Nat Hentoff's Last Village Voice Column Hits Stands Today

After this week, there's even less reason to touch the grimy handle of those ubiquitous Village Voice corner boxes: today is Nat Hentoff's last appearance in the increasingly irrelevant weekly. After fifty years spent doggedly exploring everything from music to human rights for the paper, the 83-year-old columnist was terminated just before New Year's Eve. But instead of using his last column to carpet Phoenix-based Village Voice Media with F-bombs, Hentoff has bowed out with class, looking back on his illustrious history with the Voice, and forward to his work as an author and syndicated columnist. And he promises to keep sticking it to the man by "putting on skunk suit at other garden parties, now that I've been excessed from the Voice...See you somewhere else. Finally, I'm grateful for the comments on the phone and the Web. It's like hearing my obituaries while I'm still here."

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By John Del Signore in News on January 7, 2009 11:00 AM

Comments [rss]

glennQNYC

Wrong picture. That is Saddam Hussain.

ides_of_march

Hentoff and the live music listings were the only reason to pick up that bolshevik rag.

Polite New Yorker

Again, it's a shame on the Village Voice for firing their best and most principled journalist. Hentoff's articles on civil liberties and human rights are indispensable. He was writing about Dafur before most of ever heard of the place, and he has stood for the Constitution and human rights against political winds both left and right. He is one of journalism's most ardent supporters of free speech.

west side Michael

Nat,

You are well remembered for your knowledge of Jazz music

and music critiques that enlightened so many.

I worked in the art record cover design in the late 1950's

when you were the King of Jazzrecord linear note history.

I still have the original 1959 vinyl (from Sam Goody) of

your photo at The Half Note Bar in "Jazz at The Half Note"

Zoot Zims7 Al Cohn, Oh Yes! Look at Bleeker Street now?

The V.V. stinks, I can get for free but why bother? ,all it

is now is a bunch of Bar advertisements with some writing &

usually shit in between.

I too feel like an obit though still alive.

You are still the champion of Freedom of the press.

NannyState

His replacement, Smirnoff De Czar, refused to comment.

zoofroy

Eh, that paper signaled its own downward spiral when it fired Robert Christgau. The bigger surprise is that they kept Hentoff on as long as they did. Good riddance.