COLUMNIST CHARLES ANDREWS BIDS FAREWELL -courtesy photo
By CHARLES ANDREWS
FORGOTTEN?
Gosh, I hope not, not too soon anyway, after 14 years and 870 columns for the Santa Monica Daily Press.
You didn’t even notice I was gone, did you? Don’t feel bad. We all have busy lives. Dropped by the paper around the 4th of July. Let’s hear it for Independence!
Why did they drop you? I have been asked. Was it something you wrote about the School Board, or Trump, or Judy Abdo or Kevin McKeown? SMRR or the City Council or the Democratic Club? Was it that last column about your reluctance to celebrate the 4th of July in the midst of an authoritarian destruction of everything the founding fathers so brilliantly (if not perfectly) created, and what so many have fought and died for, for 250 years? No, as far as I know it was strictly financial. Small city newspapers are disappearing as fast as GOP backbones, and the SMDP owners decided they could not spend a penny for outside writers. I understand, and sympathize. They might have kept me on if I agreed to write for no pay, but in 55 years I have been paid for every piece I have ever written for publication, and I think that’s an important standard. Serious, professional writers should be paid. Full stop.
NOTEWORTHY was my music-oriented arts column, published every Thursday for more than eight years. My mostly political bi-weekly CURIOUS CITY column began in 2011 but has been sporadic since the disastrous last elections, local and national. It also tackled local issues like the destruction of the redwood forest mural at Lincoln and Ocean Park by our School Board, the illegal shuttering of the outdoor basketball courts, Vidiots, Pete the Barber and Alex the Shoe Guy. Still waiting on Berkeley Blatz.
THE READERS, GOD BLESS ‘EM
– have been really supportive. I want to thank all of you who gave me such encouragement over the years. So important. I tried very hard to answer every email, but if somehow I didn’t, I apologize. I often felt I was laboring alone at home, beating my head against a wall, but with every column I heard from two or more people who had never contacted me, writing something like, I have been enjoying your columns for years but never wrote to tell you. We need your voice, please don’t stop! Heck, just last month I was checking out at Vons and the checker stared at her screen a bit and finally said, do you write for the local newspaper? Well, yes, one of them, I said. Newspaper columns, with thoughtful, informed analysis and opinions, and information you may not be able to get anywhere else, do still matter, I think. In an age of disappearing facts and so much misinformation, we need die-hard journalists and columnists.
And that’s why I feel sad to let down so many who have encouraged and counted on my voice. So – I won’t. CURIOUS CITY and NOTEWORTHY will continue, on a Substack account I just started. Substack is a writer’s newsletter platform. But of course you need subscribers, and that can be a slow process. Hard for me to lose the tens of thousands of Santa Monicans I could reach through SMDP. You can subscribe for free! And easy. Just go to:
and hit the subscribe button, and you will soon have both columns delivered to your inbox. I would really appreciate it if you would let your entire contact list know about this.
JACK NEWORTH, BILL BAUER
Long long time SMDP columnists, both deceased, both diminutive figures physically but not in any other way. I have certainly stood on their strong shoulders, with respect and gratitude.
Bauer’s “MY WRITE” column tackled local politics and all the skullduggery and corruption involved, that few residents were aware of. I remember, at Bill’s memorial on the Pier, a former City Council member admitted that he wouldn't think of going into a Council session without first reading Bauer’s column. That’s influence, that’s the power of the press. And yet Bill told me three separate times, with conviction, that he was going to throw in the towel and quit his column. “All these years and nothing changes.” But that’s the nature of it. Without some dramatic event, public opinion changes as slowly (but inevitably) as a dripping stalactite, person by person. Bauer kept writing until the very end. And so I also will not throw in that towel.
Jack Neworth’s “LAUGHING MATTERS” column, which began in the very earliest days of SMDP, was his irreverent take on… everything, and it was very popular and widely read. Everyone knew Jack. For years he couldn’t get through a column without taking a swipe at Trump. He despised everything about the man. He also felt it was his sacred duty to tell the stories of some of our city’s many characters, usually in their elder years, or just after they passed.
He became more and more reclusive and was rarely seen out. Jack and I spoke on the phone a lot, and I can tell you, he should have done stand up. He was a master storyteller, but always intending to get a laugh. So of course I tried to make him laugh as often as I could. It was usually met with cold silence, then finally, “... I’ll do the jokes around here.”
I loved both those guys and miss them a lot. It is often easier to herd cats than words, but they were both so accomplished, and for so many years. Every week. That’s a rare feat in itself.
SANTA MONICA DAILY PRESS
Publisher Ross Furukawa opened the door for me in 2011, and I will be forever grateful. He and co-owner Todd James have afforded me this platform all this time, and reaching so many in the city I love has been a privilege. Thanks also to my first editor, Kevin Herrera, who kept the ball rolling.
But I reserve special gratitude for Editor-in-Chief (since 2014) Matt Hall. Operating at times with zero reporters, I don’t understand how he gets it all done, for a daily paper. We have of course had our disagreements but he has always treated me fairly and with respect. Matt has always had my back (within reason) and has been especially understanding and helpful since my loss of vision. He’s a stand up guy and I respect him tremendously as a human being and a journalist.
Charles Andrews has lived in Santa Monica for almost 40 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or rebuke to him at therealmrmusic@gmail.comTh- th- that’s all, folks!