Ted Gioia

Atlanta, Austin

Freelance Writer at Freelance

Ted Gioia is author of 12 books, including The History of Jazz and Delta Blues. Follow him on Substack at https://t.co/F6G8RrzTIu.

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Articles

Who Are the Real Experts Now?

1 week ago | honest-broker.com | Ted Gioia

The scarcest thing in the world right now is trust. Institutions and organizations live and die by this single metric. This problem is everywhere right now. Just take a look around, and you can see the crisis playing out in real time. There’s plenty of noise and spin. But people want something rock solid, and as reliable as a Swiss watch. But where can you find it now? Who can you really trust? Who do I really trust? I try to answer that question in the Q&A below.
The Road Not Taken

1 week ago | mattausterklein.substack.com | Matt Austerklein |Ted Gioia

As a senior in college, I faced a difficult choice: was it to be music or Judaism? I was offered, on the one hand, the opportunity to attend cantorial school in New York, and on the other, the chance to teach English in Austria with the promise of studying classical voice. This weighty decision represented two different visions of my long-term future. As both a serious musician and a serious Jew, it was not an easy d.
Learning, Fast and Slow: Why AI will not revolutionize education

1 week ago | schooloftheunconformed.substack.com | Brad East |Ted Gioia |Josh Brake

For those of you who prefer to read off paper rather than the screen, we have converted the post into an easily printable pdf file. If you appreciate this, please consider supporting our work by upgrading to a paid subscription. Thank you:)Learning, Fast and Slow: Why AI will not revolutionize education865KB ∙ PDF fileThe motion picture is destined to revolutionize our educational system and…in a few years it will supplant largely, if not entirely, the use of textbooks.
Is This the Dominant Personality Type of Our Time?

1 week ago | honest-broker.com | Ted Gioia

Filmmaker Sergio Leone once explained why Clint Eastwood was a perfect actor for his movies. Eastwood’s portrayal of a cowboy, he explained, “only had two expressions: with hat and no hat.” That might sound like criticism, or even mockery. But Leone needed a hero who presented a mask to the audience. In Eastwood, he found someone who did that naturally—as part of his acting style. But Leone got lucky.
How Many NY Times Journalists Does It Take to Write 500 Words?

1 week ago | honest-broker.com | Ted Gioia

Here’s my latest arts & culture briefing—with news and views you probably won’t find elsewhere. I’m covering a lot of ground today:Famous musicians setting up on OnlyFans;Trouble at The White Lotus;Pay-to-play in the book review business;More signs of an artist backlash against tech;A dead composer who still makes new music;Crimes Mark Zuckerberg is committing with my books;And other sundry topics and opinions.
I Offer Subversive Opinions

1 week ago | honest-broker.com | Ted Gioia

I do so few interviews nowadays. But I did answer questions recently from Joshua Stamper for Image Journal—and the interview got published this week. This turned into quite a dialogue. The full transcription was more than 5,000 words. They described me, in the headline, as “subversively human.” That feels about right. Below are a few highlights. You can find the entire interview here. Image: Where do we find silence?
40 Observations on Public Discourse

2 weeks ago | honest-broker.com | Ted Gioia

Many readers seem to enjoy reading highlights from my private journal (see here and here). So we’ll do it again today. Below are 40 journal entries on the current state of public discourse. Like the captain said in Cool Hand Luke, what we have here is (mostly) a failure to communicate. But we’re now failing to communicate in totally new ways. All digital communication is reverting back to primitive ways. The emoji is like the hieroglyphic. The meme is akin to the cave painting.
Netflix CEO Mocks Moviegoers: Theaters Are Dead!

2 weeks ago | honest-broker.com | Ted Gioia

Netflix’s CEO gave an interview a few days ago, and made clear how much he hates movie theaters. He insists that he’s not the only one—in the year 2025, the audience shares his loathing. They also hate going to the cinema. Or so he thinks. “The theatrical box office is down 40 to 50% from pre-COVID,” he points out, “and this year is down 8% already—so the trend is not reversing. You’ve gotta look at that and say, ‘What is the consumer trying to tell you?’”I have a different opinion.
How to Discover Mindfulness in a Nazi Solitary Confinement Cell

2 weeks ago | honest-broker.com | Ted Gioia

Two years ago, I shared an account of Christopher Burney, a British spy captured by the Nazis in World War II. He spent 526 days in solitary confinement under brutal conditions. He survived by developing deep skills of mindfulness and silent mediation. Then he wrote a book about it. The book was unfairly forgotten. But my article helped bring it back to life. A new edition of Solitary Confinement has just been released by Recovered Books, and it features my essay as introduction.
Here's Why I'm Telling Young Musicians to See the Dylan Biopic

3 weeks ago | honest-broker.com | Ted Gioia

I keep telling young musicians to see the new Bob Dylan biopic. But this has nothing to do with nostalgia. And it’s not for the songs either (which are great). Or for the acting (which is fine). And not even for the filmmaking (which is solid). I tell them to see the movie as a powerful reminder that songs are change agents in human life. Music is transformative. It shakes people up. And people want to be shaken. The audience is hungry for this catalytic force—and the Dylan movie shows that repeatedly.