[contextly_auto_sidebar id="kIKdAj6Xm5kqbZ9uMHw3rRcxIyuEkbsM"] ONE of my favorite discussions of the new world of the arts and culture -- the economic, technological, sociological changes I describe in my book -- comes in this conversation I had with an editor at the new 21st C Musician site. (I've written several pieces for the site on the transformation of classical music.) Considering both … [Read more...]
Music For the Rich — Only
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="cELFSD2urf59ms0bpah0vxzoSfd8JREJ"] THE Brits have been more comfortable discussion notions of social/ economic class than we are here in this classless paradise. (Was it Rick Santorum who called "middle class" a Marxist term?) In any case, a new report from the British press asks, "is the music industry becoming a hobby for the upper classes?" The article, in I-D, is … [Read more...]
The Death of a Great Video Store
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Xk6JC31DMBzwhIx8HqWSAUMhlvPf4tdk"] LOS Angeles is the capital of the film world, but it is about to lose one of its last great shops that rents movies: Vidiots in Santa Monica. I got to know this place about a decade ago, as well as a store made up of some of its alums, CineFile in West LA. A little later, I frequented Rocket Video, which closed a few years ago and … [Read more...]
“In Praise of Gatekeepers”
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="7ocf4Du4J7q0MwSCTfQQr9rCt1ruYmRF"] ONE of the subjects that makes the disruption boys' hearts race is the idea that technology will get rid of the gatekeepers -- those record-store clerks and publishing-house editors and journalistic critics who just get in the way of the pure, frictionless working of capitalism. If you own a company -- esp a tech company that feeds … [Read more...]
How Do We Save Journalism?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="garKPKQO2s6Wcq12fnP4ZbWsAHkTgfpv"] FILE under the law of unintended consequences: Because journos pride themselves on being disinterested observers without bias or investment -- the old "objectivity" business -- they are reticent to stand up for their own peers and profession. I found this out the hard way when I lost my job, and every editor I asked about a first … [Read more...]
Novelist Janet Fitch Joins Culture Crash at Skylight Books
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="F72Akus0FnI1F8UXy7215APyWoohS6MQ"] IT's been both gratifying and frustrating to have my book launch at the LA Central Library fill up so quickly. (Tickets went in a single day.) Now Los Angeles audiences have another chance to see me discuss the subjects I dig into on this blog and in my upcoming book -- at Skylight Books. And I'm glad to say that Janet Fitch, the … [Read more...]
The Middle Class Gets Crushed
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="nlkSqy50Zn5Bw3CQlhpyfd29maMq78kr"] ONE of my guiding principles on this site and in the soon-to-be-published book it accompanies is that the creative class it almost entirely embedded within the middle class, and that musicians, writers, artists, etc. are even more exposed to contemporary economic pressures than the average burgher. This is despite the fact that the … [Read more...]
Culture Crash the Book Goes to Washington
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="mf4rE6xWgZDul2vj7Ls64RZGrkkXbufG"] THE august D.C. bookstore Politics and Prose will host an event for my book a few days after publication, on Saturday evening, January 17. This is a great bookstore with a smart staff and a great hand-picked selection; it's exactly the kind of place I write about in the book, and the kind of place that tends to disappear in the … [Read more...]
Culture Crash The Book Hits NYC
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="XmMqM0QnhXqGOSqUzhLut0F2n8ftDdRV"] OUR Department of Self-Promotion is happy to announce an event at McNally Jackson in SoHo on Weds. January 21. Sponsored by Salon, the evening will involve me discussing Culture Crash alongside author Elizabeth Wurtzel (pictured), whose upcoming book, Creatocracy: How the Constitution Invented Hollywood, shares some concerns with … [Read more...]
Will Nashville’s Gentrification Destroy Its Music Scene?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Qwm7a4AXHZhLoHI5Q02SruYLg3cIgNWX"] ONE of the most pressing issues for culture-makers (and fellow travelers, like your humble blogger) is rapid gentrification. Often driven by the arrival or artists and musicians to a neighborhood or city, winner-take-all capitalism often means that investors and Trump-like developers arrive soon after and squeeze out the creative … [Read more...]