73 Comments
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Zach Sprowls's avatar

Yes, you are that pessimistic haha. But that's because you're telling the truth and I think things are bleak right now. But I also sense from your writing that your default is optimism. You don't write about bad news or sensationalize it just to get the traffic and you consistently and intentionally share the good news with as much vigor as the bad. I sense a kinship with you when I read your writing. While I too have a lot of bad to say about things right now, I don't feel doom-and-gloom because I truly believe things won't always be this way. In fact, that's why I say the negative things I do - because I believe there's hope and people just need a nudge in the right direction. I think you're the same way. But, of course, the edgy, negative stuff gets clicks, and the Atlantic needs viewers, so...

Congratulations on the award, by the way! Well deserved.

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Andy's avatar

I found you a couple months ago and your writing is superb. Congrats on being featured by The Atlantic. Thats a great magazine and an honor.

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Jan Jackson's avatar

Congratulations! You are not pessimistic or negative, the subject matter you sometimes write about is quite serious. I love your wide array of topics and how you weave history to our culture(s) today. Thank you for all you do!

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Greg Lindenbach's avatar

Well done Ted. Anyone who sees the ominous waves rising in our culture and brings out a surfboard deserves congratulations.

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Ken Kovar's avatar

yep

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Loyal Opposition's avatar

I was born in the early 80s, but when it comes to the things I love - music and film - I stick to the art made before I was born, and still keep finding great stuff.

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Kate Stanton's avatar

Congratulations, Ted! What a nice photo, too. Your writing isn't pessimistic to me. It is a breath of fresh honest air amidst the stink of what we're fed in the grind. Keep up the pursuit of truth & beauty.

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VMark's avatar
1dEdited

And 2nd prize is 2 pieces in the Atlantic…jk. Hi 5 TG, wonderful to be acknowledged. Writing is lonely work. And writing has also suffered the decline of the overall culture. Rolling Stone, NYT etc, it ain’t just music. Maybe not the best to be noticed as the voice of the dark view but the decline is palatable. Only one question: is it really the quality or are we all wondering why the good work (of which there is much) isn’t elevated and remunerative? Methinks the latter…as I suspect do you.

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Jill Swenson's avatar

Congrats all around.

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Scott Kirkpatrick's avatar

Great job Ted. I like that you're sticking your toe in the glass half full metaphor. There is hope for music and the arts but increasingly more difficult to wipe the bugs off the windshield if you get my drift. Mixed metaphors kind of reflects the culture!

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Steven Cerra's avatar

Richly deserved, Ted. You've come a long way from The Imperfect Art and West Coast Jazz and I've enjoyed making that journey with you. Kind regards, Steve

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Richard Grace's avatar

You need to work on your head shot, Ted. The one shown here makes it look like you're recoiling in horror

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Ted Gioia's avatar

That's my gloom-and-doom pose. Maybe that's why The Atlantic wanted to talk to me about the "death of civilization."

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John Harvey's avatar

Which picture are you referring to? The image in the logo?

The one in The Atlantic shows Ted absorbed in the music, or at least appearing so, rather than paying attention to his environment. Not sure how it ties in with the story, though, or if it really works as a picture. Call it a nice try. I would like to see the whole set.

When a person is giving their attention to something, but not experiencing an emotion, the face will appear blank, and the eyes unfocused, at ease. That just means they are taking something in, listening to it. They are like a chef tasting the food, but not yet having reached a conclusion about it.

No one picture tells the whole story of a person, any more than one sentence does. If you think it does, it may simply mean it confirms your pre-existing belief about them. or their public image. A lot of famous photos are like that. Not knowing Ted personally, how can we know for sure? Anyway, he expresses himself by writing, so we have that, which is not nothing.

BTW Does The Atlantic not have wall-to-wall articles about the "death of civilization," at least in the political sense? Didn't their editor just get called "scum" for writing a truthful piece about a controversial topic?

Sometimes magazines do contrarian stories just for the sake of doing so. If conventional wisdom was correct, what would they then write about?

I subscribe both to this Substack and The Atlantic, and get a lot out of both. Don't always agree with the views expressed, but so what? Doesn't bother me!

Please keep writing exactly what you think, Ted. Don't pull your punches.

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Alan's avatar

Congratulations on the award from your peers!

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Tom White's avatar

Well done and write on!

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james's avatar

congrats!! well deserved!

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Howard Mandel's avatar

Congratulations, Ted -- well deserved JJA Award. Re our current culture, I take faith from a lot of really fine jazz and improvised music, as well as fine fiction and some extraordinary writing about music, too. It's the grassroots creativity that offers truth and feeling, imho.

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crinklechips's avatar

Well done Ted. I’m not widely read enough to back this up but for me, you deserve it. 👍🏻

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