Schwarz
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"festivus for the rest of us!"
nowottny sighting barely nearly
You were one of the first modernists who talked about the preservation of older buildings. Now we're in a different era where we're discussing modern preservation. What are your thoughts on this campaign?
If there's anything that really excises me, it's the lack of knowledge, the lack of standards, being applied indiscriminately across the board to modern buildings. I get so upset about it. You know how I feel about 2 Columbus Circle? This was an example of how you had to balance good against bad, past against future, reuse against what would happen to the building. The preservationists proved not only incapable of discussing it, but went into paranoia mode. I think the whole movement seems to be doing that. Of course it was a complex issue but they should have been able to sort it out. And then to compare--you always get one crazy directing these things who has the quality of leadership--Ed Stone's poor little lollipop building to the loss of Penn Station! They were really doing this! Although I did write in specific terms about 2 Columbus Circle, I haven't gotten myself down out of the emotional response enough to write in general terms about modern preservation.
progrock timeline
this and the last three via zoller
visual laser keyboard
floating homes
big brother W and our orwellian life
What a year it's been here at Beware of the Blog - 1.7 million hits, 1,130 articles, 35 authors and two cease and desist letters (both fake). For those who joined us late, here's a list of the posts that were stuffed with chewy MP3 goodness.
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After the WFMU staff walkout in 1969, Upsala College closed the station for 10 months, until they hired a new station manager to run the station with "a more professional effort".
Troubles soon arose between Alan Fritch, the new station manager, and the staff at the station. This issue of the Upsala Gazette from March 12, 1971 (PDF file, 1.27MB) details a full-blown controversy surrounding the dismissal of two staffers by Fritch, a list of grievances against Fritch brought before the WFMU Radio Board by the station staff, and the subsequent vote to dissolve the Radio Board.
Apparently, as quoted by one Upsala student, Fritch didn't "get along with the kids". The list of 15 grievances included complaints about Fritch acting as a "policeman" and "stifling dissent". He dismissed two staffers after they broke into the station after-hours. Whether he was a power-mad dictator or merely doing his job was a matter of opinion. Some staff members believed that Fritch was "slowly getting rid of the long-hairs", while Fritch claims to have been "merely going by policy". Lots of interesting details about the controversy surrounding Fritch's management and about the station in general (like how one of the dismissed DJs was cut loose after an on-air "marathon.. reading of Lord of the Rings") are all available.