Two Articles
Friday, January 13, 2006
I’m going to morph into Large-Hearted Boy for a second, if only to direct attention toward two articles I happened upon yesterday and today:
Chuck Klosterman, of Fargo Rock City and Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs note, has been submitting periodic columns to espn.com’s Page2 section, and his sports writing has proven to be as incisive and humorous as his insights on rock culture. He teams up with fellow cultural commentator and trend follower Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point, Blink) for a short piece on Gonzaga forward and Good White Basketball Player Adam Morrison and the knee-jerk tendency of writers and fans to instantly make comparisons to the Greatest White Basketball Player Ever, Larry Bird:
Aging American white people have been waiting for another Larry Bird in the same way aging hippies have been waiting for another Bob Dylan, but nobody ever gets what he or she wants: Tom Gugliotta ended up being Beck; Keith Van Horn turned out to be Conor Oberst; Mike Dunleavy is probably Ryan Adams.
Over at PopMatters, columnist Rob Horning opines on the remarkable overabundance of mp3 blogs and its deleterious effect on music (geek) culture:
Filed under: Adam Morrison Chuck Klosterman ESPN.com Music/mp3 blogs Pop Matters Rob HorningBut with a surfeit of once-difficult-to-hear songs out there, the prestige of the music itself is waning. What one has heard no longer even signifies effort or devotion or even a particular interest. Anyone who finds a couple of good blogs can have amass a ’60s garage-rock collection that would dwarf that owned by the most inveterate collectors in the ’90s. The information contained in the music files has become exceedingly cheap; it’s out there for anyone to access. Knowing what the Insect Trust or Chamaeleon Church sounds like doesn’t mean anything, anymore (if it ever should have).
cool article that one White Like Larry. I grew up outside of Boston and have seen the ‘greats’ play in the era of the 70’s, Havlicek, Cowens, JoJo White.. the game in those days was a finesse game – hardly ever saw the slam dunk crap you do today in the NBA. The old school vs new school comparison is definitely spot on. & who can ignore the great Larry Bird… many can come close but..
Love Horning’s eloquent opine, definite words of wisdom and ranks a close second to your Morningwood vs Scientists post.. But then again I am biased…
Keep up the good work bro!
D
Eric,
Thanks for the link. I found the PopMatters article interesting, if not a bit dispiriting to anyone who runs an mp3 blog.
I’ve definitely gotten caught up in the collect-first, listen-later mentality. But Horning also seems to be grouping ALL mp3 bloggers into one group, of people simply trying to impress others with their collection. And not all bloggers upload FULL albums for people to just download willy-nilly.
I agree there are many sites that practice one-upsmanship, or who can break this band first.
But I’m not sure I see anything wrong with wanting share or spread music (one or two songs at a time) from which you’ve derived pleasure. That’s somewhat the purpose of blogs, isn’t it?
He makes interest points, but I also think he’s overthinking the whole concept. To me, his writing seems to be saying that by running a blog, you’re just trying to show off or be a “personal curator to the world.” And the same goes for collecting LPs/CDs/etc.
Maybe I’m missing the point entirely. But I fancy myself a record collector, not because I want to show off, but because I want to share. Because that’s what we’re supposed to do with music.