Comments on: Why I no longer write about jazz http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/08/29/why-i-no-longer-write-about-jazz/ Media, Baseball, Boston, the Red Sox, Music, Literature, and Mnookins Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:31:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: lperdue http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/08/29/why-i-no-longer-write-about-jazz/#comment-764 lperdue Wed, 30 Aug 2006 01:16:55 +0000 http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/08/29/why-i-no-longer-write-about-jazz/#comment-764 It's a lot like wine writing and baseball writing ... both of which require 137 adjectives for the same word. Both become inherently tedious as you try to make the next wine or next game sound somehow different from the last 758 ... I started my journalism career as the Pioneer's reporter for the Elmira (NY) Star-Gazette and after attending three games per week in person, keeping the official scorebook and hammering out six stories per week (including updating batting averages, ERAs etc. before the age of pocket calculators or computers ... this was 1968 or something) I burned out faster on baseball than a condom at a Paris Hilton look-alike convention. I was stunned when I fell into wine writing and found it was no different ... wine in the proper dosage, however, allows you to forget the last review It’s a lot like wine writing and baseball writing … both of which require 137 adjectives for the same word.

Both become inherently tedious as you try to make the next wine or next game sound somehow different from the last 758 …

I started my journalism career as the Pioneer’s reporter for the Elmira (NY) Star-Gazette and after attending three games per week in person, keeping the official scorebook and hammering out six stories per week (including updating batting averages, ERAs etc. before the age of pocket calculators or computers … this was 1968 or something) I burned out faster on baseball than a condom at a Paris Hilton look-alike convention.

I was stunned when I fell into wine writing and found it was no different … wine in the proper dosage, however, allows you to forget the last review

]]> By: deversm http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/08/29/why-i-no-longer-write-about-jazz/#comment-760 deversm Tue, 29 Aug 2006 20:58:25 +0000 http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2006/08/29/why-i-no-longer-write-about-jazz/#comment-760 Which is still better than my take: "At one point the band got so lost they stopped playing altogether while a confused (and possibly drunk) Sonny Rollins started blasting through random songs until finally getting the train back on the rails. Also, my constant calls for 'Mustang Sally' went unrewarded." <i>At least your take would have been funny; mine just would have been boring... -- Seth</i> Which is still better than my take:

“At one point the band got so lost they stopped playing altogether while a confused (and possibly drunk) Sonny Rollins started blasting through random songs until finally getting the train back on the rails. Also, my constant calls for ‘Mustang Sally’ went unrewarded.”

At least your take would have been funny; mine just would have been boring…

– Seth

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