WHO HAD DONE THIS ?!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_one_cares_about_your_garage_band

 Yeah , as I recall , his exact words were , "Did we stuff? Johnny was Italian , and I'm Jewish , OF COURSE , we did'nt stuff !". In other Schlong Rock NEWS , ALL ARE INVITED TO READ MY REVIEW OF BLACK OAK ARKANSAS' SHOW, IN BEVERLY , ILL. , LAST SUMMER , at www.roctober.com . You'll have to scroll back a ways to find it in the reviews.......

I had to think about it for a while, but NOW I remember...

Okay...Lenny Kaye used to have a column in Rock Scene called "Ask Doc Rock," where readers would write in and ask various questions pertaining to rock trivia.

In one 1974 issue, one reader noticed the huge bulge in the crotch of Syl's pants on the back cover and wondered if he was, ah, "stuffed." Just like that dude from Spinal Tap.

Lenny remarked that he'd asked Syl point-blank what the deal was. He said that was indeed HIM. His manhood. No enhancements necessary.

Much later, I interviewed Syl in '97 or '98 for a local magazine here in Chicago and asked the same question. He told me the same thing he told Lenny, adding (rough paraphrase), "hey, I'm Jewish, Johnny Thunders was Italian, what can I say?"

BTW, all issues of Rock Scene are online now. If you want to see this exchange for yourself, here it is on Page 10: http://www.rockscenester.com/rockscene10book/ 

Also , I don't know if it was Wikipedia , but Sylvain Sylvain once told me he found his name on the internet in association with the group , Japan , because New Rose had put out a Live album from Japan in '75 by the last installment of The Dolls (Pre - reformation.) that said "DAVID" and "SYLVAIN" on the cover, with graphics similar to those seen on David Sylvian (Japan's former lead singer)'s records , or Japan's albums , themselves ......So , Sylvain was listed as having been a member of Japan and having worked with Riyuichi Sakamoto , which , of course , he never had , but , his response was " Hey , I did'nt work with these people , but , thanks , anyway.". There was an Artie Kane who'd been Barbara Streisand's Producer , so , Sylvain also found a listing for Arthur Kane , from The Dolls , as Barbara Streisand's Producer......OK , IT'S FUNNIER WHEN SYL TELLS IT.  James , the floor is yours. Could you tell us , please , the story about the first New York Dolls album cover ? I'm sure it beats Hell out of anything Wikipedia will ever say about it.
 
John Battles said:

It's the difference between OUR truth and theirs , I think. You or I may know that something they've put up is inaccurate or incomplete , but if misinformation gets past their (Non) filters , it's going to be difficult proving them wrong. Do I still refer to them ? Of course , but , we can't take their word for gold , not when you have to go thru so many hurdles , in effect , to HELP them , by correcting an error or filling in blank spaces.  
 
James Porter said:

Hell, I didn't even know it took much to get on Wikipedia in the first place. Can't anybody just write anything? Most Wiki articles I see have some outlandishly wrong factoid in the first place!

It's the difference between OUR truth and theirs , I think. You or I may know that something they've put up is inaccurate or incomplete , but if misinformation gets past their (Non) filters , it's going to be difficult proving them wrong. Do I still refer to them ? Of course , but , we can't take their word for gold , not when you have to go thru so many hurdles , in effect , to HELP them , by correcting an error or filling in blank spaces.  
 
James Porter said:

Hell, I didn't even know it took much to get on Wikipedia in the first place. Can't anybody just write anything? Most Wiki articles I see have some outlandishly wrong factoid in the first place!

The way I see it John: it's the universe speaking to you through wikipedia, saying you need to expand your artistic medium to include film. Just sayin'.

John Carlucci said:

 ...the link took you to a page from some film maker that obviously was not me. 

Actually, quite a few of our members have found the Hideout because of the GaragePunk.com entry there. So that's not entirely true. It's good for what it is, but you just have to remember to take the information you read there with a grain of salt and always double-check facts (ahem, Steve! haha).

John Carlucci said:

We should name this thread, "No one cares about Wikipedia" lol!

 There was a a link on a wikipedia page of The Fuzztones crediting the bass player as John Carluccio, & the link took you to a page from some film maker that obviously was not me. So I corrected it, and got a notice that my entry might be "Peacocking" (posting by the subject to advertise) & needed verification! lol. So I wrote an explanation that I was just correcting mis-information & they still have it flagged! lol!! Luckily, someone else linked a NY Times story I was mentioned in, so they left it up. LOL. I mean seriously, they were okay with some idiot putting a link to the wrong person, but not okay with my verification that I was the credited musician?? The other guy wasn't even a musician!

I love the 'CRACKER BARREL BEER AND LOBSTER HOUSE' reference ! 

Usually the band is unsigned, has released no albums (or only a self-produced CD), and the article was written by the band.

Damn, that would be us...

I had one embarrassing experience with Wikipedia in my other life as a political reporter. 

Back in 2008, I had an interview with then U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, who was doing a fund-raiser for a local Congressman. (This of course was before he was Obama's chief of staff or mayor of Chicago.

Before the interview, I read Emanuel's Wikipedia entry just to get some basic facts. Here's one of those "facts":

"He was in a one-man Klezmer band called Rahmbunctious Eman."

How could I not ask him about that? It had a linked footnote and everything.

So I asked. And he looked at me like I was crazy.

"No," he said.

According to the footnote in Wikipedia, the klezmer claim supposedly was in a 2005 Rolling Stone profile. However, looking over the article afterwards, there's nothing about Rahmbunctious Eman or Rahm Emanuel in that article.

The line in Wikipedia had disappeared by the next day.

G. Wood said:

Yeah, anybody can, but they have hordes of no-no volunteers whose hobby is finding articles to recommend for deletion.

James Porter said:

Hell, I didn't even know it took much to get on Wikipedia in the first place. Can't anybody just write anything? Most Wiki articles I see have some outlandishly wrong factoid in the first place!

We should name this thread, "No one cares about Wikipedia" lol!

Yeah, anybody can, but they have hordes of no-no volunteers whose hobby is finding articles to recommend for deletion.

James Porter said:

Hell, I didn't even know it took much to get on Wikipedia in the first place. Can't anybody just write anything? Most Wiki articles I see have some outlandishly wrong factoid in the first place!

Hell, I didn't even know it took much to get on Wikipedia in the first place. Can't anybody just write anything? Most Wiki articles I see have some outlandishly wrong factoid in the first place!

Definitely better. As the saying goes, "Don't ever grow up. It's a trap." Shouldn't you be in a band to have fun in the first place?

SMF said:

Here's who cares about my band:

Me

Otto

Dave

Andy 

We ARE the band...

That's all that matters!

We are back in the recording studio next month. Who cares about that? See above.

This is certainly better than growing up...

You're right, and this was also true for when we added the GaragePunk Hideout to Wikipedia (here's the link), which will probably end up getting deleted because it lacks notability. There just aren't enough news sites out there "reporting" on websites like ours! I guess it doesn't matter that we have 7,500 members or over 12,000 likes on Facebook... if you don't have a proper press article that explains the site with "verifiable facts" then you're screwed. So it's lacking verified citations, but what can you do? You can't write those articles yourself, and most "journalists" (and I use that term VERY loosely these days) rarely ever care about a site like this to even bother with visiting it, let alone spend any time here to get the general vibe or learn more about the Hideout Comps, GPPR, etc. I think there's just too much gray area around "press articles" vs. blog posts. What should make one a proper citation and the other not?

G. Wood said:

I was asked to write a Wikipedia page for my friend's band. After reading the requirements detailing who qualifies for a page that won't be deleted, I questioned whether my friend qualifies, even though she's released 3 albums for actual labels, has tons of press, and plays regularly from LA to NY. 

It's not easy to write a proper Wiki article. It needs to have verified citations from press articles (not online blogs), and be composed of verifiable facts. It's very different from just dashing off a promo bio full of adjectives. Which is why I never finished it.

But yeah, it's true. No one cares about my garage band. I have maybe 25 fans worldwide, and half of them are musicians, who are on the last album. I don't have a band, I have a circle of friends.

I was asked to write a Wikipedia page for my friend's band. After reading the requirements detailing who qualifies for a page that won't be deleted, I questioned whether my friend qualifies, even though she's released 3 albums for actual labels, has tons of press, and plays regularly from LA to NY. 

It's not easy to write a proper Wiki article. It needs to have verified citations from press articles (not online blogs), and be composed of verifiable facts. It's very different from just dashing off a promo bio full of adjectives. Which is why I never finished it.

But yeah, it's true. No one cares about my garage band. I have maybe 25 fans worldwide, and half of them are musicians, who are on the last album. I don't have a band, I have a circle of friends.

IF IT'S A BAND THAT'S WHINING BECAUSE THEY CAN'T GET ON WIKIPEDIA , YEAH , LESS THAN 10 MIGHT BE MORE LIKE IT  . BUT , IF WE'RE TALKING ABOUT A BAND THAT'S PUT IN SOME TIME , BETWEEN 10 AND 30 YEARS , MAYBE MORE , AND BUILT UP A NATIONAL FOLLOWING OF SOME KIND , BUT , NEVER GRABBED THE BRASS RING FROM THE WHITE STRIPES , OR WHOEVER ,  LESS THAN 1000 IS'NT EVEN ACCURATE . IT'D BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT.....AND , THAT'S NOT GOING TO ASSURE THEM A PLACE ON WIKIPEDIA , EITHER .     BUT , THESE CRAP BANDS WHO SEEM TO THINK MEDIA ATTENTION SHOULD JUST BE HANDED DOWN TO THEM , THEY REALLY SHOULD BE GLAD IF ANYONE CARES AT ALL.
 
kopper said:

Less than a thousand? Let's try less than 10!!

John Battles said:

 I HAVE'NT READ THEWHOLE THING , I CAUGHT THIS  AS I WAS GETTING READY TO TURN THE OLD IDIOT BOX OFF....But , it looks pretty funny. Someone went to a LOT of work to get their point across. Anyway , do that many Garage Bands  really think they belong on Wikipedia when they have following of , oh , let's be kind , less than 1000 people? There have got to be a number of Garage Bands , past and present , that are pretty big in our world(s) , but , they're not whining if they have'nt yet rated a mention in Wikipedia.

Hear hear!!!

SMF said:

Here's who cares about my band:

Me

Otto

Dave

Andy 

We ARE the band...

That's all that matters!

We are back in the recording studio next month. Who cares about that? See above.

This is certainly better than growing up...

Less than a thousand? Let's try less than 10!!

John Battles said:

 I HAVE'NT READ THEWHOLE THING , I CAUGHT THIS  AS I WAS GETTING READY TO TURN THE OLD IDIOT BOX OFF....But , it looks pretty funny. Someone went to a LOT of work to get their point across. Anyway , do that many Garage Bands  really think they belong on Wikipedia when they have following of , oh , let's be kind , less than 1000 people? There have got to be a number of Garage Bands , past and present , that are pretty big in our world(s) , but , they're not whining if they have'nt yet rated a mention in Wikipedia.

Haha, very funny and a somewhat accurate account of a lot of bands I've encountered over the last 25 years...

Here's who cares about my band:

Me

Otto

Dave

Andy 

We ARE the band...

That's all that matters!

We are back in the recording studio next month. Who cares about that? See above.

This is certainly better than growing up...

Touche.   It's just difficult to figure how big a band's following is , if they're very popular locally, and maybe in a few surrounding areas , but are completely unknown , say , 500 miles away.....in any case , we can't expect Wikipedia to care any more than the cops or the neighbors....Someone told me a local band , then on a major label (Ok , It was Urge Overkill!    No , I don't like 'em , and , no , they're not a Garage band to these ears.). But , they said the band was'nt doing so good , "They only sold 100 , 000 copies of the last album.." .I said  "A HUNDRED THOUSAND?!! IN PUNK ROCK TERMS , THAT'S A GOLD RECORD !!!".
 
Cath said:

The "bands" that do that are probably a bunch of 15 year-olds who think nothing exists unless something's posted about it on the internet.

^Less than 1000 people? That's being very kind indeed!

Very funny indeed. That article took some serious effort and thought. I have admiration for the creator of this entry.  

My favorite part:

The cops come regularly during your practice sessions and ask you to shut up. While this may make it seem that people care about your garage band, and indeed they do, they are not caring in the right way.