[contextly_auto_sidebar id="sm1yCVkC5n9okJnqnTpzTSDYpQTHApRe"] WE'VE heard this before, but it's always painful when it happens: The visual artists who have helped tame downtown Los Angeles and given it a hip sheen are now being forced out by gentrification and rising rents. The process is just starting, but it seems destined to pick up speed quite soon. A new story in the Los Angeles Times … [Read more...]
Archives for 2014
The Return of the the Clientele
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="GvXKWajzd59XJt2Gt7TaopxjoaWObQiN"] IT'S something I never expected: Another tour by the spooky, chiming English folk-rock band The Clientele, who sort of broke up a few years ago. For a handful of reasons -- the 25th anniversary of the band's label (Merge), the reissue of their first LP, some new songs -- the Clientele made a small U.S. tour, which on Saturday … [Read more...]
What is the Ivy League For?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="JOGXf4pQNorMAGptHzzcW1DczyhB3tLM"] SOMETIMES a writer is attacked so widely and vigorously I can tell he's right. That's the case with William Deresiewicz's New Republic essay about the fallacy of elite college education, and Ivy League schools in particular. I don't mean I agree with every word of his piece, and I know the Ivy League only from a distance. (For what … [Read more...]
Celebrating the Power of SLAKE
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="sx5hfk7MoWchhQaW7wXbDMvKVh3UKnXl"] HERE at CultureCrash, we're longtime fans of the Los Angeles literary magazine Slake, which put out four smart, handsome, forceful issues full of art, fiction, memoir and poetry. Editors Joe Donnelly and Lauria Ochoa -- both formerly of the LA Weekly -- did something not easy to pull off in sprawling LA: They galvanized a community … [Read more...]
How Do Writers Make Their Living?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="7bGpqAdbG8eEXFCQfCXKxBmqMplgXX5l"] AFTER a long period in which authors and other scribes shied away from going public with their finances -- perhaps not wanting to seem like they were "in it for the money" -- the economics of the literary life have become more transparent lately. This is partly, I suspect, because of the greater concern for economics that arrived … [Read more...]
The Joys of Record Collecting
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Ek7iyrlYHDOILDJGrQgtzksB1G6Fgw70"] IN these digital days of downloads and streaming, it seems like a truly ancient pastime to seek out old chunks of vinyl. Two new books get into the motivation and culture of collectors who amass 78s and 33s. I've not read either, but this New York Times review makes me want to check them out. It also reminds me how lucky I was to … [Read more...]
Jazz and Classical Musicians vs. Streaming
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Q0kRrypSZofvO7Cl0jQKoVvntfv83bix"] WE'RE starting to hear a lot from musicians about how music streaming destroys their ability to make a living. So far, it's been harder to find out how it's affecting jazz and classical music. I tried to get into the subject with a new story for Salon. I speak to a number of musicians (including pianist Jason Moran) and … [Read more...]
Will Amazon Crush Publishing?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="vKKFLjwmwHjYmDjG3md6BwURLIgqKbsB"] RECENTLY I've written a bit about Amazon and other giant tech companies and how they have begun to crush the world of culture, and the people who make it, while the Department of Justice and other regulatory agencies sleep. These are longstanding concerns of mine, as a journalist who writes about music and the arts, as well as the … [Read more...]
What Are Humans Good For?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="NUIeoMZoQbFSCCvhJftok1FkbupHfdXm"] WELL, folks, it's gotten to the point where we've gotta ask this question. With various kinds of automation and AI replacing human labels even at the most cerebral and professional level -- it's not just bank tellers any more -- we've got to ask, What can humans do that a computer or algorithm can't? A new Slate story notes that … [Read more...]
More Bad New For Authors
BOOKS and publishing seems to be coming to terms with creative destruction these days much as musicians began to a few years back. The latest batch of bad news comes from the UK, in which a survey shows that authors have lost significant financial ground over the last eight years and make, on median, about 11 pounds, below Britain's equivalent of the poverty rate. Here's The Guardian: According … [Read more...]