An e-mail from a friend:
'I haven't even read the first sentence, but I feel a rant coming on: the latest issue of The New Yorker arrived in our mailbox a few minutes ago and the table of contents lists "Duke Ellington and the Beatles," by Adam Gopnik, subtitled "Duke Ellington, The Beatles, and the Mysteries of Modern Creativity."
IMO, and obviously in that of my friend, Gopnik is a twit in the very top class. Wouldn't be surprised if he's riding on the back of the Terry Teachout Ellington biography here and borrowing many of its dubious conclusions.