I must say that I am in love with bright Eyes. I just can't help it.

at first i thought this topic would possibly be about "my love" by paul mccartney and wings, but alas i was let down......

well, im real proud of you, but i must disagree. this could be just me and my personal issues with mr. oberst, but his voice is so whiny and well . . . i can't say much bc i write some sad songs too, and his lyrics ARE good, i just don't dig his music. but whatever floats yer boat, starfish.

Man! Me too. I was so excited for a minute there.

Rats! I thought this topic was going to be about me.

All of this is true. I think Bright Eyes is pretty boring. But that doesn't get in the way of his hotttttness.

Bright Eyes is a great artist in my opinion. I can't get enough of him honestly... I mean, christ, he put the sound of a modem in Drunk Kid Catholic. It doesn't get better than that. hah.

I still am in love with him, and his music. No matter how his voice sounds, I still think he is creative. I like his voice too. I think it adds to his lyrics. If he had a perfect voice he would start sounding like everyone else and that's stupid.

I'm torn on Bright Eyes. My gut feeling is that Oberst is just a spoiled emo kid who has had people telling him he's incredible since he could walk. Talented or not, I usually cannot stand people like this, especially when they take on all the passe liberal faux-intellectual crap. His show at the Belcourt, although musically beautiful, was easily the most pretentious hour and a half i've ever seen. Oberst pretending to stagger around the stage between songs, scratching his head like he's lost, trying to act drunk...(?)... And the asian girl patronizing the audience, and storming off the stage at the end of the show for no reason, trying to act like she is important? gimme a break. I was embarrassed for her. Is that supposed to be indie cred?
I would absolutely adore Bright Eyes if Oberst would be himself and not some emo-prodigy charicature. The music and orchestration is beautiful, breathtaking, and right up my alley. Oberst's screaming into the mic during every song about politics or whatever, however, comes close to ruining it for me. After the live show, it was obvious to me that Oberst is a big fan of Lambchop (he's even enlisted some Lambchop alums). But he could learn a few things from Kurt Wagner about the art of subtlety, class, and professionalism. Shut up and play your songs and spare me the drama.
It's not that I dislike an emotional songwriter, or that I'm conservative (i'm a green party supporter). Admittedly, most people I know that have met Oberst say he's a genuinely nice guy. I think Bright Eyes could make some incredible records in the future, and I'm looking forward to them. I just hope he drops the politically-aware tragically-talented faux drunk chic.

i personally don't care if connor oburst is playing the role of emo-patron. It's still a goddamn beautiful thing. If it is just a character, then he is one of the finest fiction writers of our time. It takes love to write a character as detailed as "Bright Eyes". It takes love and compassion, and I'm willing to pay for more of it. Don't try to love the artist. cause the artist isn't always the persona. Love the act.

i think he sounds like a damn goat.

good call. i agree.

i saw a cooking show on pbs....the guy made a dish with tomatoes and goat cheese. i want goat cheese and tomatoes. tomaaayetos. i'd rather eat goat cheese than listen to bright eyes.

this message has been brought to you by the collective minds of smee and exliontamer.

Again, starfish, I think we agree that Bright Eyes *music* is beautiful. I don't particularly care for Oberst's vocals and I dislike most of his lyrics, but his melodies, orchestration, and arrangement are wonderful and one of the best things around.

But it is precisely his *act* that I don't buy. The guy has probably had nothing but kiss-asses around him his entire life telling him how great he is. Therefore, nobody tells him he looks like an idiot carrying around a bottle of wine on stage, talking about how fucked up he is one minute (like a 17 year old) and then imparting his "worldly" suburban-liberal wisdom on us the next minute like he's got it all figured out.

I don't have anything figured out, and I'm willing to admit it. I don't go around posturing myself as indie rock's source of "enlightened capitalism" (as I once heard him describe saddlecreek, like this is some sort of new or unique idea). I'm even willing to admit that I may be completely wrong about Oberst, and If I met him we could very well become friends.

The bottom line is, I don't care for political bitching in my music. maybe you do, and thats ok. Screaming for no reason in the middle of an otherwise wonderful song is annoying, and nauseating when its about politics.

By the way, for my money, M. Ward blew Bright Eyes off the stage that night at the Belcourt.

that is the fucking truth, roadie......

this is a good call . . . one of the reasons i like neutral milk hotel so much is bc jeff mangum's voice is so diff. same thing goes for stephen malkmus. but conor still sounds like a damn goat.

what about bob dylan?

Touche.

I agree... I enjoy Jeff Mangum's voice even if it is a little different. I like Dylan too. So I am unphased by the whole voice thing.

Well, I'll explain the difference to you. When Bob Dylan was a folk singer, it's true that his music was often quite political. But it was the songs themselves that were political, in that they had political lyrics. What Roadie is objecting to about Conner Oberst (I think) is the thrusting of political posturing and diatribes into non-political songs in a live setting. It was one thing for the Beatles to sing "Revolution." It would've been a whole other thing for Paul to have started yelling "Fuck LBJ!" in the middle of a live performance of "Yesterday."

i like bright eyes. i saw them in may at the exit/in and enjoyed the show. a month before the show i heard about them being drunk and sloppy show after show. one friend said that he'd stop in the middle of a song because he'd forget what he was singing or playing. so, i decided not to go to the belcourt show. and whatever roadie said about conor being nice is right. i expected him to be an asshole, but he wasn't at all.
like me.

you know i'm just trying to get a rise out of roadie. anyway, while we're on politics in music, i happen to prefer the gang of four approach. talk about the things that effect you personally instead of trying to tackle the whole issue. that just seems more sincere and reasonable to me.

exactly....

"it's her factory"

(Edited by ray davies at 6:43 pm on Feb. 17, 2003)

wallace stevens was a goddamn insurance lawyer,

robert frost was an asshole who drove his son to suicide, and he wasn't really farm-saavy

point: you can create good art even if it's not "real"
listen to underground rappers if you want to keep it "real"

-overemo #1

hell-ass....i'm wendy french, i don't have my own message board name... and i'm exhausted by all of this. not everyone has to have the same world-view; i don't think it's right to criticize conor oberst for creating sincere art even if he didn't come from a family that was poor and hated him. sometimes people are ungrateful for what they have. oh my goodness, there's the appeal to me right there....from the narrative of his lyrics, it seems like he's trying to become more grateful, but, you know what? when you're being suffocated by depression, it doesn't matter what kind of family you come from really. i, along with many others i'm sure, have been surrounded by people who say nice things to me (it was mentioned earlier that he was surrounded by people who were telling him how great he was), but, guesssss what, i still get sad about myself sometimes. i relate to nearly every word conor oberst says, mostly the dialogue on divinity, what goodness is...making the people/things near you mean more than some abstract entity that you can only wish was around all the time. that's a struggle i relate to...and i know it's not cool to be so passionate about something, b.c. passion = ignorance, right? that's the idea i get.

i feel honored when i see him live. i think he's easy to be jealous of. that's a trap. i think his lyrics are concise and taken directly from my brain.

i know i have nothing to be sad about, but i am sometimes. sad like conor. sad to a point where it's silly and pretentious. but honestly, i'm that way, and i'd be lying to you if i tried to hide it. and so would he. i don't think all of this about being sad is so pertinent....i like to demean everything that doesn't pertain to me.

i can imagine what kind of response this post would foster. just in advance, everything i ever say is illogical. i'm fine with it. really.

i think conor oberst is one of the most prolific writers of our generation.

i love bob dylan; i would endure 28 hours of hard labor to produce his children, but i relate to conor's lyrics more.

the wallflowers #2.

actually, wouldn't he be wallflowers #1? hmmmm