LAist: Jay Babcock's Harsh Feelings on LA

marc22386

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:20:27 -0800

I'm tired of this NY vs. LA bullshit. I think residents of both cities should realize they are nowhere near the best cities to live in America. But I'm not about to start grandstanding and giving my recommendations cause I'm pretty sure nobody cares. For one, I would submit that radio in both cities suck. Moreover, I'm fairly certain we'll be hearing this Babcock fellow bitching about NYC in the not too distant future. Just wait until winter.

ezfinn

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:20:46 -0800

Walter O'Malley goes in the Baseball Hall of Fame today. Guess that's one thing LA has that Brooklyn doesn't.

Steve Ruiz

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:52:04 -0800

Carrie, your post hit the nail on the head! Indie 103.1 has been owned by Entravision, since it's beginning.

samkim

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:39:22 -0800

i always tell people that the reason they think new york-europe is better is b-c the culture is right there in front of them. they dont have to look for it. so its all very shallow...

Hindinwood

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:46:34 -0800

Judas.

WagonMonster

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:40:59 -0800

The only good radio in NYC is when Radio New York simulcasts KEXP (which is in Seattle)

savvysearch

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:36:21 -0800

Even the horrid and obnoxious Star 98.7 is playing better music today than it was last year. Then you have indie 103.1 which despite it's poseur (Clear Channel) beginnings, which any angeleno can see through, is almost revolutionary in the type of music that a clear channel station would play. Kroq is worse than ever, but KCRW is always on top of it's game. Having visited New york lately, I am fairly certain we have better radio than on the east coast. But he's indicative of what this city seems to do to people. Love and hate of the city is directly related to professional success and failure.

Elise Thompson

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:24:55 -0800

It's who you choose to associate with. I've had people go one about Hollywood sucking - then I discovered they hung out and shot heroin the whole time they were here. Sure LA has its problems, but those particular issues are not exclusive to LA. Not to gush, but LAist has made me feel like a part of this city for the first time. All of my life I just lived here. But studying up on it, exploring the neighborhoods and really following the events and myriad subcultures has really made me love this city. So fuck everybody - we can be blindly stupidly in love with our city just like anyone from NY or Seattle. People who leave town that suddenly are running. Maybe bad business deals, love affair gone bad, maybe from themselves. As the saying goes, "Wherever you go, there you are." If Babcock comes back, tail between his legs let's collectively bag on him endlessly. I'll agree not to let him merge in traffic or go first at the stop sign if you will too.

samkim

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:18:36 -0800

^exactly. I went to a private high school in the valley and i remember a certain classmate would go to europe and fall in love with it and come back and say how much LA has no culture and how lame it is, although all he did was work at wood ranch and smoke and go watcha movie. yep. not that LA has the most independent artists living anywhere in the US (besides Santa Fe), the most exciting/cutting edge in contemporary classical music (green umbrella series, hollywood film music, colburn/cal arts/usc), great weather, with the greatest concentration of the greatest female chefs in any area, and i can go on and on....the lack of density/public transportation is the one thing that makes things difficult for people to find these things. but in LA people are so laid back/not uptight that they hardly bother to look. that can be good or bad depending on your general outlook on life. but i love it. although i'll be in new york for amonth. if i run into him ill sock him in the face for you.

Militant Angeleno

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:23:33 -0800

Who is this guy again and why should the Militant care what he has to say? Srsly, people blame their own issues on their environs, when the real problem lies within.

Carrie Meathrell

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:19:31 -0800

fuck this guy, and fuck everybody who thinks LA has no "culture". you're a dick, fo sho. Also, anybody who "hates" on a city because they have some inflated notion of what a city should be is just...a narrow-minded unfortunate sad soul. There is no city, no country, and no people in this entire world that is not worthy of examination, attention, love, and respect. Anybody who dismisses an entire population like this douche-nugget obviously has serious personal issues to which he must attend.

StreetCloud

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:42:37 -0800

bummer to read. i used to think that guy was cool, his magazine certainly is. public radio is fine in LA. maybe he has never heard KCRW and KXLU. the "impending crises" of traffic and educational have been coming forever...never happening. doesn't he get it? everything and everyone you could want is in LA- you just have to find it- and ignore the bullshit. he must of been watching to much TMZ or something... so he is going to feel smarter getting off the plane in NY? good luck with that...

scotyosh

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:54:07 -0800

To be fair, he is really talking from his experience as a young, cultured, educated man, typically living on the west side of Los Angeles right? The same type of demographic as the people that hit this site? My observations: If you are not from UCLA or USC and you live in Los Angeles, YOU SUCK BALLS! Even if you graduated from UCLA, you suck MONSTER BALLS. If you are a hot girl and a rich guy, you love LA! If you are not hispanic or don't speak spanish, you don't experience the true "Los Angeles". Police, DA and jurors are just fucking pawns here. 41,000+ "known" gang members, less than 10,000 cops on LAPD? Can't wait for the big one to hit and see these fools making there way into the west side. NYPD has 37,000 cops. Some people love "LA". It takes a certain person that relishes in their ability to get by here. This dude just figured out he wasn't one (Come on, admit it, you love telling your friends outside LA that "I live in LA".) I am not a native Angeleno, and having lived here 6 years, what the fuck do I know.

lost feliz

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:44:01 -0800

yeah, nothing can be accomplished in L.A. Give me a break. Besides shit like Sunset Junction, which is coming up again, he put on the damn Arthur Fest. Which I thought was great. What's up his ass? And the LA Times interview was stupid. It was a bunch of lame email interview questions with no follow ups to his trashing us up the wazoo. it feels like "Rocket Science," when the girl screws over the guy and changes schools. So... 'Oh yeah, well we'll show him!'

WagonMonster

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:32:13 -0800

Besides, hating LA is so..... San Francisco.

paul

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:28:06 -0800

Sounds like he's trying to fit in with New York. Problem is, from my experience living there, you can't be from LA to hate on LA. That smells like bullshit, especially to New Yorkers who know all Californian's that moved there love it back home.

Schimonie

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:23:51 -0800

Who knew Babcock could be such an ass. Ah well, the Gawker comments are pretty funny. Nice to read this from a New Yorker: "We're not really smarter or more cultured here, though—we just think we are!"

caliking01

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:16:22 -0800

Uhhhh...I cant say I comepletely disagree with what he is saying about L.A. In fact I think he is right on the fucking money. ESPECIALLY about how diffucult the city makes it to maintain any semblance of a culture that isnt stucco or zoned and permit granted bullshit for the masses. mw- born and raised in fucking L.A.

kino

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:05:07 -0800

Jay Babcock wants to finish what biggie and 2pac started apparently. Aurthur Mag is a great publication. They have some great contributors who provide some real, valuable insight. If Jay had trouble monetizing that then maybe he should look to new leadership, rather than a new home. Sending a vague email in the dead of night on the so called Eve of Arthur Mag's death asking for $20,000 epitomizes Jay's lack of leadership. As soon as he got the cash he booked for NY without telling anyone (he thinks we are just supposed to know this? he's not that important) Instead of running it into the ground in LA, he will most likely do this in NY (but hey, instead of car insurance he only has to pay the subway fee!) try putting on a full scale guerrilla concert outdoors in brooklyn without permits, i think you'll be faced with the same problems jay. NY has parks!? i wish LA did.... These problems of infrastructure and education are not just relegated to los angeles, they permeate the entire country. his interview highlights his defeatist attitude, one where negative complaining is the prime reason for change. Go ahead and whine because your magazine helped to assemble a social circle whose collective intelligence is on par with that of a gumby doll, I will still love los angeles.

WagonMonster

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:23:22 -0800

Looks like New York thinks he's a douche too! http://gawker.com/5028824/la-give-brooklyn-your-tired-your-poor-your-weary

Elise Thompson

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:17:26 -0800

In other words, "I got dumped and kicked out of the apartment we were sharing."

WagonMonster

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:12:57 -0800

Yeah, I read this in the Times yesterday, what a douche.