Are you guys at Seattle Weekly really that bad?

But Jess, there’s loads more journalistic integrity in palling around with bands so they’ll play your sponsored events and give you quotes than in approaching them with any sort of critical ear. (And you guys are lucky out there in King – in Cook Country just using a stringer carries a minimum of two years!)

That said, yeah, I also adhere to the "consider the source" line. Her attempts at identifying the Stranger with the hip music is pretty damn laughable. No winners in this whole thing; the discussion it all inspires is what prompted the thread.

first of all, metlzer hasn't been either good OR "edgy" in decades. which seems to warrant him being shit canned pretty well to me. i don't see anyone tossing xgau or marcus, mostly because they haven't been churning out repetitive, self-parodic drivel (okay that's up for debate, even though i don't personally think so) for the miserly $$ of the free weeklies of the world for the last two decades while still claiming to hate all music.

secondly, as i remember, reighley wasn't "run off" at all. he was told "no more columns about your boyfriend or dog" (and unless he's fucking his [male] dog, i don't see how that could be homophobic) because frankly no one I know wants to hear about his boyfriend and/or dog in the context of whatever crap he was peddling that week. he balked at this and walked.

thirdly, people don't normally fire the editorial staff of a music section and bring in someone with a completely different agenda if they're happy with the way the music section is being run. INCLUDING the writers published.

fourth, like you said, consider the source. the stranger is hardly going to be giving a fair and biased account. i mean, how exactly did they track down that email to meltzer in the first place?

the basic lesson is, indulge people for too long and they'll get all sorts of inflated ideas about what the public actually gives a shit about. if you REALLY want to write about your dog (or be meltzer) then save it for the chapbooks.

click

Still though.. TS:
* making comments about one's physical appearance and implying one is a homophobe
vs.
* being outed has having one's bass playing influenced by the cure and siouxsie and the banshees

*i have never heard any of their other songs.

On this point, Matos and I are in the EXACT same boat (i.e. we both basically followed the same regime). So I understand the changes. I'm just talking about the bedside manner in doing so, that's all. Meltzer is still Meltzer, ya know?

Are you nuts? Credibility is king, and the fact Matos corrected that immediately on the Web site shows he gets it. Do you?

But yeah, they're not exactly a weekly. (by definition, duh)

We ain't rock n roll, dude. We're just dorks who write about it, which means we do adhere to civility if we wanna be respected.

but outside of "by e-mail," the manner/circumstances of the firing aren't known. (The quoted excerpt reads like a response by Matos to a protestation by Meltzer, but that's purely guesswork.)

also, keep your self-deprecation offa me.

Just kidding.

And good point on the email: That's presented as an out-of-the-blue missive, not as part of a larger argument. Something to reconsider on my part, then.

what the fuck is "personal" about me defending the removal of a dinosaur farting hot air into the aether?

Let's think about that one for a sec ... gun, foot, shoot ...

- i'm not the editor of the weekly
- i'm not on staff at the weekly
- (the weekly hasn't paid me for three weeks haha)
- i don't know richard meltzer
- i don't know kurt reighley
- i write freelance for the weekly and for a number of voice media papers (that's the full disclosure law)

(For the record, I have no idea who Meltzer is or why he's important or not, and i've been reading a lot of music press for decades)

Okay, be pissed off at me, but I found it funny you would say, "This isn't personal, but this guy is a farting dinosaur." Kinda like that joke in Orgamzo, "I'm not queer or anything, but you have a nice ass."

I'm not pegging you as the face of SW at all, since I don't know you or other writers there and am aware you contribute ably to many other publications -- I'm just throwing out arguments and reacting to the piece and countering your points.

And Matos doesn't owe me shit -- why would he? He's a paid writer and editor, as am I; there's no competition here. None of this is personal on my end, but I'm fascinated that someone else would bust on him like that publicly, and it makes me wonder about the content. Don;t balme you for defending him , though.

Jess: Well, if the line was "How the fuck is it personal if I think the man's work doesn't say aything fresh or original and is just really fucking inane," then you'd have a point, because then that's in the realm of valid criticism. But stuff becomes personal when the hyperbole gets ridiculous. How'd you like someone to make a comment like that about you, that you're "farting" for a living?

yes, exactly.

Respectfully Yours,

dave marsh?
m. matos?
NO--Andrew 'Dice' Clay! Hey, Strongo, you a HOMO? Ayyyyyy

Illuminate Me, O Great One.