1 (edited by bobkatmsu 2021-05-31 22:24:48)

Topic: Turned off

I discovered Joe when RAH I first came out and have been hooked ever since. I am Joe's market. We are in our 60's, retired and a fair amount of diposable income. 10 concerts later, including Red Rocks, cruise tickets, a lithograph, hats, shirts omg the shirts lol, almost forgot a Joe B back scratcher shaped lkke a guitar, every album and video, I think it's time to back off. Oh, I still think he's great, but part of enjoyment of supporting Joe was you like to support people that appreciate your support. The past couple times we've seen Joe the arrogance has been obvious. He did a couple shows this spring, we were at the Clearwater, Fl show. If ever an entertainer was going to show some humility that would have been the time, coming off the pandemic. It was the opposite. He bordered on snarky towards the crowd.  As he stated a couple times, he could do what he wants, because he @#$%^^&# can. Now would that bother a younger audience, nope no one has any standards any more except the people that are his audience. Old folks like me with lots of money.lol
Still love Joe's music always will but its probably time to turn down the rest of it.
Edit: Found it interesting this forum edited a quote of Joe's that I used. I don't blame them wanting to keep this sight classy changed the word to symbols %#@&. Someone might mention to Joe the gratuitous use of this word is not in keeping with respecting his audience.

The only thing we deserve, is an opportunity.  Everything else has to be earned.

Re: Turned off

I hear you. I understand. I feel you. But "Beyond the Silence" is a masterpiece. And for that I forgive him Anything.

Re: Turned off

I can only imagine what a trauma was last year for Joe. One doesn't go through something like this unchanged. I certainly don't think he became arrogant and not humble, but I think he sat down and looked back at his body of work, his musical legacy, his charitable work and realized how high on top he was as a human being, musician, businessman, male and social class figure. All done by working hard and being extremely focused and dedicated to his art. I am pretty sure thought process like this does things to one's views of society and other people as individuals.
In spite of all this I think it was probably extremely hard for Joe psychologically to go back to touring, thus breaking a promise of a power trio and turning it into a quartet ( although I love Jade and didn't mind it at all ). Also some weird choices for the fan curated set list  ( scuttin buttin? what? crossroads? wondering earth? who's favorite songs were those lol).

  My personal struggle was ACL concert. Everything he did in it that was not music, hit me extremely bad and hard, starting from his drum covers, his attire and especially what he said in between songs. Being his very close follower for a while, I knew that every little thing he said was there for a reason, thus making it even harder to accept. The concert itself though was extremely revealing and told me more about Joe that he wanted to. He definitely had his guard down and bared his soul deeply in this one. Almost sure they will edit chunks of it out for the dvd.

signed: poor Yorick, lol... poor Reo


  PS: love Joe's merch, but have to admit, it became a bit silly lately.

4 (edited by Lester 2021-06-02 06:34:01)

Re: Turned off

I see where you are coming from Bobkat.
My interest has waned also, I never really got the horns and backing singers but stuck with it.
Not too bothered about the live shows either, I’ve seen Joe around eight times since the UK Sloe Gin tour but I now feel I’ve seen the better times.
I’ve not bought a CD or DVD since Redemption came out, personally I feel Joe releases too much material, maybe for commercial reasons but sometimes less is more. How many times do we need to hear a different arrangement of Sloe Gin live?
I like Joe and still support him from a distance but there’s no rule that says you have to like everything he does, buy every product and go to every concert.
Reo mentioned Joe has been through a trauma last year, is that the same COVID trauma that we have all been through?
Anyway, keep doing what you do Joe, curious to see/hear what the future brings, even though I’m probably not going to support you financially.

Lester..

Re: Turned off

Interesting thread. I dont follow things as closely as I used to.
Seems like he is more outgoing on his  opinions as time goes on.
  I do think he is genuine as being a nice person from afar. The more success brings more trolls and haters so who knows how someone processes all that.
In the end I tend to focus on the music as thats the product. He has at least not i erly duplicated himself which is very important to longevity. Many people find that musical sweet spot but then that moves on.
Perhaps that is why this forum has slowed down so much over the last 5 years or so.

Your rock candy baby
Your hard sweet and sticky

Re: Turned off

It has been a minute since I have checked in here. Being in the public eye is a bit of a curse, it seems. From Joe being attacked almost constantly on social media and now by his fans because he doesn't live up to their expectations musically or graciously.

I wasn't at Clearwater, but I was at ACL. Joe's sense of humor not everyone gets. F bombs are thrown occasionally true, and he is a bit sarcastic. Maybe that's why we are friends. We have the same sense of humor and the same sarcastic wit, at least I think I'm funny, but I don't have an audience for my shtick.

I was at a recent show of an artist we would all know here, and he talked a lot. Way more than Joe's one break for his banter. He said some really heartfelt things and some things that could be misconstrued. I chose to embrace the words I thought were inspiring and ignore the things I may have misunderstood the intent or the message. I came to see music, but the show included a lot of dialogue that really seemed to connect with the crowd. I cut him some slack because these days the world is just tense, overly sensitive, just plain stressed out.

The year off for most people have been an opportunity to take stock of what is important and if after a year-long break from Joe he didn't hit that spark for you then maybe you need two.

Think for a moment how difficult it was to even pull that mini tour off. It was on the edge of not happening on a daily basis and I know an artist is supposed to hide his true feelings and put a good face on and act like all is right in the world and make you forget your troubles but what we like about Joe is his candor and his humor, but I guess not everybody does.

Re: Turned off

Jane H. wrote:

I wasn't there so I won't try to say I know what Joe was saying or meaning but I can say he does joke around on stage which often gets misunderstood. That doesn't matter much though if it left you feeling otherwise.
For me, even though its hard for me to keep up with his instagram etc., I have listened to many of his interviews over the past year and I enjoy seeing / hearing more of his personality. I keep gaining more appreciation for him as a person.
I buy a lot of merch too and each time shake my head at myself....but right now I'm hoping the watering cans go on sale.
I know Joe still appreciates me as a fan even if I don't buy the merch.
Anyway I guess the reason I replied is to say I don't think you can judge Joe's character by his stage persona. You can get to know him more from how he shares much of his life with us. I understand though if it takes some enjoyment out of it for you.

Joe's music has always hit me perfect. I like his early stuff, I like his full band with horns and back up singers. One thing you always know is that anything Joe is involved with is first class. I think there has only been one album I was disappointed in, and the disappointment was not in the playing, but the songs chosen for the album. Joe knows his audience. They are 55+ with money to spend. As he has often said he dresses on stage the way he does out of respect to his audience. If his audience was in it's 20's that would not work, but they're not. There are 2 sides to Joe's persona, on stage and off. Business and casual. My impression is his off stage persona is showing through when he talks to the audience and he's losing his bearing and the worst part is he doesn't care any more. I can and often have a bad attitude, I can swear with the best of them, ask my wife, but when I'm around my clientele my best side comes to the front. Joe's latest attitude was either I don't want to or don't have to do that anymore. I would not try to guess the motivation behind his change in attitude, but it's there and it's a turn off. The statement that he repeated twice was, why do I  do certain things, because I #%×&<:# can. With the insinuation, whether you like it or not. Is that a joke? And that pretty much went along with the rest of the evening.
We were coming off a year of a pandemic, people were excited to be there. No matter what any of us had endured over the past year, this was a light at the end of the tunnel for all of us.
Still love Joes music, always will. Probably won't defend him as much on line as I used to and his t-shirt sales will take a hit.lol. Will I go see Joe again...I don't know. If I do it will be because I really liked his last album and I want to see it live, it won't be because Joe's in town, we gotta go see him. It's been a great run, not over, but re-evaluated.

The only thing we deserve, is an opportunity.  Everything else has to be earned.

8 (edited by DougH 2021-06-04 12:38:22)

Re: Turned off

I'm sad Joe doesn't comment here on this forum anymore.
I'm sad the street team folded and chances of another meet'n'greet are so far removed,  I might as well walk on water.

Joe's comments are sometimes self deprecating,  he's often used that "I can do what I want" esp when talking about buy yet another $200k guitar.
"No adult supervision "

Sometimes times his comments are "out there" likecthe ACL concert and his comments about drug taking.

Sometimes he should refrain.  But it is what it is

Now if Canada can stop being kicked down at get concerts going again

---------------

(If only I had 1% of Joe's guitar talent)

Re: Turned off

jim m wrote:

It has been a minute since I have checked in here. Being in the public eye is a bit of a curse, it seems. From Joe being attacked almost constantly on social media and now by his fans because he doesn't live up to their expectations musically or graciously.

I wasn't at Clearwater, but I was at ACL. Joe's sense of humor not everyone gets. F bombs are thrown occasionally true, and he is a bit sarcastic. Maybe that's why we are friends. We have the same sense of humor and the same sarcastic wit, at least I think I'm funny, but I don't have an audience for my shtick.

I was at a recent show of an artist we would all know here, and he talked a lot. Way more than Joe's one break for his banter. He said some really heartfelt things and some things that could be misconstrued. I chose to embrace the words I thought were inspiring and ignore the things I may have misunderstood the intent or the message. I came to see music, but the show included a lot of dialogue that really seemed to connect with the crowd. I cut him some slack because these days the world is just tense, overly sensitive, just plain stressed out.

The year off for most people have been an opportunity to take stock of what is important and if after a year-long break from Joe he didn't hit that spark for you then maybe you need two.

Think for a moment how difficult it was to even pull that mini tour off. It was on the edge of not happening on a daily basis and I know an artist is supposed to hide his true feelings and put a good face on and act like all is right in the world and make you forget your troubles but what we like about Joe is his candor and his humor, but I guess not everybody does.

Joe and his team have done a brilliant job of identifying his audience and then litterally playing to that audience. Other musicians are looking at Joe and saying, how did you do that and how can we get in on it. First of all, you have to be as talented as Joe and few are. Second you have to have some real business acumen to pull off what J and R Adventures have done.
Joe's audience is 55+ with money. Nice target audience to have, a little narrow but the fact they have the largest disposable income of any other demographic makes up for it. One thing people need to know about this age group is it is discerning. Things an entertainer could get awayl with 20 or 30 year olds you're  not going to get away with in this group. Don't like that pressure, think that "Boomer's are a pain in the butt, that's fine, go find another audience that pays as much, or and I could see this being the reality, he's made enough he just doesn't care. If that's the case, good for Joe. We all hope to get to that point someday.
As far as coming through covid, we all had our difficuties, Joe's brand of suffering was no better or worse then anyone else. Putting a tour together was no more difficult then the poor guy that was trying to get toilet paper to 330 million Americans. We all have our challenges.
Are entertainers supposed to put a certain face forward even in difficult times, YES, that's their job and discerning customers are going to notice. Back in the day Iggy Pop could spit on you and molest your girlfriend and that was part of the show. We've grown up.
See my answers to Jane, I didn't want to repeat it all here.

The only thing we deserve, is an opportunity.  Everything else has to be earned.

Re: Turned off

My first post in a long time....years even. What I've always appreciated about Joe is that he is who he is. He's never apologized for it. I also have noticed that as his social media presence has grown, the personality between who he is onstage versus offstage has blurred. I'm absolutely okay with that. I think for me, my fandom increases the more I feel like we get to see the real person. Not the polished, put together one with the comments that try to offend no one. I for one, still appreciate that about Joe. But the great thing about all of this is that we can all hop off the train anytime we want. It's a beautiful thing. Life's too short.

"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make"

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