Just say that I’m really enjoying Page 94 (the Private Eye podcast). As the number of interesting podcasts expands beyond the possibility of listening to them all, p.94 takes priority for me. It brilliantly conjures up the atmosphere of sitting in the Carlisle St office, with the sense of wine and fags (and the ghost of Peter Cook) lurking nearby...
Re Jan Wenner’s relationship to his cover stars: that’s a strong instance of a widespread phenomenon. It would be - probably still is, I haven’t played in the market for years - typical for a big advertiser in the women’s glossies (Estée Lauder, say) to keep a close tally of the number of editorial mentions their products received in Vogue or wherever; and use that tally as leverage in negotiating their ad volumes and costs with that title (and vice versa: why don’t we get better editorial coverage, in return for all our ad pages?). Glossy magazines - whether on music, fashion, cars, furniture - prosper to the extent that they help their advertisers sell product to their readers. It’s their business model. Weekly magazines much less so, as the dominant revenue stream is copy sales.
When describing intellectual/political disagreements, I always try to frame the disagreement in a way that both sides would recognize (even though that's not always possible).
As a child of the 80s and 90s - when female artists were just as marginalised as they were in the 60s - I wonder how much amazing music we didn’t get to hear.
Never mind Janis Joplin and Madonna, how many women just didn’t get off square one before they were stymied?
Yeah, this is a theme of my new stuff of genius. There’s a Stephen Jay Gould quote about caring less about the weight of Einstein’s brain than the certainty that there are people as brilliant as Einstein who died in cotton plantations and in childbirth…
Aye exactly. And for what it’s worth, growing up obsessed with the music press (sometimes more than the actual music), I always thought Rolling Stone was crap. Like an even more humourless Q.
Also related to the PEye podcast: I worked on papers for 20 years and didn’t know about the Mail’s feature ghosting process! I thought they just had fantastically late deadlines. Durrrrrrr.
Just say that I’m really enjoying Page 94 (the Private Eye podcast). As the number of interesting podcasts expands beyond the possibility of listening to them all, p.94 takes priority for me. It brilliantly conjures up the atmosphere of sitting in the Carlisle St office, with the sense of wine and fags (and the ghost of Peter Cook) lurking nearby...
yes, agreed!
Re Jan Wenner’s relationship to his cover stars: that’s a strong instance of a widespread phenomenon. It would be - probably still is, I haven’t played in the market for years - typical for a big advertiser in the women’s glossies (Estée Lauder, say) to keep a close tally of the number of editorial mentions their products received in Vogue or wherever; and use that tally as leverage in negotiating their ad volumes and costs with that title (and vice versa: why don’t we get better editorial coverage, in return for all our ad pages?). Glossy magazines - whether on music, fashion, cars, furniture - prosper to the extent that they help their advertisers sell product to their readers. It’s their business model. Weekly magazines much less so, as the dominant revenue stream is copy sales.
"single-issue populists" is a very tactful way of putting it!
When describing intellectual/political disagreements, I always try to frame the disagreement in a way that both sides would recognize (even though that's not always possible).
The Vulture story blew my mind. Paramount needs to step up, regardless of this mistake riddled lawsuit. Superb reporting by Lila Shapiro.
Really good read on Rolling Stone.
As a child of the 80s and 90s - when female artists were just as marginalised as they were in the 60s - I wonder how much amazing music we didn’t get to hear.
Never mind Janis Joplin and Madonna, how many women just didn’t get off square one before they were stymied?
Yeah, this is a theme of my new stuff of genius. There’s a Stephen Jay Gould quote about caring less about the weight of Einstein’s brain than the certainty that there are people as brilliant as Einstein who died in cotton plantations and in childbirth…
Aye exactly. And for what it’s worth, growing up obsessed with the music press (sometimes more than the actual music), I always thought Rolling Stone was crap. Like an even more humourless Q.
Also related to the PEye podcast: I worked on papers for 20 years and didn’t know about the Mail’s feature ghosting process! I thought they just had fantastically late deadlines. Durrrrrrr.
I feel bad that I was sitting on an explosive secret for so long!
It is one of my favourite bits of that episode when you’re like, “hang on!” Relatable content 😂