Los Angeles Times‘ Patrick Goldstein seems to think so. Of course, what he’s really talking about is consumer criticism–telling people how to spend their time and money.

I tend to agree more with Robert Christgau, who says–and I’m paraphrasing here–rock criticism isn’t for fans of rock music, it’s for fans of rock criticism.

People don’t seem to get this, so let’s put it in cable-television terms: the reason that album sales are down is because albums used to be a monopoly of sorts (like cable packages) and once consumers had the option to pick-and-choose the songs they like, overall sales went down (which is why some stations like CBN lobby to keep these packages in place). It’s protectionism. And no protectionism equals lower sales. Which is why I agree with Rick Rubin: You gotta get the art right.

After hearing that the recent Kimya Dawson show at the Black Cat didn’t quite sell out, we thought maybe the Juno soundtrack phenomena had come and gone. Amazingly, the soundtrack is still holding its own among indie rock’s stalwarts. At least at Adams Morgan’s Crooked Beat. Here’s the store’s top ten sellers from March:

1. Stephen Malkmus - Real Emotional Trash
2. Vampire Weekend - s/t
3. Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
4. Beach House - Devotion
5. Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
6. Dirtbombs - We Have You Surrounded
7. Juno - Juno soundtrack
8. Mission of Burma - Signals, Calls & Marches
9. Magnetic Fields - Distortion
10. Destroyer - Trouble in Dreams

Postie Tom Sietsema, in a Sunday magazine feature, vents about the decibel levels at various restaurants. Early on, he checks his handy decibel counter and sees that the noise level is equal to a lawn mower. I have to say the piece resonated with me.

I am no fan of the loud restaurant. A few weeks ago, at a local organic fancy pizza shop, I had to endure hits from the ’80s blaring at top volume. No fun.

Last night at a coffee shop, I had to endure late ’90s emo. All I wanted to do was read my book.

But the real issue for me is that these places don’t seem to play any local music. Not once have I walked into a store, restaurant or coffee shop and heard Georgie James or the Evens or Trouble Funk or Rare Essence. [I know there are other worthy bands and musicians that I'm leaving out]. Granted, there are some bars that do a good job stocking their jukeboxes with local favorites. But for the most part, the local eateries blow off the local scene.

If they want to crank it up, they should at least keep some local albums on rotation!

WPFW (89.3) launched a new programming schedule yesterday. (Here’s a handy PDF you can print out). With just one day under their belt, Program Director Bobby Hill says things are going well. Sunday audiences got a taste with a huge bump in Latin music from 6 p.m. to midnight. Hill says the “phones were lit up the whole night.”

This might be a good sign for the rest of the schedule’s changes which seem partly inspired or fueled by City Paper! New segments or newish segments include a three minute comedy break [from 2:30-2:33 p.m. Monday through Friday) provided by former CP staffer Dave Nuttycombe. CP dynamo/savior/genius Sheila Reid will head up a forum on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues the second Monday of each month from 7 to 8 p.m. And one of our longtime jazz critics John Murph will be spinning on Wednesdays from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.

The schedule is also bumping up WPFW’s progressive hip-hop hour to the 10 p.m. slot Monday through Friday. And the station has included a daily news segment from 6 to 7 p.m. each weekday that will dedicate some time to local issues.

Eric Alterman has an article in the New Yorker this week about the state of the newspaper industry. He makes some great points, but also makes a statement that is more a wail of liberal anguish than a prediction that can be supported by history: the newspaper is in its death throes. (If that were true why would anyone care about this man’s job?)

Seems to me that what he means to say is that the newspaper as we know it is dying.

But hasn’t that been happening for a long time? Morning and evening editions? Several dailies in every large town?

Could it be that the newspaper-in-a-diminished-form will coexist with the internet the same way that movies and television coexist? Or the way that MP3s and vinyl coexist?

Yesterday, we learned that the Apes’ Amanda Kleinman broke her ankle. A quick scan of the Apes’ tour blog reveals more. The blog item appears to be written by Kleinman:

“Minneapolis

We had our first great show in MN. After the show, we met Lori B., the drummer from Babes in Toyland. She took us home with her. I went to bed at 3:30 am. At 4:30 am, Erick hears a knock at the bathroom door (it was me, no memory of going downstairs). I tell him to get out because I have to throw up. He opens the door and I collapse to the ground. He helps me up and heads toward the stairs. Then I fall again. He gets freaked out, obviously. I crawl up stairs. Somehow I broke my ankle. I tried to tell at 4:30 am but he wasn’t processing and I wasn’t speaking clearly.

We got to the hospital at 12 noon the next day. I leave 6 hours later with a cast the size of a moon boot. They said I have to get home ASAP for reparitive surgery.

I wont be home till Monday morning. We aren’t cancelling shows.

See you soon.”

–photo courtesy of the Apes.

Orpheus Records in Arlington is still open despite staff predictions that the store would be closed by now.

According to store owner Rick Carlisle, “it seems likely” that the bricks-and-mortar version of Orpheus will now stay open through the end of April.

In case you haven’t been following this story, here’s the original news item from Black Plastic Bag and an excellent article from the Washington Post.

Boston is not the kind of band that gets hung up on their singer dying. No, when life gives Boston lemonade, Boston just picks itself up, dusts itself off, and calls…the dude from Stryper? Yes, that’s correct, Michael Sweet, the man who taught bazillions of Christian kids to shout at the devil and tease their hair to unheard-of heights, is replacing poor Brad on Boston’s upcoming tour of casinos, fairs, and races. But wait! That’s not all! Sweet will be spelled by Tommy DeCarlo, who attracted the attention of Boston on MySpace, where he sung their hits.

God, what did Brad Delp ever do to you? (Press release follows the jump. Enjoy some Stryper NOW!)

Read the rest of this entry »

A friend just sent me a link to a PopMatters post about the demise of Silver Spring’s Harp Magazine. I asked a colleague who would know and I was told that it is indeed true.

Looks like the issue with Dain Bramage’s Dave Grohl on the cover might be the magazine’s swan song.