Pure Entry can’t help but spread themselves thin these days. And they aren’t the only ones. Strapped for cash, today’s young people have a higher cost of living than their forebears, they have higher debt, and housing prices continue to climb. It is no wonder then that Pure Entry exclaims “Aw shucks, I ain’t got no bucks,” which, despite the double negative, means they are cash poor.
There are bills for heating, for water, for electricity, for cell phones, for internet, for Netflix, for Prime, for YouTube Premium, for gas, for rent, for fixing the hole in the wall from when Alex demonstrated his thrash arm-flail, for vape juice, for Pabst, for replacement guitar strings, for food, for RedBull, for Starbucks, for new tires, for DistroKid fees, for dining out, for take-in, for new Reeboks, for everything and anything — all of which, despite working day and night, leaves little behind for anything else, things like attending Dauphin’s Countryfest from June 26 to 29. (Especially given that tickets to camp and attend this year’s festival nears $900 for a single person — $125 of which are for service fees alone.)
But that’s where Pure Entry had a brilliant idea. If you can’t beat the gig economy, join the gig economy! And so now instead of attending Dauphin’s Countryfest (and having to pay to get in), they are performing at Dauphin’s Countryfest (and getting paid in return! Real bucks!).
Checkmate, boomer capitalists!
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To read the rest of this review — and more by Steve Schmolaris — visit his website Bad Gardening Advice.
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Steve Schmolaris is the founder of the Schmolaris Prize, “the most prestigious prize in all of Manitoba,” which he first awarded in 1977. Each year, he awards the prize to the best album of the year. He does not have a profession but, having come from money (his father, “the Millionaire of East Schmelkirk,” left him his fortune when he died in 1977), Steve is a patron of the arts. Inspired by the exquisite detail of a holotype, the collective intelligence of slime mold, the natural world and the suffering inherent within it — and also music (fuck, he loves music!) — Steve has long been writing reviews of Winnipeg artists’ songs and albums at his website Bad Gardening Advice, leading to the publication of a book of the same name.
