Here¡¯s a joke: When is a bag not a bag? Give up? When it¡¯s a symbol for the shifting place of music in the pop cultural landscape. . . . I¡¯m here all week, folks. Try the veal.
Music occupies a strange position in our world, both worshipped and, at the same time, tremendously undervalued. Our culture glorifies and sentimentalizes it in slogans such as Tower Records¡¯ ¡°No Music, No Life,¡± but mostly it is the background providing ambience to cultural and consumer lifestyles. The item that embodies this phenomenon most completely is the seemingly innocent indie tote bag.
It is a widely remarked-upon trend that people don¡¯t really spend money on music anymore, so it shouldn¡¯t be much of a surprise that bands put increasing amounts of effort into the production of T-shirts and other nonmusical merchandise. The tote bag has a big advantage over the T-shirt in that it allows more versatility in how you dress ¡ª you can wear a shirt, dress, cardigan or whatever you want, and then simply slip the bag over your shoulder. It¡¯s easy to see why indie bands and labels would be so keen to produce them.
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