It would be ludicrous (Ludacris?) for me to take sides—I mean, I’m against racism, what a controversial opinion—but I do support Sasha Frere-Jones in most things, although we might disagree about a few things, musically. (That’s probably because I generally have the musical taste of someone’s grandfather, not even your grandfather; maybe your great-grandfather. The you I’m addressing here would be hard to pigeonhole.) I like Sasha a whole lot. I love the Magnetic Fields, too; they’re part of my soundtrack. The songs are sad and some are indelibly so, and “Strange Powers” is big in my life again thanks to the Shins. I know some people in the band and I like them a whole lot, too, although Stephin Merritt’s dog once bit me pretty hard, but it was just tired of being fondled by strangers, I think. I just mean: Sasha is good-hearted and big-hearted, and he’s not just concerned with justice but urgently preoccupied with it. I don’t second everything he says, but I believe he’s for good, for truth, for illumination. One thing he’s definitely not is a sycophant who shuns controversy. Neither is Merritt. They celebrate the undercelebrated, and want good music to be appreciated more. They disagree about what that music is, in part. (The list of music they both consider great would be substantial, I suspect.) As Sasha points out, there’s obviously an opportunity for reflection and thoughtful debate here, and the internet isn’t always the best place to have it—it’s a panel of animals speaking (or screeching) in many tongues, all at once, and the panelists’ table is infinitely long.
Being a critic-blogger, and being a dark-bar-dwelling grouchy-wary sort, have their advantages. You get to write and talk in dim lighting, and it helps with shyness. Someone smart would immediately plan a conversation between Sasha and Stephin, and publish it. Whatever this conversation ends up being about, these quips and links and footnotes aren’t doing it justice. Remind me to put up a transcript of Zadie Smith’s remarks at the recent PEN World Voices Festival about what she finds inspiring in hip-hop, when they’re available. She should be at the roundtable, too.
In other New Yorkerish news, there’s a brand-new blog called Candy Is Dandy, But Liquor Is Quicker. All hail Parker! If you haven’t bought The Portable Dorothy Parker (laudably well edited by Marion Meade) yet, you’re not in your right mind. It’s gorgeous, and the stories will knock your socks off. They really will. I’d never read “Big Blonde,” and I’m still recovering from it.
I didn’t intend to get all promotional, but I didn’t realize that there were so many original cover images for sale at the Cartoon Bank, mostly from the ’80s, ’90s, and today, as the radio DJs say. (I may have the musical taste of your great-grandfather, but I do know about radio DJs. Also, podjockeys! PJs? Maybe Pajamas Media could popularize it.) Some from other decades, too (an October 17, 1931 image by Adolph K. Kronengold, for instance), like this September 1, 1956, cover by Charles E. Martin.
Another Martin cover I like, published on May 27, 1967:
Big news to come on the blog, as soon as next week.