As most of you know, this thing called Chris Shaffer's music has been an obsession of sorts for me since the mid 90's. It started with getting the bob and tom cd with Everybody on it, and I was hooked. Over the last 14 years, I've seen Shaffer 100's if not a 1000 or more times. It was simply what I did. My friends knew if Shaffer was playing anywhere in the area, I would be there. The frequency has changed a little now with family demands, but I still get that same feeling when I catch Shaffer.
I think it's kind of like my grown up (kind of) version of collecting baseball cards like I did when I was a kid. I have a real need for catching a new tune live. I bet I have 500 minidiscs in the closet that I've recorded over the years. I suppose that's what keeps me coming back, just being able to record the moment in time on disc, to listen to again myself or to share with friends later. I can remember driving home from shows in columbus, ohio, fort wayne, south bend, etc. and listening to the recording the whole way home. My obsession grew from there.
The point of my post though is this, does anybody who used to care so much about this music still care? As I go to shows now, I don't see many of the same faces from show to show, and I wonder why. Has life just changed that much for everyone that catching a show doesn't fit into life anymore or is it that the music isn't the same with different guys playing the instruments? Or perhaps have people govne away because they don't like the things shaffer does at times?
I would contend that many people don't get that magical feeling from the band that they used to get from the original why store. Why? I'm not sure. I think the talent is there with these four. Dan Hunt and Jerry Reiskamp on rhythm are rock solid. Benito on guitar smokes. Is it different from the original? Sure, but it's still damned good.
I would love to hear the old TWS play some of the songs on Vim live just to compare it to the way this group plays the songs, but that isn't ever gonna happen. I think this group pulls off live versions of those new songs incredibly well. I would kill to see Shaffer play them with Rusty Anderson's band like he did this past weekend in LA.
I've said this a million times, and I've been wrong every single time, but I'll say it again now. I think Shaffer is on the verge of getting some radio play. If, and I know it's a big if, he can keep these three with him, and if, and I know it's probably a bigger if, he can keep a relationship with Rusty, he might get some breaks to go his way.
Maybe that's why I keep going back, I keep this hope for this guy to make it. Why? I don't know. I just hope he can reach people the way the original store reached me back in the day. It sounds exaggerated, but for a period of time after my mom passed away, they were one of the things that I lived for. I loved that feeling the music gave me. I'll be forever grateful for that feeling.
So, where are the rest of you, and why don't you feel the same about the band as you once did? I'm interested.
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9 comments:
The problem is I'm not sure Shaffer cares... I have no idea what he's doing. There's no web site (myspace doesn't count), the tour dates are never updated, and they are infrequent. Its like he is winding down the music career, at least as far as I can tell.
i would have too agree.i still love his music and check out this website and the message board.But things sure have changed the last couple years.i remember when Vim came out,i thought he was on his way.He had a brand new spiffy website and a established producer at the helm.All that stuff sure didnt last long.Im not sure what happened but it sure was a big letdown.And now he is gonna reissue that cd with the The Why store name.Just seems like its for all the wrong reason's.Still listen too him often and will always wish the best for him.
Interesting thoughts. I'm pretty sure that Shaffer still cares a great deal about his music as it is his livelihood. While that's not always apparent to us in the sense that he doesn't maintain the myspace tour dates very well and doesn't have a slick website, I think he certainly does still care.
I guess the one thing I'm not so sure of is Shaffer's desire to bring the old fans along with him. He doesn't seem to promote himself very well. He'll put a lot into a live show, but not so much into getting people to that show. I think he's still just working toward a break. Hopefully, somebody gets behind him to promote him and land him good gigs. In the meantime, I have found Benito's website http://www.benitodibartoli.com/ to be pretty accurate with the gigs, many of which Shaffer doesn't put on the myspace page.
Let's be honest...what are the chances that a 40-something bar singer from Indy is going to hit a big break like some of you suggest may happen? Come on.
Let's just enjoy the music and be realistic.
The cold hard truth is that the "magic" is gone. Maybe not for good, but its definitely MIA.
The last live performance I saw was not good at all.
Benito sucks. He threw the solo from SRV "Texas Flood" into a jam they did off of one of Shaf's originals. It was disgusting. He couldn't hold Kenny Taylor's jock.
The new songs (the entire VIM album) suck. "Run Around Wasted", yuck. He's fallen a long way since Everybody, Lack of Water, Broken Glass, Father. Those were excellent songs.
Does he care? Maybe. But he's definitely lost touch with his fan base. He clearly doesn't draw the crowds that he used to. They're (Benito or somebody) fucking false advertising because we trekked to the Noodle and Shaf never showed.
There's a lot of rumors about monkeys on his back. I don't know how true that is....but something is not right.
He'd be taking a huge step in the right direction by firing Benito.
He's lost in some sort of fog and he needs to find a muse and/or a collaborator.
Oh wow, I couldn't disagree with you more! Benito is what has saved Shaffer's ass (and career) lately, Benito is an awesome guitarist (he is not Michael and that says it all right there) but without him I don't believe Shaffer would be playing anywhere right now.
I love Shaffer and love to see him perform, but there is only so much one can take of a high school crush and I'm sick of scheduling life to go see a show where Chris doesn't even show up to.
I don't know if it's the fact that no one cares anymore or if we've just had our fill of it all. How many times do you let someone disappoint you before you just stop?
A lot of interesting comments above.
My opinion is he should not be trying to get any radio time. I don't think Shaf or TWS was ever built for the radio. To me.....they should be playing music festivals with the likes of Phish, Widespread Panic, Moe, Leftover Salmon, The New Mastersounds, Tea Leaf Green, Ben Harper, Umphrey's McGee, Michael Franti, Black Crowes, Robert Randolph, etc, etc.....
a why store set or two would be awesome at summer camp
The thing is, when the original TWS was coming up, we had a purpose, we had a vision, a goal, and things were happening. We worked our asses off several nights a week for 2 years before we really even played a gig. Why? Because we wanted the dream and we wanted to create a scene that made people happy. That, by definition, will never come back, it simply can't. There's only one original TWS. Chris had 90 pre-sales for Thursday's show. I remember once selling out the Vogue at $5 a head for our record deal party and we didn't even play!! mds
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