COVER STORY
Critics
Kurt Andersen and the critic Terry Teachout explore the role criticism plays in the arts today, and how the internet is changing what it means to be a critic.

Adams VS. Derogatis
Ryan Adams played in Chicago last December, and the Sun-Times' music critic, Jim DeRogatis, panned him. Adams left a heartfelt, enraged message on the writer's voicemail, which DeRogatis then broadcast to all of Chicago on his weekly radio show. Mayhem ensued. Produced by Steve Nelson.
Jim's Radio show
Ryan Adams' site
A link to the full review
Buy Adams' album Rock and Roll

Musical Invective
Critics make mistakes all the time. A musicologist named Nicholas Slonimsky collected them—short-sighted, ignorant, or vitriolic reviews of works we now consider masterpieces. We set excerpts from Slonimsky's Lexicon of Musical Invective to music. Produced by Jonathan Mitchell.
Go to a review of Lexicon of Musical Invective
Buy Lexicon of Musical Invective

Kids Books
We posed this question to two prominent book critics: How do you write a serious review of a book called Everybody Poops? Produced by Matt Holzman.
Go to the Storyopolis website
Go to the Horn Book Magazine website
Go to reviews of children's books by the New York Times
Buy Everybody Poops

Diamanda Galas
The avant-garde composer and vocalist, Diamanda Galas, tells us what she looks for in a critic of her music. Galas is Greek and sings many languages, so she immediately went to the etymology of the matter. Produced by Trey Kay.
Go to Diamanda Galas' website
Go to a review by Edward Batchelder
Buy music by Diamanda Galas

SPECIAL GUEST
Terry Teachout
Terry Teachout is the rare critic who covers music, dance, books, and the visual arts. He is a columnist for the Washington Post, drama critic for the Wall Street Journal, and a music critic for Commentary. The Terry Teachout Reader, a collection of his essays, has just been published by Yale University Press. The Skeptic is Teachout’s biography of H.L. Mencken, and he is writing a biography of choreographer George Ballanchine. On the internet, Teachout writes a blog on the arts called "About Last Night" which he updates constantly.
Go to Terry Teachout's blog
Go to the Maud Newton's blog
Buy A Terry Teachout Reader
Buy other books by Terry Teachout

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Design for the Real World
Jay Harman
When designer Jay Harman comes home from a sailing expedition, he’s got a head full of inventions which he spins into new products-- beautiful, efficient designs that mimic nature. He grew up in Australia and spent hours in the ocean watching the way fish move. He envied that ease and decided to copy those natural movements in his inventions. Produced by Mary Stucky, in collaboration with the Utne Reader.
Go to Jay Harman's company website

Mark Helprin
Mark Helprin writes books with an adventurous spirit and great historical sweep. Not surprising for a guy who's held jobs as a surveyor, Israeli infantryman, and speechwriter for Bob Dole. Helprin talks to Kurt about his new book Freddy and Fredericka, a comic novel about British Royals who’ve been sent incognito to America to clean up their act.
Read the full Interview
Buy Freddy and Fredericka
Buy other books by Mark Helprin

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