Mos' Fresh

I don't live anywhere near New York – and my Internet connection remains a crawly dial-up – so I've never heard Kimberly Massengill's radio shows on such varied & sundry stations as WFMU and WPKN. (Lookin' at her play lists, I truly like her taste in music, though.) But I do enjoy the music-focused writing she does for a city entertainment site entitled Murphguide, the most recent of which is a review of an ACLU Freedom Concert. The benefit concert featured both pop (Paul Simon, Mos' Def) and artier music types (Philip Glass) doing one and two-song performances, interspersed with readings by actors and various literary scenesters about free speech fights: the type of show that can be deadly to review – mainly because you're forced to address both performance and underlying message equally – and just as hard to read.

Ran into no such problems reading Miz M.'s piece, though, because she's a personable and witty writer who injects herself into her articles without being overbearing about it. Plus: she obviously knows her music scene and is able to write about it without descending into cheap mockery (an overused pop writer's tool – I wield it all the time) or p.r. fannishness. And Plus II: as a look at her too infrequently updated web page reveals, she's a gorgeous fat woman, who definitely looks better than the grungy rock types she is occasionally seen standing next to. (I'm talkin' about you, Bruce Springsteen! [Wha'd I tell ya about that cheap mockery thing?]) I've recently gotten hooked on her "Music For That Not-So-Fresh Feeling" column – and so should you, if you're a fan of good music writing and/or cool BBWs. . .