Last night I saw Princes corny Purple Rain movie that I for some reason actually like and I have been listening to prince non stop since. It's a drag that he's so overboard on who gets to do what with his name. I know he was screwed over by big labels worse than just about anyone else but damn! I was looking up some things about him and apparrently all of his fan sites have gotten C&D orders. Lighten up Prince! It's like when it rains purple you're the only one who wants to get wet, and those fan sites are but tiny kiddie pools of your undying fellow-vegan following. When the clouds rain blood on all of us iand we all get the blues so bad that we'll only be able to bathe, laugh and dance in the pools of what will be then purple rain. Today I did my laundry. 

I just quit myspace. I sent out a little missive as to why. here it is. 

Hello, to everyone on my friends list. I’m sending out this message to let you know that I am deleting my  Myspace  account in one week and can be reached through my website www.ryanstark.com or just shoot me an email, stark@ryanstark.com. If you’re interested in why I’m quitting myspace read on and if not there is nothing else in this message you’ll want to  check out. Thanks.

 I knew it was time to leave Myspace when I was afraid to because of all of the contacts that I have on it. I have a lot of friends in places thousands of miles away in different countries and with a click of a button I can see pictures of them. I tour a lot doing speaking dates all around North America and in touring, somehow Myspace has become an industry standard and to quit it would mean possibly not getting in on some possible shows. The only reason that everyone is on Myspace is that everyone is on Myspace. If my show is booked through Myspace than my show presumes that the people who come to the show are also on Myspace which is a frightening thought. The moment that an industry has control over one show than that show in one way or another was brought to you by that industry. In this case the very reason that I am afraid to leave is the very reason why it is important to leave. To break ties with anything that might seek to control the music and the art. Right now Myspace has the influence to have secret shows where only those on Myspace are allowed to go. This exclusionary mindset destroys an original punk ethos that I hold dear, that anyone can do it and that we are all on the same playing field. Music and communication in general presuppose an inclusionary mindset in that there must be a listener and the great part about punk rock is that it allowed anyone the freedom to listen and get involved. Myspace started as a tool and has turned into something that has overrun music at a multinational level. Nietzsche warned about this in his line about the abyss. When you look into the abyss the abyss looks into you. Well after looking into Myspace for this amount of time I have realized that it has overwrought its own entity as a tool for its users and has become a tool for its owners. Here   in Reno, there have been house shows shut down by Reno PD because of Myspace tip offs that run in conjunction with RPD. This runs counter to everything I have worked for and if we want to keep our national networking community fully capable we need to separate form all of those that would seek to take our hard work and control away from us. My way of getting in touch with bands and people I know will no longer be through a website owned by FOX. So I’m putting myself in exile from online social networking and I’ll stick to the shows that aren’t predicated on something owned by FOX. What scares me about Myspace becoming an industry standard for online networking is how easily communication can be assumed to be predicated on it. This is similar to the alcohol industry invading areas of music. Music has been a means of communication since the dawn of human kind. Before people could even figure out painting things on caves we’ve had to grunt and make sounds to communicate where we were coming from without the luxury of written language. This is the earliest form of music and it is no small surprise that it was first born as a tool of communication. Before we even figured out a want or need to express we needed to communicate and cave paintings did the same thing. Today there are subgenres and aesthetics and insane time signatures but the need to communicate remains the same. Some time about a hundred years ago some alcohol companies figured out that there was a lot of money to made at concerts and social gatherings. Alcahol was made available at concerts and shows and for a time it was a nice convenience to be able to drink while the concert was going on. For a time. This grew to having a separation of all ages venues and all other shows. All of the sudden this industry has taken over a natural means of communication. Then it had the gumption to say, “all people who cannot legally support this industry may not have access to this music” This is why an all ages venue is in its self there to take out an industry that would rather it just go die. A large bell was rang in my head when a comment when the band Beauty Pill left a spam comment on my page. The spam presented no big problem in my life and I let them know and it was cool. But the idea that a band that I hold in high regard is now unknowingly spamming me Left me an eerie feeling. The way I see it a band I hold in high regard is spamming me is predicated on three things. First, there must be a band that is held in high regard, second there must be someone who holds said band in high regard and third there must be an avenue for the two of them to communicate that can get compromised. I like Beauty Pill as much as I did before Myspace and they still have a listener to their music so the only reason I was spammed is the middleman between the band and its listeners.  If I’m missing out on a bunch of bands on Myspace than it’s those bands that I’m interested in, not the Myspace. So the only thing to do is to stay informed and switched on and never rely on anyone who ever wants to make things more convenient for you. I’m quitting Myspace because I see it as a useless convenience that has gotten too important to me. I get too much spam and too many people trying to hype things to me. There are a ton of gripes one can have that seem to be intrinsic to online social networking.   The fact that I’m leaving may come as a resounding “Who cares?” This is even more telling of why it’s time to go. Not because I want everyone to care about what I do but that it’s no big deal to not to be a part of Myspace. That feeling, if you dissect it, shows how little Myspace actually counts to your own person. This is my resignation and my appeal. My revolution begins with my ability to say no.

 Thanks for reading.

-Ryan Stark