Out of the loop and de-pressurized

Owing to my involuntary "early retirement" from covering the Valley's music scene, I missed Lollapalooza for the first time this year. I've never had any particular urge to have my body pierced or to get a tattoo, but I always enjoyed taking in the spectrum of edgy acts that the "alternative" festival offered. It was a big deal to me because I took some pride in having covered the very first show of the festival's first tour. I had to convince my editors that the show was going to be as big a deal as, say, a Garth Brooks concert. Not just a geek show I was right. The Lollapalooza festival became one of the '90s few "sure things" in summer pop-concert programming. Fortunately, that first year I got the conservative old Arizona Republic to cover it the same way. In subsequent years, unfortunately, the coverage was dominated more by the geek-show aspects than the musical aspect. (That's a major gripe with most mainstream media here. Popular music, however powerful its hold is on large groups of people, is treated as an aside.) Lollapalooza filled a need in an era of unadventurous radio programming by getting any number of "outsider" acts out of the clubs and onto the big stages. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but it always was an adventure, which is not something you can say about most amphitheater concerts. Smaller is better Now, I get new music in smaller doses. Covering concerts for local newspapers is out of the question, and I have little or no budget for the shows. I've got to admit, I miss them. On the other hand, after all the pressure of covering shows for a living (usually in addition to a 40-hour work week and trying to have an outside life with my family) I've got to admit I enjoy just checking out the local scene in a casual way even more. Whether I'm acting as a judge at the Arizona Amateur Blues Showdown or walking in on an act at a local festival or nightclub, life is better on a smaller stage. Copyright © 1997, Salvatore Caputo