What is in a name?

About a week ago, I was in a conversation with SD and Trocc after a show at Schuba's.  The topic had drifted to music (surprise) and I was struggling temporarily to remember a band's name...

Me: "Shoot, umm...it is one of those bands with a three word name..."

SD: "Steel Pole Bathtub?"...chuckle...

SD: "King Cobb Steelie?"...snicker...

Me:  "Shut it!  No, it was...um...AGENT SIDE GRINDER!"...giggles...

Trocc: "That is a terrible name."

And I couldn't really disagree with him.  Except I did - because I like the band.  

That is why SD was chuckling at his suggestions as well because the Junk Drawer has a soft spot for both Steel Pole Bathtub and King Cobb Steelie. 

SD could give a fuck about those bands but he listens to bands with names like Sunburned Hand of the Man, Pocahaunted, and MV & EE so take his opinion on chuckle worthy band names with a grain of salt.    

But this got me thinking of about how the name of something is completely irrelevant, until you start creating a reputation for that name.  Then that is your brand, right?

It is easy to slag band names when you don't have any interest in their music. But once you fall under the spell of the music you can forgive practically any name.  
Here are a few that currently annoy me: 

• MGMT - so, I am supposed to say each letter of this name? Why exactly? This band used be called The Management and then when they found out some other band had that awful name, rather than take that as a sign they simply started calling themselves the abbreviation of the word.  I hate the word management, partly because the worst/pointless/LONG meetings I have to attend all start with it.  
• Trampled By Turtles -  aren't we clever? 
• The Pains of Being Pure of Heart -- nothing this twee sounding could be good for you in the long run. 
• Mumford & Sons -- a bit too on the nose for their style of new wave banjo, polished old timey-ness.  Plus it makes me think of Sanford & Son whose theme song I like infinitely better than anything that XRT has forced me to listen to by these guys. 

What band names do you dislike without any regard or knowledge of their music?

Four Fists

Here's something to shake the cobwebs out of your Monday afternoon. 

I am starting to get really excited for this upcoming full length collaboration between P.O.S. and Astronautalis - they are calling themselves Four Fists and here is a song that they did a while back but is just getting released as a 7" now as a bit of a teaser. 

I have only seen Astronautalis once but he definitely dances to the beat of his own drum and in his own words, he is fast becoming the Killah Priest to Doomtree's Wu-Tang Clan, with scads of appearances on their best joints.

For instance, here he is on one of my favorite tracks from last year's album from P.O.S. 

Not game for a lame name change

Jefferson Airplane - "White Rabbit" & "Somebody To Love," legendary performances like the Monterey Pop Festival. 

Jefferson Starship - Blows Against The Empire  wins a sci-fi Hugo Award but is burdened over time with "concept album creakiness."

Starship - performing on the Star Wars Holiday Special with a guy (not Grace Slick!!) singing into what looks like a neon dildo - "We Built This City" & "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now."

Where am I going with this, you ask?

Fair enough. I am distressed by news of an impending name change.  I fear that it signals a creative nadir of something that I once cherished. 

Y'see, I didn't always work for an organization whose mission is to prevent and end homelessness.  For a decade I ran an organization that tried to improve the quality of life for homeless children.  

It was such a small organization that I was involved in every single facet of it. It was such a part of my identity that when someone spoke of it by name I felt like they were also saying the name I was born with.  

And I was fine with that because it was a solid name, a righteous name. A name that conferred vitality and a directive.  I was there when this name was born out of necessity and I tried to live up to that name 365 days a year.   

As I made what I hoped to be a graceful exit, I seriously considered getting that name as a tattoo.  Boy am I glad I didn't act on that impulse!  

Yesterday I learned that with the help of a consulting group, it has been decided to replace this name that has served the charity well for 14 years.

First of all - FUCK that consultant and to hell with the entire field of consulting. If I never work with a consultant again for the rest of my professional life I will not regret it.  

Consultants justify their existence by presenting themselves as agents of change - whether that change is needed or not soon becomes irrelevant.  They predicate action fueled by the insecurities of people made to fear that they are clinging to some outdated model of success. 

This is nothing new.  Committees love to cede decisions to an outside expert rather than lead and risk having their convictions challenged.  

The only time I could see clear to hiring a consultant is if his name is The Wolf and I just accidentally blew someone's brains all over the back of my car.

Now, you've got a corpse in a car, minus a head, in a garage.
Take me to it.

But to add insult to injury - the new name is a genuine headscratcher on the WTF-scale of Huh?!? 

It isn't going to be publicly revealed for a few months so I don't want to ruin the surprise (and I guess I hope it isn't too late to turn this camel around). But if you want to hear it, just get a hold of me. 

I was talking about this with my composer buddy SW and his first lament was that the departing name even had a nice octave progression.  

The whole ten years, saying it every time I answered the phone, and I had no idea that there was an octave progression at work.  

To me it just had a "nice ring to it".  Now I feel stupid to admit that because the mission of the organization is to bring music education to underprivileged children that wouldn't otherwise get it. 

This new name that is coming down the pike is just a brick.  A part of my past is dying and in case you couldn't tell I am not happy about it.