[contextly_auto_sidebar id="jzqLTuB5rmQYkgMOc3cPogWpL4eHcyGM"] For the last two weeks I've been touring behind my book, doing lots of public-radio interview, and in some cases dueling with people who disagree with me. The concentrated attention has made me think long and hard about my stance and my values. One of the things I've realized is that my politics are an odd cross between Teddy … [Read more...]
Culture Crash on Madeleine Brand/ KCRW and Uprising With Sonali
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="0JCYSVMp1thXSJOsnsjL1jZtKezUDFkY"] TUESDAY was my book's pubdate; it included a launch event at the LA Central Library's ALOUD series that I think went really well. (But who knows?) I also went on the air with one of California's great radio figures, Madeleine Brand of KCRW. I've been a KCRW listener since I landed in LA 18 years ago. My life has changed in all … [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...]
Culture’s Perfect Storm: CC on the Radio
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="CN8b3Y5FZAeQMTZTsTtc0tupQqcwaJ9l"] WHAT do recent changes in technology, economics and social norms mean for the art, culture and the creative class? These are the topics that drive my book, Culture Crash, and they're subjects I discussed with the Jeff Schnechtman, the Napa, CA-based radio host whose show is called Specific Gravity. Here it is. I may … [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...]
Nicholas Carr’s “The Shallows”
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Iwl9o6IO0qS8QhMgMHnnfdwEgtpDwMBi"] ONE of the best books on life in the digital age -- and perhaps the one closest to my own point of view -- is Nicholas Carr's The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. I like it for a host of reasons, among them Carr's elegant style, cool tone, and literary and humanistic sensibility. Among my favorite passages: When … [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...]
CultureCrash at LA Central Library
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Se057gZ16VIuVDe1Pyi79u2wvvTjBc6g"] ON the night of my book's publication -- January 13 -- I will be part of the ALOUD series in downtown Los Angeles. This is one of the best literary series I know -- I've interviewed authors for it and watched from the audience -- so it's a real honor to launch my book there. With me will be the Silver Lake architect Barbara … [Read more...]