Figurative storm clouds broke overhead when last night a Google Alert linked me to web site where I found posted a copy of the Pasadena Star News article about John. Regular DevraDoWrite readers know that I was disturbed by the errors in this piece (if you didn’t know, read this), so you can imagine that I was none too happy about seeing it proliferate on the Internet. I sent off an email that began with “Much as we enjoy getting press coverage, the article by Ivy Dai, written for The Pasadena Star News/U-Entertainment, contains numerous factual errors and John and I would appreciate it if you would remove it from your web site.” [By the way, in the interest of acuracy, the piece was written for the Celebrations section, not U-Entertainment as cited by the post in question.] Within a couple of hours I received a reply thanking me for making him aware and apologizing for any unintended harm. As I had suspected, this was someone who had wanted only to assist by spreading news that he felt should get more attention, and for that I am very appreciative.
As I told our helpful blogger in a later email:
Sadly, today, The Media does not invest the care it should. Where once we might have been safe in assuming the veracity of items in a newspaper, that is no longer the case. Ivy was not only careless with the facts, she had no understanding of the story and instead tried to paint a personal portrait, one that became increasingly distorted because John would not participate, telling her repeatedly that this or that detail about his personal life was not relevant. She was determined to continue that line of questioning, so John started saying “I don’t remember.” You might think that at 94 John would be forgetful, but with the exception of a few names and dates, John is still very sharp (and he knows very well who gave him his Aires pendant).
As a nonfiction writer, this is one of my pet peeves. I feel rather like an old fogey (I’m 50, not 39) when I blame it, in part, on the youth of today’s workforce; there are fewer older/experienced workers, and those that are there and willing to mentor are marginalized, if not actually disrespected. I guess this is true in all fields.
If this had not happened, I might not have discovered TheJazzCat a/k/a LeRoy Downs online — jazz radio afficiando’s know LeRoy’s on-air work — and that is the silver lining. I spent some time this morning perusing LeRoy’s blog archives, and his enthusiasm and love of the music is palpable. For an example check out his post about his trip to NYC for IAJE — he loved Maria Schneider’s band and took lots of photos, posting one of Maria, Sonny Rollins and Ravi Coltrane. If you want to know about LeRoy the man, check out his web site. LeRoy is out there supporting music that I love and will be checking out his blog regularly.
PS: If you want to re-read my piece about Maria’s Disney Hall concert this past February, go here . My pieces about IAJE are 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.