An open letter to fellow Surly bloggers

Dear all,

It has come to my attention recently that music journalism is rotten to the core. Although there are still a few sources of decent music journalism out there, most of it has been corrupted by the music industry itself, and indeed, it is often blogs that offer the best music journalism.

Why should we be forced to sweat and bleed as we quest for a source of music media guided only by the ears and brains of a collection of committed, intelligent people? I gave up searching for this when I was about 15. I was too clever by then. Even then it was blatantly apparent that certain acts were being forced onto the front pages of the big magazines by the industry. In my mind it appeared that the acts featured on the pages of these magazines only seemed to belong there if the trees felled to create them crushed their encampments.

Since this blog is the best place to announce fine plans you know you will never follow through on, I suggest that we start our own music magazine. However, since music journalism is rotten to the core, we should just parody this whole ridiculous branch of journalism. Guttermouth tabloids have already been parodied by The Weekly World News and The Onion is a hilarious celebration of local "broadsheet" media sources. Although Hot Press is already a good parody of music journalism, I think there is still room somewhere on the internet for our own slice of ridiculousness.

I have plans. Any comments?

Sincerely,
Little girl.

Journalism: A Cite for Sore Eyes

"Each month, hundreds of thousands of words about music are written by people wearing converse trainers. What does it mean? Why bother describing music? It's like, er… driving a bus about 1930's Russian folkdancing. Makes no sense. This ludicrousness of this practice has rarely been more apparent when it comes to music by Battles."
P J Lucas
18 May 2007
BBC Music website (accessed 12-03-2008)

Here is an artist's interpretation of how Mr. Lucas's article might have looked if properly written:

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture - it's a really stupid thing to want to do."
Elvis Costello
"A Man out of Time Beats the Clock"
Pg 52 Musician magazine No. 60 (October 1983)

Each month, hundreds of thousands of words about music are written by people wearing converse trainers. What does it mean? Why bother describing music? This ludicrousness of this practice has rarely been more apparent when it comes to music by Battles.

Biannual Blog, Pedia

I changed the Dailypedia today for the first time in a number of months. For the next few months the Dailypedia will point here. It has taken me some time to figure out how I could accurately portray what I endure at work each day. Rather fortuitously, the Wikipedia community have already done it for me with this excellent entry on the phenomenon known as "micromanagement." Enjoy.