| Author: mabel |
Posted: 6/13/03 @ 10:19 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Georgia STRAIGHT music reviewers
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here is a clipping from this weeks Georgia Strait issue:
Sarah Rowland replies: Dearest Evan--I hate to break it you, but if we only profiled musicians with something to say, there wouldn't be much of a music section for you to skim through.
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| Author: mabel |
Posted: 6/12/03 @ 6:17 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Georgia STRAIGHT music reviewers
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heard anything interesting lately Hinterland?
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| Author: redheather |
Posted: 6/6/03 @ 10:47 AM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Georgia STRAIGHT music reviewers
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Oops, sorry, I actually wasn't thinking about that! I see your point!
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| Author: Hinterland |
Posted: 6/5/03 @ 11:40 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Georgia STRAIGHT music reviewers
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Ha! I'm not giving up my anonymity that easily!
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| Author: redheather |
Posted: 6/5/03 @ 8:32 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: Georgia STRAIGHT music reviewers
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Hinterland, Do you write for G.S.?
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| Author: Hinterland |
Posted: 6/5/03 @ 4:06 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: Georgia STRAIGHT music reviewers
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I have seen Now, but not for a long time. GS covers local stuff as well as touring out-of-town acts.
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| Author: redheather |
Posted: 6/4/03 @ 1:02 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: Georgia STRAIGHT music reviewers
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Hinterland, are you familiar with NOW magazine in Toronto? I'm just wondering if they are similar in terms of point if view. Does GS mostly concentrate on the local scene in Van?
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| Author: mj |
Posted: 6/4/03 @ 1:46 AM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Georgia Strait music reviewers
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Thanks redheather, I appreciate you comments. I'm also glad to get into the kinds of discussions I was looking for when I signed up on this board.
(As a side note:I don't mind voyeurs myself, in fact I think Mabel and I both don't mind voyeurs! Mabel: Heather - redheather - is a wonderful singer/songwriter here in Toronto, perhaps she and your friend Rhonda should hook up for a gig!)
Hinterland: When you write about music are you covering live bands or do you do CD reviews or both?
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| Author: redheather |
Posted: 6/3/03 @ 11:08 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Georgia Strait music reviewers
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Hey Mabel, Haha! I'm glad you don't mind the odd bit of voyuerism! I like your quote. Good ol' Nietzsche. I do like MJ's distinction and I agree a good critic should further the cause of music (you worded it very beautifully), it should inspire dialogue and passion not apathy and boredom. Also I feel a good critic seeks to further the understanding and boundaries of music rather than seeking to advance their own personal agenda.
P.S. is Georgia Straight a Vancouver publication?
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| Author: Hinterland |
Posted: 6/3/03 @ 11:01 PM |
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Subject: RE: Georgia STRAIGHT music reviewers
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I write reviews of concerts and CDs. Mostly, though, I do interviews with musicians (as I said, I'm a journalist, rather than a critic per se).
Yes, the Georgia Straight is a Vancouver publication. It started in 1967 as an underground hippie newspaper but has outlasted almost all of its contemporaries. http://www.straight.com/.
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| Author: mabel |
Posted: 6/3/03 @ 6:42 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Georgia Strait music reviewers
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hey redheather:
Nietzsche also wrote: "...the rudest word, the rudest letter are still more benign, more decent than silence.... swallowing things leads of neccessity to a bad character - it even upsets the stomach. All who remain silent are dyspeptic."
but I'm not suggesting anything is wrong with voyeurism.... oh the contraire....
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| Author: mabel |
Posted: 6/3/03 @ 6:32 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Georgia Strait music reviewers
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"One criticizes a person, a book, most sharply when one pictures their ideal." - Nietzsche.
My ideal music critic and reviewer writes because they support the cause and effort of music. No matter how shitty it may be, at least write to inform and entice me to find out for myself. Write to get people intrigued and out to the shows and buying c.d.'s. Not writing they wished they stayed home and don't bother checking them out, avoid, don't go, waste of time, etc.etc. - aka Georgia Strait journalism. A music critic worth their weight writes because they love that music exists.
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| Author: redheather |
Posted: 6/3/03 @ 6:15 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Georgia Strait music reviewers
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Wow very well said MJ. (It's funny I often read some Forum postings but don't respond.......does that make me a voyuer??). But in this case I felt compelled to respond. I never articulated such a distinction in myself re music critics, but I think in the back of my mind somewhere I did. I very much agree with you. There is in fact a local Toronto critic (who I won't name) but who would be a really good critic if he could refrain from making petty personal attacks on some of the musicians he is reviewing.
People often say how much they hate this particular critic, and while I rarely agree with him myself, at least he does have an informed opinion as you say. At least he does seem to be able to recognize "real" versus "popular yet derrivative".
But thanks for articulating a distinction I think I had myself only didn't put it to words.
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| Author: mj |
Posted: 6/3/03 @ 3:56 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Georgia Strait music reviewers
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While I haven't read any of your music reviews, I'd guess you'd be in the "musicians who write about music" catagory. That can either be very good or not so good depending on how skillled you are at separating out the general difficulties that exist for musicians in the industry from how you look at other artists. For example: a musician writing about music who sees a band doing very well but who the musican writing about music feels is undeserving of this new found success, they might slam them in a review more due to their own issues than perhaps how the show or CD stood on it's own merits.
The reason I make a distiction between REAL music critics and music reviewers is because I find real critics very rare. Lester Bangs is an obvious famous example of a REAL critic. You may not agree with them, but they truly do have ample knowledge and informed opinions aimed at furthering the discourse of music. And yes I agree the calbre of writing in Exclaim is much higher than most. "Music reviewers" on the other hand often fall into the petty wannabe camp....yes they are music lovers but that doesn't make them a good critic any more than being a music lover makes one a good musician.
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| Author: mj |
Posted: 6/3/03 @ 12:51 AM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Georgia Strait music reviewers
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Personally I make a distinction between musicians who write about music, real music critics and music reviewers. There are a lot more of the latter. Take for instance a magazine like Chart. I'd say it consists entirely of music reviewers that fit the profile I mentioned earlier. I've even come across it in Spin and Rolling Stone. There ARE publications where you have actual critics who have informed opinions and don't bring their underdeveloped "nerdness" into the picture. But they are rare. Musicians who write about music are in another catagory altogether. They actually MAKE music. But potentially (depending on the musician and his/her experience) their own bitterness can come through in their writing too (and there are a LOT of bitter musicians out there).
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| Author: Hinterland |
Posted: 6/2/03 @ 11:53 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Georgia Strait music reviewers
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Yeah, Chart stinks. The level of writing in Exclaim is generally better.
I don't agree entirely with the distinctions you're making. Then again, I'm speaking as an insider in both worlds, so I'm not sure exactly where I fit into your continuum. I'm a musician who is also a trained journalist. Journalism is how I pay my rent, and I write primarily about music. On the other hand, I have been playing music a lot longer than I have been writing about it.
So what does that make me? It makes me a music lover. Just like everyone else who writes about music. Love 'em or hate 'em, the critics are music lovers, just like you. That's why they spend so much of their waking lives thinking about music, talking about music, and writing about music. You don't get into this business if you don't eat, sleep, live, and breathe music.
So there.
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| Author: Hinterland |
Posted: 6/2/03 @ 3:52 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: Georgia Strait music reviewers
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Okaaay... so critics are all a bunch of pathetic wannabes... but then how do you explain the many music journalists who are also musicians... and the many musicians who also write about music? Let's not forget that the list of people who have written about music for the Straight includes Bob Geldof, Kim Bingham, Todd Kerns, and Billy Hopeless.
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| Author: mabel |
Posted: 6/2/03 @ 1:34 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: Georgia Strait music reviewers
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I actually read it. But I don't actually want to "fuck them." Do you?
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| Author: mj |
Posted: 6/2/03 @ 12:38 AM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: Georgia Strait music reviewers
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I personally have not read the publication you are talking about, but my experience with a good many music reviewers is that they are emotionally underdeveloped and bring that "bitter nerd who never emotionally made it out of their mother's basement" mentality into their reviews. In fact I can't think of too many music reviewers who are actually cool. Most just WANT to be cool but fail miserably and use their music reviewing status to lord some kind of fake "cool card" over people who are actually cool and can ACTUALLY make music.
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| Author: Hinterland |
Posted: 6/1/03 @ 3:41 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: Georgia Strait music reviewers
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Oh, and it's called the Georgia STRAIGHT. Has been for 35 years. Or do you not actually read it?
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