Song of the Day: "Lonely Boy"

"Lonely Boy"

Titus Andronicus

from The Most Lamentable Tragedy

2015

He would absolutely reject my pity, but still, Patrick Stickles' plea on Patreon is just about the saddest thing I've seen in a long time. I'm not saying this in a mocking way at all. Far from it. I legitimately feel bad for the dude.

Stickles talks a lot about "the contact between audience and artist," how we choose to support the art we like with money, and the artist uses that money to create new art (and, yes, to also feed himself). But that contract is broken now, not by the audience or the artist, but by a virus that kills people if you get too close to it. The main revenue pipe from audience to artist—the live venue—is gone, and so people like Patrick Stickles are going hungry. That's where the pity stems from, the fact that no one did anything wrong, and yet here we are.

Or maybe there's pity because I know there are thousands and thousands of Titus Andronicus fans out there in my position currently—I neither have the money to make a monthly contribution to Patrick Stickles, nor the desire for live video or B-sides. But I want Titus Andronicus to live on. I need them too. So I feel like a dick, because I'm letting the artist down, literally allowing him to starve, even after all he has given me. Pity because I am not the only dick like this. There are thousands.

That there are 250 patrons currently makes me hopeful that Patrick Stickles is surviving despite my selfishness. Hopefully he's making a cool grand a month and can pay rent (nevermind, he lives in NYC). Hopefully COVID won't kill bands like it is killing innocent Americans.

Alright, fuck it, I should go buy a +@ T-shirt or something. I can't let it die.