Channel 9 reporter Bruce Johnson has broken the story on the dust-up at the Washington Post this past week. Classical music critic Tim Page, winner of a Pulitzer prize, has long been one of the best writers in the Style section, making the paper’s shrinking coverage of classical music all the more shameful. In response to a mass email from the staff of Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry, which was sent to Page apparently by mistake, the irritated classical critic fired back an off-the-cuff response. Danger! Danger! As everyone should know by now, when you send an email you should just assume that everyone in the world is going to read it. Johnson quotes the copy of the email he obtained:
Must we hear about it every time this Crack Addict attempts to rehabilitate himself with some new — and typically half-witted — political grandstanding? I’d be grateful if you would take me off your mailing list. I cannot think of anything the useless Marion Barry could do that would interest me in the slightest, up to and including overdose. Sincerely, Tim Page.
Should Page be allowed to besmirch the good name of the former mayor? True, Barry’s recent checkered past has included some shady goings-on reported in the news, like telling police not to investigate a burglary of his house, not paying his taxes, again, violating the terms of his probation, being a “friend” to underworld hustlers, and being pulled over for erratic driving. Still, it’s not like he has tested positive for cocaine use in the last two years. Oh, wait, yes, actually he has. In fact, our own Martin Austermuhle called Marion Barry the District’s “most famous crack addict” in 2006. Given Barry’s continued struggle with illegal drugs, it is hard to see how the epithet is undeserved. “Half-witted” and “useless” and “overdose” could conceivably cross the line, though.
Barry and his staff are demanding that the Post fire Page, and the paper has actually placed him on leave. It looks like an early vacation for the distinguished classical critic (and sufferer of a form of Asperger’s Syndrome, as revealed in a powerful personal profile in The New Yorker this summer), who had already planned to take a sabbatical later this year (not yet announced by the Post). According to Musical America, Page will begin a teaching appointment at the University of Southern California next semester.
Anne Midgette, a junior critic at The New York Times, will become Interim Classical Music Critic on January 1. At the top of her Washington Post orientation packet should be instructions about not responding to any emails with Marion Barry in the subject line.
