Local musicians are up in arms about Newsday's coverage of "Kristen," the high-priced prostitute who brought down Eliot Spitzer and who also happens to be an aspiring singer.
Targets of rage include Kristen, Newsday, the mass media and the music industry in general. Here are some sample comments from the Long Island Music Scene message booard on Yahoo!:
"Now we all know how hard it is to get reviewed by Newsday, oddly enough, if you're Eliot Spitzer's call girl, they will promote your music. ...this is a slap in the face to those of us who are busting our ----, to see ourselves passed over, only to see someone on the front page who took the easy way out."
"Contrary to some folks' belief that newspapers exist to serve the public (and that may actually have been true long, long ago), they exist, in reality, to make money... Most of us here do what we do musically because it's who and what we are. We do it for the joy of it all. I refuse to let the stupid stuff that goes on all around it spoil that joy for me."
"All valid points, it's just disheartening as a woman in music...is this how far we've come? It used to be you had to dress or act like a 'ho' to make it in music. These days, I guess you actually have to be one... I'm also disheartened at the sympathy this girl is getting...people forget she's a criminal, she broke the law and belongs in jail, not on the radio or on MTV."
"Unfortunately this is OUR fault! This generation is so caught up with 'celebrity' that untalented people can now make a living by just showing up somewhere for a fee, ala Hilton, Federline, etc... I gave up Newsday about 3 months ago and feel better about myself not supporting a rag that basically ignores the real Long Island Music Scene."
"Just to add insult to injury, AM New York reported that this girl has sold over 2 million copies of her song online in the last week. Unbelievable!!!"