…word’s gotten out that former local rock singer Ian Fisher of the Cowboys has died in Thailand. Further details are scarce at this time.
Fisher and his band were anomalies in the pre-“Seattle Scene” Seattle scene. Back in the early 1980s, local rock bands that sought commercial success played covers of big hits in big bars. Bands that insisted on writing their own material were stuck with far fewer, far smaller venues, and catered to the more specialized tastes of the “alternative” crowd. The Cowboys created their own image and their own music (albeit heavily influenced by the likes of the Knack and the reggae-era Clash). They aspired to, and got into, the big clubs. They didn’t tour much, and never got a national record contract. But Fisher got to live the rock star image, and flamboyantly did so for nearly a decade.
IN MUCH MORE PREDICTABLE NEWS, Clay Bennett did what everybody said he would do from day one, despite his claims that he wouldn’t. He said he intends to move the Sonics to Oklahoma City.
But it’s not a sure thing, despite the fatalistic mumblings of some local fair-weather fans.
There will be legal wrangling.
There will be local potential buyers.
There already are save-the-team booster groups.
There are the hearts and souls of everyone who remembers the Sonics in their ’70s and ’90s primes, who knows the Storm’s more recent triumphs, who knows what a team can do to bring families and communities together.
And we have people who see the sport’s changing economics.
The NBA’s business model, as we’ve said before, is way broken.
The influx of cable TV rights money has peaked or will peak soon, as total viewership declines and fractures among ever-more viewing choices.
As the upward centralization of wealth in America continues, there will be only so many zillionaires to buy luxury boxes and corporate suites.
What’s left for teams to pay superstar salaries from? Shoe endorsements? Team-logo mouse pads?
Pro b-ball needs to stabilize, around its home towns.
It needs to again be a sport of fan loyalty, of community outreach, of human-scale, street-level attention. In this sense, the NBA needs to become more like the WNBA.
And for that to work, the league has to give up on the short-term fixes of subsidized arenas and threats to move. It needs, as Ross Perot or someone said, to “dance with the one that brung ya,” the fans and cities who grew up with the sport.
