The prickly subject of reviewing

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

I've been following with some interest the fallout from Bonfiglio's
post about his Florida concert.

At various times I've approached people I considered to be
knowledgeable and good writers about writing reviews for HIP. Quite
often, they wanted nothing to do with it, and acted like I'd handed
them a hot potato. They were afraid of offending someone and injuring
their goodwill. At times, I've managed to offend people even by writing
positive reviews that were somehow misinterpreted as negative.

In order to encourage people to write reviews, and to give guidelines
on how to do it well, and how to live with yourself while doing it, I
wrote a reviewer's guide, which can be accessed at:

http://www.angelfire.com/music2/harmonicainfo/resource/critguid/critguid.htm

It includes sections on why reviewing is a valuable activity and what
it is and is *not.

Good criticism equals good thinking and is, I think, essential to the
development of any art. Writing about the harmonica by its friends has
for decades involved a lot of rah-rah puffery that is embarrassing to
read, lacking in content, and helps no-one. Writing by the ignorant and
the unfriendly is no better, but to be honest isn't much worse.

Winslow