Yesterday, our friends at The Riverside Warehouse asked an interesting question on their facebook page: "Hey everyone. We need your input on this one. How many of you would come see the new Saliva?" The question generated a surprising number of responses, with over 90% answering with a resounding "Yes!" There were a few maybes, and a couple of definite 'No's" A good sign that this show would do well, right? On the surface, one might say "absolutely", but I call BULLSHIT! Call me cynical, but I'm betting out of the 20-25 'yes' responses, less than five will actually show up. More realistically, I'm thinking two or three.

Dammit, Gonzo! Why do you have to be so negative?!?! Well, because I have the dubious vantage point of seeing the music scene from the inside. Where you can see how many tickets are actually sold. How much money is spent for the acts, for marketing and advertising the shows, and how much money is made or lost. And from that vantage point, the Shreveport music scene is sick. Very sick.


When we can give away FREE tickets to a show like Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, and Sevendust, and half the winners don't even bother to pick up their tickets...we have a problem.  When we give away VIP tables to a Halestorm/Adelitas Way/Black Tide show and the winners don't show up...we have a problem.  When shows like that...and Cold, and Filter, and Kill Devil Hill are at 50% capacity, and yet I see dozens of familiar faces at a show in Dallas, and 1,000 people packed into a Chevelle show in Tyler...we have a problem.


Where are the music fans?  And don't tell me it's the economy.  We're talking FREE tickets that aren't picked up...FREE VIP tables that aren't used.  And Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert, and George Strait can fill the CenturyLink Center.  The aforementioned Avenged Sevenfold show didn't move 4,000 tickets.   What happened to the days when 2,500+ people would pack Malibu Alley for relativity (at the time) unknown bands like Godsmack, Limp Bizkit, Creed, and Sevendust?  When  we had the fear of the building collapsing at packed houses  for Soil and The Union Underground at Taylor Town?  When national act size crowds would line up for local bands like Ceed, Myra Mains, and The American Tragedy?


Now I see great local bands like Shayliff, Idle of the Peach, and Flood the Masses playing for a handful of people, and I have to shake my head.  Where are you?  Where are the  rock music fans that I know love this kind of music, and why don't you show your faces anymore? Is the Rock scene in Shreveport dead?  If not, it,  at the very least, needs some serious attention.  Now.


I guess the point of my rant is: What is the problem with our music scene?  Can it be saved, and what can we do to save it?  You're on this site because you love music...and only you know why you quit coming out to support great bands and great music.  The floor is open.  I want to hear your complaints, and more importantly, your ideas for a solution.  It's time to work together - the radio station, the bands, and the fans - to bring back what we all know can be a thriving and exciting music scene to a city that's contributed some great musicians and great music to the world.  It starts here.  It starts now.  GET LOUD!


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