On the recent Flying Burrito Brothers post, commenter Linda (Sama) remarked:
I don’t get it. Why is Chris Hillman circled? Gram Parsons — upper left — was the “leader” of the FBB.
Thank you for your question, which I will be happy to answer.
Some people think this blog’s purpose is as a quiz, where visitors first suggest who they think is in charge, and then when voting is over I will reveal the true leader.
This assumption is incorrect. Truthfully, I don’t care who is in charge in actuality — who makes all the decisions, who writes the most songs, who gets the good seat on the tour bus, etc.
My concern is focused squarely on the picture that I post. I’m more interested in who appears to be the leader in the photograph, which may differ from the real leader (if there is a clearcut leader).
Sometimes it’s not a perfect system. My Wilco post had readers casting votes for Jeff Tweedy, I’m assuming in part because they knew he was the leader and knew what he looked like.
However, usually I’ll post a lesser-known band, (hopefully) forcing the people who vote to really consider the dynamics of the photograph. For me, it’s a really fascinating process.
When voting has ended and everything is tallied, whoever wins the most votes is, in the eyes of this blog, in charge.
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