John: We're getting close to the end of our conversation, but there are still things I wanted to ask you. One, which you bring up in your last post is about how cultural coverage is pitched. I get that in a mass-culture world the way to get audiences is to try to appeal to a general reader. Unfortunately this has come to mean dumbing down rather than being smart and accessible. But I think that … [Read more...]
John: Arts Coverage Then and Now
Doug: I agree with most everything you say in your last posting (to the annoyance of those, like editors, who value a good dust-up over reasoned dialogue). I do think editors at daily newspapers today prize lively writing and versatile newspaperly skills over expertise in a field of art; they are probably even suspicious of expertise, at least when flaunted. This has a lot to do with the perilous … [Read more...]
Doug: Generally Speaking (The Critic As Specialist)
John: Two huge topics to jump into, both probably worth spending a whole week on by themselves. I'll wait on answering the first till later, since it's such a huge topic. But the second, about specialist critics vs. generalists is easier to take a bite out of. I don't think being a musician makes one a better music critic or being an architect makes you a better critic of buildings. It helps … [Read more...]
John: A Misunderstanding and Two Questions
Doug: I think we're talking about different things with the word "rules." I meant that for each individual, critic or otherwise, there should be no rigid, exclusionary standards that determine our positions about most anything. With conflicts of interest and objectivity, I meant by no rules that to take an extreme position may be fun to write and fun to read, but does not correspond to the way … [Read more...]
Doug: No Rules? Hardly
John: All well and good to say no rules. But we both know that doesn't hold. Indeed, with each plagiarism or conflict case that comes up, the rules at American newspapers get tighter and more reactionary. My favorite over-reach was the Miami Herald's bizarre firing of dance critic Octavio Roca a few years ago when it was discovered that he had plagiarized... wait for it... from himself. He had … [Read more...]
John: insider-outsider
Doug: Glad you're back in action. Are you back in your house? Is your bedroom still under siege? I must say, even without the Great Tree, your place looks beautiful. And look on the bright side (if there ever is a bright side in the skies of Seattle): now you'll have more sun in your back yard. I like your stirring defense of insider criticism, though if you're so sure of your position, why did … [Read more...]
Doug: Back In The Tree House (Friends and Critics)
Okay - we're back online. Power has been restored here in Seattle (I understand as many as 1 million people had electrical outages). The tree that met the acquaintance with the back of our house was the most impressive tree in our neighborhood. It was more than 100 years old and the trunk is wide enough to require two people linking hands to circle the base (if you were inclined to do such a … [Read more...]
John: Post-tree
Doug: I hope you got some sleep and are dug out, as it were. As for audiences: I agree, sheep-like behavior masking a lack of conviction is bad however it's manifested, and if today it's manifested as automatic standing ovations, we're agin 'em. As for my hippie roots: I was never a real hippie, whatever my parents thought. I was too busy studying (or not) for my Ph.D. orals, writing my … [Read more...]
John: Your tree
Doug: Geez, with all due respect to Art, I would think a tree, a storm, a roof, power and family safety might just for the moment trump this conversation. I'll respond to the rest of your 3 a.m. posting in a bit. Looking forward to your next message, but take care of priorities! … [Read more...]
Doug: Standing For The Cedars
John: I had a response all but set to publish tonight when suddenly there was a huge crash and a 60-foot cedar from our neighbor's yard toppled down and smashed the back of our house. Unfortunately there's still about a third of this huge tree standing over our house, there's a major wind storm blowing, and the entire neighborhood is without power. Plus we've got flooding in the basement. Afraid … [Read more...]
John: standing ovations
By John Rockwell Doug: The issue of audience sophistication and naivety is bound up with the democratization of the arts. The ideal, for those who believe the arts have been dumbed down by yahoo audiences (meaning rubes, not subscribers to that estimable e-mail etc. site), is of a Leo Straussian elite, guardians of the refined secrets of art surrounded and threatened by a roiling mass of dopes … [Read more...]
McLennan: Applause Creep
John: Point taken - I'll try to focus this entry on more or less one idea. The other day I was a guest on a CBC radio show as part of a panel talking about "applause inflation." Of course it does seem that all anyone has to do anymore is walk on stage and get off without tripping over themselves to earn a standing O. Some people are upset that audiences give it up too easily, that their standards … [Read more...]
Rockwell: your opening salvo
Doug: By actual count there are 4,217 really good ideas in your five paragraphs. Well, maybe one or two less, but they're all piquant and deserve response. Here's a start: Just as artists resent others laying their taste/biases/criteria on them, so might critics object when artists (or their enabling presenters, and I was one of those too) want the critics to genuflect before their own … [Read more...]
Doug: Slippery Slope (Or Is It Rocky Shore)
For the next week, critic John Rockwell will be joining me in a conversation on ArtsJournal. John started working at the New York Times as a critic in 1972, and is currently the paper's chief dance critic. He was also the paper's first pop music critic, wrote extensively about classical music, invented a "job" prowling the capitals of Europe and writing about what he found interesting, and edited … [Read more...]
A Welcome to John Rockwell
We've had lots of comments on the new design for ArtsJournal - many of them positive - and then a full-throated chorus of those who find the new look wanting (ouch). I've changed a number of things based on these comments. The biggest change is restoring the topic groupings to the newsletters. Many complained that it was more difficult to scan the stories when they weren't grouped by topic. I'm … [Read more...]