If you are, well, a human, I highly assume that you have heard the phrase, \u201cYou can\u2019t judge a book by its cover.\u201d\u00a0 This is a saying that I can remember since I was a very young child.\u00a0 What does this phrase mean?\u00a0 It means that you shouldn\u2019t make a judgment about someone or something based solely on their or its outward appearance.\u00a0 This saying holds true also to a name.\u00a0 What is a name anyway?\u00a0 By definition, a \u201cname \u201c is a word or set of words by which a person, animal, place, or thing is known, addressed, or referred to.<\/p>\n
Names are a funny thing because just the sight of a name can find someone forming an opinion before knowing what and\/or who is behind a name.\u00a0 If you saw a restaurant called \u201cThe Greasy Spoon,\u201d you may find yourself grossed out and pass it by.\u00a0 Who is to say that you didn\u2019t just pass up the best hamburger, the best milkshake, or the best order of cheese fries you could\u2019ve had in your life?\u00a0 There you go.\u00a0 You judged the book by its cover, and you missed out on some magic that lay within.<\/p>\n
Bands go through this every day.\u00a0 When you\u2019re a band, your band name is your first impression.\u00a0 As a writer, I never judge a band by its name before I give them a listen.\u00a0 I am in a band myself, and I would never want to base their opinion on us without first hearing us.\u00a0 I once got a press release for a band called Shit the Cow.\u00a0 I kid you not.\u00a0 Shit the Cow.\u00a0 The name made me laugh, but I listened to them.\u00a0 Unfortunately, they were terrible, but I came to that conclusion only after listening to them instead of turning them down because of their name.<\/p>\n
In an interview many years ago, singer\/songwriter Natalie Merchant was discussing her previous band, 10,000 Maniacs.\u00a0 In this interview, she tells a story of how many people would assume that they were a hard rock band and then show up to their shows only to be stunned by a twirling alternative rock goddess and her band.\u00a0 Some people would even go as far as to give them a hard time for not being anything like their name described.<\/p>\n
If you are reading this piece, you know that I am the owner and sole writer for a music blog called The Great Southern Brainfart.\u00a0 It\u2019s not the classiest name in the world, but it\u2019s mine.\u00a0 What lies behind the name?\u00a0 The name is a play on the Pantera album The Great Southern Trendkill.\u00a0 A friend of mine used to call me the Brainfart because of my scatteredness and ADD ability to switch from music topic to music topic sometimes without completing any of my thoughts.<\/p>\n
When I started putting this blog together, I knew I had to have a name that would stick out from the rest.\u00a0 Music Talk, The Metal Hang Out, the Rock N\u2019 Roll Blog were not even options.\u00a0 The Great Southern Brainfart spoke to me, and I knew it would catch people\u2019s attention.\u00a0 I also knew that there was a chance that people (i.e., Artists, PR people, and management) could possibly look down on me and pass, but 90% or more of them proved me wrong.<\/p>\n
Since 2009, I have had the opportunity to interview members of some of my favorite bands.\u00a0 Acts such as Anthrax, Megadeth, Dream Theater, Geoff Tate of Queensryche, and legendary Iron Maiden vocalist, to name a few, have all grace me with their presence, and some have done so multiple times.\u00a0 I have had the honor of talking with author\/music journalist Katherine Turman, NYC jazz vocalist Rebecca Martin, and former legendary Iron Maiden vocalist Paul DiAnno.\u00a0 I am living a dream that I have had since I was a kid, and not a day goes by that I don\u2019t pinch myself in disbelief.<\/p>\n
The Great Southern Brainfart has had its moments of being judged, though.\u00a0 Recently someone emailed a press release announcing a new album by Blackmore\u2019s Night.\u00a0 For those of you that don\u2019t know, Blackmore\u2019s Night is a medieval\/Rennaissance festival band that features legendary Deep Purple\/Rainbow guitarist Richie Blackmore.\u00a0 Blackmore\u2019s Night is a collaboration between him and his wife, Candice Night.\u00a0 For 23 years, Blackmore\u2019s Night has been doing their thing since 1997 and since then have been a massive point of ridicule by many in the hard rock\/classic rock community because of everything from the style of music to the visual image of the band.<\/p>\n
Blackmore\u2019s Night.\u00a0 When I first heard that band name, I assumed Richie Blackmore\u2019s new band played a darker, more brooding style of hard rock music, but I couldn\u2019t have been more wrong.\u00a0 I was pleasantly surprised when I heard their music, and it was a nice change from the hard rock\/metal music that I usually listen to.\u00a0 It was engaging, well played, and fun.<\/p>\n
I was looking forward to interviewing vocalist Candice Night.\u00a0 As a fan, I had many questions regarding the music, but I also had many things I wanted to learn about, as I do with all of my other interviews. I awaited a reply from their PR person as I prepared for what I thought could be an entertaining interview.<\/p>\n
Blackmore\u2019s Night\u2019s PR person replied, telling me that, unfortunately, they were unable to schedule interviews.\u00a0 I thought this was strange, so I asked if she could share the reason why.\u00a0 She told me that \u201cmanagement passed purely because of the name of the site. I was hesitant if I should tell you that, but I\u2019m glad you asked. Am I assuming this is not the first time this has happened?\u00a0 I\u2019m sorry \u2026.if you changed the name, let\u2019s talk about this.\u201d<\/p>\n
If I changed my name, let\u2019s talk about this.\u00a0 Yes, I was a bit insulted at first, and she was right, though.\u00a0 Before, this has happened to me, but, believe it or not, since 2009, I have only had this happen with no more than four artists.\u00a0 I get it, though.\u00a0 Management and PR are responsible for filtering interview and press requests.\u00a0 I want to think that Mrs. Night doesn\u2019t take herself so seriously that she wouldn\u2019t talk to a site called The Great Southern Brainfart, but who knows.<\/p>\n
This happening seriously threw a wrench in my gears and made me question whether I should change my site\u2019s name.\u00a0 I pondered it, talked it over with friends, with Mrs. Brainfart, and they all said the same thing.\u00a0 They noted that The Great Southern Brainfart is an extension of me.\u00a0 It\u2019s my \u201cpersona\u201d of sorts, and it is what people have come to associate with me.<\/p>\n
There was a brief moment when I considered changing the name of my site.\u00a0 The Great Southern Brainfart isn\u2019t the classiest of names, but for over 11 years, it has become a persona.\u00a0 It is where I can freely and honestly (sometimes to a fault) express my thoughts and opinions about music.\u00a0 A few years ago, I wrote a review of a King Crimson show here in Atlanta.\u00a0 King Crimson guitarist\/founding member himself liked my review so much that he linked it on his personal Facebook page along with pulling a quote from it: \u201cLet me just start out by saying that a King Crimson concert is no fucking joke\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Whenever I find myself getting bummed for being judged or turned away because of my site\u2019s name, I remember the long list of people I have interviewed over the years.\u00a0 They all took a chance with me, and I had some entertaining, educational, and thought-provoking interviews.\u00a0 Why would I change my name at this point?\u00a0 Robert Fripp likes me, and that right there holds more weight than I could carry in 10 years.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you are, well, a human, I highly assume that you have heard the phrase, \u201cYou can\u2019t judge a book by its cover.\u201d\u00a0 This is a saying that I can remember since I was a very young child.\u00a0 What does this phrase mean?\u00a0 It means that you shouldn\u2019t make a judgment about someone or something based solely on their or its outward appearance.\u00a0 This saying holds true also to a name.\u00a0 What is a name anyway?\u00a0 By definition, a \u201cname […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":19194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[277],"tags":[2087,2080,2312,2230,2229,2085,2077,180,2078,2090,2084,2086,2079,2076,2196,2088,2089,1844,2081,2082,2083],"class_list":["post-19193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-news","tag-classic-rock","tag-classic-rock-blog","tag-death-metal","tag-folk-music-blog","tag-folk-rock-blog","tag-hard-rock","tag-hard-rock-blog","tag-heavy-metal","tag-heavy-metal-blog","tag-instrumental-bands","tag-mailchimp","tag-metal","tag-metal-blog","tag-music-blog","tag-occult-rock-blog","tag-prog-rock","tag-progressive-rock","tag-psych-rock","tag-psych-rock-blog","tag-psychedelic-rock-blog","tag-wordpress"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/used-books-store-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}