OK, is this the worst piece of music writing ever?

re: the NYTimes Magazine piece on Geeshie Wiley and Elvie Thomas, McCormick's daughter posted the following to the fb "The Real Blues Form" page:

A few points:

1) My father isn't “withholding” or “hoarding” his archive. He is actively working on getting his research out there. I am aware that there is widespread dissatisfaction with the speed at which he works. Bipolar disorder is a terrible thing to have to live with. He does the best he can.

2) No one has any intention of burning the archive, setting it out by the curb for garbage collection, or otherwise allowing it be lost. My father has referred to it as his “monster” but it’s also his baby. It represents years of his labors, his hopes, and his dreams. He desperately wants it be preserved, as do I.

3) That said, he is not going to just give it away to anyone. He has very strong feelings about how he wants it to be handled and preserved. As he has every right to, because it is his life’s work. He devoted years of effort to collecting this data and he is entitled to do whatever he wants with it. It is not in the public domain. It does not belong to “history.” It belongs to him. Whether you approve of his approach or the speed at which he works is irrelevant, because it’s his decision and no one else’s—not even mine. Your enthusiasm to get your hands on it does not magically give you a legal right to take possession of someone else’s property.

4) He is not in this for the money. I am not in this for the money. That does not mean that money is not a factor, but it’s certainly not the most important one. When all is said and done, I am fairly certain that any money that might potentially be earned by my father’s work will be far outweighed by the investment that has gone into it over the years.

5) There has been some talk of burglarizing his home to “rescue” his work. Please know that we take any and all such threats, even if intended as a joke, very seriously. Any such comments will be forwarded to our attorney and to local law enforcement in case anyone else should decide to follow in Sullivan’s and Love’s footsteps and steal from my father.

6) There is absolutely no purpose in circulating some kind of petition to try and convince either me or my father to do whatever it is you think you want us to do. We don't need your harassment to understand the importance of either his research materials or his work based on them. We already get a daily stream of phone calls and emails from people who want to “help,” most of whom simply want to help themselves to my father's work. The last person whose assistance he accepted was Caitlin Love, and instead of doing the work my father needed her to do, she rifled through his files and stole what she wanted for her own—and John Sullivan’s—professional and financial gain.

7) Indexing and preserving an archive containing decades of original research and notes is complicated. Writing a book (or in this case books) is complicated. Negotiating with universities, foundations, publishers, and agents is complicated. Living with bipolar disorder is complicated. Coping with age-related illnesses is complicated. There are no easy answers or simple solutions to my father’s problems. We are doing the best we can.

My father still believes he can finish at least some of his work. That belief is what gets him out of bed every day. How dare you suggest that anyone has the right to take that away from him.

If you really, really want to help, leave my father alone and let him work. Instead, call upon John Jeremiah Sullivan and Caitlin Love to return everything they removed from his home, and to refrain from using any more of my father’s work for their own profit.

damn

http://observer.com/2014/05/john-jeremiah-sullivan-responds-to-nyt-controversy-regarding-robert-mccormick/

neither side comes off remotely spotless here (piece is still great, I thought), but that "I wanted him to be a complicated but heroic figure" bit is one of journalism's worst magazine-writing chris evans impulses

Neither side is spotless, but Sullivan's letter is pretty convincing. Which is not surprising, as he's a professional writer, and Susannah McCormick is not. But that stuff about L.V.'s family is compelling! I do think that his last point is a little optimistic; my guess is that when Robert McCormick dies this stuff is just going to be hoarded by his family.

Which is their right, and obviously better than the dump, but I don't think it's necessarily what Sullivan meant.

Not the worst ever, but something about this felt gratuitously nasty. Maybe it was the lazy use of "teenage girls" that set me off?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/03/arts/music/lindsey-stirlings-music-combines-classical-and-dance.html?_r=0

nerdy ones!

stupid nerds and their stupid study music

This critic discussion format is aggravating too. I think it's because it reads like a closed dialogue, not like a dialogue with the reader. The reader is made to feel like a voiceless onlooker.

There's that constant need for classical musicians and dancers to be "building upon" what has come before, always being progressive-- "how does this fit into the canon?" A hilarious conceit when you consider that both genres are period piece, the equivalent of civil-war reenactment. And this is of course the prevalent attitude. It's just as strange and dogmatic to me as "she probably made this extremely popular dubstep using presets"

The "who is it for?" question is a weird one, and Caramanica is better than that. To echo jmm's point, they could actually do some reporting and, like, go to a concert and talk to people about what they see in the music, and then tie that into their critical discussion. Hell, they could even go to a fan page.

But instead they choose to remain baffled because they can't fit the music into one of their preconceived archetype/stereotypes about audiences and target markets.

they could actually do some reporting

music writing's epitaph

i think most of the right things said above basically trace back to the motive for writing/publishing: 'we need a thing—well, here's a thing, say shit about it'

it's like vanessa-mae never existed

basically it's the old "classical crossover! it's classical, but like with POP! and DANCE! and NOT VIRTUOSIC!" saw with an added dash of "but teenage girls like it?" (which is weird, since it's usually "but middle-aged women like it?")

you guys probably don't read metal magazines so you might have missed the worst music writer interview ever. hahahaha!

https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/10325402_10152402830090908_8747120128821642114_n.jpg

are those your kids? those kids look awesome.

You shd frequent WDYLL

Hey
Are you a fan of The Replacements, Archers of Loaf, Nerf Herder, Smashing Pumpkins, Bottle Rockets, Urge Overkill, Me First And The Gimmie Gimmies, The Cult, Jane's Addiction, Fountains of Wayne, Ween, Garage version of Chixdiggit, Wilco, Modest Mouse, the Smithereens, The Del Fuegos, Talking Heads, Dinosaur Jr., Against Me, Modern Baseball, Tripping Daisy, etc. Mid-90's stew, Thin Lizzy, some Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers, Sloan's Chris Murphy straight-edging his way into The Queers
-a slight Foo Fighters/Queens of the Stone Age vibe, but they sound more DIY.
-a funnier and more upbeat version of Tigers Jaw or the Front Bottoms
-like if Jon Spencer was trapped in a PopPunk band before discovering the Blues.
We try to harness the power of the Who (which comes naturally to us), the musicality of Wilco (everyone knows how good they are), and the lyrical genius of Ween (though we don't even come close to doing the amount of drugs they do/have done, and therefore probably won't come close to the level of Buenos Tardes Amigo, Stroker Ace, or Piss Up a Rope). That said, when people say we sound like Pavement, Spoon, or The Hold Steady, we don't disagree. Pavement was awesome. Spoon makes cool records. Craig Finn sings nice. Those are our aspirations as well. Our music isn't heavy metal, though at times we get pretty heavy. It's kinda Indie Rock, but without all the irony. And it's kinda punk, though you wouldn't think that from looking at us. It's hard to look punk and not get thrown out of PTA meetings so we keep our punk on the inside.

i know i know i got it in an e-mail, but still...

Wilco (everyone knows how good they are)

I claim this song title.

wilco (everyoneknowshowgoodtheyare)

Nobody seems to wonder
What my band sounds like
I gotta find a way
for this blurb to say
how we sound,
Everybody knows
we sound like Wilco

nah nah nahhhhh, nah nah nahhh nahhhhhh
(Everybody knows)
nah nah nahhhhh, nah nah nahhh nahhhhhh
(Everyone knows how good they are)

A slight Foo Fighters
NOT SO MUCH!!!
A trapped Jon Spencer
HE'S OUT OF TOUCH!!!
Kinda indie
WE'RE EXPOSED!!!
Everybody knows
we sound like Wilco

nah nah nahhhhh, nah nah nahhh nahhhhhh
(Everybody knows)
nah nah nahhhhh, nah nah nahhh nahhhhhh
(Everyone knows how good they are)

it comes naturally to us
we don't even come close
we don't even take drugs
we don't piss up a rope

that said, we don't disagree
that said, there's no irony
that said, we're pretty heavy
that said, we're kinda indie

nah nah nahhhh....

http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/tyrese-is-hip-hops-first-billionaire/

WEIRDEST story and headline anyway. since they are actually talking about dre.

i guess it's a joke.

but i don't get it.

haha that thing is hilarious

http://thequietus.com/articles/15274-coldplay-ghost-stories-review

Dunno if the Mr. Agreeable character was ever actually funny (not since I've been aware of it) but this is tiresome and unpleasant in ways quite far from the kind of deflation of celebrity I suppose it's trying to be. "Gwyneth Paltrow, that ghastly, gulping, giraffe-necked, sick-making long drink of carb-averse goop"?

Lefsetz loves it

I finally read that NYT Mag piece by Austerwhatzis from April -- so THAT's what poptimism is!

like lool at living in a pitchfork dominated era and thinking 'poptimism' (however defined) somehow won

No one I know outside of the hardcore music fans are acquainted with Pitchfork, everyone knows that Justin Timberlake is "a great artist." Pee-mism has won.

stop

done.

(this is just like one of those internecine firefights btwn film critics that none of you know about)

That review of Ghost Stories made me chuckle.

So is Ghost Stories somehow related to the new Call of Duty game?

Enjoy...
http://www.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2014/05/21/10-reasons-why-1994-was-the-best-year-for-music?showFullText=true

they save the best for last too @ #1

it's a compelling argument tbh

no mention of Bee Thousand in the indie section

suzy is mr agreeable?

guys don't click come on you're just encouraging them

aaaand from my hometown "alt" weekly:

Miley Cyrus and Morrissey are basically the same person. One is a lyrical genius shrouded in sexual mystery who speaks on behalf of intellectualism, animal rights, and sordid youths, defying borders and generations. The other is famous for a butt that resembles uncooked turkeys, being naked, and sticking her tongue out.

When Morrissey was 23, he was "celibate." When Miley puts on a Michael Jordan jersey, she's rumored to have sex with Mike Will Made It. They both have signature hair styles. They both have rabid fan bases. They both love to annoy the opposition.

The likeness is striking. And now they both given it their all on stage, singing "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out."

Was certain the first graf was gonna pull the "and the other is Morrissey" switcheroo.

what is this magical rumor-granting jersey (and does it work in reverse?)

Was certain the first graf was gonna pull the "and the other is Morrissey" switcheroo.

― Devilock, Wednesday, May 21, 2014 11:06 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes, the old unswitched-switcheroo switcheroo.

not sure what's supposed to be egregiously bad about that 1994 listicle thing. there's no good reason for it to exist but on that basis about 95% of contemporary music writing should be pasted here

agree. compared to that telegraph britpop thing it's a shining voice of reason. also have to give props for juxtaposing darkthrone with ace of base in 10 and 9.