Caleb Fox

As an artist or member of the audience, do you get any help from the critics? I don't, but how about you?

I used to review music (and later theater, movies, and books) for the big Los Angeles newspapers. After years of writing criticism on and off, I made friends with one of the great and celebrated concerts pianists of our time. On a river trip, I asked him whether he'd ever learned anything from a review. (Mind you, one of these reviewers was me.) He answered in one word: "No."

I thought about my own writing and concluded, "Me neither."

I left doing criticism behind because I was tired of commenting while other people were doing. I felt like the guys who went to the senior prom, leaned against the nearest wall, and made wisecracks about the dancing styles of their buddies. BUT WHO GOT TO TOUCH THE GIRL?

I wanted to do, not talk.

I admit that I remember negative reviews (fortunately very few). But whether the review is positive or the opposite, I try to give a quick smile or frown, remind myself of the source, and forget them.

--caleb fox