Another One Bites the Dust

As you all know, a lot of traditional print media are struggling to remain viable in these tough times, and only some of their problems are related to the overall economic climate. I never bought a copy of Blender, but it's recent shut-down is just another in a long line of music-oriented magazines folding, including just in the past year or so No Depression (which I bought regularly), Harp, and ICE (each of which I read occasionally). I'm probably forgetting some (and this isn't even to mention that Rolling Stone has shrunk in size, and Magnet has reduced its frequency of publication). I know that virtually all of the same material found in the pages of these magazines can be found somewhere on teh Web, but to me surfing isn't anywhere near as satisfying as scoping out a well-stocked magazine rack to see what you want to read next. The real tragedy of Blender's demise is that it was where Robert Christgau (perhaps the pre-eminent rock critic of all-time) when he was booted by the Village Voice a couple years ago. Even though I never bought a copy of Blender (it seemed too focused on celebrity and mainstream pop), I was not above perusing its review section to find the Christgau pieces; but then maybe that's just evidence that I too want my info for free (though that never stopped me from buying No Depression, for example, which had a lot more than a single writer to keep me coming back). It's still sad to see the ranks further thinned, but as long as Mojo and The Big Takeover are still around, I ought to be able to get my regular fix of good writing on pop music [fingers crossed].