Grups? Give me a break

Comments (7)

1. 

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   swoodie says Amen to that! I could not agree more. While we were living in Carroll Gardens over the summer, I often wondered who bought $75 dollar tee shirts for their 9 month old to barf on twice before it was too small. Smith Street, 7th Ave, et all lined with overpriced baby boutiques and trendy bars. I guess the target demographic is known as Grups. I am trying to listen to more jazz in the hopes the boys will somehow become mathematical. Don't want them following in their mama's footsteps of having to take remedial math as LSU. The math brain level required to do remedial math as LSU is presumably not high and I barely squeaked by. So Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane... Unfortunately the band Caleb likes best is the Mexican rock band Cafe Tacuba, specifically the song Ingrata. I think I will vomit enchiladas in mole sauce if I have to hear it one more time. Tobias likes ALL music, any music causes him to break out dancing. This week it has been "The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society" - one of my all time favorites. Woody Guthrie is a good recommendation - will try to locate some in John's TERRIBLE music filing system (we are still old school vinyl, cassette and CD in this house - much to my neat-freak chagrin.)

   Permalink posted 10/06/2006
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   ayork49 says I'll have to go back and read the article. I read it when it first came out, and posted the link to Elizabeth's blog when the discussion of music and kids came up. I agree about the class thing, and it wasn't a perfect article, but it articulated something that resonnated with me. Maybe that's just because my parents' idea of music was Barbra Streisand, and I vowed to never put my children through that. But hey -- the more kids who get turned on to more cool shit at an early age, the better. If it's true that everyone who bought the first VU album started a band, imagine what we're in for in about 10-12 years, with all these kids who have gotten Sister Ray in the crib. Look out world...

   Permalink posted 10/06/2006
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   eshep says i read that shit in august and it grossed me out. on so many levels that i couldn't even discern exactly what was grossing me out. the article grosses me out in that i hate when people grasp to define a 'movement' or a subculture that is not really that at all, but rather the times changing due to technology, evolving society, and accessibility. some of the people profiled grossed me out as well. what bugs me about some of these people in the article, and about a lot of the people i see out in the world, is that their embracing and touting of their parental philosophies, styles, etc. are so often nothing more than an over the top expression of, 'hey, look at us, we are hip and progressive,' rather than a true philosophy formulated to be what is the best for their child. i also was bothered by the author's equating playing good music for your children as a way of molding them into mini-me's. we play music in our house because we like to listen to music. if our children like it (and if it is age-appropriate - we're not blasting n.w.a.), then that's a plus. it's not a forcing of an aesthetic upon the child. yuck. there are so many other things that bother me. the snobbishness of these people he's portraying: 'fuck 'mommy & me' classes!' what is wrong with these people that they have to be so condescending to people who wish to attend a class like this? $200 ripped jeans? um, i have many, many friends with children, who play in bands, or who are artists, who wear band shirts, whose children listen to interesting and fun music, and none of them, none, wear $200 ripped jeans. i wear clothing because because its comfortable. if it happens to come from target, then great. who cares? $200 on a bedhead haircut? super-cuts and a can of $2 murray's pomade work just fine, thanks. $600 messenger bag??? i got mine at marshalls. $12 i think? who are these people? whoever they are, don't lump me in with them just because suit and ties are obsolete in the tech environment, and because i like my children to get a taste of music that is not written exclusively for 2-year olds, and just because i am lucky enough to work from home due to the miracle of technology, and because i wear some band shirts and tie one on every now and then. it's not grups. it's life in the 00's. it's a shift over 20 years in adult's priorities. these people you're talking about with the $400 pants and the $600 bag are the armani suit corner office guys of the 00's. the only thing that has changed is the style and the way business is conducted in the technology age.

   Permalink posted 10/06/2006
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   jenny says I read that story a couple of months ago, too, and immediately became crippled by mom-ish self-doubt. (I take my son to shows sometimes and we listen to music all the time, have since he was born. He also plays guitar, reasonably well for an 11-year-old.) But a lot of what's wrong with those people is that they live in NYC, which for all its charms, is unbelievably focused on material things. I'm sure $200 ripped jeans are pretty mild compared what the kids at Dalton are wearing and buying...it's just obscene by boho standards. I think we've got a big empty hole at the center of our culture, and people just keep trying to fill it in with stuff, that's all.

   Permalink posted 10/06/2006
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   BenNC says amen. glad I wasn't the only one who needed to vent.

   Permalink posted 10/09/2006
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   elizabeth says While I agree with alot of these points (I hate being labelled), I have to note the not-so-slight undertone of reverse snobsim here. I paint, am very passionate about music, wear beat up 15-year old converse sneakers, etc etc ... but i also own 12 pair of jeans, a few of which cost $200+, I drive a passat and i live in a well to do neighborhood in San Francisco. I just cringe a little when I hear people say they are so open-minded but then make sweeping generalizations about other people they don't know. what's wrong with spending $200 on jeans, anyway? why do we need to create an us vs them situation? That article grossed me out, too, but implying that "we" are better than "them" simply promotes the snobism we apparently disdain.

   Permalink posted 10/13/2006
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   BenNC says Hey Elizabeth, My point was not to criticize people who are rich but rather articles that discuss characteristics only of people who are rich (-ish even) and call it a trend. I agree with Jenny on this point that the magazine's standards show a reflection of that "big whole in the center of our culture with people trying to fill it in with stuff." Not all people just some. :)

   Permalink posted 10/16/2006

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