State of Train, by Gary Benchley

There's a new letter from Gary Benchley up. It's not as rocking as the last, but if bloggers or people living in Williamsburg annoy you, it's worth reading.

[url=http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/new_york_new_york/the_letters_of_gary_benchley_rock_star_benchley_triumphant.php]Benchley Triumphant[/url]

Benchley fucking rules! A truly fresh voice, an Alexis De Tocqueville of hipster New York... you are so cool for finding this.

I'm not sure if I share Benchley's dismissal of bloggers. Although I picture Catherine Zeta Jones' friends in 'Hi Fidelity' when I think about the scene Benchley describes at the A-Lister party, I have to see GloNo - at least at its genesis - as somewhat of a blog. And then there are the blogs I read regularly, the ones that are well-written, thoughtful, and have more to offer than "Today I saw this homeless guy, and it made me think of Arrested Development." Further, aren't Benchley's very letters a sort of blog? They are in my book.

I don't mean anything against the kid - his stuff is great. I only bring up the blogging relevance question since the level NYCers have taken it to is so F'ing ridiculous. In fact, it's about as ridiculous as an $8 PBR, or a party where everyone waxes intellectuall about Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen. Can't those people out there just relax and have fun, instead of qualifying their fun in hip boxes of varying size and access?

Who knows. For now, Benchley's our eyes, our ears, our thoughts. He needs to keep an eye on that Koresh yogi, and keep on observing that Williamsburg weirdness.

JTL

I don't know, tho - I think it's a lot more rock to blow off your back rent instead of the other way around...

I agree with you JTL, and I wouldn't be surprised if Gary does too. He showed a tremendous amount of knowledge of bloggers in the course of trashing them. I think he's poking fun at himself, as of course his letters are basically a blog and they appear on a website that was/is a blog (morning news).

I think everyone who spends a lot of time at Glono probably reads blogs. Many of them are well written, informative and sometiems insightful. That said, the blogging world deserves to get poked fun of on occasion.

Totally, Petrichor. GloNo is best when it surveys and eviscerates music and culture from within the beast. I think Benchley's doing the same with those Blogging A-listers. He might be trying to get some from Para, too, but props to him if he can bring some rocking into that job. It's what Wayne would want, right?

JTL