Franz Ferdinand in Seattle Gay News; Sexual Harassment as Journalism

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This is creepy and amusing. http://216.197.101.64/sgnnews40/page38.cfm

Was there a time when it was okay for heterosexual men to write about female artists this way?

― Kevin Erickson, Thursday, 13 October 2005 14:10 (twenty years ago)

Have you never read an interview with [insert hot new female starlet here] before?

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Thursday, 13 October 2005 14:19 (twenty years ago)

any GQ interview ever to thread.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 13 October 2005 14:20 (twenty years ago)

jess OTM - the l. lohan interview last year was ridiculous for that reason.

― petesmith (plsmith), Thursday, 13 October 2005 14:22 (twenty years ago)

"I just wanted you to know that I am wearing nothing but chaps right now and eating chocolate cake," Alba says over the phone from LA.

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 13 October 2005 14:24 (twenty years ago)

that was jessica alba, btw, but i'd like to imagine it as our alba

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 13 October 2005 14:24 (twenty years ago)

See, I could imagine our own Alba doing that.

DAMMIT XPOST

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 13 October 2005 14:25 (twenty years ago)

NICOLE TO THREAD

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Thursday, 13 October 2005 14:25 (twenty years ago)

try glasgow assless chaps

― strng hlkngtn: what does it mean? (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 13 October 2005 14:26 (twenty years ago)

Dan, it's time for us to rewrite a song a la "Purple Rain" again. But what?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 13 October 2005 14:28 (twenty years ago)

"Do You Want To" seems appropriate but I actually have to stop playing around on ILX and get some work done today.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Thursday, 13 October 2005 14:30 (twenty years ago)

Fair nuff. We'll let Nicole construct it in her head and hate us for even suggesting it.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 13 October 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

Alex really gets into the tune, punching a fist in the air and growling out the lyrics. And he looks smoking hot in tight jeans and a body-clinging yellow T-shirt!

Yowza! Worthy of Tiger Beat

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 13 October 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

Actually, I don't recall a female-starlet interview that prominently featured the interviewer's failed attempts to get into a jacuzzi with the subject.

Perhaps there is one somewhere in the depths of Chuck Closterman's portfolio. (I keed, I keed - I'm no Closterman fan but I recall his interview with Britney Spears being quite classic).

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Thursday, 13 October 2005 14:52 (twenty years ago)

This is how gay media creates its own ghetto.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Thursday, 13 October 2005 16:19 (twenty years ago)

They had just eaten at Bimbo's and were on their way to the Crocodile Café. Lead singer Alex Kapranos asked me if there was a place to eat unusual food. I'm not sure what he means, and quite frankly I am too busy checking him out, so I dodge the question.

BEST FRANZ FERDINAND INTERVIEW EVER!

Sorry, Seattle Weekly. Sorry, The Stranger. You guys got PWN3D this time.

― donut hallivallerieburtonelli omg lol (donut), Thursday, 13 October 2005 16:32 (twenty years ago)

Was there a time when it was okay for heterosexual men to write about female artists this way?

Like it's not okay now? I see articles like this all the time.

― O'so Krispie (Ex Leon), Thursday, 13 October 2005 16:52 (twenty years ago)

sorry nicole, I would certainly never argue that ladies have it easy now, certainly did not mean to imply that. This was just supershocking to me because it was so over the top. Especially the fucking jacuzzi. It's quite likely that i'm less aware of this kind of treatment with female artists because i'm desensitized to it.

my actual intended points were

1) this is funny and gross
2) this guy makes me embarassed to be queer

― Kevin Erickson, Thursday, 13 October 2005 17:20 (twenty years ago)

This was just supershocking to me because it was so over the top.

That's really interesting that you feel that way, because I had the complete opposite reaction. Like, how in the hell does this remotely feel like harassment? The writer sounded timid and even half-joking at times. Either that or Kapranos was completely oblivious to the fact that this guy was attempting to flirt with him and his lack of reaction to the writer deflated the over all sexual-tension balloon.

― Je4nn3 ƒur¥ (Je4nne Fury), Thursday, 13 October 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

maybe i over reacted because i have been reading this dude's stuff for a while and he's always macking on the straight boys (and annoyingly, rarely covering queer artists at all, [though would i want him to really?]) and so it's pent-up-frustration/annoyance.

and also the fact that he's such a profoundly bad writer makes him seem not at all self-aware about it. maybe it's supposed to be funny?

maybe i should have a mod rename this thread "DUMB as journalism"

― Kevin Erickson, Thursday, 13 October 2005 17:43 (twenty years ago)

I was reading that and expecting it to develop into some sort of slash fiction kind of thing. Can't say that I have read too many OMG! OMG! OMG! type reviews in alt weeklies before.

― gspm (gspm), Thursday, 13 October 2005 18:45 (twenty years ago)

He's also a terrible writer.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 13 October 2005 18:54 (twenty years ago)

What makes him a terrible writer? I thought that article was pretty entertaining, actually.

― hmmmm, Thursday, 13 October 2005 20:37 (twenty years ago)

Can't say that I have read too many OMG! OMG! OMG! type reviews in alt weeklies before.

Oh christ, you should see his Beck preview and subsequent review from this summer. The preview did not mention that Le Tigre (inarguably one of the nation's most prominent queer-inclusive bands) was opening, but it did include an exhortation to support the local gay bars on the way home. Then the review said "I didn't see any of Le Tigre's set because I was meeting Beck". And there's a long sidebar about how he got Beck's autograph.

― Kevin Erickson, Thursday, 13 October 2005 20:58 (twenty years ago)

So, we have determined that a lot of music articles written by the folks at SGN might be more of the "fanboy"/"fangirl" nature than a more academic approach.

Oh well. I mean, if that approach is aesthetically disgusting to some, then too bad.

To me, the approach doesn't matter as much as how much I'm entertained and/or educated by the final draft.. given that "educated" is a VERY flexible term. Sometimes, I want to know more superficial things about the band or an album instead of just "how it/they sound", I admit.

Anyway, agree to disagree, etc.

― donut hallivallerieburtonelli omg lol (donut), Thursday, 13 October 2005 21:04 (twenty years ago)

I know SGN has been around for a while, but to expect Seattle Gay News to follow a similar paradigm to Village Voice style music pieces is a bit silly. I'm not saying anyone here is insinuating that, nor am I saying that SGN doesn't have articles in that vein at times. (I don't read the paper, so I'm just speculating here.)

I guess my main points are:
a) Seattle Gay News probably has enough of an audience that pays attention to its music writers, whether positive or negative (keeping in mind that negative feedback is much better than no feedback.. see Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times) such that it justifies the writers' ability to keep readers and hence keep advertisers.
b) That Franz Ferdinand article is the most entertaining piece on them I've read, and this is only because I find the band's music atrociously boring, and would be far more entertained reading about their wacky Seattle sight-seeing hijinx and the authors that crush on them.

― donut hallivallerieburtonelli omg lol (donut), Thursday, 13 October 2005 21:13 (twenty years ago)

i recall a rolling stone piece on jewel back in the day, wherein the dudely writer was lying on a bed, facing her, with a pillow in between, and he wrote that the pillow was necessary to avoid overly intimate contact, or some crap like that.

"one-handed journalism," a colleague of mine calls it. joanna newsom pieces often give off this vibe.

― awful bliss (awful bliss), Thursday, 13 October 2005 21:14 (twenty years ago)

See, I wouldn't mind one handed journalism if it were just more explicit about what the other hand was doing!

One handed journalism entrenched in academic clichés, however, can be some of the most painful reading ever.

― donut hallivallerieburtonelli omg lol (donut), Thursday, 13 October 2005 21:17 (twenty years ago)

Heh.. it kinda reads like Ultragr*rl's blog, if she was a gay man. Not that I mind, personally - like donut, I think there's definitely a place for creepy/stalker/groupie type articles if only for the occasional entertainment value especially with bands I'm only a casual listener of, or completely indifferent to.

― Roz (Roz), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:15 (twenty years ago)

I love the interviews with cute (or "cute") stars you get in gay mags. They're all recruitment drives. This one was pretty tame really, the only difference from any other random example is that the interviewees have a specific camp persona they can live up to, rather than just resort to the stock-standard straight man answers: "I have a lot of gay friends, we go out clubbing sometimes, it's a great way to pick up chicks... I would only screw Brad Pitt because he is really hot for a guy!"

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:24 (twenty years ago)

Wait a minute... journalists slaver with lust over Joanna Newsom?

― acb (acb), Friday, 14 October 2005 13:48 (twenty years ago)

bob is the cute one anyway

― phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:48 (twenty years ago)

Who's who? break it down for me phil.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:50 (twenty years ago)

oh, um alex is the singer - the one who looks like he has lots of dior. paul is the drummer. nick i guess plays guitar. bob is the bassist and jacuzzi'able. omg so cute want to pinch his cheeks

― phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 14 October 2005 14:58 (twenty years ago)

(the poky blonde one)

― phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 14 October 2005 15:17 (twenty years ago)

I like the part where he trades his press tickets and then still scams guest-list for the other night. Whatta weasel.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 14 October 2005 15:24 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I was gonna say: re "creepyness" of article... there's a difference between being open about crushing on a musician in print, and being creepy about it. I don't think this piece crossed the "creepy" line at all.. although it's easier for me to say that as I'm not the musician being crushed on.

― donut hallivallerieburtonelli omg lol (donut), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:04 (twenty years ago)

You guys might not realize this, but superfine sexpots like me and Alex, we get used to that stuff at a pretty early age. You can't sweat it too much, you find a way to deal.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:13 (twenty years ago)

i'm totally unshocked by the creepiness of this. agree with donut. seems like harmless crushing and semi-harmless objectification.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Friday, 14 October 2005 16:38 (twenty years ago)

ive been looking at pics of them all day long. ah swoon.

― phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 14 October 2005 20:40 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

fuck, the original article is gone. :(

― dali madison's nut (donut), Wednesday, 21 December 2005 17:39 (twenty years ago)

It's here now: http://www.sgn.org/sgnnews40/page38.cfm

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 1 January 2006 23:29 (twenty years ago)

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