Gazoo's Thread of Self-Indulgence

[Gazoo]

It's not that the others are bad writers, but they're writing for smaller-market audiences who, by and large, are satisfied with reviews that consist of plot summaries with a single-sentence opinion at the end.  New York audiences, especially the Voice audience, expect something rather different, something more intellectually challenging and engaging.  That the same seems poised to befall the Voice music section is an embarrassment.

This was a horribly elitist thing for me to say and so let me publicly apologize for it.  Just my embittered reaction to what's been happening to the Voice over the past year.

[RGMike]

It's not that the others are bad writers, but they're writing for smaller-market audiences who, by and large, are satisfied with reviews that consist of plot summaries with a single-sentence opinion at the end.  New York audiences, especially the Voice audience, expect something rather different, something more intellectually challenging and engaging.  That the same seems poised to befall the Voice music section is an embarrassment.

This was a horribly elitist thing for me to say and so let me publicly apologize for it.  Just my embittered reaction to what's been happening to the Voice over the past year.

I didn't think it elitist at all. NY audiences ARE different. No apology necessary.

[Gazoo]

So that all set, the behavior of New Times in general and Michael Lacey in particular has been nothing short of shameful.  Chuck deserved better.  The other Voice employees who have been either shown the door or shown sufficient reason to find it themselves deserved better.  And the reading audience deserves better.  I'd really had a mind to build a career with them, and now it's hard to fathom ever writing another word for them without feeling dirty and despicable.

Fuck you, Mike Lacey.  Your kind shan't last long.

[RGMike]

So that all set, the behavior of New Times in general and Michael Lacey in particular has been nothing short of shameful.  Chuck deserved better.  The other Voice employees who have been either shown the door or shown sufficient reason to find it themselves deserved better.  And the reading audience deserves better.  I'd really had a mind to build a career with them, and now it's hard to fathom ever writing another word for them without feeling dirty and despicable.

Fuck you, Mike Lacey.  Your kind shan't last long.

Now THAT'S the Gaz I know & love!

BTW, a nice NY-vs.-SF piece in today's Chron:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/19/DDG9EIAGGG1.DTL

[Gazoo]

BTW, a nice NY-vs.-SF piece in today's Chron:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/19/DDG9EIAGGG1.DTL

It's no wonder people so often gravitate to one or the other when they want to start over, reinvent themselves, start dreaming that anything is possible. New York and San Francisco are the country's two great stage sets -- gloriously dense, beautifully overwrought, ethnically teeming places that seem simultaneously more real than other cities and more fanciful. They are the exceptions that give American culture its sharpness and definition, its heat and light, on the edges.

SO on the money.  And this, from someone who's had more than his share of startings over.

Which suggests to me, in light of current events, that the time to move back to SF will be sooner rather than later.  More TK once I see where the Time and Jane gigs can take me.  (Anyone know anyone at the Bay Guardian?)

[RGMike]

So that all set, the behavior of New Times in general and Michael Lacey in particular has been nothing short of shameful.  Chuck deserved better.  The other Voice employees who have been either shown the door or shown sufficient reason to find it themselves deserved better.  And the reading audience deserves better.  I'd really had a mind to build a career with them, and now it's hard to fathom ever writing another word for them without feeling dirty and despicable.

Fuck you, Mike Lacey.  Your kind shan't last long.

Apropos of this discussion, VV film critic (and legend) J. Hoberman has his review of American Dreamz running in the new SF Weekly. Betcha he doesn't get paid extra for that, eh?

[Gazoo]

I've got my first full-pager in this week's Voice:

http://villagevoice.com/nyclife/0625,mccombs,73583,15.html

And I forgot to pass this along—a short piece on Rosanne Cash:

http://villagevoice.com/nyclife/0624,mccombs,73533,15.html

Lastly for now, I have an interview Friday with a women's fashion magazine for a copy editing staff position.  I'm not altogether serious about it; I'm mostly going in to find out what kind of salary/benes I command on the current market.  Will be useful knowledge for when I commence my search in the SF market.  (And yes: I am wholeheartedly serious about an imminent return, unless my work here in Gotham REALLY blossoms.  Best-case scenario is September; realistic scenario is February.)

[RGMike]

I have an interview Friday with a women's fashion magazine for a copy editing staff position.  I'm not altogether serious about it; I'm mostly going in to find out what kind of salary/benes I command on the current market.

just remember: The Devil Wears Prada!

Congrats on the 2 pieces, the Gay Games article was especially fine.

[mshray]

I've got my first full-pager in this week's Voice:

http://villagevoice.com/nyclife/0625,mccombs,73583,15.html

Gaz, did you collect the following quote personally?

Fellow Wizard David Benaym described [Montreal] as "hockey-wise, a much, much better experience," adding that Canada has long been "a huge part of the hockey world."

WTF!?  Sounds precisely like something W would say if he were in Canada.

[RGMike]

I've got my first full-pager in this week's Voice:

http://villagevoice.com/nyclife/0625,mccombs,73583,15.html

Gaz, did you collect the following quote personally?

Fellow Wizard David Benaym described [Montreal] as "hockey-wise, a much, much better experience," adding that Canada has long been "a huge part of the hockey world."

WTF!?  Sounds precisely like something W would say if he were in Canada.

LOL. "Little Italy has long been part of the pizza world".  I'm wondering if he said "... of the gay hockey world" and something got garbled.

[Gazoo]

I've got my first full-pager in this week's Voice:

http://villagevoice.com/nyclife/0625,mccombs,73583,15.html

Gaz, did you collect the following quote personally?

Fellow Wizard David Benaym described [Montreal] as "hockey-wise, a much, much better experience," adding that Canada has long been "a huge part of the hockey world."

WTF!?  Sounds precisely like something W would say if he were in Canada.

LOL. "Little Italy has long been part of the pizza world".  I'm wondering if he said "... of the gay hockey world" and something got garbled.

No, that's exactly what he said.  I conducted and transcribed the interviews myself.  Yes, that quote was rather obvious, but remember, I'm writing for an audience that isn't necessarily up on its sports.

[mshray]

I've got my first full-pager in this week's Voice:

http://villagevoice.com/nyclife/0625,mccombs,73583,15.html

Gaz, did you collect the following quote personally?

Fellow Wizard David Benaym described [Montreal] as "hockey-wise, a much, much better experience," adding that Canada has long been "a huge part of the hockey world."

WTF!?  Sounds precisely like something W would say if he were in Canada.

LOL. "Little Italy has long been part of the pizza world".  I'm wondering if he said "... of the gay hockey world" and something got garbled.

No, that's exactly what he said.  I conducted and transcribed the interviews myself.  Yes, that quote was rather obvious, but remember, I'm writing for an audience that isn't necessarily up on its sports.

Then if I were you, I'd have written "Fellow Wizard David Benaym earnestly described..." or some such modifier.  But hey, great article & congrats are still due!

[princessofcairo]

I've got my first full-pager in this week's Voice:

http://villagevoice.com/nyclife/0625,mccombs,73583,15.html

And I forgot to pass this along—a short piece on Rosanne Cash:

http://villagevoice.com/nyclife/0624,mccombs,73533,15.html

congrats!

[Gazoo]

Hey all,

Just egocentrically forwarding along the results of my second week of review contributions to the Stylus Singles Jukebox.

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/the_singles_jukebox/pulsating-surrealism.htm

Not expecting anyone to be familiar with most of these songs but I hope it makes for entertaining reading all the same.  I'm represented on the songs "Eleanor, Put Your Boots On" by Franz Ferdinand; "That's No Way to Tell a Lie" by James Dean Bradfield (the singer for Manic Street Preachers); "Insistor" by Tapes 'n' Tapes (with the striking line: "like Harvard Square holds all inane"); "Wolf Like Me" by TV on the Radio; and Gnarls Barkley's "Smiley Faces."  Funny how none of us were able to talk about the latter without talking about "Crazy."

Best line that anyone wrote: "Keyshia Cole, who brings less to the party than she should (it’s BYOB and she showed up with Fresca)."

[princessofcairo]

Hey all,

Just egocentrically forwarding along the results of my second week of review contributions to the Stylus Singles Jukebox.

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/the_singles_jukebox/pulsating-surrealism.htm

Not expecting anyone to be familiar with most of these songs but I hope it makes for entertaining reading all the same.  I'm represented on the songs "Eleanor, Put Your Boots On" by Franz Ferdinand; "That's No Way to Tell a Lie" by James Dean Bradfield (the singer for Manic Street Preachers); "Insistor" by Tapes 'n' Tapes (with the striking line: "like Harvard Square holds all inane"); "Wolf Like Me" by TV on the Radio; and Gnarls Barkley's "Smiley Faces."  Funny how none of us were able to talk about the latter without talking about "Crazy."

Best line that anyone wrote: "Keyshia Cole, who brings less to the party than she should (it’s BYOB and she showed up with Fresca)."

ha! i love that line, too. good words, but you´re right. the only song i know is "smiley faces," one of my favorite tracks from the album ("just a thought," "go-gi gadget gospel," and "st. elsewhere" being the others).