Auto-Tune the News
Loyal Reader Greg writes,
Dan, blog about this, and make a snide comment about [Sasha Frere-Jones], k?Gladly, Greg! This is episode 2 of a largely self-explanatory You-Tube skit called "Auto-Tune the News," in which various TV news personalities are subjected to the ol' T-Pain treatment:Also, Sasha Frere-Jones is racist.
posted by Dan Johnson at
8:07 AM
6 Comments:
After that New Yorker article, Sasha welcomed and made public a lot of thoughtful criticism of his various conclusions regarding race, racism, and contemporary rock music. I reached out to him via email after having circulated the article and some of the post-article commentary and blogging among the musicians I work with. I do not believe he is "racist."
I personally welcomed the discussion he generated from one article. Race is for some reason a completely taboo subject among my peers in the "new music" community. George Lewis addresses it explicitly in his writing, interviews, and music. But I am at a loss to point to any substantial dialogue out there regarding race and contemporary music making.
And certainly, creating a link that reads Sasha is racist doesn't to anything to advance the conversation.
Aw c'mon, just a joke. I do not believe that Sasha Frere-Jones is racist. And I do also think that people need to think hard about the role of race in music.
But while SFJ's article may have provoked a worthwhile conversation in some circles (even on his own NYer blog), the piece itself struck me as pretty thoughtless: sweeping and insubstantial—a cry for attention in print form—"provoking" a discussion without actually, as you advocate, advancing it.
I do hope you clicked my snarky link. That post sums up my thoughts on the article pretty well.
Aaaaaand the winner of this weeks DIDN'T GET THE JOKE™ GRAND PRIZE goes to... composer-performer Chris Becker!
Very slowly, now: I wanted Dan to make a snide comment about that OTHER sweeping, self-important and totally vacuous essay, the one about auto-tune, in which S F-J confirms our suspicions that he doesn't actually listen very carefully or perceptively, by making manifestly false statements about... Cher.) Because that would be relevant! But trickster Dan instead made a snide comment about the totally vacuous race thing. See? Funny!
Congratulations once again, composer-performer Chris Becker, on your DIDN'T GET THE JOKE™ GRAND PRIZE of the week!
Jesus...always a lotta love here at DSJ :(
OH BE NICE, Greg. Chris is being civil and constructive.
God knows I try :)
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