About halfway through North Carolina Musicians, the new book by Charlotte photographer Daniel Coston, the author describes a night at the Comet Grill in late 2011. It’s just after Christmas, and patrons “shuffle out of the cold” to see local blues guitarist Lenny Federal. The scene — with eager concertgoers cramming two floors — is set succinctly and colorfully, communicating the love these people have for Federal’s music, holding him up as an example of what makes this state’s music so compelling. Like Coston’s best frames, the passage is intimate and immediate.
Sadly, this is but one page hidden among 197 others filled with rambling anecdotes and interviews that lack insightful questions. Sadder still, Coston’s arresting images are printed cheaply onto thin stock, ruining the crisp contrast that makes his work so expressive. Coston has spent the better part of two decades photographing some of North Carolina’s most famous musical exports — Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Superchunk, The Avett Brothers — and his frames capture better than most the energy that fuels the state’s various scenes. North Carolina Musicians does both his art and his subjects a disservice.
For years, Coston has enjoyed incredible access to famous musicians: There’s a photo here of The Avett Brothers writing a song in their kitchen, a close-up of Ben Folds sitting at his North Carolina Music Hall of Fame induction beside his eighth grade music teacher. Coston catalogs many of these moments, but does so in minimal detail, coming across as just some dude bragging about his cherry gig.
His interviews — which waste sources such as Caitlin Cary (Whiskeytown) and Dom Flemons (Carolina Chocolate Drops) on banal queries (“Do you enjoy playing live?”) — don’t help. Nor do the frequent, encyclopedia-style history lessons, most of which are already recorded in other sources; he credits some of them in his acknowledgements. It’s clear that Coston has valuable perspective on music in this state. Maybe his next book will actually make use of it.
This article appears in Nov 13-19, 2013.
What a horrible way to treat such a respected, talented and hard-working local photographer! Daniel’s approach to capturing moments is so pure and timeless, unlike our “Photoshop everything” photographers that are out here today. And his love for local music, along with the people who make it, is as pure as the photographs he has taken of them. Shame on you!
The writer of this review has no clue at all.
I am not sure if this is a personal attack on Mr. Coston or just a case of a sour, “Holier than Thou in my Tastes” but this article seems to completely miss the fact that the unmatched access Mr. Coston has been given over the years needs no enhancement. The experiences he shares in the book are honest, intimate and provide and insight into some of our state’s most beloved musicians. Especially impressive is Mr. Coston’s commitment to ethics and honesty in this book – it neither stretches the truth nor embellish the tales and presents something sincere in a time where ethical journalism is in short supply. This “review” is a great example of rubbish that currently passes for journalism – CL, I am embarrassed for you.
This book is a treasure but i guess its just easier to go negative. Find the beauty in life
I wont attack the reviewer but i will say that the tone and comments sound like they are personal. I say buy the book and enjoy it for what it is…a wonderful collection of Carolinas music history
What a tool of a reviewer. This hack even slams Coston about the quality of the paper stock used to make the book. What has this reviewer done? Has he ever put out a book or done anything besides having some minor review printed in Creative Loafing? Coston has built his career steadily from his work at Tangents in the 90’s to having work featured in national magazines and on album covers of well-known artists. Creative Loafing should have known better than to use some jealous writer’s work in their paper. The quality sure has gone down since CL’s halcyon days of the ’90’s. Fortunately, Coston’s work gets better as time goes on even if the writers of CL don’t.
From the music editor:
Jordan Lawrence gave an honest opinion of the book, which is the most important quality of a review — honesty. Critics are not paid to be cheerleaders. This is simply one person’s opinion. Just as the book is one perspective of the local music scene, Jordan’s review is one perspective of the book. This is true for any review you ever read. I might have a different opinion if I review it, I might not. If I didn’t publish a review because people might not agree with it, I wouldn’t be doing my job — whether that review is positive or negative.
If you read the review, you can see Jordan praises Daniel’s talent as a photographer and fan of the local music scene, but he felt the book doesn’t present those talents in the best manner possible.
As the review states, there are a lot of unique moments that Daniel has been able to capture. And just like any music, art and the movies, people should check it out for themselves and form their own opinion.
Daniel has always demonstrated a love and passion for music and writing ever since those early Tangents meetings. No one I’ve ever worked with on any publication has been more enthusiastic about interviewing a subject. His interviews treat people as actual people. Daniel as a writer, photographer, and indeed as a person has a style that’s hard to duplicate but always refreshing.
I’ve never been much for soap boxes and my opinion mixed in with arguments and feuds. However, this review seems personal, and tactical. I’m sure there was something the journalist had to gain by bashing the work of a dedicated artist, who leads with his heart. It would seem so simple for this review to speak to the eloquence and character of Coston, however the reviewer chose to dissect the book, like a frog in the fifth grade, to reveal something mundane and without inspiration. I live in Atlanta now, but I will always be a North Carolina musician. This reviewer is not, he lacks the heart to understand, and will ultimately be forgotten to the boneyard of blog trolls.
As someone who writes for Creative Loafing but has never met either the author of this book or the reviewer, I have to disagree with the comments that accuse the reviewer of being nasty, “tactical” and personal. Unrevealing interview questions, poor quality printing and lousy prose are all totally legitimate critiques, and they’re presented here without the spirit of gleeful shit-talking that one so often finds in darker corners of the internet.
Most of the reviewers I know make concerted efforts to be respectful and constructive when they have something negative to say about a book, album or the like. I think Jordan’s review passes that rubric. We should endeavor not to confuse thoughtful criticism of our work with mean-spirited flaming or lack of regard for the artist as an individual. In doing so, we miss out on the opportunity to learn from and open a dialogue with someone who has spent time in thoughtful consideration of our work.
Of all the photographers in the Charlotte area Daniel Coston is right there on top. His photos are always insightful, memorable and showing emotion that few others capture. I love his work and will continue to support him!
Of all the photographers in the Charlotte area Daniel Coston is right there on top. His photos are always insightful, memorable and showing emotion that few others capture. I love his work and will continue to support him!
Daniel Coston is modest and candid, thus “coming across as just some dude bragging about his cherry gig” just doesn’t sit well. Reviews need not be snarky.
It’s not personal you dimwits. The reviewer has never even met Coston. On its face It’s a badly written book lacking even basic grammatical know how. A man can be a talented photographer and a beloved fixture in the local music scene, but that doesn’t mean he knows how to write a book. Get over yourselves.
The review comes across like Lawrence couldn’t
really give a rats ass about NC music history.
Daniel, keep shooting great photos, writing and doing what you’re great at!
I personally appreciate all you do and the unique historical perspective that you
bring to the table. Remember, most music critics are just hacks that can’t
do it themselves. Keep on rockin in the free world DC!
I found Mr. Lawrence’s review clumsy. In four paragraphs he employed six dashes and two hyphens. One sentence contains two dashes and three parenthetical sections. The use of the semicolon in the last passage felt like gratuitous punctuation grandstanding. It works as two sentences. I could have used a semicolon there. I chose not to. I am a gentleman. The tone of the piece as a whole comes across as petulant. The closing barb leaves the reader to consider whether Mr. Lawrence is envious of Mr. Cotson’s “cherry gig”. Clearly, Mr. Lawrence wants to be a credible reviewer. It is regrettable that his scholarly work is being printed on rag newsprint somewhere between an ad for Rocktoberbreast and the HotHotChatLine. We are all hoping for better things for him one day.
Have we sunk to judging a book by the thickness of the paper?
The writer of this article apparently has an underlying agenda against the book author. I really don’t think the editor of the paper should have allowed such trash to be printed. Then again, trash sells papers.
I am confident that one person’s snarky review will not sway the many Coston fans out there. It is possible to write a review that is both critical and sensitive. I hope Jordan will strive for that in the future.