Re: Florida Philharmonic Review

["Bob Maglinte" <bbqbob917@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Bonfiglio" <bon@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "david j. brown" <nonidesign@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, April 12, 2003 11:48 AM
Subject: Re: Florida Philharmonic Review


>
> Dear David,
>
> I am in total agreement with you!   I don't get at all bent out of shape
> about any review; it's the reviewers.  They are killing classical music;
> they can't seem to say that they had a "good time" at a concert.
>
Hi,
One thing most people often do not know in regards to music critics is how
often they are assigned to review things they either don't like a genre
they're having to review and/or know next to nothing about it and/or don't
like particular instruments at all, but won't fess up to any of these. Let
me give you an example. When I did the 1989 Boston area Battle of the Blues
Bands, there was a very prominent music writer for a very high profile local
newspaper (in which both shall remain nameless) who often wielded a LOT of
power, who was one of the judges. At the end of the night, he interviewed
all the contesting bands, including mine (of course) and he asked me were
all the tunes I had performed were originals. Now the way thus guy's
writings were, I had assumed he was extremely knowledgeable, but the further
into the interview I got, the more I clearly and quickly found out how
LITTLE he really knew about the music he's supposed to be reviewing, and I
was very tempted to humiliate him and put him in his place, but knowing how
much power he wielded in this town, it wouldn't be a very prudent move. So,
from that moment on, it really brought home a point told to me that there
are very few critic reviews one should really worry about, as some panning
you may get are from people far less knowledgable than they make themselves
out to be (frauds in my book), let it roll over your shoulder. For blues, if
you get panned by writers who truly ARE knowledgeable about the genre like
Peter Guralnick or the late Pete Welding, that's a hurting, big time, but
from someone who has to review many different genres, I won't think about
them too much, as many times they know MUCH less than they're trying to make
readers believe.

Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA