John: So much agreement, and so much for the mean nasty blogosphere. For my part, I’d like to leave off with a rant about audience. I think one of the things that is killing American arts journalism is our (arts journalists) fogginess about who we think our audience is. Why is it considered more important […]

Doug: I guess we are indeed winding down, since once again I agree with you almost completely about the problem with newspaper cultural covrerage. But why not — you agreed almost completely with my last posting on that same subject. And of course the Times is part of the larger problem, too, tho insulated by […]

John: We’re getting close to the end of our conversation, but there are still things I wanted to ask you. One, which you bring up in your last post is about how cultural coverage is pitched. I get that in a mass-culture world the way to get audiences is to try to appeal to a […]

Doug: I agree with most everything you say in your last posting (to the annoyance of those, like editors, who value a good dust-up over reasoned dialogue). I do think editors at daily newspapers today prize lively writing and versatile newspaperly skills over expertise in a field of art; they are probably even suspicious of […]

John: Two huge topics to jump into, both probably worth spending a whole week on by themselves. I’ll wait on answering the first till later, since it’s such a huge topic. But the second, about specialist critics vs. generalists is easier to take a bite out of. I don’t think being a musician makes one […]

Doug: I think we’re talking about different things with the word “rules.” I meant that for each individual, critic or otherwise, there should be no rigid, exclusionary standards that determine our positions about most anything. With conflicts of interest and objectivity, I meant by no rules that to take an extreme position may be fun […]

John: All well and good to say no rules. But we both know that doesn’t hold. Indeed, with each plagiarism or conflict case that comes up, the rules at American newspapers get tighter and more reactionary. My favorite over-reach was the Miami Herald’s bizarre firing of dance critic Octavio Roca a few years ago when […]

Doug: Glad you’re back in action. Are you back in your house? Is your bedroom still under siege? I must say, even without the Great Tree, your place looks beautiful. And look on the bright side (if there ever is a bright side in the skies of Seattle): now you’ll have more sun in your […]

Okay – we’re back online. Power has been restored here in Seattle (I understand as many as 1 million people had electrical outages). The tree that met the acquaintance with the back of our house was the most impressive tree in our neighborhood. It was more than 100 years old and the trunk is wide […]

Doug: I hope you got some sleep and are dug out, as it were. As for audiences: I agree, sheep-like behavior masking a lack of conviction is bad however it’s manifested, and if today it’s manifested as automatic standing ovations, we’re agin ’em. As for my hippie roots: I was never a real hippie, whatever […]

Doug: Geez, with all due respect to Art, I would think a tree, a storm, a roof, power and family safety might just for the moment trump this conversation. I’ll respond to the rest of your 3 a.m. posting in a bit. Looking forward to your next message, but take care of priorities!

John: I had a response all but set to publish tonight when suddenly there was a huge crash and a 60-foot cedar from our neighbor’s yard toppled down and smashed the back of our house. Unfortunately there’s still about a third of this huge tree standing over our house, there’s a major wind storm blowing, […]

By John Rockwell Doug: The issue of audience sophistication and naivety is bound up with the democratization of the arts. The ideal, for those who believe the arts have been dumbed down by yahoo audiences (meaning rubes, not subscribers to that estimable e-mail etc. site), is of a Leo Straussian elite, guardians of the refined […]

John: Point taken – I’ll try to focus this entry on more or less one idea. The other day I was a guest on a CBC radio show as part of a panel talking about “applause inflation.” Of course it does seem that all anyone has to do anymore is walk on stage and get […]

Doug: By actual count there are 4,217 really good ideas in your five paragraphs. Well, maybe one or two less, but they’re all piquant and deserve response. Here’s a start: Just as artists resent others laying their taste/biases/criteria on them, so might critics object when artists (or their enabling presenters, and I was one of […]