangouts.  If he didn't have at least one bruise or cut by the time he was back in class Monday, he considered it a bad weekend for fun!

By the 1990's, my concert going was at it's peak.  There was always some artist or band, new or old, that I just had to see. 

This is when I circled back to listening to country music more, while still enjoying the other music I'd grown up with.  It's also the time I started noticing a shift in how concert crowds were behaving.

The rough, rowdy crowds that had once seemed confined to the punk scene, had started spilling over into the more mainstream rock and pop world.

A perfect example was when Weird Al Yankovic performed at the Clark County Fair, in Ridgefield, Washington.

The shows were free then, with fair admission.  My son, Josh, was approximately 6 years old at the time, and a huge fan of Weird Al.

I took him to the afternoon show, and got him right up to the stage; unfortunately, we didn't stay for the show.

Before the concert even began, several audience members began throwing things, ripping up stuffed animals, and generally caused a riot.  It actually got dangerous enough that we left.


Despite this incident though, most of my concert going was uneventful, as far as the behavior of the crowds was concerned.

Fast forward to about the past 5 years or so; around the time country music really started to be more pop/rock oriented.  With this new trend, it seemed country concert goers were also picking up the habits of rock audiences from years past.

At first I didn't really notice it where I live in the Pacific Northwest.  Yes, there were always those few in the crowd who would get drunk and rowdy, but were still considered harmless.

My first real glimpse of a rough country music concert crowd was in Fargo, North Dakota.  I would never have expected a concert featuring Julie Roberts, Chris Young and Emerson Drive to draw the type of crowd I encountered.  These people made the crowd at Weird Al look tame!  Poor Julie Roberts was just trying to get through her set, when someone in the middle of the crowd threw a gallon size drink container at her, almost hitting her in the face. 

The same crowd pushed, shoved and elbowed people in front of them, trying to make it to the front of the stage.  At one point, during Emerson Drive's set, security actually had to stop the show, until order was restored.

At the time, I just chalked the crowd's behavior up to being a "North Dakota" thing, (for lack of a better phrase).  Though there had been an incident or two at country concerts in my home territory, they were nothing like in North Dakota.  Then came the year the Bull, (KUPL at the time), reintroduced Countryfest.

  

Unlike the Countryfests of the past, this one was held in the "Ro-Zone" during Rose Festival in Portland, Oregon.  The show was general admission, and like usual, concert goers began lining up in the morning for the afternoon/evening show. 

The difference with that crowd was, trouble started brewing before the gates were even open.  There were those farther back in the line who felt it wasn't fair that they weren't in line first.  Several were plotting how they could rush the ones in the front, to get past them and gain a better vantage point; and they very loudly let this fact be known to anyone within earshot.

Meanwhile, there were others who, despite a no smoking rule, lit up while in line, complained about others not liking it, and any number of things they felt should be different so they would be happy. Then the gates opened and the real  "fun" began.

I'm not opposed to people drinking; if it makes their concert going experience better, so be it.  However, when these peoples' behavior impairs the enjoyment of those around them, it's a problem.  Long story short on this incident; all chaos broke lose, and there were some really mean, nasty, rude people there, who didn't care about anything other than that *they* had a good time. 

Even after that incident though, I still felt like country concert goers were the best of any other genre; until recently.  More and more frequently I find myself not having as good a time as I used to at concerts.  It isn't due to the shows not being good;  90% of the time it's because of an unruly, rude crowd.

 I really feel that there's a direct correlation between country concert goers now, and the turn towards pop/rock that country music has taken.   The way I see it,  with the change in country music, it's attracting listeners who used to listen to other genres; genres where crowds can be a bit rougher at live performances.

At first I thought maybe it's just because I'm getting older; maybe I'm becoming less tolerant.  I really can't compare how I'm feeling with most of my fellow concert goers, since we're all pretty much in the same age bracket, give or take a few years.

My age is also what held me back from writing this post sooner.  I didn't want someone reading it, and thinking exactly that; that it's just the rambling complaints of an old lady. 

I emailed Jake Byron from 98.7 The Bull with my concerns, telling him how I felt, and what I wanted to say.

While Jake said that there will always be those who will see my post as one from a cranky old lady, my feelings, and those of my fellow older concert buddies are valid.  He then validated my feelings more by letting me know that *he* feels the same way I and my friends do. 

Jake is only in his 30's, (the average age of current country music listeners), and doesn't like the rough trend that's entering the country genre. That was good enough for me; it was time to write my blog post, which you've just read.

 It's not that I don't understand wanting to have fun; I totally get that.  I also understand that an artist feeds off the vibe of the crowd.  The more worked up the crowd, the more energized the performer.  I just wish it could be both ways.  I know it's possible, it's been done before.