I am a Neko Case fan. Never kept it to myself. When I left Washington state to come home, I didn’t even know Case had moved here. I thought she probably still lived in the Northwest. I didn’t really care where she lived–I just cared that she kept making music, because I like it, and I like her shows. In fact, I once went to the Gorge in George (George, Wash.) to see her perform. I stood at the edge of the stage and waited with other fans. Then a hail storm came down, and Case started playing, probably hoping like all of us that it would end. But it didn’t, and the show was canceled. And I went home officially entered in some unofficial fan-caught-in-a-hail-storm-fan-club club
When I moved to Tucson, I caught a couple of her shows, and when I found out she lived here, I remember thinking it was pretty cool that she ended up in my hometown.
Then this weekend I read the NYT Sunday Magazine. Inside is a huge feature on none other than Ms. Case.
First problem, the reporter identifies a restaurant location as downtown Tucson. It’s Zinburger… the high-end burger place on River Road. Funny, but no big deal.
But the real issue is that Case is getting ready to leave Tucson. She’s moving on to a farm in Vermont because, evidently, we have a problem here with social vampires. I don’t know who you are, but with all our problems, I am betting we can blame Rio Nuevo on you, too, you, you social vampires you.
“I want to get away from the social vampires in Tucson,” she says. “The people who have no lives of their own and meet me and know who I am and feel entitled to say negative things. I have good friends here, especially in the bands” like Calexico and Giant Sand. Members of these bands and others have often appeared on her CDs. “But a lot of it is just like high school. And I like forests and all the wildlife up in Vermont.” It’s hard to imagine what these acts of social vampirism might consist of, but she prefers to leave them unspecified. She also asks that the Vermont town’s name not be mentioned. “I’ve had stalkers,” she says. Alexandria, Tacoma, Vancouver, Chicago, Tucson and, next, Vermont. Case hopes that her new community will prove to be her permanent home. You wonder.
I remember talking to a Grant Road project critic last year. He told me that Case lived in his neighborhood and was part of the road project ripped right behind Case’s backyard. And that she happened to be the biggest donor to the anti-RTA campaign. I don’t know if this is true, but interesting. At that point, I guess I could have figured out where she lived, paid a visit and joined the other group – fans-who-turn-into-social-vampires-club club.
It’s OK that Case is leaving. I don’t think of her as Tucson’s–what I take from her music is that she belongs to a lot places. It’s nice she was part of the community during her tenure here–advocating for the dogs, and her neighborhood. But I do wonder if she got Tucson.
The clip above shows her farmhouse in Vermont where part of her new record was recorded–comes out in early March. But the tone in the NYT piece doesn’t feel like she got living down here. And that’s what’s disappointing.
I thought the person who wrote a song like “Maybe Sparrow,” would get all the sadness and beauty and desire and ugliness that is Tucson. I guess Vermont just has more of the beauty. We all know it’s greener, but I bet it has just as many social vampires.
This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2009.
You know, as much as I love Neko, I’m not going to lie and say some of the stuff in this article didn’t leave a bruise.
The real problem though is, while it’s obvious Neko had some problems with some people here, the writer of this piece, Daniel Menaker, really seems to carry a strong ignorance about our city, and it’s tough to say how much of that factored into the presentation.
“DURING MY VISIT TO TUCSON, we took a trip to buy produce of integrity at a Whole Foods supermarket overlooking the city. It was one of your more picturesque supermarkets, to say the least, in a mall with a cactus garden and a spectacular view.”
Pretty sure he’s talking about AJs at La Encantada here. Couple that with the Zin Burger location description and you wonder how much this guy was even paying attention.
By far the biggest offender comes soon after:
“The whole place, the whole city below, exuded both desperation and determination, mixed in with its meth fumes.”
It’s tough to say whether he’s being literal or figurative here with the meth fumes comment, but what’s clear is that Menaker reveals himself as a first-class, self-righteous Manhattan d-bag.
We’ll miss you Neko. Hope you still carry some good memories from Tucson.
As for Menaker, good riddance.
I should have pointed out the meth fumes line, too. Thanks for point out it was AJs. I kept thinking about the Whole Foods on Oracle, but still didn’t go together. When I look down from there, especially Swan, I just usually think to myself how green the desert really is and enjoy the view – meth fumes never really enter the picture.
Sad to see such a great talent giving up on Tucson. I don’t think it’s fair to blame the article’s negativity on the author. I suspect it’s an honest reflection of Neko’s feelings. And I can’t say I blame her. After more than 40 years here, I think I get Tucson. I get it enough to have stayed. But the longer I’ve stayed the more I’ve come to recognize how many people are just here to get rich off our desert and then get out and enjoy their profits elsewhere. Local politics is a disastrous joke–corruption, a good old boy/girl network doing favors for each other and keeping incompetents in power. Even elections that can be so poorly run (or fixed) without any serious investigation and the responsible parties still in their jobs and still counting votes.
Thanks for the music, Neko. Thanks for giving Tucson a chance. I hope you find what you’re looking for. Wouldn’t it be great if Tucson finds it, too?
for an example of social vapirism see above blog post.
neko pretty much summed up the way things are: “I want to get away from … The people who have no lives of their own and meet me and know who I am and feel entitled to say negative things. ”
but you know, tucson is a small town so it takes a thick skin if you plan to be here awhile. everyone thinks everyone sucks eventually sometime. just the way things are.
but neko’s skin always seemed a little thin to me.
but if she thinks its tough here, wait until she encounters some of those backwoods vermonters with gun racks and muddy boots and those little horns they hide under their hats.
you never belong unless you go back at least three generations back.
i predict neko will wind up in santa fe or telluride in 10 years or so.
What does it mean to “get” Tucson? Maybe an appreciation for the desert, cactus, and Harris’s hawks, combined with an awareness that there are a lot of poor and some desperate people here, too much meth and too many strip malls, and generally that one of the city’s biggest industries has been ripping up the same desert to build ticky-tacky houses. Not everyone wants to stick around for this ugliness forever. I don’t think that “getting” Tucson means you have to avoid pointing out the scars on it.
I read the NY Times article and thought it was interesting. But I can’t really understand the criticism of the author regarding Tucson (remember, the article was about Neko Case and her artistic development, not Tucson). And, while I’m on my rant, give Neko a break, for all we know the “social vampires” could be her way of referring to stalkers.
Also, she is right on when she describes Tucson in the following terms: “There’s a lot of crime here,” Case said. “Break-ins. A lot of drugs too — meth.”
I lived a block away from where she did and left with my family because Tucson has low paying jobs, poor education, crime, drugs, graffiti, subsidization of developers, incompetent local government (eg, Rio Nuevo), etc. The mountains and desert are beautiful, but not enough after a while to make up for all these problems.
I get Tucson and that’s why I moved.
I side with Neko on this. I might not understand the term “social vampire” but it’s hard to ignore the sort of self-centered, insular, close-minded social club that many others have encountered and related to me in local music and entertainment circles.
A lot are folks who come in from out of town. They typically have taken the plunge and are earning a living from their art and love the aesthetic feel of the Old Pueblo.
The “vibes” I get from these folks is a bit of shock that lingers as sort of an “unspoken truth” that comes with this territory. I’ve worked with people who have dealt with local drama scenes, the local band scene, local media outlets and even the symphony. I wish it could be dismissed as something you find everywhere, but too many from outside had the same experiences. They’re left scratching their heads wondering “what on earth could justify such behavior?”
One more thing. Last December, in the “Get Out of Town” issue, the Weekly took a pot shot at “Grant Road Whiners” who resist the widening project. I was surprised by that coming from the closest thing we have to a progressive newspaper. Even if the Weekly is firmly for widening, there are a lot of good arguments that road widening eventually just increases traffic loads and sprawl and commute times go back up, and that it’s not the best way to spend money. Maybe if Neko Case was in fact really PO’ed by this project, the Weekly ought to be poking its own eye out rather than complaining about NY Times articles.
It took me a long while to pleasantly realize Neko Case sporadically did vocals for The New Pornographers, but I wish her well. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll have to try this, and The National (I never could get into The National before, but maybe this time around…)
To the person who brought me Spoon, salut!
Wish Neko would have filmed her piano orchestra up in the barn at Oracle’s Triangle L Ranch. But as a former Northeasterner I must say Vermont too is a beautiful place. The desert’s magic, however, has unique power and draws certain people — maybe Neko is one of them and she will be back someday.
I spent 6 years of my life in Tucson, arrived at the tender age of 18 and after a desperate life there, left…
The first thing you are told–after you arrive, not when contemplating moving there–is that it’s and “economically depressed” area. Understatement.
I echo Ken 4:49’s thoughts. Poor Meko, did get Tucson and left.
sad look at all the unsucessful bloggers on this post.
I can say with complete assurance and by example that if you work hard you to can be successful. I was born and raised here, lived in phx, bay area, LA and believe me there are pretensious jerks in any music scene and meth in every city of significant size JT.
I think her whiny fan base and the whiny anti-RTA folks are coming out in droves – sorry Neko, others the city doesn’t just stop growing AFTER you move here and take up the housing which leads to sprawl. you PART TIME residents are the problem, you want what you want when you want it and heaven forbid it not agree with your thinking.
If you want a community you have to be a part of that community first. I say good riddance to socrates (what are you even doing on a tucson blog anyway – bored? nothing to do why really?)
so good riddance to you to neko and to everyone else wasting space here in tucson.