Re: Krakowski debate/review etc.

[S. Naomi Finkelstein <bear...>]

Another big use of bandwidth that I just don't care to read.

get me off this list, please.  It may be rude Ari- but I find the way this
list has been conducting itself ratehr rude lately

Your right the people you review need a way to redress your reviewws- but
since I do not read your reviews or care much about what you think I
neither care the rebuttals.

genug is genug- at least by me.

naomi









On Thu, 3 Apr 1997, Ari Davidow wrote:

> Whew!
> 
> What a lot of words while I was at work.
> 
> I do want to make a few things clear to the list.
> 
> First off, as someone else noted, Krakowski has every right
> to bring his grievance to a mailing list devoted to Jewish
> music--especially since he knows that I read that list.
> 
> It is a scary thing writing reviews that stay online. It
> is essential that the subjects of those reviews have the
> right to discuss them, to disagree with them, or to appeal
> for others to review the reviewer. It is bad enough when
> writers in traditional media write reviews--at least it
> vanishes quickly. Reviews on my web page stay up indefinitely
> and are indexed and accessible at all times to people around
> the world. That's a factor that I consider when I write the
> reviews, but it also means that we have to find new ways of
> ensuring that the people about whom I write have access to
> redress if they feel that the review is in error or is unfair.
> 
> Personally, I cannot imagine writing words that one does not
> intend. One thing this medium gives the =reviewer= is the
> opportunity to be reviewed. That has to be a good thing.
> 
> In that light, although I appreciate the sentiment, I do wish
> to discourage anyone from supporting either me or Krakowski
> (unless there are points where I am simply stating incorrect
> facts in the review, or misrepresenting the review here) who
> is not expressing an opinion based on the review itself. I
> do encourage people to read the review and comment on it if
> it seems relevant. I do write trying to be relevant.
> 
> I'm going to try to avoid specifics about the review (except
> to note that I am often accused of saying things that I don't,
> actually say, except for one occasion where what I wrote could
> easily be read as including, in part, the idea that no authors
> of songs that Krakowski sings went through the Holocaust--that
> was not the intent of the statement. It is, as Krakowski notes,
> an absurd idea. I don't think most people would read the sentence
> in that way, but it surely can and will immediately be reworded).
> 
> I did bring up an issue in the review of how we view the Holocaust.
> I don't believe that my points were those attributed to me by
> Krakowski, but would be most happy were readers of this mailing
> list to read the review and be willing to discuss views of the
> Holocaust and of the world of Jewish life in Eastern Europe 
> prior to the Holocaust. I do make the claim in the review that
> I feel that Krakowski's selection of material stresses a sentimental
> and one-dimensional view of that world, a view which I characterize
> as embracing "victims' songs and victims' pieties". Earlier in the
> review I also note that I feel that the song selection would be
> more appropriate to Anatevka--an imaginary world of a time gone
> by, and an imaginary world that we no longer embrace as 
> particularly representative of Eastern Europe as it was.
> 
> I try very hard to write reviews such that my personal
> hesitations come through and yet still make that recording sound
> attractive to those who would be interested in what the artist
> is trying to do. More than usual, I think that readers of this 
> review will sense that I had problems with some issues surrounding
> the recording, and that, while there is much to like, I don't at
> all find it breaking new ground or particularly compelling.
> Artists make recordings (and any art) in response to their own
> sense of what is important and what sounds good and what is 
> important to record. I can react to that, but I don't want to
> create the impression that I have problems with that process,
> or problems with the fact that some people will disagree with
> what I write!
> 
> Finally, I am sorry that Wolf felt it better to eschew my offer
> to talk over his voluminous notes in person. I am glad that he,
> at least, did seek further discussion, and if that means that
> both his recording, and the issues it raises to be discussed
> further, so much the better. That is one of the reasons this
> list exists.
> 
> ari
> 
> P.S. Once again, the review is at
>    
> http://www.well.com/user/ari/klez/bands/krakowski/trans/krakowski.trans.html
> 
> and his pages about the recording (including sound clips) are at:
>    http://www.kamea.com/
> 
> 
>