I get what they're going for but live music specifically is very much available nationwide (US). You can see a live musician any night of the week in almost any locale. Maybe you won't like what's playing, but it's out there.
Gig musicians at non-music venues are definitely fewer but a lot of musicians still make their most consistent living playing regular gigs at bars and coffee shops and such.
Maybe it’s just a temporary thing, eventually people will get sick of AI and being marketed digitally at every breath they take. Old things do come back, you know?
Why are we making predictions on society based on hopes, anyway? If your goal is to find a cozy little dance floor and you're in a populated enough city, the you'll find whatever genre of dance you want with a small few core people. You just need to hope you like that core.
But that's not an option for everyone be it due to their living situation or the rising costs of everything.
Idk, someone is buying those tickets. I go to a dance party every month or so. But also… you are not forbidden from dancing. You can just do it. So if you want to go dancing and don’t, that’s on you.
No one is stopping me from just dancing alone in my house. I feel thst misses the social point of dancing though.
And again. Anecdotes. There's no dance parties in my town. I need to travel 40 minutes to another city and pay $20 for 3 hours of dancing every month. Not worth it for me in any regard.
"treflop" says he goes dancing regularly, in addition to various live music events. "freeone3000" says he goes to a dance party every month or so.
It sounds like your town just sucks, and you should move to one of their towns. You can't expect all towns across the country to be equally good for all interests.
I'd also need more than two opinions on unknown towns before I'd consider that. Maybe they're both on San Francisco paying 3x in rent. Literally can't afford that move.
I mean, this of course is just a casual conversation on an internet forum, so I don't seriously mean you should pack up right now and move to one of those two towns just because of dancing. But my larger point is that different places offer different things, and some places just aren't going to be very good for certain cultural interests (like dancing). America's a big place, and if you don't really like the place you're in, I don't think it's that productive to say "activity X is really bad these days" just because it's bad in your area, and some other areas that some article claims based on anecdotes. It may even be the case that it really is worse, on average, than several decades ago. But there's surely places where it's fine, so if the area you're in doesn't meet your expectations for cultural activities, perhaps you should start looking around for a new place.
>I don't think it's that productive to say "activity X is really bad these days" just because it's bad in your area
Then why is it okay to say the opposite and ignore the average experience? I don't understand the double standard here. If we base anything on extremes everything sounds amazing or awful.
And I wasn't speaking for myself. I'm simply referencing the article where someone took the time and effort to make an entire book based on this phenomenon. What compelling reason do I have to take these commenter's words over the authors? (no offense to the commentors).
>so if the area you're in doesn't meet your expectations for cultural activities, perhaps you should start looking around for a new place.
If that's important enough to you, sure. But this feels like a very unsympathetic and potentially non-viable solution for most of the population.
We're not all single people with 6 months of saving ready to not renew an apartment lease. Some people have families, some people need to be around certain scenes to get steady work, some people can't afford to move, etc. Everyone has passions but most people won't throw their lives away to pursue that passion.
e.g. I want to one day seriously study art, but the circus of a job search, paying off my debt, and rebuffering my savings comes before I start browsing for classes. Proper responsible living means delaying your immediate urges and passions to keep yourseof afloat.
It seems like you’re in a community in need of this; you can be the organizer! You seem like you’re in a small enough community to not even need a permit! All you really need is a clear space and some music. Throw some adverts up on insta and some telephone poles and you’ve got yourself an event :)
>the shows I go to are packed and there are other people dancing
I would love to actually be able to dance/move at packed shows. Not to mention the absolutely lame rise of seated only shows. Orchestral music, ok, but sitting down at a rock show is neutering the experience for me.
With all due respect: you're commenting on a post of an article about the New Yorker about an entire book someone made about this phenomenon. Maybe the book is all anecdotes, but this isn't just your friend sitting around watching Netflix all day and wonder why everything is so boring. Clearly there's a larger societal issue.
I'm glad it works out for you, but you aren't society.
Was there ever really a time when people didn't sit at home for entertainment?
I think before radio, sitting around and reading a book was pretty normal. Back then a lot of people lived in places where visiting the neighbors was a lot harder than it is now.
Gig musicians at non-music venues are definitely fewer but a lot of musicians still make their most consistent living playing regular gigs at bars and coffee shops and such.