Programme-controller Ed Baxter told me it was a 15-minute tirade by Tony Herrington (publisher and editor-in-chief of
The Wire) on the phone which led to the suspension of my Resonance show. Ed
“hasn’t the time” for such
“tedious” disputes. My differences (and alliances) with Herrington do go back a long way. He and I were both given our break in music journalism by the late R.D. Cook, editor of
The Wire in the mid-80s. We were meant to be
"blasts from the North", something to blow away the cobwebs of conformity and collusion in London. At the time, Tony had a job in Decoy, a Manchester jazz-rock record shop, I was a semi-unemployed jazz-punk
"tosher" (hanging around the University without being on a course) in Leeds. However, after 9/11 I fell out with
The Wire and ended up leaving the magazine. I felt quite bitter about this as I was previously very comfortable with the
“access all areas” brief. In February I read a reader’s letter complaining about today’s excess of
“music product” (
Wire &hash; 348), and I couldn’t resist attempting
a Marxist explanation on Late Lunch. It was quite a mild piece compared to things I’ve said on the show over the last decade, but Resonance shows now go up on SoundCloud, so it was noticed. We posted up one of Tony’s angry emails, but it seems like he’s calmed down and even considering a debate about the issues, so we’ve taken it down. He also found our picture funny, so maybe we can put this spat behind us.
My “Marxist explanation” which so annoyed Herrington can be found
as text here, or
audio here
Lunch's
Anti-Wire Text >>
Lunch's
Anti-Wire Audio >>
Contact ResonanceFM >>
Letter From Jack Wright >>
For what it's worth, I thought Herrington's email was a very beautiful piece of hate-fuelled writing. It was finely (almost lovingly) crafted for maximum impact. It was musical in its use of rhythm, its expressiveness, the sense of there being wave upon wave of thick, black bile crecendo-ing with a "FUCK YOU". (It was also a bit camp, with all the rage of a queen that's just been outed in the 1970s). His attack on OTL's massive ego was clearly misplaced though, for it's all too apparent that he shares this characteristic. And the Cambridge University dig, well, that was a cheap shot too; in my experience douchebags occur in all walks of life, not just the Chumpbridge Debating Society.
ReplyDeleteThe point OTL addressed on the radio show that got him banned is a valid one. There is, without question, TOO MUCH BLOODY MUSIC OUT THERE. Some kind of critical approach to determine what's good or bad, that's not pure subjectivity but instead tries to see things for they might actually be in the grand SCREAM of things as opposed to what they are marketed as, is a useful thing. OTL uses Marx via Zappa and Adorno, SWP, AMM, blah, blah, etc., etc., as navigational tools to support his arguments. Great! Although no-one in their right mind would share all his pop-picks, there is at least method in his madness. I'd rather listen to someone that gains nothing from ranting about music he likes than someone who's livelihood depends upon it being the right kind of rant.
As insulting as letters go, Herrington's is one of the most offensive I have ever seen. OTL's shows? Well, his poems are quite offensive... (they don't even rhyme *smirk*), but he never seems to be particularly vicious towards The Wire... just a little narky maybe.
Maybe I've missed something?
I couldn't help think about the BBC and the 'Saville' case.; the culture of the big corporation silencing the voices of those who threaten to reveal its darkest secrets... or the PMRC "treating dandruff by decapitation".
Paul Jackets
Evil, that picture is truly disgusting. Luvverly!
ReplyDeleteThe remarks made about Wire magazine reflect many of my own misgivings.
ReplyDeleteTony Herrington should have been canny enough to ignore such provocations though. If a Wire employee complains of bullying or harrassment they may be able to use the example of a fifteen-minute tirade at an Industrial Tribunal to indicate the culture of the workplace.
Conversely a guy launching such an attack would have been lucky to end up in A&E with his gonads intact.
He must be a fool.
What's that they say about sausages? All eyeholes and arseholes? Well there's the face to match!
ReplyDeleteI think Herrington spoke in anger ("the voice of honest indignation is the voice of God") and I hope his words aren't used against him in this way. He doesn't see himself as a "boss", by the way, but organiser of a workers' co-op - which is why my criticisms drove him to such a fury. At this point, I think it would be good to remember Finnegans Wake and its Shem/Shaun Joyce/Lewis conflicts, where it's the SIMILARITIES in the combatants' make-up which stoke the conflict. Herrington just sent me this link. I'd be interested in what AMMers think of his defence of proletarian rock'n'roll versus art-world posing ... http://www.thewire.co.uk/themire/20884/bad-thoughts-on-the-death-of-mike-kelley
ReplyDeleteSorry what's happening with the radio prog then/ Is the "suspension" temporary, or has it been pulled for good? Or you still putting it up on Soundloud, OTL?
ReplyDeleteIt's in suspension while Ed Baxter asks lawyers for a protocol to stop him getting caught in the crossfire beaten Herrington and me. Meanwhile I'm at home kludging together a show out of what I have to hand - mainly Ken Fox's Azmud over a bed of Miklos Rozsa epic soundtracks, Bill Doggett, Jack & Jim Show from 1993 and JH Prynne as written by James Russell ... and a piano with a sandbag dunked on the sustain pedal. Up soon. Thanks for the interest, it's appreciated in these dark times ...
ReplyDeleteOops, "between" not "beaten" ... No I don't Soundcloud, the shows go up on www.archive.org ... Look for "audio esemplasm" ... Cheers ...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.unkant.com/2013/03/jacob-bard-rosenberg-letter-to-ed.html#comment-817569272
ReplyDeleteThis comments system is not as straightforward as the original one! You post a comment and it isn't always placed in the thread where you expect it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should have posted this comment here:
http://www.unkant.com/2013/03/jacob-bard-rosenberg-letter-to-ed.html#comment-817569272
Signed DC AKA
I don't mean I tried to post in one thread, and it was placed in another! I mean the order in the thread.
ReplyDeleteI'll go and have a lie down!
I must have started listening to OTL 7 or 8 years ago and have missed a couple of episodes. It really is must-listen radio.
ReplyDeleteWho are you? I've got three regular listeners and one of them is in Canada and the other two are in America (New York and Boulder, Colorado). The one in Canada is Ken Fox - I've been reading his stuff on air for years, and now we've got his book out: Azmud (Unkant). What do you do thye rest of the week?
ReplyDeleteInteresting reading and I can't help but agree with some of your original rant - and enjoy the cheek and verve of the parts I disagree with. I'm not sure if you'd be aware of this, but artists on The Wire's terrible cover discs nowadays PAY for the privilege of inclusion, judging that free promotion in the form of 20,000 or so beermats is worth £250 or so - I know this from contact with a tiny DIY label who are going to be featured on one soon, and from my own occasional involvement with the A-Band, who deliberately put an unlistenably poor track on one back in 2010 for the sheer mischief of it and split the costs.
ReplyDeleteSurely rather than resorting to 'legal protocol', it would be easier to just give The Wire an hour to reply?
ReplyDeleteAll the better if it included Herrington's fifteen minute telephonic rant.
It seems likely that Herrington hasn't read the introduction to Honesty Is Explosive.
Signed DC AKA
Various forms of 'Pay-to-Play' are longstanding in the showbiz racket, of which The Wire is part.
ReplyDeleteSigned DC AKA
That piece reinforces for me that I was right to call Herrington, Red Herring. It's the sort of glib, lazy writing that is all too common in The Wire and elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteBut following the link was worth it for some of the brilliant comments, especially Christine Corneille's eleven-point response. Even Sam Davies, former recipient of a Lunch box of maggots, is on target.
Signed DC AKA
I just happened across this 2007 discussion thread on BW:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbradio3/html/NF2620064?thread=3782738
Signed DC AKA
Your long neglected London listener. To be perfectly honest I prefer a low profile. If it wasn't for the fact that I like promoting work that appeals to me I would avoid social media entirely.
ReplyDeleteThere's an intriguing snippet in the new April issue of "The Wire" concerning their monthly Salon at Café Oto (on 11 April next) on the theme of 'early sonic experiments in the early Soviet Union'. Amongst the things mentioned is the composer Arseny Avraamov's proposal of "proposed vocalizing the writings of Lenin" using "graphical sound and other pioneering methods of audio synthesis" performed in a "Poetical Laboratory". This sort of thinking didn't entirely stop under Stalin; in 1943, Avraamov argued against the new National Anthem of the Soviet Union (which replaced "The Internationale" in the following year), contending that the anthem of a revolutionary republic should be based on "new approaches ". Avraamov proposed that the anthem should be performed by the re-synthesised Vladimir Mayakovsky (who had died 13 years earlier).
ReplyDeleteThere was an unkant posting on Avraamov last November. His name is in the tag-cloud.
ReplyDeleteI tried to include the address in a comment, but again, it ticked away, but didn't 'post'.
I don't know if it is just my computer.
Signed DC AKA
You pointed it out ages ago, but Disqus does put our comments in a non-chronological order, it's very confusing. I think it's because it allows replies to specific replies, creating an endless branching out which is not conducive to a collective discussion. We are always being made to "break up into groups" to have a discussion, something I've never much liked ... Perhaps The Great Erector can look into this, maybe there's an option in Disqus which could put us all back into the same thread.
ReplyDelete