Big Yawn is a Joke

Case in point:
http://www.bigyawn.net/cdreview.php?id=205

Other case in point:
http://www.bigyawn.net/cdreview.php?id=190

I'm not that fond of the "Van Lear Rose" album, and I'm not a huge fan of Ringenberg, either, but you can't call a page of some snot nosed indie hipster wanna-be's rant against country a music review.

Just because you little twats "[n]ever gave Johnny Cash a second concern" doesn't mean true music fans with a little bit of depth don't seek out music beyond what the pseudo hip/indie rags spoon feed them…and don't align yourselves with Rick Rubin, you're not in his league (not that I think he's all that, I just think you're so NOT all that that)

To refer to Jason Ringenberg as "this Ringenberg guy" just shows that the writer has no music knowledge, depth or backgroun at all.

To say country music is a "genre known for its self-loathing" also reflects a lack of real background, as well as a lack of perception that there are other genres that could much better fit that decription.

Big Yawn is a club of second-rate wanna-bes who have no depth of knowledge and commit the worst crime of all: closed-mindedness.

Until you guys can actually get knowledgeable writers with some real insights, your site will never be a respectable place for music info.

Then why don't you e-mail redsock and become a contributor? Oh wait, that would take effort. :roll:

Also, every writer has an e-mail address listed on the review page…so why not shoot off a rant to them?

Ouch

Why would someone want to contribute to something they have no respect for? :roll:

Originally posted by Random Citizen:
Then why don't you e-mail redsock and become a contributor? Oh wait, that would take effort. :roll:

Originally posted by Random Citizen:
Then why don't you e-mail redsock and become a contributor? Oh wait, that would take effort. :roll:

I don't purport to be the person expert enough or knowledgable enough to write good music reviews. I just know a well-written one or a badly-written one when I see one. And, furthermore, writing is part of what I do for a LIVING and I get PAID for it. I don't really care to do it for free in my spare time.

Originally posted by Random Citizen:
Also, every writer has an e-mail address listed on the review page…so why not shoot off a rant to them?

I like to go to the man in charge. Plus I'm sick of the hot-shot attitude like some folks on here are so in-touch and know so much about music, when you don't know shit.

I never got that feeling from this board. The board's tastes seem to be pretty middle of the road.

Originally posted by Celeste:
Plus I'm sick of the hot-shot attitude like some folks on here are so in-touch and know so much about music, when you don't know shit.

Originally posted by Celeste:
I like to go to the man in charge. Plus I'm sick of the hot-shot attitude like some folks on here are so in-touch and know so much about music, when you don't know shit.

Then again, why don't you e-mail redsock? Last time I checked, he's not in charge of the 9:30 Club message board.

Frankly, if you want to bitch about something, I could care less. It's the nameless, "some folks who…" bullshit that weakens your argument. Instead of going to the source, i.e. the writers of the reviews, the editor of the webzine, or the webzine's messageboard.

And if you're a writer for a living, I'd hope you write better prose for your employer than you do in this thread.

If you have no respect for something, then why do you care if you think it sucks? And why do you bother wasting a moment of life bitching and whining about it? I know you're entitled to an opinion…and so is the person that wrote the review. You might disagree, but that doesn't mean the whole site is crap. Read around and expand your horizons.

wow

Originally posted by Random Citizen:

Originally posted by Celeste:
I like to go to the man in charge. Plus I'm sick of the hot-shot attitude like some folks on here are so in-touch and know so much about music, when you don't know shit.

Then again, why don't you e-mail redsock? Last time I checked, he's not in charge of the 9:30 Club message board.

Frankly, if you want to bitch about something, I could care less. It's the nameless, "some folks who…" bullshit that weakens your argument. Instead of going to the source, i.e. the writers of the reviews, the editor of the webzine, or the webzine's messageboard.

And if you're a writer for a living, I'd hope you write better prose for your employer than you do in this thread.

I said writing is PART of what I do, and as a matter of fact, I got a message from someone telling me my post was well-written…

I'm not trying to win an argument ("bullshit that weakens your argument") I'm just reacting to a website I feel does a disservice with its reviews. We talk about albums and shows on here rather than e-mailing the band or the label, don't we?

Maybe Big Yawn should position itself more up front as closed-minded and anti-music, instead of "Oxygen for the music-starved mind"…what does that mean anyway? You don't need "oxygen" when you're starving, you need FOOD…and rating music with ZZZZs kind of implies that it puts you to sleep…so I guess the LOWER Big Yawn rates an album, the less likely it is to put someone to sleep? That makes sense since the ones they seem to like are run of the mill indie drivel, while anything outside of their little circle of comfort they rate lower.

This forum board has been used numerous times to promote Big Yawn events, and promote Big Yawn itself.

Since this is the case, why is it not a legitimate thing to do, if you have a criticism of Big Yawn, to criticize it on the same 9:30 Board on which it has been promoted ad nauseum?

If someone has a personal problem with a certain writer or editor, sure ot would make sense to email them personally about it. But if you have a critique of something out there on the web, particularly something that gets mentioned here endlessly, why not critique it here?

Why don't the writers for Big Yawn just email their music reviews to the artists they are critiquing, instead of putting them out there on a webzine?

Originally posted by Random Citizen:

Originally posted by Celeste:
I like to go to the man in charge. Plus I'm sick of the hot-shot attitude like some folks on here are so in-touch and know so much about music, when you don't know shit.

Then again, why don't you e-mail redsock? Last time I checked, he's not in charge of the 9:30 Club message board.

Frankly, if you want to bitch about something, I could care less. It's the nameless, "some folks who…" bullshit that weakens your argument. Instead of going to the source, i.e. the writers of the reviews, the editor of the webzine, or the webzine's messageboard.

And if you're a writer for a living, I'd hope you write better prose for your employer than you do in this thread.

Looks like we've got another thread on our hands where Rhett and/or Celeste rub it in on how much more enlightened and open minded they are than anyone else on this board.

It's been a while. I was wondering when we would see another one of these!

Btw, I write e-mails at work and occasionally even help out with a proposal or web document. Guess that means I'm a professional writer too!

Originally posted by chaz:
Looks like we've got another thread on our hands where Rhett and/or Celeste rub it in on how much more enlightened and open minded they are than anyone else on this board.

And therein lies the irony…

because attention is a drug which is hard to beat.

Look, I did not post my comments to hurt anyone's feeling…I held back when I first saw the Ringenberg review, but this now was too much.


It's not a matter of *opinion*

If those reviews were well-written with an understanding of the background and history of the artists, and without a blatant announcement of disdain for the genre at the outset, but found legitimate weaknesses in the albums and expressed those well, I wouldn't have been compelled to voice my opinion in this way…but, sadly, they were not.

If you kiddies can't take it, then I don't know what to tell you…

i give this thread 7 zs. fantastic angst, but offers no solutions

Originally posted by chaz:
I write e-mails at work and occasionally even help out with a proposal or web document. Guess that means I'm a professional writer too!

I write a newsletter, press releases, ad copy and other stuff, you ass. Get a grip.

Originally posted by Celeste:

Originally posted by chaz:
I write e-mails at work and occasionally even help out with a proposal or web document. Guess that means I'm a professional writer too!

I write a newsletter, you ass. Get a grip.

Sorry, kiddie.

Originally posted by Celeste:
Look, I did not post my comments to hurt anyone's feeling…I held back when I first saw the Ringenberg review, but this now was too much.

Certainly not hurting my feelings as I didn't write either of the reviews in question.

It's not a matter of *opinion*
…
I wouldn't have been compelled to voice my opinion in this way…but, sadly, they were not.

So, which is it? If it's not a matter of opinion, then how can you voice your opinion? :p

Again, you're going back and forth…first you're describing the writing based on the two reviews you listed above and then you're ragging the website in general…perhaps you should take your man's advice?

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:

If someone has a personal problem with a certain writer or editor, sure ot would make sense to email them personally about it.

I hate to find myself on the side of Rhett and Celeste on anything, but I must admit that the review she linked to came off as *awfully* pompous. I don't frequent BigYawn so I'm not sure whether that's typical of them or not.