Oh no, N.L. has an agenda - By N.L. Belardes
I had a chuckle last night reading some public hate mail found on the comments section in Cesareo Garasa’s Wasted Space blog ‘comments section’. I won’t cut and paste the hateful tirade here, but will make a few comments because obviously Rob Ruiz and his cronies are still bent that I wrote about Mr. Ruiz having lived the downer side of a rock and roll lifestyle and then getting fired, which he didn’t deny. It’s funny when you read such a hateful piece, because in this case such words are like a bright target in the forest that says, “I’m a friend of Rob Ruiz and our feathers are ruffled.” That’s easy to see because clearly the worst part of that article was the talk of dead babies on shelves and I haven’t received one bit of mail about that. The concern is with Mr. Ruiz, who simply lived a rock and roll lifestyle and then didn’t want anyone to ever write about it.
I was giggling when the hateful piece claimed I had an agenda…
Well of course I do. I am very up front with bands who I network with that I am an artist too. I have a complex strategy to build a fan base through networking by means of a free community service on the local music scene (N.L. Belardes: Music Scene Gossip and the Arts). Of course I want to sell books—isn’t that what any novelist wants to do to support a lifestyle as a book writer? It was so silly to point out.
Speaking of agendas, doesn’t every band have an agenda, some of which may include: to be seen, to be publicized, to be talked about, to build a fan base, to sell CDs, to be popular, to get a recording contract, to be freaky, to be the best, to create inspiring music, to conquer, to be the coolest, and so on. Writers and publications have agendas too. The Californian has an agenda, the Blackboard Free Press has an agenda. Yes, that even includes the writer of Harry Potter, E! Entertainment, The Rolling Stone, and the BBC. Goodness, every novelist and band has an agenda, and mine is no secret. Heck, even Rob Ruiz had a rock and roll agenda and likely a current one as well. Maybe his agenda is to try to smear me by having anonymous friends claim I can’t get a publisher, or can’t write. Well let’s have his friends start a Bakersfield music scene site, or write novels. If they are so good, then they should do it, and do it better. I never claimed to be the best. Although I find it amusing that someone would say I can’t get a publisher, which isn’t true either. Noveltown is the publisher.
I also got reamed as a “self-proclaimed gossip columnist.” I am? I think that most intelligent folk recognize the title of my blog as being playful, catchy, and gets people to read it. As for being gossipy, I am very little of that. The Dim Reunion piece was about as gossipy as I get, which really wasn’t very gossipy. It was informative if anything in a whispering, “Hey, there was weird stuff about the music scene last night in relation to a weird novelist dude.” But then, I think most readers are intelligent enough to say to themselves, “Oh yeah, but that is just from N.L.’s perspective,” or, “That’s a fun read about a historic reunion night,” which it was. If Ruiz and his cronies don’t think the piece was entertaining then they should take a breath and listen to Cesareo who wrote, “If you can't laugh at yourself, you will always be mad at everyone else.”
Apparently, Mr. Ruiz and his cronies are so bitter that they couldn’t go out and support the local music scene for the Dim Reunion, Hurricane Relief, or Peter Will. People get fired and have disagreements everyday, but they still support the scene. I may have written a controversial piece on the Dim Reunion show, but I would still go watch them again, and I would enjoy it. As for creating some kind of thoughts that bands should all fear the novelist writer reaper as some kind of devil searching for dirty gossip. That’s all too easy to find. I could pour rumor after rumor—and real stories of Bakersfield scene debauchery—into this blog everyday.
I find it funny that such anonymous hate mail appeared on Cesareo’s blog and wasn’t sent to me directly. But that’s just how smear campaigns go in little or big towns.
I was giggling when the hateful piece claimed I had an agenda…
Well of course I do. I am very up front with bands who I network with that I am an artist too. I have a complex strategy to build a fan base through networking by means of a free community service on the local music scene (N.L. Belardes: Music Scene Gossip and the Arts). Of course I want to sell books—isn’t that what any novelist wants to do to support a lifestyle as a book writer? It was so silly to point out.
Speaking of agendas, doesn’t every band have an agenda, some of which may include: to be seen, to be publicized, to be talked about, to build a fan base, to sell CDs, to be popular, to get a recording contract, to be freaky, to be the best, to create inspiring music, to conquer, to be the coolest, and so on. Writers and publications have agendas too. The Californian has an agenda, the Blackboard Free Press has an agenda. Yes, that even includes the writer of Harry Potter, E! Entertainment, The Rolling Stone, and the BBC. Goodness, every novelist and band has an agenda, and mine is no secret. Heck, even Rob Ruiz had a rock and roll agenda and likely a current one as well. Maybe his agenda is to try to smear me by having anonymous friends claim I can’t get a publisher, or can’t write. Well let’s have his friends start a Bakersfield music scene site, or write novels. If they are so good, then they should do it, and do it better. I never claimed to be the best. Although I find it amusing that someone would say I can’t get a publisher, which isn’t true either. Noveltown is the publisher.
I also got reamed as a “self-proclaimed gossip columnist.” I am? I think that most intelligent folk recognize the title of my blog as being playful, catchy, and gets people to read it. As for being gossipy, I am very little of that. The Dim Reunion piece was about as gossipy as I get, which really wasn’t very gossipy. It was informative if anything in a whispering, “Hey, there was weird stuff about the music scene last night in relation to a weird novelist dude.” But then, I think most readers are intelligent enough to say to themselves, “Oh yeah, but that is just from N.L.’s perspective,” or, “That’s a fun read about a historic reunion night,” which it was. If Ruiz and his cronies don’t think the piece was entertaining then they should take a breath and listen to Cesareo who wrote, “If you can't laugh at yourself, you will always be mad at everyone else.”
Apparently, Mr. Ruiz and his cronies are so bitter that they couldn’t go out and support the local music scene for the Dim Reunion, Hurricane Relief, or Peter Will. People get fired and have disagreements everyday, but they still support the scene. I may have written a controversial piece on the Dim Reunion show, but I would still go watch them again, and I would enjoy it. As for creating some kind of thoughts that bands should all fear the novelist writer reaper as some kind of devil searching for dirty gossip. That’s all too easy to find. I could pour rumor after rumor—and real stories of Bakersfield scene debauchery—into this blog everyday.
I find it funny that such anonymous hate mail appeared on Cesareo’s blog and wasn’t sent to me directly. But that’s just how smear campaigns go in little or big towns.
This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on
Saturday, October 01, 2005.
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