John Zorn, MacArthur Fellow

I just wanted to say how happy I am that John Zorn won the MacArthur Fellowship. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Zorn, he is a leader in the New York improvisational scene, has produced interesting music for over 20 years, and is the founder of Tzadik Records, perhaps the nation's leading label for creative music. He also runs the music space The Stone in the East Village. The MacArthur Fellowship has long done a good job giving out their money to a wide-ranging group of people. They have cut back on awards to historians and other social scientists over the last few years which is a bummer. But when they are giving money to people like Zorn, I have to respect them a great deal.