CD Review: Matthew Barber, “Ghost Notes”

Nice….Matt is heading to NYC next week where I am going to see him at Union Hall

His lyrics are “downright weak”, ha! Coming from a guy who uses the simile the way Charlie Sheen uses hookers, that is a funny comment. Freud said, “…most of our criticisms of other are really criticisms of ourselves, the faults we find in others and harp on are what our harp plays inside ourselves.”

Now who's downright weak? Seriously…I can out-write you drunk, stoned and naked with your girlfriend on top of me, but I do not need to do all that garbage, to pen a decent discord on asphyxiating verbiage. The problem with you, is you are a music snob, your “Rob” from Hi-Fidelity, making little lists of the “greatest top five singer/songwriters – sub-top five the greatest funk/artist/lyricists – minus three excluding Jacques Cousteau, Lou Reed & Earth Wind and Fire the first three albums!”

That is you my man. It's great that any a**hat can make a blog, get a url, even me, I'm no different, but isn't the point of making music not to be on the Popdose “in-crowd microbrew drinking scene”, but to make money and be successful? You can lament like Dido in a Keats poem all you want about the merits of success and the raison d'etre pour vivre, but that is like arguing who is better MJ or Magic, it's useless kind of like the similes used in this article and the underhanded compliments. What happened, did the pretty girls in high school reject you and you are feeling some inner angst at what 40+? At some point the indie rocker has to grow up…isn't that why you voted for Obama?

Cheers!

- BHG
http://www.riddledphantasms.com

Honestly that is the best you can do?

“Your Can't hurt to try, I guess, but you sure are off to a slow start. If you were half as smart as you seem to think you are, you would have noticed that what I wrote was a positive review…”

Wow your, “rhapsodically strained verses” remind of Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, errr…not.

If you were half as smart as you think you are you would have noticed that I complimented your review and actually gave it the ONLY positive review it had and even listed other links to where people could find out about local magazines and the shows (something you failed to do in all your infinite wisdom, I guess you were drinking that Freud beer or whatever that was supposed to mean?).

I guess you were out with the aforementioned “Robettes” clearly drinking beer (you made a point of that) smoking British cigs and talking about David Berman and the Silver Jews or whatever post-dates Jackson Browne lol.

Why not compare him to Don McLean while you're at it. I had to look that one up b/c again I'm not Methuselah, or James Taylor or you or any balding folk singer. You use those guys as reference and call Hi-Fidelity old…you're either a comedian or are suffering from Alzheimers. I wonder what the vote would be on that one? lol

I said the, “THE PROBLEM WITH YOU IS YOU ARE A MUSIC SNOB.”

Are you not?

Seriously is that a question you can answer without a snide remark as a journalist showing a little bit of integrity instead of getting in a war of words (you're battleship has sunk btw) with the ONLY dude to give your review props and probably only like the 2nd person to read other than that guy in NYC.

Dude stop posing, grow up, realize you did vote for Obama (I like how you avoided that one), because you are a low paid writer for an online blog and your tax bracket needs what Obama's koolaid contains.

Talk about beer and being old…and avoid the meat of what I said to you…wow I am blown away by your rhetorical and witty comebacks.

Please no more! I don't want you to get in trouble for being mean on a blog to your fans and lose your night job cooking fries at the local BK. I guess by now you're a manager being what 50 or something, so Mr. Indie Rocker how about you put on Plumbline by Archers of Loaf and drink some more of that “Freud Beer” you got keggin' and you chill…k, mijo?

lol.

You know about group therapy and beer? Awesome!

So as far as “The are you a music snob?” question goes, your journalistic instincts are telling you to shoot insults and low ball with your wit and you professionalism (clearly you've shown where you stand on being a professional journalist…when I worked at Burson Marsteller and had to pitch Tony Kornheiser, Barbara Walter or Cokie Roberts (you know the American Emmy Award-winning journalist and bestselling author) on numerous occasions about issues such as the US Census, Primary and Secondary Education Acts, etc…she nor any of the other “real” journalists used insults on their posting commentators and avoided answering direct questions.

The gist of what I was getting at and have now proven is that

a. you are an arrogant indie rock blogger journalist who thinks he is know it all of music and can make Dennis Miller type references and think they work (they don't)

b. you are far less witty and biting in your remarks than you led on to believe, I mean really (to quote Resevoir Dogs) “Are you gonna bark all day lil doggie or are you gonna bite?” Clearly you are more of the the whining poodle/terrier kind of house pet, hence the “internet blog job” and not a real one other than the aforementioned BK, which you failed to deny.

c. Your remarks are old and outdated and the kind of stuff that is exactly “Hi-Fidelity” and you are that “Rob” guy except without the happy ending hence the middle aged angst towards your ONLY positive reviewer lol. Notice I changed my review after re-reading your review and decided that it was time you got told how it is not how you want it to be with your “The Pretender” commentary (Freudian slip there perhaps?)

Why can't you just say, “Yes you know what I am a music snob. I am a music elitist. I demean anyone who disagrees with me, like you Mr. BHG”

I said the, “THE PROBLEM WITH YOU IS YOU ARE A MUSIC SNOB.”

Are you not? Can you not behave like an adult for like 20 seconds and maybe behave like a REAL journalist or even a semi-decent blogger and just answer the questions about your old ass references, and I looked this is a trend for you – the same guy who said, “Have a beer, Freud. And get over “High Fidelity” — that was a long time ago.” or “This is going to make for a great story during your next visit to group therapy, I can tell.”

I mean you started off saying, “You could out-write me? Can't hurt to try, I guess, but you sure are off to a slow start. If you were half as smart as you seem to think…” I was expecting to get the full force of writing endowment and literary acumen and instead I got a bunch of drunk in the morning sounding insults about beer, freud and group therapy…see a pattern there.

I really wish they had a viagra pill for writing or at least honesty that you could take and answer your like 6 fans (and the aforementioned “Robettes”) and be a civil and answer questions directly instead of attacking people on your comment board who don't agree with you.

Is that why you never made it past “indie rock writer” who lives for the obscure 70s singer-songwriter reference and refuses to accept the label as “Music Snob”. At least give us reasons why you are not an indie rock blogger music snob, like so many others that do exist. It's ok, acceptance is part of the deal for you isn't it?

I guess this convo is over…too bad all you had were insults and not even witty quips to commentators on you review. Seriously you need to learn how the other “writers” handle criticism. I am sure you boss will be so proud of you, when I send her this dialogue and show her the initial positive review.

On an end note…of this convo.

(To quote one of those Toy Story movies…the things we can learn from Buzz Lightyear that we can't learn from Jeff Giles)

“You are a sad little man and you have my pity.”

<golf clap>

Takes one to know. Fact is you aren't treating me with the respect that record labels and management companies and such do. You aren't treating me with the respect that a “respectable journalist” would take, and calling his only commentators insane and making a lot of comments about mental instability leads one to believe you might have had a a bout or two with it. I am sorry for your illness, but that does not give you the right to be a rude person.

I haven't mentioned Obama since the first post, what I have mentioned is music, and lots of it and I have researched you tastes – you do have profiles on these twitter sites and have written enough articles for me to get a feel for what kind of music tastes you have…snob, once again acting like a freaking snob.

It wans't about his lyrics a**hat, it was about the fact you make inane references to James Taylor and Jackson Browne and “The Pretender”, that sums it up right there. If you are the kind of “writer” that is popdose endorses and thinks is doing them a service, insulting and antagonizing people who comment about their reviews with harsh insults and basically libelous remarks (libel is print, slander is spoken btw) then I wonder where popdose will be in 5 years.

Fyi…because you do not work in marketing or advertising you do not know that customer retention is the number one priority of companies during an economic slump. Considering the FED chair said that this would last at least another 2 years, it is a shame you are doing nothing, but driving your company into the ground. Go ask someone in Analytics about this fact and they will confirm it. You sir are a disgrace to Popdose and I am sure that the hierarchy will not be fond of your libelous attacks and basic customer losses.

You think you are making people want to come read from this site by attacking some random guy who comments about your review?

Don't think so bub.

Yes, our site sucks, go away, never come back, bye now.

Ironically Johnnie I have been linking to your site, because I like it as a whole, if you would like me to stop and tell everyone I know that popdose writers cannot take criticism and will censor you and delete your comment.

That is cool. Just let me know? Ok?

So even though I have been a loyal supporter who posts your url on their site, you “bloggers who cannot take criticism have resorted to deleting my comments but keeping your slanderous ones up…thanks God for pdf files and digital signatures.