#183: My Etsy Shop
My Etsy Shop
I’m Todd L. Burns, and welcome to Music Journalism Insider, a newsletter about music journalism. I highlight some of the best stuff I hear, read, and watch every week; publish news about the industry; and interview writers, scholars, and editors about their work. My goal is to share knowledge, celebrate great work, and expand the idea of what music journalism is—and where it happens. Questions, comments, concerns? You can reach me anytime at music.journalism.insider@gmail.com. And if you're not already subscribed to the newsletter, you can do so at musicjournalisminsider.com.
Today in the newsletter: Interviews with Teen Vogue editor P. Claire Dodson, writer and author John Lingan, Boston music journalist Victoria Wasylak, and hip-hop scholar J. Griffith Rollefson. Plus! Ralph Ellison, TikTok, and much more! But first…
Are You Kenenough?
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Reading List
- Shaad D'Souza wonders whether the era of sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll is over
- Piotr Orlov looks at the state of local music journalism
- Christie Eliezer talks with Australian music journalist Stuart Coupe about his new memoir
- Shawn Setaro explains why so many rap concerts are getting canceled
- Adam Douglas dives into how car companies are reinventing the sound of their vehicles
- Norman Brannon talks about the hardcore scene and death
- Michelle Mercer discusses her recent experience with online harassment
- Marissa R. Moss and Natalie Weiner chat about the summer of country music discourse
- Alan Cross remembers the golden era of music magazines
- Tom Breihan talks to “Tom Breihan”
Lede Of The Week
“Here’s the important thing, the thing that you need to know before anything else: You cannot buy coverage on Stereogum.” - Tom Breihan
Q&A: P. Claire Dodson
P. Claire Dodson is the senior entertainment editor at Teen Vogue and a freelance journalist who has written for the New York Times, Fast Company, and more. In this excerpt from our interview, she explains what has changed about her approach to work in the past few years.
I want my identity to be less tied to what I can produce or where I can climb to, and more about what kind of person I am in my life and work and everything in between. Rainesford Stauffer writes so well about this topic, but my relentless ambition was not sustainable for me, especially in the past few years. (And honestly, the moment I started making a more livable salary in New York, that was when I finally had space to breathe and think about what I actually want—shoutout to the Condé Union and journalism unions everywhere for the continuous work towards that goal for everyone.) So! For now—I’m still evolving my ideas around work and how to set boundaries and not take on too much, while also writing and editing things I’m proud of and supporting the growth of writers and editors with fewer privileges and access points than I had.
A Cause Worth Supporting
From P. Claire Dodson:
I first heard about For the Gworls from Chappell Roan, who donated ticket proceeds to the organization during her recent tour—FTG raises money for Black trans people to pay for rent, medical assistance, and gender-affirming surgery.
Check out all of the causes highlighted by folks I’ve interviewed.
Letting The Votes Come In, Let The Labour Party Win
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Podcasts!
- Sound Expertise highlights Dwandalyn Reece, who curates music and performing arts at the National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Charles Shaar-Murray joins Rock’s Backpages to discuss his career
- The Kitchen Sisters discuss the hip-hop archives at Harvard and Cornell
- The Culture Journalist welcomes two editors of Hell Gate to talk about hyper-local media
- Indiecast revisits the blog rock era
Trivia Time
The American magazine Sing Out! inspired which English folk song magazine launched in the 1950s?
Q&A: John Lingan
John Lingan is a writer with bylines in the New York Times Magazine, The Oxford American, and many more. His latest book is A Song for Everyone: The Story of Creedence Clearwater Revival. In this excerpt from our interview, John explains how his approach has changed over the past few years.
I've published two books with different houses during a time of extraordinary upheaval in the publishing industry, so on one hand I feel like I've gotten a pretty good look at the pros and cons of the business as it stands right now. That said, the business "stands" in a state of seemingly perpetual uncertainty, like every other field. I have met so many amazing people who do incredible work on behalf of books and writers, yet (surprise surprise) there are real obstacles to actually getting your book read, talked about, etc. Book coverage is in crisis (I say this as a book reviewer) and the music-writing field is full of talented, under-utilized people with incredible knowledge and excitement for their subjects.
Which is all bad news! But also clarifying, in the sense that I have learned that my work is not guaranteed an audience, and I'm lucky to have the readers that I have. The truth is that this is my second job, my side hustle. I tell people that it's my Etsy shop. I profile great musicians, write essays about things I care about, and am trying to establish a long career as an author. At this point I'm not convinced that I'll ever be a runaway bestseller, a social media phenom, or whatever shifting definition of great success I may have once had. The impossibility of making my living (and raising my kids) on music-writing income alone has helped me calm down my expectations and focus on why I do this work: because it's fun, because I'm decent at it and want to get better, and because I think there are music stories worth telling that illuminate larger aspects of our history and culture.
Read the full interview with John here.
A Cause Worth Supporting
From John Lingan:
I choose SMYAL (the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League), who serve LGBT+ kids in my nearest city, Washington, DC. Anything to support these young people while a hateful, poisonous minority tries to make their lives unlivable.
Check out all of the causes highlighted by folks I’ve interviewed.
!
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How Do You Do, Fellow TikTokers?
- Reggie Ugwu profiles TikTok movie reviewers
- @why_wear_that ponders the ethics of wearing band t-shirts you don't know
- @gee_derrick talks about why jazz isn’t mainstream
- @patrickhicks82 gets personal about the Jurassic Park theme
- @dnadoesit tells a story about Harrison Ford and The Doors
5 Things: Ralph Ellison
Ralph Ellison is one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Known primarily for his novel The Invisible Man, Ellison also wrote extensively about music. Here are five great passages from the collection Living with Music: Ralph Ellison's Jazz Writings.
In those days it was either live with music or die with noise, and we chose rather desperately to live.
It has been a long time now, and not many remember how it was in the old days, not really. Not even those who were there to see and hear as it happened, who were pressed in the crowds beneath the dim rosy lights of the bar in the smoke-veiled room, and who shared, night after night, the mysterious spell created by the talk, the laughter, grease paint, powder, perfume, sweat, alcohol, and food—all blended and simmering, like a stew on the restaurant range, and brought to a sustained moment of elusive meaning by the timbres and accents of musical instruments locked in passionate recitative. It has been too long now, some seventeen years.
Its rhythms were out of stride and seemingly arbitrary, its drummers frozen-faced introverts dedicated to chaos. And in it the steady flow of memory, desire and defined experience summed up by the traditional jazz beat and blues mood seemed swept up like a great river from its old, deep bed.
Jazz, like the country which gave it birth, is fecund in its inventiveness, swift and traumatic in its developments and terribly wasteful of its resources.
In its more worldly phases the flamenco voice resembles the blues voice, which mocks the despair stated explicitly in the lyric, and it expresses the great human joke directed against the universe, that joke which is the secret of all folklore and myth: that though we be dismembered daily we shall always rise again.
Pivoting To Video
- Middle 8 thinks something weird is happening in hip-hop
- Lara Downes talks with John McWhorter about American music
- Grady Smith talks about the latest viral country music sensation
- Noisey goes to the oldest goth club in the world
- DavesClassicalGuide celebrates Black composers
Q&A: Victoria Wasylak
Victoria Wasylak is a Boston-based music journalist and editor. She’s the Boston music editor of Vanyaland and a former writer for the podcast company Double Elvis. In this excerpt from our interview, Victoria explains what she’d like to see more of in music journalism right now.
More live reviews, for artists of all sizes. We have a responsibility to energize folks to attend shows again (if they feel comfortable and safe, of course). Live reviews document and spread the you-had-to-be-there moments—we have to remind people of what they’re missing.
What's one tip that you'd give a music journalist starting out right now?
Stay curious, and say yes. When I was a music editor in college, I was shocked by how many of my staff writers would pass up chances to review music just because they weren’t familiar with the artist or weren't fans of that particular genre. You really have to be willing to lend an ear to anything and everything. Even if you hate what you hear, you’ll be more savvy for it. At the very least, you can probably get a witty tweet out of it.
Read the full interview with Victoria here.
A Cause Worth Supporting
From Victoria Wasylak:
The Hip-Hop Transformation is a wonderful youth program based in Cambridge that educates kids and young adults about hip-hop from both a cultural and musical standpoint. The organization doesn’t just teach students, it molds them into confident, motivated artists.
Check out all of the causes highlighted by folks I’ve interviewed.
Real Scenes
- Daniel Dylan Wray on hip-hop in Leeds
- Matthew Blackwell on Café OTO
- Neil Kulkarni on Pingipung
- Patrick St. Michel on gacha pop
- Lorenzo Simonini and Stephan Kunze on dubstep
Same!
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Q&A: J. Griffith Rollefson
J. Griffith Rollefson is professor of music at University College Cork, National University of Ireland. His latest book is Flip the Script: European Hip Hop and the Politics of Postcoloniality. In this excerpt from our interview, J. explains his favorite part of working in music.
Collaborating—especially with artists. I'm just now getting properly into arts practice research, and hope to develop that set of skills over the next five years. I'm director of a new centre in this area actually, and will be looking to support researchers in arts and arts practice with my now considerable skills in grant writing. (Hit me up if you want to write a grant in music or arts research to join us at UCC).
What's one tip that you'd give a student considering a life in music academia starting out right now?
Just be ready to play the long game with patience and humility. It's a great thing to live a "life of the mind"—especially when you journey alongside musical communities—but it needs to be something you have to do, because it doesn't make rational sense as a career path. We're working on making it less toxic, but that won't be solved in the next 10 years...
A Cause Worth Supporting
From J. Griffith Rollefson:
No big cause outside your neighborhood—just get involved in local mutual aid networks. I had a bit of an eye opening conversation with old friends in Minneapolis recently about this. They still vote and "do the right thing" in terms of national and global issues, but they've divested their support of organized national politics and institutions—and reoriented that money and effort into protecting and providing for vulnerable people in their local communities. Their argument: the presidency, congress, and supreme court are never going to protect us. They can make abortion illegal and criminalize sexual difference and target people of color—it is our job to protect and provide for our neighbors.
It was a hard message for me to hear—invested as I am in Democratic politics and liberal/progressive mindsets—but one that I appreciated hearing. These institutions have never been for the least among us. It's time for us to focus on the least among us. Their mantra: "train the witches!" If the government makes abortion illegal, fuck 'em. We'll do it ourselves. Train the witches!
Check out all of the causes highlighted by folks I’ve interviewed.
Academic Stuff
- New issue: Organised Sound
- Ethan Hein and Will Mason have posted syllabi
- Mack Hagood has received a NEH grant
- 33 1/3 is looking for genre-focused submissions
- Call for Proposals: Punk Scholars Network 10th Annual Conference & Postgraduate Symposium [Abstracts due September 26]
The Closing Credits
Thanks for reading! In case you’ve missed any special features, I’ve published a number of them in the newsletter, including articles about music journalism history, what music journalism will be like in 2221, and much more. You can check out all of that here.
I also do a recurring column in the newsletter called Notes On Process. The premise is simple: I share a Google Doc with a music journalist where we go into depth on one of their pieces. It hopefully provides an insight into how music writers do their work. You can check out all editions of Notes On Process here.
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Trivia Time Answer
Sing Magazine, founded in 1954 by John Hasted and Eric Winters, was directly inspired by Sing Out! magazine.
A Final Note
Thanks for reading! Big shout out to James Lamont for their help on the newsletter this week. I make playlists every single week. Check them here! And full disclosure: my day job is at uDiscover Music, a branded content online magazine owned by Universal Music. This newsletter is not affiliated or sponsored in any way by Universal, and any links that relate to the work of my department will be clearly marked.
Feel free to reach out to me via email at music.journalism.insider@gmail.com. On X, it’s @JournalismMusic. Until next time...