Is music criticism necessary? That’s the bombshell of a question Steve Almond raised earlier this week in a Boston Globe editorial. His answer: Nope, not really. In a piece that looks back on his days as a self-identified hack music critic, Almond reveals his formula for a concert review: “My standard template was to start off with a bad pun then proceed to the concert set list, with each song title modified by at least three adjectives. If I was feeling ambitious, I described the lead singer’s hair.” It’s no wonder that depressing routine wore on him until “[t]he very idea of music criticism — of applying some objective standard to the experience of listening to music — suddenly struck me as petty and irrelevant.”
Almond is especially doubtful about the utility of negative reviews. “Criticizing a particular band or song might make you, and some of your readers, feel smart or sophisticated,” he writes. “But it rarely does anything to advance the cause of art.” It may not surprise you to learn that we completely disagree. Read More »
1. Avenue Q has announced that it’s closing on September 13th. [via The Awl]
2. A director’s cut of Watchmen (which if you’ll remember, didn’t do so hot the first time around) will hit theaters the weekend before the film’s July 21 DVD release. [via Reuters]
3. No-name actors are ruling the summer box office (we’re looking at you, Will, Jack, and Eddie). [via LAT]
4. The writer who revised The Hangover script to include Mike Tyson, the tiger, and the baby, isn’t getting credited. [via NYP]
5. Author Alice Hoffman is fighting back against a bad review in the Boston Globe using Twitter. [via Gawker]
1. The results of today’s union vote could decide if The Times shuts down The Globe. [via NYT]
2. Sweden’s Pirate Party captures a seat in the European Parliament. [via Reuters]
3. Hmm: “A secret sect of kung fu assassins could have silenced actor David Carradine as he delved into their shadowy activities, according to his family’s lawyer.” [via NYP]
4. Proving she’s crazy like a fox, Susan Boyle hires Ossie Kilkenny — the financial whiz who formerly advised Bono — as her manager. [via TDB]
5. Conan won his first week, but his audience shrunk with each episode. [via THR]
Working for a publication called “Flavorpill,” we already have to answer too many confused questions about whether our company has anything to do with drugs. It doesn’t, but this post probably won’t help our case.
Earlier this week, the Boston Globe posted a guide to “hacking your brain.” “Wouldn’t it be fun to hallucinate on your lunch break?” The story asked. Well, duh. The Internet’s been a-flutter since, but only two people were fearless enough to go all Mr. Wizard for the good of the cash-strapped, drug-hungry, desk-jockey workforce. Click through for a synopsis of the four hallucinatory experiments we performed, and here to see a slideshow of our (varied) results.
