The Village Voice thinks you're stupid

To bring Simon Reynolds into this(Oh No! not again!) I see he's been raving on his blog about all the blogs he reads, and how he doesn't have time to read music features in newspapers and magazines (even if he could find music magazines he'd like)...

Jaw
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drops.

The point is: Different subjects need different treatment; different writers work better using different forms; different people have different skills. If an entire profession shifts to a single format and a single writing style, then most subjects won't get treated, or they'll get treated badly; most writers won't get used, or they'll get used badly.

I think most albums only deserve about 250 (if that, if anything I want to see more GOOD pithy three sentence reviews - I like jokes - than GOOD epic reviews - you're either gonna sell me on this album in 1000 words or you're not gonna sell me on it) words anyway, and at least this year I'm a big fan of brevity. So while it's sad that a good mag is creating more rules about what it's capable of, I can't really get too hung up about this. If you're not satisfied with saying only A THOUSAND WORDS about an album, write a book about them on the web! That's first place anybody looking for a million words about your fave cult artist is gonna go.

If you don't know what I'm yammering about --

http://www.arthurmag.com

Jay Babcock, Editor

As I recall, Einstein's Theory of Relativity was more than 300 words. So was Austen's Pride and Prejudice. If writers are essentially forbidden to publish their ideas, then their ideas will never get any good, no one will have the opportunity to see or respond to anyone else's ideas, or to elaborate on them, the readers will never get confronted with new ideas, thought will wither.

Right, Anthony: Pasteur didn't have the right to do immunology, either; Wittgenstein didn't have the right to teach philosophy. But if they'd been prevented from doing so, the world would have lost something. And if people like me don't get paid to do what we do best, then it's not going to get done, blogs or no blogs, ILX or no ILX.

Frank, TS: Visions of Johanna vs Tarantula vs "if a writer isn't worth reading at 1,500 words, he's probably not worth reading at 300."

The only critics who comes to mind whose work I really, really enjoy in lengthy form are Pauline Kael and Robert Christgau. But Xgau's usually good with whatever space you give him (and when he's off, he can be bad with whatever space you give him). And Kael was, wowsers, PROFITABLE enough for her mag (she DREW young people to the New Yorker) that they gave her a lot of freedom. And xgau's got a webpage and has shown a willingness to embellish in hindsight (see "Grown Up All Wrong"), so he can certainly slap those extra paragraphs on elsewhere.

I love this assumption that shorter equals dumber. And since I thought Kogan's recent E6 reviews was kinda wack after the first two paragraphs and since I'm not sold on this idea that Meltzer needs to run free (I'm not a fan of people who self-nullify in the face of constraint, unless they do it entertainingly like Marlon Brando does. Meltzer doesn't), I simply do not share it.

I think this only really hurts the music section. For pretty much every other kind of criticism or feature writing, there are other venues where you can go long.

Also, I wouldn't really call the Voice one of the few publications that thinks gaining your interest means ruffling your feathers. I'm glad it's around to do what it does, but it's preaching to the choir.

Sheffield's best stuff was in the fanzines. The best that I saw of Jane Dark's was in the fanzines (though there's probably lots elsewhere that I haven't seen). I think even Chuck was at his best in the fanzines. Sinker's better online than he was in The Wire. I've not even seen Dave Q or Ally Kearney in the commercial prints. That tells you something right there.

It's funny to talk about length because lately I've been thinking about picking up Benjamin's "Arcades Project" (trying hard to be a pretentious aesthete here, ppl!), so last night I searched ILX for references to it (because I trust the good people around here a heckuva lot more than the Amazon reviews or whatever) and uncovered this great thread.

uh, totally unrelated to the current discussion. But I wanted to link to that good thread. For anyone who's been bored with ILM lately or whatever.

the payment structure wd be complex, but i am willing to work for the voice at this length

(eg i get to insert a hilarious demolishing/rewiring one-liner — one-worder sometimes — when and where i choose in anyone else's work)

also it would help if some of the people who said they were gonna fucking contribute WOULD

(only contributor thus far: kogan.)

btw, what zines did Sheffield write for? I'm a big fan of his SPIN Alternative Guide entries, and would love to find some allegedly better material. I know about Radio On, but are their others?

it's that invisible contribution which is being wiped out of publishing, in books and magazines and whatever: writing is better for being collective, like and (in fact) everything else

(JtN had noted that, whatever else you think of it, the new paul morley book is the worst PROOFED book he'd seen recently)

ah, fuck
i liked Hilary.

x-post - yep now I see it. She tweeted Feb. 17th that it was her last day at the Voice.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2016/05/8599589/village-voice-hires-new-publisher-ahead-extensive-relaunch

well, fuck.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/nyregion/village-voice-to-end-print-publication.html