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Who's the Best Rock Critic in the Twin Towns?
Posted at 2:30 PM on December 15, 2006
by Hans Eisenbeis
(70 Comments)
Chris Riemenschneider! Ross Raihala! Sarah Askari! Rich Horton!* Let's talk about this sordid bunch. Shouldn't our local rock music critics feel the sting of criticism themselves once in a while? Let's use this opportunity to talk about who you like, and why you like 'em.
Also, if you wish to speak with your vote, you can take this little off-site poll. But come on back and tell us why you voted the way you did. In the comments...
*Also: Jim Meyer, Anna Pratt, David De Young, Jon Bream, Megan Wiley, Christopher Bahn, Steve McPherson, Kyle Matteson, Bill Snyder, Jim Walsh, Peter Scholtes, and anyone else we might have forgotten.
Comments (70)
Whoa, that's tough. Overall I'm gonna vote for Pete Scholtes because of his accessible-yet-informational writing style, for covering a variety of music-related topics, and for posting on the DUNation boards. But there's a lot of good music journalists in the metro.
agreed, taylor.
i like ross, i think he's pretty sharp for a daily guy.
Ross rocks!
Jesus Christ. Answering this guarantees either execution or castration for me.
Andrea Myers should be on this ballot. ('Course I am biased.)
So, where's the poll to decide whether to execute or castrate Rex? I can't find that link.
IS Sarah Askari a Music Writer?
She doesnt seem to know anything about music....
i likey-like rossy-ross. his blog cracks me up and gives swell info.
I like Andrea Myers (and her writing too) ;-)
Tom Hallett is THE ONLY music critic that's worth a shit in this town. The rest are total hacks and should be embarrassed to tack their names to a story.
Rod Smith!
Jim Walsh has been my favorite for a long time.
I'm with Andrea, ain't nobody who can beat Walsh.
Kyle Matteson, great website and a great taste in music.
I second the Rod Smith vote.
"ain't nobody who can beat Walsh"? Maybe so, but I wish someone would. He deserves to be beaten.
Ack! He's terrible.
GEOFF CANNON, freelancer, City Pages...without a doubt. The only one with an original thought. The only one not tethered to a staid, lame, boringly "reinvented" TC music scene.
Are you guys serious? The words "best" and "critic" in the same sentence? That's close to voting "Who is the nicest dictator?"
Chris Bahn...all others are weak sauce...clear broth.
The Ross That Knew Too Much gives reviews that provoke thought and ignite bloody blog fights. He provides evidence that music is extremely personal and emotional -- and absolutely necessary. He reminds us that without it, our fair cities would wither like a blade of grass in late November. I like his wit andI like his writing. I heart Ross.
keepin it realer, i kiss u
Hansy Baby
Honored to be included after many years away from the TC and having returned this year via MnMo. At first I thought my disappearance would hurt my rating. On second thought, people assuming I was dead may have kept me out of negative numbers. Thanks everyone!
I voted, obviously not for myself given I have zero at 11:24am. (What proof do we have of the others? Huh? Huhhh!!!?!?!?)
I voted for Scholtes. Anyone can have a great range. He has a great range and passion and mission and goes well beyond his natural comfort zone to report. He may be one of the few whose writing contributions has lasting cultural value to the TC. All the more impressive since he is doing it at a paper that seems to be treading water if not drowing fast.
I would have considered a vote for Rod Smith and I second that. I mean third. Sorry to see that he seems to appearing less frequently of late. Guy fills a crucial hole. My modest return to the scene is an attempt to be somewhat more like him, or fill the role I thought he had left again.
Including David De Young was important though he's more of a ... what would you say...chronicler, and on semi-hiatus at that. Andrea has ascended at HWTS.com and probably deserved a listing both for her work there and contributions beyond. That little bitch's personal popularity would've blown this poll to smithereens.
The poll, impossibly imperfect as it is, is a welcome idea. As one who followed local music at a microscopic level in the '90s, then retreated to almost total removal, I was stunned how totally useless the press coverage was. I was looking forward to reading others for guidance, but I didn't trust anyone as far as I could throw a newspaper airplane. There was just too much information, trendspotting and friendspotting, far too little real musical discussion, and it's getting worse. Lesson being: You're on your own.
Onion seems to have jumped the shark on humor writing and I now live in Farmington so I have not been reading my old copy desk pal Christopher Bahn closely. If people say so, I have no problem. He's put in many years of groundwork to that position. My vote for Peter was no slight to Chris, just a nod to years and years of exceptional searches by him. All these people write in such different forms that a comparison is hard, but I sure as hell snubbed anyone over 40...as they are probably dear friends of mine who were invaluable to my so-called life and even more so-called career.
Still, a very worthwhile idea. Thanks, Hans. Give yourself one vote. Cut it in half. Then double it.
Meyer
p.s. I loved whoever said that someone or other was pretty good for a daily paper guy, as if the rise to the top of the industry is a rise to the top of a shite-pile. Interesting inversion, though possibly quite ridiculous. Remember. Even Jim Walsh was a lowly daily paper guy once. Too funny.
while he's not nearly as active, as long as he's still writing about music in any aspect, nobody will touch Jim Walsh in this town in my book.
I gotta go with Andrea Myers. Though since I no longer live in MPLS, and I'm related to her, I guess I shouldn't count...
nothing against the daily guys, but the daily grind sort of leeches any art out of the process, in my view. they get lots of dumb assignments for suburban crap rock and top-40 pablum, and they have to talk to stoopid brittany spears on a phone from florida and pretend they care. its yeoman service, they deserve props for doing it... but it ain't always the most edifying "music journalism." sure they'd be the first to agree. Walsh has it pretty good. Only has to write about music when he wants to nowadays. I suspect that's one of the reasons he got OUT of his "top o the heap" daily gig.
I'm just happy to be on the list among so many good writers. I just wanted to second what's been said about Pete S. and Jim Walsh, and also to give a nod to Dylan Hicks, who I understand is trying his hand at other kinds of writing these days but was always an insightful read.
Jim Walsh.
I had to go with Ross. I love to read him. He's biting without being overly smarmy and dickheadish (like some others on the list). But big props to Rich @ Rift, my homey McPherson, David (AND Andrea) @ HWTS. Love Peter S. and Jim M. too. That was hard to decide!
What Bahn said about feeling honored (welcome back, Jim). I just wanted to add that nobody comes close to Riemenschneider in terms of a difficult job well done. He pretty much raised the bar for the entire city as a local music columnist in this century, and I imagine he's the reason the Pi Press and the Onion hired people as good they did. The Strib's critics poll makes our jobs more fun, too. Big ups to Tom Horgan as well for picking up some of the club beat there. Between the corporate papers, Pulse, Rift, blogs, radio shows, zines, cable access, etc., I don't think there's ever been more media coverage of local music in this town.
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