a large polo mallet

 

(NPR) - September 17, 2023

Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone magazine, is facing criticism for saying that Black and female musicians were not "articulate" enough to be included in his new book, which features seven interviews with white, male rock 'n' roll icons.

The uproar over Wenner's comments prompted an apology from the storied music journalist, and he was also booted from the board of directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.

"In my interview with The New York Times I made comments that diminished the contributions, genius and impact of Black and women artists and I apologize wholeheartedly for those remarks," Wenner said late Saturday in a statement through his publisher, Little, Brown and Company.

Wenner said the interviews in the book "were not meant to represent the whole of music and its diverse and important originators" but rather to "reflect the high points" of his career.

"I totally understand the inflammatory nature of badly chosen words and deeply apologize and accept the consequences," he added.

The tumult began on Friday when the Times published its interview with Wenner, who was promoting his upcoming book, The Masters.

...Wenner said the men he interviewed were "kind of philosophers of rock" and that no female musicians were "as articulate enough on this intellectual level" as the men.

[OK here's where we begin to wonder, 'Who let this man go out in public and -- talk to people?' -- 'Somebody, bring a net!']

..."You know, just for public relations sake, maybe I should have gone and found one Black and one woman artist to include here that didn't measure up to that same historical standard, just to avert this kind of criticism."

[Oh, just -- make it -- make it stop! ... That's when I thought of the polo  mallet...in Annie Hall when Woody Allen's character is being confronted by overly enthusiastic guys on the street who think they recognize him from somewhere and they keep going on and on -- he makes an aside:  "I need a large polo mallet..."]

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The interviews included in The Masters are with

Bono

Dylan

Garcia

Jagger

Lennon

Springsteen

Townshend

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My list would be

Bob Dylan

Mick and Keith

Tina Turner

Muddy Waters

Jerry Garcia

Paul McCartney

Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham

_________________________

So, clearly these aren't new interviews that Jann Wenner just did, because some of these folks are dead:  Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, John Lennon of The Beatles...  Wenner must have gone through all his interviews from back in the day and selected seven of them for this book.

Also, there's almost a little confusion between what he intended with the book -- 'here are some of my favorite interviews that I got to do' and what some people are interpreting it as -- that he's saying 'these are the best musicians and songwriters.'

What's really funny to me is, he said somewhere in there that black people and women weren't articulate enough to have an intellectual conversation -- and then he apologizes and says he said the wrong thing -- i.e., he was not sufficiently articulate to say what he meant.

(1.  Open mouth.  2.  Insert foot.)

(Could someone please bring the net and the polo mallet...?)

I put Stevie Nicks on my list.  But then realized I needed to add Lindsey Buckingham -- if you have one and not the other, those two will start fighting again!

        (Then you have to get the net and the polo mallet and place them out of reach...)

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