The Age of Steve

My colleague Steve Smith has announced on his Facebook page that he is leaving Time Out New York next month. In the thirteen years he's been editing classical-music listings at the magazine — much of the time he has edited the pop listings as well — he has documented better than any other writer the teeming energies of New York's new-music scene. He has also searched out the huge expanse of activity that lies beyond the city's best-known, highest-priced venues. I've learned so much from his work: he's changed and broadened my view of New York musical life. Steve is something of a hero in our world, and whatever publication or institution might sign him up in the future will have made, I believe, a very wise choice.