teachers, mentors, firings, the future

Read this obit for RS editor Paul Nelson, which includes this:

Longterm contributor David Fricke says of Nelson, his first editor at the magazine, "He was the perfect definition of 'mentor' -- someone who recognized talent, gave it a chance and made vital helpful criticism in terms of language and perspective. I learned a lot from Paul not just about expressing one's passions and opinions, but how to formulate them and make them live on the page."

And here's Jody Rosen (many props, this boy is ON!) on Bob Xgau's firing:

He also earned the "dean" title by teaching. A huge percentage of the working rock critics of the last three decades are graduates of the Voice music section, shaped by Christgau's mentoring and fearsome line-editing.

Here's a sample of the "new" Voice style gallery rap:

On "Rap O'Clock," they joke about how they "use rap words like 'word is bond' like 'to the rhythm yo.' " It's rap music about rap, downtown music about downtown, hipster music about being hip. Haters call it gallery rap—as in, you know, art.

(Hey, I'm confused, what genre is that sad cool kid the clown prince of? Rap, you say?)

So, in view of the crumbly towers of my loved profession, with art schoolers invading yet another genre and having waged my own covert year-long battle uptown, I announce to you all that I am now no longer a resident of NYC, that I'll be back to freelance after the 33 1/3 and that, well, I'll be back to blogging with a vengance and a renewed passion. What is the future of music writing? I've been asking myself this question every day, and since my commitment to it has become a major conflict in my life, I intend to spend this year off from Columbia passionately arguing and hopefully affecting change for the the profession's future.

And since blogging/web publishing has certainly been the key factor in professional criticism's paradigm shift, I'll end this purposefully vague announcement by simply quoting someone else who has spoken better on the subject in the near past:

So, since I have no intention of giving up rock criticism, all reasonable offers entertained; my phone number is in the book, as they used to say when there were books.

Be Seeing (More Of) You,
Daphne