After weeks of rumors, it's official, as broken this afternoon on Gawker.com: the VILLAGE VOICE has laid off several senior editors and writers, including self-styled Dean of American Rock Critics Robert Christgau. Gawker also prints a message written for friends by Christgau himself, proclaiming himself available for whatever critical gigs might arise.

I have no doubt he'll land somewhere, and soon, but the big question is how this will affect Pazz N'Jop. Will there be writers who refuse on principle to participate in a Dean-less P&J? Or has the poll by now taken on a life of its own, not dependent on its creator to continue its exponential growth? We shall see.

Christgau should write for Pitchfork !
Concerning the Jazz'n'Pop, no matter if the magazine don't go on making a end-of-year list because there are thousands lists that come out every year from thousands magazines, so one more or one less what's the matter ?

P&J, though, has a cachet unequaled among end-of-year lists; whether this reputation is deserved or not, all U.S. EOY lists are seen as leading up to Pazz N'Jop pretty much the same way that all EOY movie awards culminate in the Oscars. And I'd say that the poll's lofty position is in fact deserved; it collects hundreds of individual lists, a growing number every year, and has come to mark a reliable flashpoint of what the consensus is regarding a given year's most critically acclaimed albums.

If nothing else, all we need to know is that Henrik himself makes an extra effort every year to post a full site update as quickly as possible after the P&J results are released. If Christgau's firing does have any impact on P&J, it will be significant.