Comments | chidder: The Dean Gets Expelled

chidder

The Dean Gets Expelled

Sep 03, 2006 15:24

Last Tuesday evening I had the pleasure of sitting down with Robert Christgau, the self-appointed Dean of American Rock Critics, in his East Village apartment. This was indeed a big thing for the kid here, considering that I've read Christgau's work, well, ever since I was a kid. His Consumer Guide to music has appeared in The Village Voice since ( Read more... )

music, writing, paul nelson

Comments 7

(The comment has been removed)

chidder September 4 2006, 02:31:28 UTC

It definitely was a cool experience.

I think Elliott Murphy hit the nail on the head when he described Christgau's writing as courageous. And he never expresses an opinion without in some way backing it up. It's the difference between a critic, who writes from the standpoint of a philosophy, and a reviewer, who tells you what happened and whether or not s/he liked it.

silver_chipmunk September 4 2006, 00:11:19 UTC

Well that really sucks.

chidder September 4 2006, 02:32:38 UTC

What makes it even worse is, from what I can tell, he didn't even see it coming.

annamaryse September 4 2006, 02:53:44 UTC

Thanks for reporting on this. I'm so glad I added you to my flist, otherwise I would not know about this. What a freakin' drag about Robert Christgau, stupid people.... stupid 'youth culture', stupid editors.

chidder September 4 2006, 02:59:54 UTC

I have no doubt he'll surface elsewhere. He has what few critics can lay claim to: his own "brand." There's got to be a savvy publisher out there who sees the cachet that would come with having Christgau's name on his or her publication's masthead.

solo_maria December 24 2006, 12:43:59 UTC

Just stumbled over this (three months late, but still). Awful news. Hope Christgay is well after the firing. Do you know what he does now?

chidder December 24 2006, 14:59:31 UTC

Christgau has landed on his feet just fine. This from a "Career News" update (dated 10.30.06) at his website http://robertchristgau.com/:

"Robert Christgau's piece on the New York Gypsy Festival just went online at Salon. He has contracted to be a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and a music critic for NPR's All Things Considered. The Consumer Guide remains in limbo, although there's an excellent chance it will start up again shortly. Sometime in the next month, archival Consumer Guide material will become part of the editorial content at Rhapsody, Real Network's online music service, where he will also contribute a weekly playlist."