Boston Phoenix makes Greil Marcus-edited Best Music Writing 2009
Former Boston Phoenix staffer JAMES PARKER -- who now covers SpongeBob for some up-market liberal rag you may have heard of -- has been tapped for inclusion in DaCapo's DANCING ABOUT ARCHITECTURE WITH THE STARS BEST MUSIC WRITING 2009, an annual book-length compendium that's become, next to free Radiohead tickets, the rock critic's highest professional honor. This year's edition is being guest-edited by none other than (former Phoenix contributor) GREIL MARCUS, the Len Goodman of pop scribes.
Parker's contribution is his (dare we say brilliant) Phoenix essay on "Axl Rose, Albert Goldman, and the renegade art of rock biography," which you do not need to wait to read, since we have it for you online right now:
I think it may have been sometime in the 1970s —
and I’m being as half-assed as I possibly can here, in keeping with my
theme — that the term "unauthorized” became sort of cool. The
authorized version: that was what the Man gave you. You
didn’t want that. You wanted the illicit, illegitimate,
sniggering-behind-your-hand version. Not the truth exactly, but
something that smelled a bit like it. CONTINUE READING>>
As far as we know, it may be the only selection in the book which appeared in a newspaper -- the only other confirmed inclusion we came across in a half-assed Google search was (former Phoenix columnist) Nick Sylvester's epic essay on Girl Talk.
As for Parker's inclusion, we're slightly disappointed that they picked one of his obvious masterpieces, as opposed to his under-appreciated poem about Britney Spears.
PREORDER: Best Music Writing 2009 [Amazon]