So as writers/bloggers/poets/journalists/critics etc. have we officially gone over to the dark side? Have we completely sold out to free drink tickets and backstage passes? Hanging with the cool kids and getting our faces plastered on the cobrasnake? The lines between editorial and marketing has been virtually nonexistent for years and it’s just as likely that the music/art/theater/political review you’re reading was written with a marketer’s approval as by some holed up curmudgeon fuming over his keyboard intent on telling the world what’s what. Is it even possible to write honest, “this shit sucks” criticism anymore and expect an audience or-let’s be real honest-a paycheck? If Greg Tate/Pauline Kael/Lester Bangs/James Baldwin/Michelle Wallace/Amiri Baraka/HL Mencken were just starting out today would there be an avenue for them to fuck shit up critically like there was in there day? (Well probably yes for Mencken-he was a huge dick, a great writer but still a huge dick). 

The article’s here: