Yesterday's
Los Angeles Times had a hole where its "Big Picture" column, written by
Patrick Goldstein, usually was; a note on the front page of the paper's Calendar section said that the reason was Goldstein being "on assignment," but according to
LA Observed, the column that was set to run yesterday was actually spiked. Why? For laying out a pretty rational strategy where the
Times could bolster its circulation and street cred by engaging in "covermount" promotions similar to the one Prince did with the
Daily Mail in the UK. Luckily, LA Observed snagged the column in full, so we can see just how crazy Goldstein's suggestions are:
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Idolator
Usually, we use The Last Word to round up the all-important, all-summarizing last sentences of the biggest new-music reviews, but this week we'd like to focus attention on responses to Ann Powers' recent L.A. Times think piece on "poptimism," a.k.a. critics paying serious attention to mainstream pop music, a.k.a. critics doing (one of) their jobs. In particular, Powers' discussion of covering American Idol as a music-news story has become something of a bloggers' chew toy. Below the jump, a bit from Powers' original piece and some choice blog responses.
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A statement from Patrick Goldstein, who wrote a column suggesting that the LA Times distribute music with the paper a la Prince and the Daily Mail, only to see it 
