Grantland so far

Has Gladwell been in? Did I miss it?

 

Exactly.

 

http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/32502/klosterman-remembers-warrants-jani-lane

I have never really liked Klosterman's stuff because I do like heavy metal at all, but this last paragraph is just beautiful.

RIP

 

The words are pretty, but does it mean anything at all? If you had asked Chuck Klosterman about Warrant three days ago, would he have laughed at the thought of the last glam band while humming "Cherry Pie"?

Whenever a music figure dies, people who haven't listened to that musician in years try to assert great value to that person's career. If Amy Winehouse changed your life, why hadn't you listened to "I'm No Good" in three years? I don't appreciate the ruse, music writers.

 

Good point.

 

I hear he's actually doing a sprawling investigative piece on why Jim Leyland should be allowed to smoke in the dugout.[/crossthread]

 

Are you familiar with Klosterman's work at all? This is a person who wrote a book, and owes his entire career in many respects, to his appreciation of hair metal/glam bands. Plenty of your criticisms of Grantland have merit, but this is just dumb. Warrant may not exactly be the Bob Dylan to Klosterman's Greil Marcus, but at least be aware of Klosterman's writing history, dude. If anyone can offer any proper context on Warrant, before or after Jani Lane's death, it's him.

 

You're right. My frustrations aren't as much on Klosterman for this piece as on most posthumous musician tributes. If anyone could write this piece and have it be believable, it's Klosterman. Unfortunately, he's not the only one to try.

 

For hoopheads, two good pieces today: Abrams on Sabonis and Weinreb on Michael Ray Richardson.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6863828/where-micheal-ray-richardson

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6867508/arvydas-sabonis-long-strange-trip

The Sabonis story includes a great Bill Waltonesque quote from, conveniently, Bill Walton. Talking about when Rasheed threw the towel in Sabonis' face:

Well, yeah, but was it the worst towel throw in the history of civilization, or is that Horry throwing it at Ainge or Guy Lewis tossing it at a ref in the 1983 Final Four?

 

Liked the MRR article, but since I have been covering the guy for four years it was just all the stuff I have hashed over and over. Glad to see it finally hit national level.