Ranting, raving, and singing the blues

Including interviews Jann Wenner doesn't want you to know about

Last week, my plan for today’s newsletter was to do a review of the movie Dumb Money. On Thursday, I discovered that even though I live in the third largest city in the United States, the movie’s release was restricted to a small number of screens, and none of the cinemas or times worked with my schedule.

On Friday, I was to turn in a piece to a new-to-me editor that I am really excited to be working with. But the story wasn’t coming together because none of the people that contacted about an interview got back to me.

On Saturday, I spent the day at home putting together the story with a lot of academic research. It’s not as good as it would be with interviews, but at least I turned it in. I accepted that I was spending the day working, but the consolation was that we had dinner plans with good friends we hadn’t seen in a while at what is arguably the best high-end Mexican restaurant in the world, Tzuco. The chef, Carlos Gaytán, is the first person from Latin America to hold a Michelin star, and as it was Mexican Independence Day, I was dreaming of how he would make chiles en nogada, a traditional holiday dish. But then, while we were driving downtown, the City of Chicago announced that it was closing off entrances to downtown to keep out Mexican Independence Day revelers, who affix flags to their cars and drive around honking horns. (This is not the tradition in Mexico, but neither is dying rivers green Ireland’s tradition for St. Patrick’s Day.) Literally, they were closing off the streets as we hit Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue, and I personally placed four road closure notices on Waze.

Our friends made it downtown before the streets were closed, so they had a lovely dinner. My husband and I eventually ended up at a sports bar around the corner from our house: a nice place, but the chef does not have a Michelin star.

On Sunday, I got in the car and drove through untold miles of road construction to get to Ohio to help a relative having surgery. While in the car, I thought about the weekend’s other disaster, the Jann Wenner interview in the New York Times. In case you missed it, Mr. Wenner defended his decision to include only white men in his new book about rock legends by saying that:

• he wasn’t a good interviewer and couldn’t talk to people who didn’t look like him.

• racism and misogyny in the music industry and in his magazine caused other voices to be silenced.

• he was afraid to interview Aretha Franklin because she had no patience for his nonsense.

• Black and female musicians weren’t articulate enough to be included.

How dumb. Rock music is Black music. Sam Phillips was looking for a white man who sang like a Black man when he found Elvis Presley. The Rolling Stones found fame covering Chicago blues classics. (To that end, check out Chicago Plays the Stones (Spotify), a collection of Rolling Stones songs covered by contemporary Chicago blues musicians. Mike Avery’s version of Miss You is 🔥.)

While Jann Wenner’s PR people were busy earning their keep, I put together a list of interviews with musicians who are not white men.

• Muddy Waters (Library of Congress). Actually, Wenner has a point about Muddy Waters. It probably has a little something to do with reefer, which comes up a few times in this interview.

• Prince (Essence)

• Little Richard (The London Telegraph)

• Aretha Frankin (Fresh Air)

• Gladys Knight (Fresh Air)

• Tina Turner (Harvard Business Review)

Know of any other good interviews with performers who are not white men? Share them in the comments!