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Forget whether or not New York City or country music need each other: If having the CMA Awards means that Mayor Bloomberg must awkwardly wear cowboy hats and hold guitars, then four more year! The CMA tried to pull out all the stops: Mayor Bloomberg introducing Garth Brooks (as Garth Brooks, but file this: A great Halloween costume idea is to be "Chris Gaines"), and then Bon Jovi! Billy Joel! Olivia Newton-John! 
Gothamist caught a little bit of the show last night (we couldn't quite liveblog as there was Gilmore Girls, My Name is Earl, The Office, and Law & Order: SVU on) but we did watch the duo Big & Rich perform:
- "Big & Rich" is the name of the group? Really?The NY Post doesn't hide its feelings about the CMA's: "The star of last night's Country Music Awards at Madison Square Garden didn't sing a note or win a prize. It was New York City, which lent the show the credibility and elegance it's always lacked." Well, a backhanded compliment is better than none, we guess.
- Big & Rich look stylized in the way that only musicians and gay men can (one of them looks totally like a cross between the gay decorator on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Carson Kressly)
- There's confetti which looks just litter, so that's a NYC connection!
- They are singing something about New York City, but the Southern twang is confusing us (the NY Times explains that the song is "Comin' to Your City" but changed the chorus to "Comin' to New York City")
Lee Ann Womack and Keith Urban were big winners. Did you see the telecast?
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Did the Country Music Stars stay at Hotels or did the Mayor supply them with Trailers over by the West Side Railyards?
Really, does anybody around here, except those in city government or tourism actually care about the CMA's? Methinks not. Really, who the hell other than some Bush (the evil kind) loving, war supporting, SUV/pickup driving red state hick would even listen to country 'music'? My understanding is most of it is either jingoistic pro-war crap or laments on loosing their pick up truck.
toby: that's more or less how the rest of the country thinks of new york. except backwards - sub rednecks for "liberal pussies" and "latte drinking elitists" or whatever.
which is also mostly true, like all stereotypes.
Dude, you just got served....
Toby: Please. I've heard a lot of ignorant statements in my life, but that one's pretty high up the list. A disappointing example of some East Coasters' embarrassingly provincial closed-mindedness.
I don't care a great deal about the CMA's all that much, but your dismissal of country music is ridiculous. It's like saying "Who would listen to rock 'music'?" while decrying everything that's out there as flat, manufactured, teen-angsty, derivative noise. There's plenty of that out there, sure, but it's hardly the overall picture.
I love country music. The last time I checked, I did not support the war, drive an SUV, or harbor any love for the Bush Administration. Your "understanding" of country music is severely limited.
You mean current country music isn't full of pro war, pro USA, kick your ass back to blank crap?
courtesy of the red white and blue, of course.
Rev: Some of it is, sure. Hardly all of it. Most country music doesn't have anything to do with politics at all, actually. And artists like Steve Earle, Willie Nelson, Dixie Chicks, and many more are stridently anti-war and anti-Bush. Most artists, popular or "alternative," pretty much keep their mouths shut about politics. Although I'd agree that the majority of artists tend to be more conservative than, say, rock or pop artists, country music is hardly a heavily political format. It's only a few who come out with jingoistic crap (Toby Keith, etc.)
Plus, understand that the music you hear on country radio or highlighted on the CMA awards is just a small, select, and somewhat bland sampling of what's out there. (Just like any other genre of music...)
All I'm saying is the one-dimensional and dismissive view of country music is indicative of a sealed-off, out-of-touch New York liberal mindset.
scott, You and I know country music fans HATE Steve earle. (the fans that are NRA card carriers etc)
and that goes for the dixie chicks, too.
Um, last time I saw a steve earle concert, there were quite a few NYC'ers there.
Was Steve Earle even nominated in the CMA?
I say bring back Randy travis.
Scott;
If it's small and bland sampling of country music, why did NYC roll out the red carpet for these people who at a second will follow George Bush into war, support his stand against "Non Christian Believers?" Shouldn't we be going after the larger more mainstream version of country music? Oh wait that was the popular form of Country.
Kudos to King of Zing, Rev Pays, and Toby for calling it what the CMA's really are "The Trailer Trash Convention"
But I saw that video on CMT with Rob Scheider! that was hilarious! Then I turned on that show on BCAT that shows naked cellulite people at 3:00 am. Much better.
I thought lefties like Frank and Toby worshipped at the altar of tolerance. What's the matter, girls? Can't get over the election? If NYC can survive the vermin who attend the MTV and other hip hop awards, a few country fans won't do any harm.
Rev: No, of course Steve Earle wasn't nominated for any CMA awards. Just like The New Pornographers don't get nominated for any Grammys, for example. Doesn't lead people to dismiss pop or rock as an entire genre, does it? For the record, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Brad Paisley, Allison Krauss and Union Station, and Gretchen Wilson were all artists who DID participate in last night's ceremony. All of these artists have made some good music, and none of them are obnoxious Bush boosters or conservative activists.
Frank: We rolled out the red carpet because the CMA's are, for better or worse, the big country music awards show. It brought a lot of dollars to the city, and it opened up the idea of having a convention/event in NYC to a broader range of people. I am glad you are comfortable in your elitist, coastal attitudes, but throwing terms like "Trailer Trash" around is just as stupid as the pea-brained idiots in Nashville who dismiss all New Yorkers as city-slicker, stuck-up baby killers.
It's disappointing to see such resistance to accept country music--and, in a larger sense, the overall tastes of people who aren't East Coast urban dwellers--as more than a one-dimensional cartoon deserving of ridicule.
Ironically, you guys are being as knee-jerk reactionary and as black-and-white simplistic as a Bush Administration flack...
Nola:
I'm not tolerant to intolerance which like it or not, a majority of fans of this brand of Country Music are. In-tolerant to race, sex, religion, lifestyle choices etc. So I believe your comment to be invalid.
Scott, there is no resistance to country music here, it's a resistance to style of country that has the gall to wrap itself in the flag for marketing purposes and pandering to the lowest common demonitor of people who are by nature intolerant to other people's culture.
I guess I would be happy if they dragged out Charley Pride ;-)
Frank
Frank - Please provide us with some documentation supporting your claim that most country fans are intolerant. I suspect that I know far more of these people than you do and find your assertion to be ridiculous, but if you have proof let's see it. Otherwise, we can just assume that you are an irresponsible slanderer as well as intolerant.
Do most hip hop fans smoke crack and do most Judy Garland fans frequent bathhouses? I'm just curious as to whether you stereotype everyone or just people who aren't on the Left.
Question Nola, "How many Toby Keith Fan's have a confederate flag sticker on their pick up or a flag hanging in their house compared to say Judy Garland Fans."
Look if your the 1/2 of one percent of Toby Kieth fan's who didn't buy into Courtesy of the Red White and Blue good for you. But every fan I've met reeks of intolerance,and that's the point. We are not discussing great true American country like Johnny Cash or Willie Nelson or the Carter Family for that matter.
I'm fucking sick of the kindergarten mentality of the anti-SUV set. People, it is not about the # of SUV's and the gas they consume. It's about the sheer number of cars. SUV's are a fraction of the worlds cars and use a slightly larger fraction of the gas. It's like complaining about a fat greedy rat when your house is already overrun with mice.
And in some places people need to drive SUV's.
I'd be happy if they drug out Charley Pride, as well. I like Charley Pride--used to have a few of his LPs, as a matter of fact.
Anyway, don't we all agree that Toby Keith is a jingoistic fuck? All I'm trying to say is that Toby Keith's shrill brand of right-wing dumbass-ness is more an exception than the rule in country music. Most artists who ARE conservative keep fairly quiet about it, past vague assertions that they "support the troops," and there ARE a significant amount of country artists who break the pro-Bush mold.
Many stupid people like country music, much as many stupid people like hip-hop, rock, classical, and showtunes. But I still take exception to the smearing of an entire genre's fans. I am a country music fan, with many country music fan friends and family, and none of us are the flag-sticker dumbasses you describe. In the words of the great John Prine, "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore."
And with that, I will cease to beat a dead horse, and go listen to some Hank.
Frank - Do you know how many Toby Keith fans have confederate flag stickers on their cars? Of course not. Once again, you are slandering people you know nothing about. Typical left wing stuff.
And if Toby Keith isn't a rocket scientist, he's a poet when compared to twits like Green Day.
All of you, left or right, have shitty taste in music. Gag me with a spoon.
1. Country "music" is horrid, but still better than rap "music", but only in the same way as its better to get hit by a NYCTA bus than it is to get hit by a tour bus while biking - they are both painful and you will wind up being just as dead.
2. East Coast urbanites have little understanding of non-East Coast urbanites. If you have ever been stuck with some distant relatives in a small town in Wisconsin where the most exotic food is Domino's Pizza you will start to wonder how do these people live in this monocultural lilly white place. Apparently there is a lot of America like that, which is scary. When you just see white people around, something seems off, very off.
3. The South starts somewhere south of Trenton, New Jersey, or it just seems that way.
4. Those nationally syndicated whacked right wing nut jobs on WABC-AM seem to use country music as bumper music for their rant radio shows, which seem to be aimed at the America, guns, NASCAR, pickups/SUVs, and Jesus crowd that makes up the majority of country music fans.
5. NASCAR is stupid. It also wastes oil. How many people died so Bubba and his buddies can drive fast in circles for hours on end?
6. If you support the war or the current junta, you have to be stupid enough to listen to jingoistic nonsense or watch NASCAR and could be very easily be whipped up into a patriotic frenzy to support an invasion of Poland.
The overwhelming results of the CMA at Madison Square Garden shows that NY'ers are still interested in country music. Why don't we have a country music radio station anymore in NY?
1. Just because an event is held in NYC does not mean that the majority of people in NYC like what the event has to stand for, see 2004 Republican National Convention.
2. Why is there no country music radio station in NYC? Simple, supply and demand. There are a finite amount of radio stations, practically no demand for country music on the radio, so the free market takes hold. (Note: this is not always the case, see the hi-Jacking of WCBS-FM.)
Toby, your website indicates that you spend your life sitting in front of a TV set. So drop your pretensions to Manhattan snobbery, already. Anyone dropping the phrase "current junta" into a discussion of country music is obviously a pathetic poseur. Go back to Wisconsin.