I want answers!

Two very unrelated questions:

1.  I don't shop much but just got back from Target.  No prices on anything?  Huh?  Is that new?

2.  Stevie Wonder came up on My Spotify feed and I mentioned to a friend - I think Stevie wonder is the most important living musician. When Aretha died I thought that her death was the most significant death of a musician in many years.  I think Stevie would be at that level.  My friend disagreed:   Paul McCartney?  Mick Jagger?   Willie Nelson?  I was never a huge Paul McCartney fan but of course I was a Beatles fan, so I'm ruling him out.  I've still got Stevie over Willie and Mick. And I was never a Bruce fan but I'm sure he'll top many lists.  And I finally listened to Taylor Swift.  I don't get the hoopla. 

What are your votes?

Musicians call Townes Van Zant a musician's composer. Also early Dylan.

Jeff…. You went from not seeing prices at target…straight to Stevie Wonder. 
I want answers!

Jaytee said:

Jeff…. You went from not seeing prices at target…straight to Stevie Wonder. 
I want answers!

Full of whimsy today.  Must have been something I ate. 

jeffl said:

Two very unrelated questions:

1.  I don't shop much but just got back from Target.  No prices on anything?  Huh?  Is that new?

What are your votes?

I found this as a possible answer: Target, like many other retailers, typically uses a pricing strategy known as "shelf-edge pricing" or "scan-based pricing." Instead of putting individual prices on each item, they display shelf tags or labels with barcodes, product information, and sometimes the aisle location. The prices are only revealed when the items are scanned at the checkout counter.

But this doesn't make sense - you would still need a barcode scanner.  hmm.  I'm guessing that prices fluctuate too often to bother labeling them.

Last time I shopped at my local target (a month ago) there were prices on the shelves, but every item rang up a dollar or two more (matching the price online). I didn't have the time/energy to argue so I left it all and walked out. 

This sounds like bitching. 

I vote for Bob Dylan. I think he has done as much to break down barriers as anyone else in the rock era. Stevie Wonder is certainly on the short list, though.

jeffl said:

Two very unrelated questions:

1.  I don't shop much but just got back from Target.  No prices on anything?  Huh?  Is that new?

2.  Stevie Wonder came up on My Spotify feed and I mentioned to a friend - I think Stevie wonder is the most important living musician. When Aretha died I thought that her death was the most significant death of a musician in many years.  I think Stevie would be at that level.  My friend disagreed:   Paul McCartney?  Mick Jagger?   Willie Nelson?  I was never a huge Paul McCartney fan but of course I was a Beatles fan, so I'm ruling him out.  I've still got Stevie over Willie and Mick. And I was never a Bruce fan but I'm sure he'll top many lists.  And I finally listened to Taylor Swift.  I don't get the hoopla. 

What are your votes?

I can't argue with Stevie's greatness. But if you consider most influential living musician I think it's got to be Paul. 

I have also found that the scanned price at Target sometimes doesn't match the price on the shelf. So, unless you have a great memory, or take photos of each shelf price and item, you have probably paid more than you thought something cost when you put it in your cart. 

There is   a new U S . postage stamp honoring Bob Dylan that I just purchased at our post office.

jeffl said:

What are your votes?

Herbie Hancock.

ril said:

Last time I shopped at my local target (a month ago) there were prices on the shelves, but every item rang up a dollar or two more (matching the price online). I didn't have the time/energy to argue so I left it all and walked out. 

I go to the scanner in the aisle and check all the prices before I buy anything. If it's not what I expected, I will either put it back or make a note to tell the "cashier" if it rings up wrong (only if I really want it).

DaveSchmidt said:

jeffl said:

What are your votes?

Herbie Hancock.

True.  In my book.  But his appeal is much narrower.  Most people couldn't tell you what instrument he plays. 

TC, Dylan would be on my list too. Certainly one of the best song writers. 

jeffl said:

True. In my book. But his appeal is much narrower. Most people couldn't tell you what instrument he plays.

No objection in my book to the importance of Wonder, McCartney or Dylan, either.

There’s room in it for Joni Mitchell, too (though I’m only a casual fan). And Brian Wilson. Rakim. Just for their business influence, before even getting to their artistry: Kenny Gamble and Neil Young.

The list of candidates, if we plumb it, is a deep one.

Weird Al. 

Fight me. 

mrincredible said:

Weird Al.

Fight me.

I mean, his range alone — from My Bologna to Eat It.

Herbie's great, but I'd say the greatest living jazz musician is Sonny Rollins. 

tomcarlson said:

Herbie's great, but I'd say the greatest living jazz musician is Sonny Rollins.

The question was most important, so I’ll stick with Hancock, whose explorations of rhythm, funk and electronic music were right there with, and sometimes beyond, Miles. I’d also rank him ahead of Rollins as a composer, but of course this is all subjective.

Quincy Jones is probably in the conversation, too.

This was fun to stumble on.

DaveSchmidt said:

I mean, his range alone — from My Bologna to Eat It.

That represents barely the first third of his career.   He tackled grunge (“Smells Like Nirvana”), gangsta rap (“White and Nerdy”), Classical (“Unicorn”) and has written music for movies (“UHF” and “Captain Underpants”). And if you only have a few minutes and don’t have hundreds of dollars for a ticket to “Hamilton” he fully encapsulates the show in “Hamilton Polka”. 

mrincredible said:

Weird Al. 

Fight me. 

he’s in a class all by himself. Who needs answers?

mrincredible said:

That represents barely the first third of his career. 

Weird Al fans take everything so seriously.

As long as we're talking jazz, in terms of influence, I think Wynton Marsalis enters the equation. Not so much his music, but his influence and his role in spreading the gospel of jazz. 

DaveSchmidt said:

Weird Al fans take everything so seriously.

Phillies phans don’t know a joke when they see one. 

mrincredible said:

Phillies phans don’t know a joke when they see one.

You may be right. I thought I was witnessing a joke through the first 10 innings at London Stadium this weekend, but now, 16 innings in, the laugh appears to be on me.

Weird Al

"Did you ever think, when you eat Chinese,

That you're not eatin' chicken but a fat Siamese.

There's a cat in the kettle at the Peking Moon, 

The place where I eat every day at noon, .. "

I sing this to my cats when they piss me off, which is quite often.

I think they should have prices on the shelves, and they should be accurate. (And if they have a price on the shelf and it is lower than what scans, they should honor the price on the shelf. I have been known to take photos of price tags with my phone if I thought it was in question, but it is inconvenient to have to argue about that at the checkout. And you risk being ridiculed as a "Karen", especially if you are female.)

However, I would note that Target has customer scanners in various spots around the store, so you can check that way also. (Then, if nothing else, you would know if you need to take a photo of shelf price if there is one, before you get to the checkout.)

tomcarlson said:

I vote for Bob Dylan. I think he has done as much to break down barriers as anyone else in the rock era. Stevie Wonder is certainly on the short list, though.

This. Dylan's work is brilliant, literary, often transcendent. Yes, he's gone a bit off the deep end as he's aged but haven't we all?  Stevie Wonder, awesome, too. 

(Ranking musical artists is an amateur's game. It's like competitive cooking: it makes no sense.)

(Here's a marvelous analysis of the current music economy and how new music isn't succeeding, in spite of Taylor Swift, by Ted Gioia, one of my favorite culture writers.)