Posted 8:42 AM by Gene

The other day Terry Teachout reran an article he wrote a decade ago in which he briefly effused over all the wonderful new music he heard. We'd like to know where it is. We think we know what it is: an extremely cute and meaningless title (Astronomical Circumference of an Interplanetary Doughnut at Mach VII or something) tied to a carbon copy of the last movement of The Planets without the inspiration and mystery. In other words, indecipherable navel-staring noodling. Now Mr. Teachout wrote this a decade ago, and great new music was bursting out all over then; what happened to it? Surely it didn't take a decade for a Beethoven symphony to reach the masses' ears. If all this new music is so great shouldn't we be swimming in it by now?

Which reminds me of Philthydelphia's only entertainment venue that isn't dark half the year, the TLA music hall. You know a Robert "Over the" Hilburn would gasp at all the great new music being played there. But passing that dingy rock embalmatorium every weekend I find a list of acts with meaningless cutesy-pie names. It may as well be the same list every week. I imagine the noise within. New music in pop, new music in the concert hall -- MILLIONAIRES AND BUMS....