Post #227911 by Thomas on Fri, Apr 21, 2006 2:44 PM

On 2006-04-21 13:50, lanikai wrote:

don't get pissed.

Thanks for your concern, but I think my post was pretty level-headed, and I can assure you that I'm far from getting "pissed" about this, any more than I can imagine myself coming to blows with someone because he likes vanilla and I like chocolate. I was mildly curious as to whether you had familiarity with the songs I mentioned; I'll take your lack of response to that as a "no." Again, all well and good; this isn't even a "low-stakes" matter -- it's really pretty much a "no-stakes" matter in the grand scheme of things, I think.

The "circus" element of it all? Yeah, I'm not a joiner in that sort of stuff either, for the most part. I like to select things on my own and "create my own scenes" as much as possible -- I have a feeling this temperament is prevalent among tikiphiles. But obviously many others differ on this, and getting really "tackily boisterous" in a large group scene is their way of blowing off steam. I can't say I get particularly annoyed by this. Good people with a different way of going about things, say I. Of course it can all look ridiculous from an outsider's perspective. Look at the fans at the Beatles' Ed Sullivan performances, or in The Woodstock Movie, or The Grateful Dead Movie, or whatever. In each case, in various ways, you end up kind of rolling your eyes at what now seem like over-the-top, tacky, even cultish behaviors. Oh, well.

And by the way, the "Parrot Head" scene actually has organized clubs that, collectively, raise millions of dollars for charities each year. I find that to be a pretty unique and interesting phenomenon, and I kind of wonder out loud (with my "pop sociology" hat on): does any other musical fan base do anything along those lines?

[ Edited by: Thomas 2006-04-21 14:45 ]