white to be wrong?

Interesting find today, relating vaguely to some of the conversations about jazz and race on the web recently. Hitting another side of black music and cultural appropriation, Salon solicited responses to the question "Does Joss Stone sound too black?" (Personally, I think Stone, who I like but don't love, is in the same lineage as Janice Joplin, blue-eyed soul, and pretty good at it) Reader responses posted today run the gamut, and are for the most part intelligent and informed. My favorite:

It all comes down to this: if a reviewer (or anyone else) hates the music that he is writing (ranting) about, or if the music is just too uncool for him to like (as Stone is in some hipster circles), then the musicians responsible "stole" the sound from someone much more brilliant who came before them. The audacity!

But if the reviewer actually likes the music, then those same musicians were merely "influenced" by artists of the past. How wise of them, how creative, to use the sounds of yore in the creation of their unique, modern vision.

-- Heidi

That sounds familiar...