The real Jann Wenner speaks today in the New York Times.
He says basically he has no interest in or respect for Black or female performers. He’s publishing a book in two weeks called “The Masters,” which is just with old white men like Bruce Springsteen and Bono.
David Marchese of the Times says to Wenner: “In the introduction, you acknowledge that performers of color and women performers are just not in your zeitgeist.”
Wenner responds: “When I was referring to the zeitgeist, I was referring to Black performers, not to the female performers, OK? Just to get that accurate. The selection was not a deliberate selection. It was kind of intuitive over the years; it just fell together that way. The people had to meet a couple criteria, but it was just kind of my personal interest and love of them. Insofar as the women, just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level.”
Wenner has always been a pig. As head of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame he obstructed the induction of Blacks and women for decades. It was only after he was ousted that Carly Simon and Linda Ronstadt were included. Carole King waited 25 years to get in as a performer. The late great Seymour Stein fought Wenner tooth and nail every year to get Black R&B legends into the Hall of Fame. How do I know? He told me, for years and years, in real time.
Wait, stop: Wenner didn’t think Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Joni Mitchell, or Joan Baez was smart enough to be included in his book.
Wenner, who was never a journalist, admits to Marchese that he reads interviews back to his subjects and lets them make corrections. He confesses that he did this with John Lennon 50 years ago in their famous interviews. Wenner has spent five decades shilling for his friends. That he’s admitted this now may mean he’s got mental deficits we didn’t know about.
Blech. Ignore this book.
