I really had no clue exactly what it meant to be a “man-on-the-scene” at CMJ for Uncensored Interview, but I think today I officially got the hang of it. Initially, I thought I’d spend the day seeing some bands at the numerous day parties in the city.

However, when I got to Terrorbird‘s day party at Cake Shop (which included a performance from Takka Takka, who’s video I’ve included below) I realized I might be able to hear these performances, but seeing them could prove to be a little difficult. With bands loading equipment to and from Cake Shop and neighboring Pianos (the location of Ear Farm‘s CMJ party) as well as a host of industry insiders spilling out onto Ludlow Street, the sidewalk became as much of a party as the venue itself. Man-on-the-scene quickly became man-on-the-street.

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I already posted about checking out the convention floor and artist lounge yesterday, but the best parts of CMJ are the performances. I had originally intended to go see Walter Meego at the Ben Sherman Store; however, they were running about an hour later than I expected, so I walked over to The Annex to see Chairlift. Hopefully, I can still make it to Walter Meego’s performance at Mercury Lounge (217 E. Houston St) tonight–check out a clip of the duo talking about playing CMJ below and a full rundown of my first night after the jump.

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Gotta keep this short as I’m running around like a chicken sans head thanks to CMJ Marathon madness:

The infamous slogan of Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign was “It’s the economy, stupid.” Well, I’d like to amend that to “It’s the exposure, stupid” to apply to CMJ week. Every year you hear one of these out-of-touch, elitist music critics bemoan the fact that a certain much-hyped band didn’t get an expected post-CMJ record boost, and therefore, failed to capitalize on the festival. While this brand of hazy logic may have flown in the pre-Interet era, it’s completely laughable today for two major reasons:

1. CMJ was never about record sales in the first place
2. Record sales, for the most part, don’t mean shit anymore

In this age of digital albums, rampant illegal downloading and consensus-accepted commercialism, having a gold or platinum record doesn’t mean nearly what it used to. First of all, what indie band not named The Hold Steady even has the capacity in both exposure and distribution to sell that many records? And even if a band can move half a million units, do you think they actually make any money from it?

(So, what’s the Gold Standard nowadays?)

Oh, The Shark just HAD to bring up the whole Nickelback controversy again, didn’t he? For the love of all that is holy, I am going to start wearing a Nickelback t-shirt to CMJ events to piss people off. Hey, wait, is loving Nickelback ironically the thing that will cause all hipsters to die? I think it might be. Come, let us all love Nickelback so that Williamsburg will again be habitable!

That’s okay though, because you know who will be on board with my newfound Nickelback love? Awesome UI-Approved, Must-See CMJ Marathon Artist Juliana Hatfield! Check it out. Nickelback’s her guilty pleasure!

How many CMJ bands are going to threaten you while their pants are undone? Well, I can give you one example. Robbie from Looker’s coming out of the closet–pants undone–to tell you to come see them at CMJ. Or perhaps to kick your ass. Probably the latter. But Looker is still one of my favorite UI-Approved, Must-See CMJ Marathon Artists. And it might have something to do with their lack of pants.