BOC: Give 'em a break?

[John A Swartz]

>Another thing that adds fuel to the fire is the whole Al vs. EB&BD
thing.  This isn't fair either.

You're right, but so far from what I've seen, Al gets ALOT more
respect from AOL than 30C gets from BOC-L.  Some of that is no doubt
due to the fact that the folks on AOL recognize Al's musical talent
and the fact that he's released 3 albums in the last 4 years to BOC's
none (compilations not withstanding).  I have seen a few negative
things about Al by fans who perhaps didn't know his side of things.
I've been on the last 2 AOL chats as has Albert, and there were plenty
of good things said to/about him by the BOC fans there.

Interesting side-note to the last AOL chat -- as I mentioned, Buck and
Albert shared a bit of dialouge on the chat and reminisced about some
old times.  Al asked something to the effect of why BOC didn't play in
New York City these days.  Buck said something about "the band" (funny,
there was at least 1 or 2 times when Buck referred to BOC as "the
band", as he were somehow detached from it - but I digress) not wanting
to play there.  Al told Buck he could get them gigs there.  After Al
and Buck left the chat, someone commented (seemingly innocently
enough) that it sounded like Al really still wanted to be playing
with BOC.  Billy Hilfiger responded something to the effect of, "Yeah,
well it sounds like you want to go up Buck's a**".  I think Billy
may have over-reacted a bit there - but it's one of those pitfalls of
on-line conversation where you can mis-interpret the true meaning of
what a person types...

BTW, I have another "theory" on the "critical" attitude of BOC.  I
think that alot of the people on this list, and this is probably
especially true for the "old timers", also happen to like bands that
have in recent years continued to give them new music to listen to.
Not being a Hawkwind fan myself, I can't speak for them, but it seems
that Hawkwind has produced a fair amount of new material in recent
years.  Of course, I've already mentioned the Brain Surgeons.  It's
somewhat frustrating for this type of person to continue to be a fan
of a band that doesn't produce alot of new stuff (and the empty
promises don't help) while their other favorite bands continue to
crank out new stuff to listen to.  Alot of the folks on BOC-L seem
to not be of the type to want to spend alot of their time reminiscing
about seeing BOC back in the 70's and 80's - but want BOC to give them
a reason to continue to support them in the 90's.

Anyway, I've rambled on enough (as usual)...

John