It’s been a tough week for transplanted English rocker Sally Crewe. Between paper cuts and a toner allergy developed while xeroxing the many outstanding notices her new CD, ‘Shortly After Take-Off’ (12XU) has received, Austin resident Crewe has had little time to concentrate on her fleet of sportscars, or her challenging charity work.
So all the more frustrating then, for Sally to open this week’s Austin Chronicle and be greeted with an item by struggling journalist Darcie Stevens, dismissing Crewe and her exceptional band, the Sudden Moves, as mere “candy pop and twee bop”. Pretty damning stuff coming from a woman who openly admits to liking Death Cab For Cutie, and particularly nonsensical considering that Stevens had professed to being a fan.
That such spiteful words would appear on the very same morning that Sally would contend with the tragic news from London — that friends, family, former bandmates, her mechanic, etc. — might’ve been victims of a vicious terrorist attack, is beyond cruel, and atypical of the sort of goodwill she’s experienced during her time in this country.
I shouldn’t need to stress to Ms. Stevens or her employers that the United States and the United Kingdom have a Very Special Relationship. We gave them David Soul, they gave us Nic Harcourt. London gets Madonna, Hollywood gets Steve Coogan. And so on. Will this rich cultural exchange continue, in light of Stevens’ ugly, unprovoked hatchet job? I certainly hope so. Will we allow the confused, musically illiterate ramblings of a jealous xenophobe to prevent Ms. Crewe from making rock history? Absolutely not. It is in times like these that the overwhelming majority of U.S. music critics show themselves to be open-minded, lovers of freedom, the type of persons who won’t let one individual’s cowardly act smear their entire community.
Hey, “candy bob and twee pop” ain’t an insult to me, even if off the mark here.
A friend directed me to your site after telling me how terrible you thought I was. I just wanted to reiterate that I am a fan of Sally Crewe. I think she’s lovely, and my comment that she plays “candy pop” was by no means meant to be an insult. I do like pop, as you yourself said, like Death Cab for Cutie, although I’ll admit it’s a guilty pleasure. Please understand that the piece in question was written long before the London tragedy, as well. What I think is cruel is that you connected the two. I would never, ever wish anything like that on anyone. I just wanted to set that straight. I do appreciate any open criticism, though, because this struggling journalist only struggles less the more input she gets. Thank you for your passionate thoughts.
And I just found out this is Gerard I’m talking to. Let me say that I’m not only a fan of Sally’s, but yours too. I think you should be very proud of what your doing for the music industry, and like I said before, I appreciate any input, regardless of the spin. All right then. I’m done.
Ms. Stevens,
if you are in fact a fan of Sally’s, the phrase, “damned with no praise whatsoever” comes to mind.
I suppose your claim that the “99 Bands” piece was written long before the London bombing is plausible enough — seeing as they occured the same morning the Chronicle was delivered — but surely if there was ever a time to yell “stop the presses”, this was it.
As for your accusations of cruelty, I am clearly not above exploiting a horrible tragedy in order to call attention to the overwhelmingly favorable notices Sally has received.
I pray no one else has to perish before I do it again.