A newspaper correction for the ages

What in the world.

An article in the Holiday 2014 edition of Inside Napa Valley magazine, about St. Helena art gallery owner Christopher Hill, included in the Nov. 13 edition, contained a number of errors.

Christopher Hill never lived in Germany. He was born in Berkeley and raised in Danville.

Hill prefers the term “art gallery,” rather than “art studio.”

When talking about part-time residents of St. Helena, Hill never said, “I’d like to see these people have more than a business interest in the town.”

Hill said his interest in St. Helena is community-wide, not just personal.

His daughter is not an accomplished equestrian, rather she is an avid one. She is not currently working on a recycling program at school; and both Hill and her daughter speak in German to each other all the time, not just when they are at home.

“The Crushers” is a St. Helena men’s softball team, which Hill sponsors and manages. “The Shockers” is a Napa Junior Girls softball team, which he also sponsors.

The Chamber of Commerce did not name Hill “The Opinionator” and Hill never said, “I suppose I am.”

Hill said, “There is no reason why we can’t keep our treasures,” not “traditions.”

Hill proposed a parcel tax to raise revenue, not a real estate transfer tax.

Although he was once involved in a Yountville gallery, he does not maintain studio space in Yountville.

It was “industry colleagues” not his friends who “gave Hill six months at best” before his first art gallery would fail. He did not say “And then they added that the tourists just won’t come to an upstairs location.”

Hill’s mantra about surviving and expanding his business during the tough times related to 2002, not to 2008.

Hill began his art career in 1995 at age 24, not 27, in San Jose, not Graz, Austria.

He never said, “We offer much more than vineyard scenes. And we’re very informal – no suits or ties.”

Finally, The Christopher Hill Gallery features artists from North America, Spain, Austria and Germany, not just California, Austria and Germany.

http://napavalleyregister.com/news/article_f5fb5213-0102-5e6f-bd10-d4c1c7b8f66a.html

 

Other than that, we stand by our story.

 

This was Christopher Hill meeting with the managing editor:

 

By the time I got to the end of that, all I could think about was, "This Christopher Hill is an insufferable cockbag who deserves to be raped to death by a running chainsaw."

Which I suppose was probably the magazine's intention for that correction.

 

I think the reporter deserves congratulations for not getting lost on the way to the art studio gallery.

 

My guess is that the reporter speaks only English and Hill was speaking in German during the whole interview.

 

P.S. I did spend several weeks in Germany a few years back, and there were a few days in there when I woke up in the morning that I could have sworn I was back in Berkeley.

 

This had to have been a case where there was no recording done, so that whatever the source said later that he said or didn't say (or didn't like) was what the paper had to go in a correction.

 

The factual stuff, sure. Correct that. But the quotes? Why not just say eff off. What, are we going to lose advertising for your art gallery? It's weird the paper would just say "He didn't say X..." without an explanation.

 

Pretentious art gallery fucks.

 

On Romenesko, the newspaper's editor said it ran in an ad-driven supplement. The writer probably figured, meh, nobody reads those things!

 

If it was an "advertorial" piece, I might have been tempted to let the gallery owner read it over first.