WW HOME WWIRE NEWS CULTURE MUSIC FOOD SCREEN WW PRESENTS CLASSIFIEDS MATCHMAKER
Local Cut Home Portland's Music Journalwweek.com Home
Calendar     Clublist
Paper cuts     Tonights Shows     Archives
« LC PODCASTS: Portland Lounge Series XIX with Blind Pilot and the Chicharones
Photo Review: Glass Candy at the Roseland, May 23, 2008 »
 

UPDATED 6/1 (Rotten Egg: Burning Bridges in Bridgetown)

May 30th, 2008 [6:23PM] Posted by: CASEY JARMAN | 43 COMMENTS

easter egg3a6730682a5Update 6/1: A letter from Easter Egg:

Dear city of Portland,

Let me first start by saying that Portland is a great city. We are lucky enough to live in a town with so many great people, so many great scenes, and something fun to do every single day and night. I am very proud to say that I have been born and raised in SE Portland my entire life. I couldn’t ask for a better community. We have one of the most diverse and bangin’ music scenes around, and for me to bash on anyone in the local music community was wrong, me bashing on the fans of local music was wrong, and me bashing on certain people personally was most wrong. There is nothing I can say that can justify my actions, and I know I took everything too far. I am obviously humiliated by it all, and I want everyone to know that I never meant for all of this to happen. I have learned the power of my words, and have learned to think twice before saying negative things towards anyone or anything that doesn’t deserve so. I regret everything, and if I could change it, I would.

Honestly, my main reasons for not wanting to perform at this show was because I was afraid to fail, but with the way I handled things, I still failed. I failed more than I possibly could have at the Crystal Ballroom. I failed more than if everyone were to boo me off the stage or if everyone had left the dance floor. There couldn’t have been a worse way for me to handle things, especially since these people were trying to help me out. I sincerely appreciate everyone that has ever helped me out, and I need t o find better ways to show it.

This experience has taught me many things. I’ve learned that I am not invisible. Anyone that I can harm, they can harm me right back. I’ve learned that my words can ruin everything for me, and that I need to be more positive with the things that I say. I’ve learned to appreciate any and all help that anyone wants to give me. The city is full of talent, and for someone to think that I stand out, is amazing. I am truly honored and thankful for anyone that sees any sort of potential in me, and especially for anyone to go as far as to try and build upon my potential. I hope that the city of Portland gives me a second chance, I don’t want to be the bad guy.

I’m not glad that this situation happened, but I know for a fact that it will help me become a better artist, and most importantly, a better person.

Thank you Portland, for taking the time to read this and hopefully reconsider any negative thoughts you have of me.

For my part I’d just like to say that I think that’s really big hearted stuff for Nathan to say, and I think everyone involved or otherwise affected by this whole thing should take it to heart and take it at face value. I’m convinced that this is a sincere apology and not something meant to save face.

Also, there are excerpts from my own rant that probably did more to stoke the fire than they did to help things. With hindsight I wish I would have phrased some of it differently and kept my emotions completely out of the equation. So for that, I feel like I owe Nathan and the LocalCut readership an apology as well. My apologies. Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging…

-Casey

The older, uglier, stuff:

I call myself “editor” of LocalCut because I like the attention and occasional hate mail that the title brings, but today I’m going to write my first and maybe only official online “editorial.” So let me extra-stress that the following is not the opinion of LocalCut or the Willamette Week staff or anyone else. It’s all me, and it’s in open letter form.

Dear Easter Egg,
In this week’s WW, I ran a Q&A with Galia Slayen, the young woman behind the Music in the Schools benefit at the Crystal Ballroom. Slayen has put together a pretty amazing cross-section of Portland pop, electronic music and hip-hop in an attempt to raise cash to help Portland-area schools re-introduce music classes in their curriculum. She even roped in Seattle’s Blue Scholars, no small feat for a 17-year-old. And in the months she’s been putting the show together, Slayen would occasionally contact me to see whether I thought certain additions to the bill were a good or bad idea. My response, across the board, was that I knew nothing about booking shows and was generally the wrong person to ask. True story.

But when a previous host fell through and Slayen asked whether I thought Easter Egg seemed like a good artist to host the event and spin (I know you don’t actually “spin,” but whatever) between bands, I thought it sounded perfect: A young rising Portland remix/mashup star playing to a really stoked young audience. And you’re not too far removed from high school yourself, I thought maybe you’d know as well as anyone how dire the state of school arts programs are. So I told her that you were someone members of the local music community were all pretty excited about.

Slayen didn’t mention you again until today, when she asked my advice. Easter Egg was being incredibly difficult, asking about cash though he was repeatedly told that the event was a benefit show without much of a budget, saying he didn’t want to play in connection with the night’s hip-hop acts, and some other pretty lame things. She said you had agreed to the show but kept talking shit on it. Talking shit on a benefit show. That’s cold. Then you sent out this MySpace bulletin to your 1,300 friends:

I think I’m doing that YACHT/Blue Scholars show tomorrow.

Body: I don’t really want to, but I think they need me to be the guy who “keeps people from getting bored in between bands.”

I haven’t verified this yet though, I said I had to think about it, but I might as well do it just to get my name out. I think I’d be reaching the wrong crowd though.”

First off: You’re way too young and inexperienced to be talking about “the wrong crowd.” You should be humbled and honored to have any crowd, let alone be asked to play the Crystal Ballroom as your third show ever. You should be focused on making good music, not worrying about your fucking demographic. And if you “don’t really want to” play for what could well be a thousand people—most of them young people who are supporting a good cause—who do you want to play to? You should have had the grace to just say no to the show if it was something that didn’t fit your image.

Strike one, strike two, I should count you putting “Crystal Ballroom w/ YACHT, Blue Scholars, and some other hipster bullshit” on your calendar as strike three but you know, I was 21 once and probably thought I deserved a lot more attention than I really did, too. I probably felt pretty entitled enough to say dumb stuff in a public forum without really thinking. Slayen asked me what I thought she should do, already pretty sure she was going to cut you from the show. I gave my usual blanket response: I’m not good at this kind of thing, but if someone said they “didn’t really want to” play the show, she probably shouldn’t put them through the horrible trauma of it all. And she did. It was the only thing she could have done. If you’re a NBA GM, you don’t draft a basketball player that says your city smells like shit. Nothing good can come of that. You already expressed your disinterest in the other performers, the organizers and the audience. Then, again missing an opportunity to show some humility or grace, you posted this:

I got canned from the YACHT/Blue Scholars show.
Body: Apparently they don’t “appreciate” what I said about the show, and don’t “appreciate” that I’m “bashing the cause.”

I never “bashed the cause” (the cause being some fundraiser or something) but I did bash the fact that they needed me to play a 15 minute set here and there between some suck acts that I don’t care about. They could just pop a Radiohead CD on during the band’s transition times, I don’t see why they’d need me there. I don’t think they know what kind of shows I regularly do.

Easter Egg is all about:

Bros that I normally wouldn’t wanna kick it with but for some reason they dig my shit

Hipsters that I normally wouldn’t kick it with but for some reason they dig my shit

Getting really drunk and dancing around the place

Making sure everyone else would get really drunk and dance around the place

Not being background music but rather being in charge of what people are dancing to for the night

So whoever was in charge of this show (I think it was a bunch of high school hipsters that really got into “indie music” after Garden State reached it’s peak but eventually pulled out of that to listen to Justice and M.I.A. and started rockin’ neon clothing) I send a big FUCK YOU.

No offense to the acts that are playing this show though. I sorta like Typhoon.

<3fuck ya'll

Were you “really fucking drunk” when you wrote this?

Nononono, see Easter Egg is about shitting on hard-working local bands and artists that it’s pretty clear you never even bothered to listen to (”no offense”? are you serious? you called them “suck acts” and “hipster bullshit”!). If you have any love for hip-hop, which I would have assumed a kid who mashes Three 6 Mafia and Jigga might (though I’m a bit more skeptical now), why would you wouldn’t bash young local hip-hop groups before ever talking to them or listening to them. And if you have any desire to ever share a bill with Bobby Birdman (via the magic of the internet, I can see you are a big fan), you might consider not calling his boy Yacht a “suck act.”

But this goes beyond the obvious bridge burning you’re doing with artists and promoters (heard a couple other stories about you today, too, and they weren’t friendly). This all comes back around to the kind of music community Portland is.

It’s a tight-knit city. If you bitch and wine and act unappreciative to one promoter who was nice enough to let you on a bill, or call a club the “worst venue ever” (again, magic of the internet), word will get around that maybe you’re not the easiest guy to deal with. And folks will (rightly) just stop dealing with you.

More importantly, it’s about the love. Whatever hype exists about Portland as the “scene of tomorrow,” people playing music here today aren’t genuinely trying to become the next big thing. They play music because they love being around the other great musicians this city has to offer, and because they love the city. Period. Sometimes no one shows up to your show. You don’t complain and find someone to blame about it, you buck up and take your licks and keep making the best music you can so that next time will be different. You meet a lot of great people who love their jobs, love their bands, love the nightlife and together you all make the best of it. Or you stay in your basement and keep perfecting your craft.

No one owes you anything. And in a town like Portland—where great artists are a dime a dozen and many deserving artists have a difficult time ever making a dime—no one is going to give you anything. Your character is as important as any mixtape you put together if you intend on finding any sort of audience here. I truly believe that. If this city was made up of musicians with as little character as you have shown—with the lack of respect that you have shown for those who have tried to help you out as a young artist—I would hang up my hat in a second.

You owe every artist on that bill, not to mention Galia Slayen and the promoters/artists who have tried to help you out (in Slayen’s case, she months of work for absolutely no pay and a lot of lip from an entitled kid she’ll never listen to again) a big apology. I don’t know what happened to you that gave you this chip on your shoulder, or what makes you think you can talk to other artists and promoters the way you have, but I’m proud to say that I live in a city that won’t put up with it. Move to L.A. or stay at home on your computer if you want to be a dick. If you want to perform in Portland, though, you best figure out that you can’t treat people like shit.

Yours,
Casey Jarman

Before posting this, I asked for Easter Egg’s Response. Here it is:

Although you’re coming off as a dick without hearing my side of the story, I’ll still respond.

Of course everyone is going to take Galia’s side. She’s a young chick who is gathering lots of big times acts and yada yada yada that’s cool, I couldn’t personally do it myself, but that’s neither here nor there. Anyways, yeah, it’s easy to take her side and make me seem like the dick that no one wants to work with, but here’s what I have to say.

I never straight up told her that I wasn’t cool with the show. I never bashed the cause at all, or any of the artists in general. I told her straight up that I wasn’t comfortable with doing the show due to the fact that I honestly don’t think I’d be reaching the right crowd, and that I’m not used to being some sort of “background music” guy. Not to build myself up or anything, but I’m used to being the guy who rocks the dance party all night, not the guy who keeps people from getting bored in between sets. Money isn’t even an issue to me, I’ve been payed only twice for all the shows I’ve done. Hell, I’ve even played a high school dance because I knew the kids wanted to see me. I’m not about money, I did an interview yesterday with a dude from Seattle sound magazine and talked to Leigh (HR Paperstacks) on the phone today, and they both asked why I don’t sell my music.

“You stand out over a lot of other kids who do this sort of thing right now, you could make a lot of money off your music.”

I never wanted to sell it because I never wanted to make this a career. I have a good day job and I’m honestly doing this for fun.
It’s weird to think that I do this live for people now, and that people all over the world hear my stuff, and that I get recognized
around Portland for this. So anyways, I got that out, money isn’t a thing, I just simply asked because I didn’t really want to do it but if they paid me, I’d consider it more.

It’s not too difficult that I’d want to turn down a show right? Or am I the only one in Portland to have ever turned down a show? I am pretty hard on myself and am very picky about which crowds I want to play for because I get very nervous. I almost turned down the official MIA after party at Branx last weekend because I thought the crowd would hate me. Turns out they didn’t, but I honestly don’t even want to bother with a crowd that I think wouldn’t enjoy me.

Sorry if I repeat myself (my memory is fucked so I probably will throughout my response) but if I would have gotten my own set to really show what I’m capable of, then I would have done the show without even hesitating, but to show up to be the guy to play a couple songs between sets seemed sort of lame to me. They might as well have played iTunes.

Also, I’m not bashing any of the acts, In all honesty, I’m not huge on any of them. I have Typhoon’s first album, and it’s not bad, but I’m not into hip hop from the Pacigic NW and I’m not huge into YACHT. I was told that I’m probably the only person in Portland that’s under the age of 30 not to like YACHT, but I don’t really give. Not that I hate the dude, but I just don’t listen ever.

“Word may get around that I’m not the easiest guy to deal with.” Not true. If it’s a show I’m excited to do, I’ll jump all over it and
won’t give any sort of hassle at all. I’ll easily take off time from work and do anything I can to make the show a success. I didn’t think I’d get so much drama for saying that I’m debating to do this show. I’ve actually turned down pay from a lot of people just because I wanted to let them know that I was flattered and honored that they even had me play in the first place.

I personally am not too concerned about playing for “huge crowds.” The first few shows I pkayed were house parties for friends and those were great. I’m still having fun playing club shows and such but I don’t have this crazy dream of going on tour and headlining huge shows. If a friend asks me to play their house show, I think that’s amazing. Right now, I’m not willing to take anything I can get. I’ve learned to be picky, and why? Because I’ve dealt with some horrible shows. Some horrible parties that I knew would suck anyways, but I played them for fun. By horrible, I mean a huge crowd of jocks complaining that I wasn’t playing enough mainstream hyphy shit for them, and that “no one could dance to what I was playing” even though half the room was.

I honestly don’t feel like I owe anyone an apology. My phone call with what’s her face today was quick and simple. She said she didn’t “appreciate me bashing the cause” and I said okay. I didn’t say anything rude to her or any of the acts. Portland is very diverse, and I understand that, but I’ve just grown picky to what I want to deal with. It does have a lot to do with being too hard on myself and insecure. I’m honestly scared to play for any crowd that doesn’t consist of my friends or people that I know for a fact will like me.

So go ahead and bash me in the paper, whatever gets your readers interested, I don’t really care. I gave my 2 cents and I know that you’re making a mountain out of a mole hill.

And two quick addendums from Easter Egg:

By the way, Crystal wouldn’t be my 3rd show ever. You’re getting your facts wrong. I have a lot more to say about this but I gotta hit the bed soon. I probably won’t bother though, go ahead and post whatever you have to say in localcut.

Any publicity is good publicity, right? I’m tired of getting good reviews, I’d like to see a bad one for once.

<3yours truly, east'r egg.

And lastly:

I also told that chick I was flattered that I came to mind. It is a big show, indeed, but sometimes, I just have to turn things down.

I did actually thank her, but, no apology is needed. I thought we were done after our phone call. I didn’t know that someone like you would take things to this level. Are you only bringing this up so you have something to talk about for your blog? Or because it actually does concern you? Am I really the most difficult person in Portland? Am I really “stupid” for turning down such a “big show?” Maybe I’m not all about fame. In all honesty, I’d like to open for some acts I’m really into, but I’m not into this show at all. Sorry bro.

I’m so not the guy you should be saying sorry to.

Like I told the Egg over on his blog, I actually would have altered my original post a bit after getting his input, which at least helped me understand some of where he was coming from. But he beat me to the punch and the entire email I sent him on his MySpace blog. So I didn’t alter my original rant, just included his responses instead. Not even going to mention what he said about me, but subsequent MySpace bulletins had him calling Galia Slayen a “bitch,” and Yacht fans “gay.” So, I’m done venting now. I wouldn’t usually use this site as a place for high school-style drama, but I thought some of dude’s actions were above and beyond. I’m really just sorta bummed. Conversation starter anyway, huh?

Blast away…

Links:
Easter EggSpace

And, for old times’ sake, Easter Egg’s excellent remix of Ratatat’s “Cherry,” posted by Nilina back in February. See my comments to gauge my then excitement level:

Download audio file (cherry.mp3)

Photo from EasterSpace.

 

More Post Information: show/hide Filed Under: Local Cut, Views

43 Responses to “UPDATED 6/1 (Rotten Egg: Burning Bridges in Bridgetown)”

Leave a Reply