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RE: Why I'm starting to loath news paper music critics



Opinion alert:  Music is about communication.  Pure communication is only 
possible between equals (and therefore impossible....noone is 
truly equal in knowledge base, desires, intellect, social power, etc.).  
If one desires to communicate via music, the best one can hope for is 
that someone on the receiving end will have enough in common with you to 
understand and appreciate what you are doing.  Often people 
only get part of what you are doing.  Often, that is enough.  Part of the 
process of being a perfoming musician is *finding* your audience.  
That involves playing for lots of people who will not care for what you 
do.  Would it be any better if a reviewer totally misunderstood your 
music but loved it?  

As for "music" critics discussing how a performer dresses.  Yeah, I've 
experienced that one too.  Understandable when you realize that 
"music" critics are often really "scene" critics in disguise.

Critics are, by temperment, quite often of the personality style that 
truly believes music can be objectively good or bad.  I had the 
pleasure to spend the better part of and evening drunkenly debating with a 
local critic at a party once.  I put forth the argument that 
Madonna was not objectively "better" than Shakespeare. Oh, I agreed that I 
personally preferred Shakespeare to Madonna.  But I 
understood that that was a personal preference of mine.  He finally left 
angry, unable to logically explain what he felt so deeply to be true: 
that Shakespeare was objectively "better" than Madonna.

I was him in high school, vigorous in my assertion that Led Zeppelin was 
the pinnacle and that Kraftwerk could hardly really be called 
"music".  I mean, come on, the computer is playing most of it.

I'm rambling.  I apologize.  Haven't had morning coffee yet.

Joe

PS:  Frank Zappa:  "Rock journalism is people who can't write, 
interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read."  
Not sure exactly how or if that applies to this discussion, but it makes 
me laugh anyway.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Hartung, Kris" <kris.hartung@hp.com>
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: RE: Why I'm starting to loath news paper music critics
Date: Sun, 19 Jun 2005 09:32:06 -0600

> 
> Yeah, then be accused by another reviewer of being deceitful....again, I
> will put my faith in the music. I'm going to yield to this sort of crap,
> just to address a nit, that the word "live" is in my title, but I didn't
> have applause in the mix. That's asinine.
> 
> Shit, I thought my blood pressure was finally down on this and now you
> guys are fucking my day up again. Sorry....bad night of sleeplessness
> with the twins. s
> 
> Kris
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Travis Hartnett [mailto:travishartnett@gmail.com]
> Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2005 9:16 AM
> To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
> Subject: Re: Why I'm starting to loath news paper music critics
> 
> I believe there was a Mick Karn album that David Torn played on that
> opened with a big rock type number (as much as it would be with the
> two of them), and they'd added in crowd noise to make it sound like it
> was show in the Enormodome.  I'd suggest remixing the album and adding
> in huge waves of stadium applause from a sound effects CD....
> 
> On 6/19/05, Ian Petersen <iep@mail.dk> wrote:
> > Kris,
> >
> > I have to say I really don't understand your displeasure over that
> > review. I've just read the review in question and don't see anything
> > that can be construed as particularly derogatory or misleading in it.
> > After listening to the samples of the CD on SoundClick I'd say the
> > review is a quite fair and accurate portrayal of the music - it
> sounds,
> > to me, pretty much as I would expect from reading the review. I also
> > have to admit I rather agree with the reviewer that a CD entitled
> "live
> > at  ... whatever" should indeed have some indication of the live
> > 'ambience' including audience response, falling spoons etc.
> >
> > All in all, I'd be pretty well-chuffed by such a review. Sorry!
> >
> > --
> >
> >   Ian Petersen
> >
> >
> >

-- 
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