#185: The Answer Was Yes
The Answer Was Yes
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 John Prine expert Holly Gleason, former Melody Maker and Uncut editor Allan Jones, Australian music journalist Samuel J. Fell, and freelance writer Celia Almeida. Plus! Reading recommendations, podcast recommendations, and much more! But first…
10/10, No Notes!
Source
Reading List
- Courtney E. Smith tracks down a folk song ghost
- Joe Levy discusses his trip to Tom Verlaine’s book sale
- Norman Brannon writes about punk and religion
- Clover Hope celebrates hip-hop hotties
- Chris Dalla Riva explores the history of song titles
- Sowmya Krishnamurthy looks at ten moments that changed hip-hop fashion
- Aubrey Bergauer illuminates what journalists aren’t saying about arts and culture business models
- Shamira Ibrahim reports on the financial viability of hip-hop’s legacy artists
- Njera Perkins convenes a roundtable of women hip-hop journalists
- Nyshka Chandran reports on the private equity money flowing into electronic music
Lede Of The Week
“When Skrillex, Four Tet and Fred again.. took New York's Madison Square Garden by storm in February, investors were paying attention.” - Nyshka Chandran
Q&A: Holly Gleason
Holly Gleason is a Nashville-based writer and artist development consultant. She's written for countless publications, and was recently named Entertainment Journalist of the Year at the Southern California Journalism Awards. Her new book is Prine on Prine: Interviews and Encounters with John Prine. It collects Prine, in his own words, across a variety of different formats. In this excerpt from our interview, Holly explains why she put together the book.
After John died, it seemed like he was turning into this kindly ole Americana icon, which he was about the sweetest man. But he was also zesty, funny, even naughty.
In talking about this strange reality with Dan Einstein, John’s co-manager for years and the guy who really built Oh Boy and Steve Goodman’s Red Pajamas Records, we realized: most of the people coming to the table are too young to have read the great early, mid-career and even up to Fair + Square’s press – and worse, a lot of these publications and stories weren’t available online.
Showing people the fullness of who John was seemed important. Dan Einstein said, “If you will, I’ll help…” It was an offer too good to turn down.
A Cause Worth Supporting
From Holly Gleason:
Founded by Shelia Shipley-Biddy and Tatum Hauck-Allsep, two major label executives who’d grown tired of watching musicians, peers, and other music industry workers fall into debt or get sick to the point of losing their lives because they couldn’t afford healthcare, Music Health Alliance creates solutions. As their site says, they’re “providing the music industry with healthcare advocacy through health insurance, healthcare resources, Medicare navigation and confidential guidance.”
I personally know Grammy winners who couldn’t get health insurance until they helped navigate the system, artist advocates given mental health grants to get PTSD treatment, access to doctors or facilities, screenings and other services. Each dollar yields 30 in life-saving healthcare in an industry where 76% have no access to health insurance; 20,000 clients in all 50 states; $120,000,000 saved; almost 2500 families saved from medical bankruptcy.
Check out all of the causes highlighted by folks I’ve interviewed.
C+C Music Factory Changed My Life
Source
Podcasts!
- Sound Expertise closed its third season with Philip Ewell
- Derrick Speaks Volumes talked with Bandsplain’s Yasi Salek
- Niko Stratis launched the podcast Blue Eyes Crying by the Chips
- John Szwed was the latest guest on The Music Book Podcast
- Endless Scroll welcomed Michael Tedder to talk about his new book
Q&A: Allan Jones
Allan Jones is a former editor of Melody Maker and Uncut. His latest book is Too Late To Stop Now, which follows Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down. Both books collect stories from his work as a staff writer at Melody Maker from 1974 to 1984. In this excerpt from our interview, Allan explains what makes the stories in his new book distinctive.
Too Late To Stop Now is similarly a collection of stories mostly based on my experiences as a staff writer on Melody Maker that I revisited for “Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before,” the back page feature I wrote for Uncut for almost as long as I was there. These were stories from a previous life on MM that looked back on colourful times gone by and the kind of rock’n’roll larks that had vanished with them that I wanted the book in some way to celebrate.
The stories as they appeared in Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down were often very close to the versions of them that first appeared in Uncut, some of them remixed, rewritten, buffed up here and there. They mostly ran to 1500 words, history as anecdote. For Too Late To Stop Now, I let the stories dictate the length of their own telling. Where whoever I was talking to was more than capable of telling their own story—Chrissie Hynde on The Pretenders, John Cale on The Velvet Underground, Elvis Costello on being Elvis Costello, Lou Reed on Metal Machine Music, Sting on his own godlike genius—I was happy to allow them the conversational floor. I might add that I also wanted to write a book that was funny, that not only described some of the many outlandish circumstances I often found myself in, but also admitted to the sundry risible absurdities attached to even the people whose music otherwise inspired in me nothing but fannish devotion.
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Stuff You Gotta Watch
Stuff You Gotta Watch celebrates music journalism in video form. This week’s column is by Ana Leorne.
It's common sense that history, politics, and culture often intertwine, and the case with Latin music is no different. The desire to understand its origins and overall background is precisely the motivation behind The Latin Explosion: A New America, which comprises numerous informative sequences that regularly break the otherwise music-oriented narrative in order to signal crucial social movements or illuminating immigration patterns.
This fascinating HBO documentary traces the roots of Hispanic contributions to American music from early Afro-Cuban rhythms to contemporary superstars like Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, highlighting several turning points such as the 1961 premiere of West Side Story, Santana's crossover phenomenon, or the invaluable contribution of Fania Records to the dissemination of salsa. Adding to an astonishing amount of footage edited at a feverish pace are first-person testimonies from many inspirational pioneers, including Rita Moreno, Jose Feliciano, and Gloria Estefan.
Despite clocking in at just an hour, The Latin Explosion: A New America does an excellent job at explaining why so much pop music today flows from the myriad Latin sounds that came before.
Real Scenes
- Alphonse Pierre on Milwaukee rap
- Nadine Smith on baile funk
- Jude Noel on mutant disco
- Jonathan Rowe on Christian hip-hop
- Sadie Bell on dirtybag twee
My April 2020 Credit Card Bill Was Equally Puzzling
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Q&A: Samuel J. Fell
Samuel J. Fell is an Australian journalist, writer, and critic. He’s written for Rolling Stone, Sydney Morning Herald, Rhythms, and more. His new book is Full Coverage: A History Of Rock Journalism In Australia. In this excerpt from our interview, Samuel explains why he wrote the book.
Aside from America and England, Australia is the only country on the planet that has fostered a dedicated rock ‘n’ roll press for any meaningful length of time—in this instance, over fifty years. It began in the middle ‘60s with a “livewire newspaper” called Go-Set; really hit its straps in the ‘70s with ‘serious’ music mags like RAM, Juke, Roadrunner, and the local edition of Rolling Stone; evolved beyond measure with the street press which proliferated in the early ‘80s, eventually gathering serious steam; and now continues to evolve apace as the internet does whatever it is the internet does, along with social media etc.
Australia has always had a vigorous, robust, and unique music scene, all of which has been written about plenty in the past, but very little has been written on the press which covered it all, and which in itself has become a part of Australian popular culture. I thought it was time its story was told.
Trivia Time
What was the original name of the UK punk and activism fanzine Last Hours?
Five Things: The Penguin Book of Rock & Roll Writing
Published in 1992, The Penguin Book of Rock & Roll Writing provides a window into music journalism’s past. Featuring 80 texts, the anthology was edited by Clinton Heylin, who aimed to “provide the reader with an overview of the major shifts in rock music while at the same time representing the best writers who have worked in the field.” Here are five lines from various pieces that caught my eye.
Now that nostalgia’s a way of life, I’ve begun to remember how much I disliked all those old records. — Simon Firth “1973: A Year in Singles”
When his two-hour set ended I could only think, can anyone really be this good, can anyone say this much to me, can rock & roll speak with this kind of power and glory? And then I felt the sores on my thighs where I had been pounding my hands in time for the entire concert and I knew the answer was Yes. — Jon Landau, “I Saw Rock & Roll Future and its Name is Bruce Springsteen"
Sometimes it takes but one record — one cocksure magical statement — to cold cock all the crapola and all-purpose what chaff mix’n’match, to set the whole schemer straight and get the current state of play down, down, down, to stand or fall in one dignified granite-hard focus. — Nick Kent, “Marquee Moon”
After some trouble with visas with the American authorities, the Beatles received an H2 category, which was above H3 (trainees) but below H1, for ‘persons of distinguished merit and ability.’ Their work permits were valid ‘as long as unemployed American citizens capable of performing this work cannot be found.’ — Michael Braun, “America, America and Ed Sullivan”
What is this shit? — Greil Marcus, “Bob Dylan’s Self Portrait”
Bits, Bobs
- The Quietus celebrated its 15th birthday
- Billboard has launched a new edition in Brazil
- Lu Williams has a set-by-step guide for how to make a zine
- The Maryanne Amacher archive is now open for research
- Alex de Campi has tips for writers looking for part-time gigs [h/t Matthew Perpetua]
- Paul Hanford has launched a newsletter
- Sonia Weiser has compiled a spreadsheet of publications that require unpaid tests for applicants
Famous Novelists Are Great Accepters
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Q&A: Celia Almeida
Celia Almeida is a music, arts, and culture journalist. She’s the former culture editor at Miami New Times, and has been published in Billboard, Consequence, and more. In this excerpt from our interview, Celia explains how she organizes her freelance work.
My Notes app is organized chaos (or rather, chaotic organization). I write pitches there as soon as I think of them (yes, I have jumped out of the shower to do this). I’ll sometimes jot down stream-of-consciousness context or a rough outline so I don’t lose the thought when I eventually have time to sit down and write the piece. Once my pitches are accepted, I have a spreadsheet where I keep track of assignments, pay rates, deadlines, transcription costs, and invoice mail-out and paid dates.
Where do you see music journalism headed?
I’ve heard some skeptics say that music journalism is obsolete because audiences and artists can find each other via social media or curated playlists now. I disagree. Music fans are overwhelmed with the wealth of options out there, and they’re looking for some guidance and contextualization. Certainly, the era where reviews could make or break an artist is all but over, but there is still a desire out there for deeper dives into the art that makes our lives richer. Lighter fare such as listicles will be threatened by AI (this is unfortunate for younger writers as this is a good way to build early clips), and I think interest in hot-take clickbait is fading fast. I think the pendulum is swinging back to favor reported pieces, investigative music journalism, and informed opinion/contextual essays.
A Cause Worth Supporting
From Celia Almeida:
At a time of escalating environmental crises and war, people are being displaced from their homes around the world at numbers not seen in our lifetimes. I encourage people to support the work of the International Rescue Committee, which provides refugees access to healthcare and resettlement. Readers can donate via Rescue.org or volunteer with their local chapter.
Check out all of the causes highlighted by folks I’ve interviewed.
Academic Stuff
- New issues: Journal of Singing, Tempo, Music Education Research, Eighteenth-Century Music, Textes et contextes, Notes, and Journal of the Society for American Music
- Ethan Hein offers thoughts on teaching a course on music and artificial intelligence
- Call for Participation: 2024 String Band Summit [Proposals due October 1]
- Registration is open for Mediations of Music and Power in Online Music Cultures
- Call for Proposals: The 2023 Phil Ochs Fellowship [Applications due November 15]
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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A Friendly Reminder
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Trivia Time Answer
Last Hours was known previously as Rancid News.
Some Final Notes
Thanks for reading! And thanks to James Lamont for their Trivia Time question. 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...