Another superb read which I am going to recommend to our subscribers. We live close to Lisboa in Portugal and have seen the same happen here. The beauty within our local communities is dissolving before our eyes. We don’t know who we live next door to anymore.
Portugal still retains a devotion to the family unit and Sundays are dedicated to long lunches with parents, in-laws and outlaws.
Suzy and I have been very fortunate to be invited to some of these - it’s a wonderful experience.
The father of our great friend Tiago taught me how to cook Bacalhau in five ways (just 995 to go) which I published on our Substack blog.
We are so very saddened by the loss of Pitchfork and fear it will not be the last casualty. I won’t go into the potential reasons for this and the devaluation of music in general as that’s a conversation for another day.
Maybe it's been explained somewhere, but I still don't understand why, if P4K was such a big click-getter or whatever, had more traffic than any other Conde-Nast title, and didn't require much in the way of subsidy from C-N, *why* did they decide to trash it? Why not "fold" GQ into P4K to try to get more traffic for GQ?
Not that I was really a heavy user of Pitchfork myself (I'm actually an inveterate New Yorker reader, to be honest..), but this along with Spotify's general ickiness adds to my feeling that music is just universally hated in our society, despite what everyone claims. Sorry times.
Love how you tied Court House and Pitchfork together. I'm at a loss as to where I will buy live soft shells this spring. There is a small, boutique fish monger in Bow Market – and have you tried New Deal? They're oriented more toward a Japanese clientele, but the few times I[ve been there, I've been impressed. Otherwise, yes, there are a few counter folk at Amazon/WF who I know and trust but it is a very different experience.
Now that you are talking about the story of Courthouse Fish Market made me think of something.
You see, even though I do see the good aspects of social media, like for example how am I writing here, I see the change in the past 10 years and I do not like where we are going. I feel like a spark in humanity is dying, and all has to do with companies are fighting to get our attention through a screen and clusters that kill the joy of the experience for money.
I'm 25 yo, so I still got to enjoy fun days and boring days the summers in elementary school, when there was nothing else to do but bother your mother of how bored you are and TV already showed your favorite cartoons. But I also got to experience the beginning of Facebook (I felt MySpace was boring). In middle school, Instagram was only to post plants and food and friends with a ugly pink filter. And we loved it. Because internet was a PLACE, just like going to the mall was a place, or going to the cinemas was a place. You would go there (internet) and have fun, but leave it and that was it. You still were able to connect with other places: school, parties, gym, local market, etc. But now the internet has become our reality in every corner we look. We can't escape it. I don't doubt that in 8 years Whole Foods stops being a physical store and becomes a only-online store.
I don't know, it's sad to see how the physical aspects of communities are dying.
Anyways I guess I just wanted to rant about it
Changing topics, I recommend a song: Do You Realize? - The Flaming Lips.
Thanks for writing this article. It struck me when you mentioned ‘visibility!
How will we know our community and pass on knowledge and learn from each other if there is nowhere we can meet or share common space with?
Simon and I have met so many people at Joe Martini’s - our local bar in Portugal. Through Joe we have found out local contacts for buying wood, steel work, musicians, language courses and even moustache grooming experts et al.
On our recent tour in the UK we played a concert in my home town of Ross-on-Wye. The Saturday and weekday markets have gone, the bakers where I worked as a child plus two others have now closed, so has the wool shop, the children’s toy shop, the garden and pet shop, two butchers, Hunky Dory deli, the local paper HQ, two greengrocers, a home style shop, three shoe shops, two florists, four clothes shops, two antique shops and Ross Records!
There are plenty of charity shops and cafés, take aways, estate agents and pharmacies. Two supermarkets and fortunately no McDonalds yet!!
Many pubs are also closing plus a third of grassroots music venues have now closed in the UK.
Where can we meet our community on a weekly basis to learn from each other and share in the joys of our humanity if the shops disappear and people are replaced by self-checkouts?
Perhaps our community lives will move to the parks, like teenagers, where everyone with a dog has a reason to say hello...
Not to undermine your solid philosophical point TOO much, but New Deal is still open and three blocks away.
Great post/writing!
Another superb read which I am going to recommend to our subscribers. We live close to Lisboa in Portugal and have seen the same happen here. The beauty within our local communities is dissolving before our eyes. We don’t know who we live next door to anymore.
Portugal still retains a devotion to the family unit and Sundays are dedicated to long lunches with parents, in-laws and outlaws.
Suzy and I have been very fortunate to be invited to some of these - it’s a wonderful experience.
The father of our great friend Tiago taught me how to cook Bacalhau in five ways (just 995 to go) which I published on our Substack blog.
We are so very saddened by the loss of Pitchfork and fear it will not be the last casualty. I won’t go into the potential reasons for this and the devaluation of music in general as that’s a conversation for another day.
Thanks for being here.
Simon
Maybe it's been explained somewhere, but I still don't understand why, if P4K was such a big click-getter or whatever, had more traffic than any other Conde-Nast title, and didn't require much in the way of subsidy from C-N, *why* did they decide to trash it? Why not "fold" GQ into P4K to try to get more traffic for GQ?
Not that I was really a heavy user of Pitchfork myself (I'm actually an inveterate New Yorker reader, to be honest..), but this along with Spotify's general ickiness adds to my feeling that music is just universally hated in our society, despite what everyone claims. Sorry times.
Love how you tied Court House and Pitchfork together. I'm at a loss as to where I will buy live soft shells this spring. There is a small, boutique fish monger in Bow Market – and have you tried New Deal? They're oriented more toward a Japanese clientele, but the few times I[ve been there, I've been impressed. Otherwise, yes, there are a few counter folk at Amazon/WF who I know and trust but it is a very different experience.
Hello Damon,
Now that you are talking about the story of Courthouse Fish Market made me think of something.
You see, even though I do see the good aspects of social media, like for example how am I writing here, I see the change in the past 10 years and I do not like where we are going. I feel like a spark in humanity is dying, and all has to do with companies are fighting to get our attention through a screen and clusters that kill the joy of the experience for money.
I'm 25 yo, so I still got to enjoy fun days and boring days the summers in elementary school, when there was nothing else to do but bother your mother of how bored you are and TV already showed your favorite cartoons. But I also got to experience the beginning of Facebook (I felt MySpace was boring). In middle school, Instagram was only to post plants and food and friends with a ugly pink filter. And we loved it. Because internet was a PLACE, just like going to the mall was a place, or going to the cinemas was a place. You would go there (internet) and have fun, but leave it and that was it. You still were able to connect with other places: school, parties, gym, local market, etc. But now the internet has become our reality in every corner we look. We can't escape it. I don't doubt that in 8 years Whole Foods stops being a physical store and becomes a only-online store.
I don't know, it's sad to see how the physical aspects of communities are dying.
Anyways I guess I just wanted to rant about it
Changing topics, I recommend a song: Do You Realize? - The Flaming Lips.
Wasn't Pitchfork already Whole Foods in this scenario?
Thanks for writing this article. It struck me when you mentioned ‘visibility!
How will we know our community and pass on knowledge and learn from each other if there is nowhere we can meet or share common space with?
Simon and I have met so many people at Joe Martini’s - our local bar in Portugal. Through Joe we have found out local contacts for buying wood, steel work, musicians, language courses and even moustache grooming experts et al.
On our recent tour in the UK we played a concert in my home town of Ross-on-Wye. The Saturday and weekday markets have gone, the bakers where I worked as a child plus two others have now closed, so has the wool shop, the children’s toy shop, the garden and pet shop, two butchers, Hunky Dory deli, the local paper HQ, two greengrocers, a home style shop, three shoe shops, two florists, four clothes shops, two antique shops and Ross Records!
There are plenty of charity shops and cafés, take aways, estate agents and pharmacies. Two supermarkets and fortunately no McDonalds yet!!
Many pubs are also closing plus a third of grassroots music venues have now closed in the UK.
Where can we meet our community on a weekly basis to learn from each other and share in the joys of our humanity if the shops disappear and people are replaced by self-checkouts?
Perhaps our community lives will move to the parks, like teenagers, where everyone with a dog has a reason to say hello...