Praising with Faint Damnation -

Praising with Faint Damnation - The Fraters take a whack at Jim Walsh.

Walsh - probably the toniest music critic in the Twin Cities today - has been a critic about town for the better part of the last fifteen years. He started at the City Pages (where he seriously classed up the joint after the abysmal Michael Welch), before spending most of the past decade at the Pioneer Press, where he brought a level of savvy to their music reporting that had not only eluded the SPPPD, but that the Strib's John "I Kissed Prince's Butt!" Bream couldn't approach.

Are Walsh's politics way off to the dippy left? Oh, what do you think? The Fraters quote a Chris Riemsnschneider piece noting Walsh's recent move back to the City Pages:

Walsh sent out a mass e-mail earlier this week proposing a Paul and Sheila Wellstone World Music Day (featuring all genres of music) on the anniversary of their deaths, Oct. 25.

Stop the presses - a music critic that trends left of center!

So let me be the first conservative blogger to say this: For a typicalliberalmediaflak, Jim Walsh is much less of a clueless disaster than most others (you hear me knocking, Brian Lambert?)

You can thank me later, Walsh.

As I do with musicians, I tend to ignore critics' politics; "Love the art, ignore the artist". If they steer me toward some good music, it's all a wash in my book, and if I wanted their political opinion, I'd grant them the right to have one.

No, Jim Walsh really only has one crime to answer for; the way he took the Gear Daddies - a wonderful, sparklingly fun live band with one of the best singers in the Twin Cities, Martin Zellar - and made their first album, "Let's Go Scare Al" such a dreary, aurally flat endurance test.

Other than that, he's not so bad.

Weekend Bloviation - I have a ton of work to do today and tomorrow, so I doubt I'll be posting much.

But it's one of those days when I'm noshing over a couple of big topics that could eat up a couple days' worth of space next week:

• Urban Conservatism - Yesterday was just the latest of many jibes by the Star/Tribune at the Minnesota GOP's understanding of "urban issues". According to the Strib, the Pioneer Press and MPR, things like tax cuts, concealed carry reform, less-intrusive government and less-trivial law-enforcement are inimical to "urban" environments.

  It's untrue, of course. But conservatives in the Twin Cities have a bunch of tall hills to climb; our party is just one of them. In my district - the Fourth - the party is split between the powerful, well-funded, well-organized suburban interests in Roseville, Arden Hills and Shoreview, and the frazzled, benighted party in St. Paul itself.

  And yet it's here in the city that the GOP has the most work to do! And if you think about it, it's a place where by all rights we should be able to make a lot of headway. Who are the constituents? A minority group that dazzles the rest of the nation with their work ethic, commitment to education and free enterprise and family (the Asians), another that is traditionally tied to the nannystate that increasingly doesn't represent their generally socially-conservative Catholic views (Hispanics), and yet another that is just starting to make its disgust with the education system known, and favors limited privitization in the form of vouchers more than any other group (Afro-Americans).

  So I'd love to talk about this next week.

• My potential church hunt. It's a big deal for me - and has been for two decades. I'll talk about why. Probably.
  
• In his August 8, 7:45 AM, Pacific post (you'll have to scroll down to find it), Hugh Hewitt posited an interesting idea:

  When do you suppose it will strike some producer at Fox or MSNBC that they ought to launch "Blogweek," hosted by James, Glenn, and Virginia and featuring three minute segments with 10 different bloggers talking about their blogs? Instantly a cable show would have an audience with the complete attention of the web and the opinion class.

  Try watching weekend cable. This show would dominate the weekend ratings as surely as Arnold did the news cycle this week.

  The thought occurred to me a few weeks ago, although more as a radio show. I haven't had the time to pursue it, partly because I have been blessedly swamped with short-term contract work, and partly because I haven't done that sort of thing in years.

  I think a blog show in the format Hewitt tosses off - a series of 3-5 minute talks with bloggers who are onto a hot topic for the week (or day), similar to Hewitt's whirlwind of guest interviews with interspersed callers, would make sense.

  While Hugh suggests a weekend TV show, I have to wonder - would that make sense for bloggers? First of all, lots of bloggers have - let's be honest - good faces for radio. And the production involved in TV is the antithesis of the run 'n gun ethos of the blogs; the shooting schedules and just-plain-expense of doing a TV production would mix badly (I think) with the bloggers' style of doing things.

  But talk radio? A couple of people in a studio, mixing in other people via phone or VoIP? Almost as easy as putting up a blog, and probably fits everyone's style (and the listeners' style) better, to boot.

  Yeah, I've got some wheels turning.
  

• Is Arnold a good thing? More next week.

Plenty to talk about. I'll see you then.

If not earlier, of course.

UPDATE: Natch - I start out the morning saying "No posting this weekend", and then I start posting like it's a hyperactive Tuesday. OK. NOW I'm gone. Have a great weekend.

Posted by Mitch at August 9, 2003 07:34 AM