Earlier this year, I interviewed The Quietus co-founder John Doran. Soon after, I emailed the website’s other co-founder, Luke Turner, to see if he’d be up for a chat too. In addition to being a driving force behind one of the most vibrant and genuinely exciting music websites in the world, Luke is a writer. His book Out of the Woods is a “memoir about the irresistible yet double-edged potency of the forest, and the possibility of learning to find peace in the grey areas of life.” He also freelances for a variety of music publications.

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

For better or worse I grew up as a devotee of the mid-to-late 90s British music press, going to the newsagents every Wednesday after school for the latest NME and Melody Maker, or to stand reading it off the shelves when I couldn’t afford to buy them. Even though music changed my life and saved me from small-town, lower middle class England, I don’t think I ever consciously wanted to be a music journalist until I went to university and quickly became disillusioned with studying literature—I felt that the critical theory that dominated the course sucked the joy from art, killing my love of reading. Writing about music, though, had no such restrictions on personal enthusiasm and creativity. I started writing for the student newspaper out of boredom but quickly realised that I loved it, and went on to be the music editor.

When I graduated I had hoped that experience would open doors, but journalism seemed like a closed shop unless you had rich parents who could afford to send you on work experience. My first job was doing data entry for a company owned by Jeremy Hunt, a gurning fool who later went on to be a senior UK Conservative politician and health secretary. It was a terrible time—cleaning the indescribable wrongness of the toilets at my all-boys state school had been a more rewarding job than working long hours spreadsheets for a pittance and I started writing about music again, largely out of frustration. I had very little confidence so I was just doing it for small websites, but I guess that’s where my writing started to improve. I was (and still am) terrified of pitching, and had one knock-back from a very respected editor that I can still remember by heart that absolutely flattened my confidence for a very long time—I have always made sure never ever to do something so toxic myself.

Greg Heller is a TV/podcast producer and music writer. He’s worked on Behind the Music, but perhaps his greatest claim to fame was a column in a local San Francisco newspaper. As Greg writes, “So divisive was that column, I not only got a legit death threat, but an SF club once held a night in my honor—‘Greg Fucking Heller Night’—complete with banners, t-shirts and a signature cocktail (the California Asshole).” That fearlessness has been a driving force in his career in music.

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

Like so many, I grew up obsessed with music, which drew me to read about it, which led me to write about it. Published my first record review in 4th grade—The Psychedelic Furs “Midnight to Midnight”—complete with self-styled rating system (“scoops” as in ice cream… gave the Furs 4 outta 5).

Way later, post-college, I left Los Angeles for San Francisco to start a band with some friends and secured dual internships at both Rolling Stone (in their tiny ad-sales office) and a now-defunct weekly called BAM (Bay Area Music). BAM gave me the local live beat—“Night Fever”—which I used to ritually eviscerate SF bands with no thought as to how this might impact me or my band (both were unpopular). So divisive was that column, I not only got a legit death threat, but an SF club once held a night in my honor—“Greg Fucking Heller Night”—complete with banners, t-shirts and a signature cocktail (the California Asshole). They dared me to show up… I did (still have the tee). Though disliked by thin-skinned scenesters, that column put me on the map, and soon enough I was writing for the SF Chronicle, Alternative Press, Magnet, Bikini, etc. Somewhat accidentally… I had a career.

Dr. Michael Beckerman is the Carroll and Milton Petrie Chair of Music, Collegiate Professor of Music, and head of the Department of Music at NYU. In short, he’s a big deal. He got his start, however, when he “chose to work on the arcane subject of Janáček’s theoretical works. Though I didn’t know it, I had started the process of ‘buying low and selling high.’” His excellent work on an emerging subject of interest led him from Columbia to Washington University in St. Louis, and then to UC Santa Barbara and NYU.

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

The real answer is: I don’t know. Luck mostly. I could say that Christoph Wolff’s decision to leave Columbia for Harvard made my career. But who knows? I came to Columbia to study Mozart and the Bach sons with Prof. Wolff. When he left, and cast to my own devices, I pursued work in the area of Czech music. It helped that I had worked in the old Record Hunter between college and grad school. I met the distributor for Supraphon Records who decided I was energetic and so made a deal with me: he would send me recordings for free each month and if I liked them, I could try to sell them to my customers. This was an amazing education, and I pored over recordings and scores by Stamitz, Fibich, Martinů, Mysliveček, and many, many others.

So, in effect, when I finally chose to work on the arcane subject of Janáček’s theoretical works, though I didn’t know it, I had started the process of “buying low and selling high.” Some of my professors told me that I would be wasting my time studying a composer who no one really knew. But it turned out to be the most wonderful thing. I lived in Czechoslovakia in 1978-79 and had the time of my life, going to concerts, playing music with lots of different people, listening to Czech folklore and studying at the Janáček Archive. And when opera companies started performing his works, people gave me credit for that. Silly people! I had nothing to do with it, but growing interest in the composer certainly helped my career!

Insider Extra: May 27

I’m Todd L. Burns, and I put together Music Journalism Insider, a newsletter about music journalism. The newsletter collects some of the best stuff I hear, read, and watch every week; highlights news about the industry; and features interviews with 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.

In this edition of Insider Extra: Reading recommendations, job listings, and more!

IYKYK

What It All Might Mean

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 Bill Frisell biographer Philip Watson, freelance journalist Allison Harris, The National enthusiast Ryan Pinkard, and female punk expert Jen B. Larson. Plus! Reading recommendations, a documentary about Brazilian rock, and more! But first…

Even This Dad Wouldn’t…

Brasília is a curious city. It was founded in 1960 with the direct purpose of serving as the capital of Brazil, with concrete-oriented architectural style courtesy of Oscar Niemeyer. Not exactly the type of place where you’d think rock ‘n’ roll would flourish. In the early 1980s, however, that’s exactly what happened when bands like Legião Urbana, Capital Inicial, and Plebe Rude emerged.

This documentary celebrating their rise has the overall feel of a family operation: Parents, friends, and neighbors of the featured musicians share their stories of how they ended up in Brasília and the role the futuristic city played in their lifestyle and sense of community. “The rock from Brasília is as important as Tropicália,” Capital Inicial’s frontman Dinho Ouro Preto once told Showbizz magazine in 1998. Interviewees like legendary singer Caetano Veloso agree.

Although the untimely disappearance of Legião Urbana’s Renato Russo in 1996 resulted in all his testimonies being taken from previously recorded footage, the documentary’s superb editing often makes you think otherwise. So, in a way, Rock Brasília also rings as a heartfelt homage to Russo, one of the scene’s central players. It’s a great watch, though, because it never ceases to underline the three key principles behind it all: passion, revolution, and connection.

Philip Watson is a prolific feature writer on a broad range of subjects for numerous UK and Irish newspapers and magazines, including GQ, where he was formerly deputy editor, and Esquire, where he was editor-at-large. As a music writer his work has appeared in the Sunday Times, Telegraph Magazine, Irish Times, Irish Examiner, and The Wire. His first book, the biography Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer: The Guitarist Who Changed the Sound of American Music, comes out in the US this week. (You can get it in the UK here.)

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

My journalism career began in earnest at the end of the 1980s, after I gained a distinction on the postgraduate journalism course at the University of Wales, Cardiff. Around that time I was mostly writing about music, particularly for The Wire—for a number of years I was “custodian” of the magazine’s blindfold test, titled “Invisible Jukebox”, interviewing musicians as varied as Paul Weller, Ali Farka Touré, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Jack Bruce and Leon Redbone.

In the 1990s and early 2000s I focused on writing, commissioning and editing more general-interest magazine features, for the British editions of GQ, where I held a number of positions, including deputy editor, and Esquire, where I was editor-at-large.

Allison Harris is a social media producer for NPR member station KCUR, a columnist at Ringtone Mag, and a freelance music journalist. Allison’s column at Ringtone focuses on fashion aesthetics in the world of internet music, and they have written extensively on how fashion and music intertwine.

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

I’ve always been an avid consumer of pop culture, and really grew into reading music journalism via obsessively checking Pitchfork scores while listening to music and not paying attention in high school. In college, I changed my major from Urban Planning to Communications, and began writing for my school paper. Then, through some connections on Twitter, I began writing for some blogs that cover niche internet music scenes, which would later become labeled (sometimes controversially) “hyperpop”. I felt I knew the most from this scene and was interested in the people creating music and coming together the same way I found out about the scene - through Twitter. I honed in on this scene, building a unique beat for myself, which I carved out in my writing for blogs like Bops and Flops, No Bells, and even my college paper when I could convince them my writing was relevant. Now, I am a social media producer for KCUR, Kansas City’s NPR member station, and freelance for websites like Ringtone Magazine, where I write a column about fashion aesthetics in the world of internet music, called Hautepop. In the coming year, I have a lot of ideas I’d like to flesh out about the connections between the worlds of music and fashion.

Did you have any mentors along the way? What did they teach you?

Ryan Pinkard is the author of a new 33 1/3 book on The National’s Boxer. The album turned 15 yesterday, so Ryan felt like it was an opportune time to reflect on its making. Ryan is a writer, editor, and record collector, with previous stints at TIDAL and TuneIn. He’s currently working on editing Bloomsbury’s new series on genres, which kicks off in October.

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

Long before I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up, I was always really into music. By the time I discovered indie rock in high school, it became my entire identity. Looking back, it was probably my near-religious habit of reading Rolling Stone and Pitchfork that planted the seeds for my future career writing about music.

While earning my Journalism degree at the University of Colorado, I completed multiple unpaid internships at various publications, but with print media imploding in front of my eyes, I had some reasonable doubts that I would ever find a real job as a journalist.

Jen B. Larson is a writer, musician, and teacher. She’s the author of the forthcoming book Hit Girls: Women of Punk in the USA, 1975-1983. Composed as a series of profiles, the book seeks to foreground women who have not received significant coverage of their contributions to punk music. It’s a much needed addition to a growing literature on this era of music.

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

I studied English literature, creative writing, and philosophy in undergrad because I wanted to be a writer. At the time, I thought it was the only thing I could do. Looking back, I should have studied graphic design or something; I was a terrible English major. Although I intended to be a professional writer during undergrad and for some time after, I could only get freelance work or jobs that didn’t pay me enough for it to be my only full-time job. I graduated in the middle of the late aughts recession. I worked retail, dog-walking, and service industry jobs to pay the bills. I was playing in punk bands and taking comedy writing classes at night, but I had no free time. I didn’t like the instability, the 50+ hour weeks, or what it was doing to my brain.

I wanted to do meaningful writing for a living, but the only work I was getting was low-paying and soul-sucking. I wanted life experience and expertise in a field, but, in terms of writing, I was only getting all these part-time jobs writing copy, usually on topics I didn’t know or even want to know that much about. Stuff like descriptions of laser hair removal services or bulk industrial storage bins or medical blood transfusion devices. I wrote a column about financial literacy for college students on Aol., but I wasn’t financially literate myself—I could barely save a hundred bucks a week. I did some SEO stuff early on. I would go to this office in a skyscraper downtown Chicago and sit in a room with ten other people. We would all work in Google spreadsheets with our headphones on, taxonomizing words. That felt particularly bleak. I was barely making enough to get by. It was wearing me thin, and by that point, I had no creative energy left for my own projects.

Insider Extra: May 20

I’m Todd L. Burns, and I put together Music Journalism Insider, a newsletter about music journalism. The newsletter collects some of the best stuff I hear, read, and watch every week; highlights news about the industry; and features interviews with 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.

In this edition of Insider Extra: Reading recommendations, job listings, and more!

Bingo

Jazz Monroe: Notes on Process [SPECIAL EDITION]

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: A new Notes On Process with Jazz Monroe.

Jazz Monroe: Notes on Process

Insider Extra: May 13

I’m Todd L. Burns, and I put together Music Journalism Insider, a newsletter about music journalism. The newsletter collects some of the best stuff I hear, read, and watch every week; highlights news about the industry; and features interviews with 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.

In this edition of Insider Extra: Reading recommendations, job listings, and more!

IYKYK

Squinting Really Hard

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 Houston rap historian Lance Scott Walker, dance music journalist Sophie Bress, and Chicago jazz and experimental music expert Paul Steinbeck. Plus! Reading recommendations, a documentary about London psychedelia, and more! But first…

The Official Reed Of Serious Jazz Musicians Everywhere

San Francisco may have had its Summer of Love, but London’s Alexandra Palace also witnessed a “gathering of the tribes” in spring 1967. Mixing music, art, and performance, its electrifying energy epitomized what the psychedelic underground was all about: the 14-Hour Technicolor Dream.

Forty years later, Stephen Gammond put together A Technicolor Dream in an attempt at making sense of that giant freeform happening. The documentary tells the story of the fascinating event, originally envisioned as a fund-raiser for underground paper International Times. It somehow evolved into a gigantic concert whose organic production seemed to be in tune with the overall vibe among both the audience and the performers. “I remember it was great to be young and good-looking and play music—and that’s about all I remember,” Soft Machine’s Kevin Ayers confesses.

Frequently marketed as a Pink Floyd documentary due to the band having received headline billing (and with an increasingly erratic Syd Barrett still part of the line-up), A Technicolor Dream is an exciting audiovisual testimony of the absolute peak of British psychedelia, documenting the event that marked the turning point between the utopian “before” and the tainted “after.” As the establishment began its inevitable appropriation of the movement, euphoria would soon begin to wither—and by 1969, as Barry Miles puts it so himself, “everybody had to crash and go to bed.”

Lance Scott Walker is one of the most foremost historians of Houston hip-hop. His latest book DJ Screw: A Life in Slow Revolution, which will quickly establish itself as the authoritative text on the wildly influential figure. The DJ Screw book follows his essential tome Houston Rap Tapes: An Oral History of Bayou City Hip-Hop. Lance often employs oral histories in his work, but this new book took on a slightly more experimental approach in how it’s organized. It’s one of the many interesting things he talks about in this interview.

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

My working background is in printing and graphic design, but to backtrack to where I started writing about music, it would be when I was a DJ at Rice University (KTRU) in the early ’90s. I didn’t go to school at Rice, but I was friendly with people at the radio station and knew enough about music to get myself in the door, so they gave me a shift where you start—in the small hours. One of the responsibilities of DJs there included reviewing new releases that came in, tagging them for profanities so we knew what we could and couldn’t play on the air, so I took my time at night going through the bins and wrote about as many records as I could, giving myself a musical education in the process. This was from ’93 to ’96. I did lots of writing during that time, even if I didn’t really think of it that way. To me it was just part of the world of music—playing in bands, designing flyers, booking shows.

I co-founded a record label (Ojet) in 1998 and a booking collective (Hands Up Houston) in 2000, and all that activity led to me being asked to write a piece for a site called Tranjka. I had never written an article before, but I took up the challenge and wrote an essay about digital music called “Napster Of Puppets.” I was working at a creative agency then, and at work I printed out the article, which got snatched off the printer by one of the content writers, who brought it to my desk and said, “Did you write this? You can write.” He wanted to get me away from design and into the content department, but before that happened I was laid off in the dot-com bubble.

Sophie Bress is a freelance journalist, writing about dance and music with a focus on social justice. In the past, she’s written about fitness, the outdoors, and much more. “With my work, I aim to place the art forms I cover in context with other events that are going on culturally,” she says. For more information on her and her work, you can refer to the bio on her website. For her work history, you can refer to herLinkedIn.

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

I was a dance major in college. For each of our dance technique classes, we had to see a performance and write a review of the show. During my sophomore year, after a particularly disappointing audition for our fall concert, I realized that I actually enjoyed the writing aspect of my dance classes more than the final exams—where we usually had to perform one-by-one in front of the class. After a tearful phone call with my best friend—who was studying journalism at the time—I picked up a journalism minor and I never really looked back.

I went on to earn my Master’s in arts journalism at the University of Southern California, where I was initially studying dance writing. At the time, however, I was deeply involved in the nightlife and festival scene in LA, and with some encouragement from my grad school friends, I wrote my first music article for the online magazine we put together while we were in school. After graduating in May 2020 into a locked-down world, I started writing for Dancing Astronaut, a dance music blog, and was able to get on board with Festival Insider—where I currently publish the majority of the music articles I write—just as they were starting out.

Paul Steinbeck is a musician, author, and professor at Washington University in St. Louis. He’s also the author of the new book Sound Experiments: The Music of the AACM, a study of the exceptional Chicago jazz and experimental music organization. As Paul puts it, “When I was in college at the University of Chicago, I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to become a musician or an academic. For a while, I prepared myself to pursue both careers, studying all day and practicing, rehearsing, and gigging every night. Eventually I discovered that my training as a performer and composer would help me conduct original research about the music I was most passionate about.”

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

When I was in college at the University of Chicago, I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to become a musician or an academic. For a while, I prepared myself to pursue both careers, studying all day and practicing, rehearsing, and gigging every night. Eventually I discovered that my training as a performer and composer would help me conduct original research about the music I was most passionate about. So I got a PhD at Columbia University, then started applying for academic jobs. After working at three different schools in four years, I was hired at Washington University in St. Louis, where I’ve taught since 2012.

Did you have any mentors along the way? What did they teach you?

Insider Extra: May 6

I’m Todd L. Burns, and I put together Music Journalism Insider, a newsletter about music journalism. The newsletter collects some of the best stuff I hear, read, and watch every week; highlights news about the industry; and features interviews with 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.

In this edition of Insider Extra: Reading recommendations, job listings, and more!

Hmm

An Old, Wise Fish

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 Jocelle Koh from Asian Pop Weekly, classical music journalist Esteban Meneses, and TikTokker Sonnybabie. Plus! Reading recommendations, a documentary about the theremin, and more! But first…

Disintegration Loops (2022)

Back in the 1920s, the very notion that music could be electronic was revolutionary. Enter Leon Theremin and his game-changing invention, which would not only enjoy an enduring presence in music for decades to come, but also inspire other musical devices such as Robert Moog’s first commercial synthesizer.

Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey tells a story that crosses borders, generations, approaches, and styles. Although it is certainly not the only instrument to achieve this transversality, the Theremin possesses a different, somewhat mystical, aura that comes from being played without any physical contact from the musician. In short, the result looks and sounds like magic.

Two stories are told in parallel: one is the gradual revolution brought about by the theremin in pop, classical, and contemporary music; the other is its creator’s complicated personal and professional life, which includes his forced work in a sharashka and cooperation with the KGB in the construction of espionage tools. Featuring theremin virtuoso Clara Rockmore, electronic music pioneer Robert Moog, Brian Wilson, Todd Rundgren, and many more, this fascinating documentary also includes what is among the last filmed footage of Leon Theremin himself.

Jocelle Koh is the founder of Asian Pop Weekly, and also works as Label Distribution Leader for Singapore/Malaysia at Believe Digital. But more generally, Jocelle likes to think of herself as a “gap bridger and music industry professional.” Asian Pop Weekly began in 2010, arising out of the utter lack of English language resources for music of its kind. Today, it’s one of the most successful Asian music websites of its kind.

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

I started my media platform Asian Pop Weekly in 2010 when I was in high school in Western Australia, Perth. The need arose because I was trying to get into Mandarin music at the time, but was getting frustrated with the lack of English-language resources available. I’ve always been interested in writing, so it was a natural progression for me to try to create the content myself, and improve my Mandarin in the process.

The next few years were spent trying to learn as much as I could about the Mandopop genre in particular, as I didn’t have a native speakers’ understanding of it. Little did I know that this would give rise to new perspectives on the genre, which were relatively few and far between at the time. After an exchange trip to Taiwan, I decided that I wanted to go all in and changed my university degree from Human Biology to Media and Communications in order to have a more formal education on journalism and media studies.

Esteban Meneses is a classical music journalist and critic who will be among the new fellows at this year’s Rubin Institute for Music Criticism. Esteban currently contributes to Classical Voice America and I Care if You Listen, among other publications.

You recently were announced as one of the fellows at the upcoming Rubin Institute for Music Criticism. Tell me a little bit about why you applied and what you’re hoping to get out of the experience.

Yes, it’s an exciting, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s an honor to be one of the 18 new fellows in the Institute—part music writing workshop, part contest, and an excellent learning opportunity. It’s taking place in mid-June at the new Bowes, Jr. Center for Performing Arts (San Francisco Conservatory of Music). I first found out about it by reading criticism, and about critics. What really drew me in was the panelists (including critics from the New York Times, the New Yorker, and the Washington Post), the animated discussion, and the hopefulness the program is instilling in the future of this field, despite the explicit acknowledgement that it’s hard to find paid work in it. (Some of the talks from the previous institutes are still available.) Some time ago I contacted the Institute about possibly getting involved, in some capacity—perhaps attending as member of the audience or just getting access to the content. I found out that for 2022 they were opening the application to non-students, so I jumped at the opportunity.

What I’m hoping to get is experience writing overnight reviews (the bulk of the program consists of reviewing performances by the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, and SFJAZZ). But more importantly, I’d like to form relationships that might result in this experience turning into sustained, and sustainable, work in the future, in whatever capacity is possible—not just for me, but for all the fellows, and potentially for other writers too. In previous years the Institute has established partnerships with several newspapers, most notably the Boston Globe, to fund music critic positions for select Rubin fellows. That is a very exciting prospect.

Sonnybabie is a TikTok music critic who primarily focuses on hip-hop. Each day, without fail, he puts together three videos that offer opinion and analysis on the state of the scene. In addition to his TikTok, Sonnybabie is also working on becoming an engineer / producer / mixer.

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

It was a very long journey. To keep it short and simplistic, I’ve always been a massive music head, but things really took off in middle school as my brother in law moved in and got me into music engineering and producing. He set up his own home studio and I’ve been hooked ever since. I also then started my own journey of becoming a music and audio engineer and built my own home studio. I currently have artists come over and record and produce, and I in turn, mix and master their music.

Growing up I always spent my time listening or watching music videos and consuming music journalism through various outlets and channels. So in high school I ran my own blog called theboard where I would interview and write articles about various artists. (Yung bans for example). But I hate writing and moved on from the project. After high school I moved to LA for some time where I was up close to the underground scene because I had a friend out there who would DJ and would get me backstage to various shows he would perform at. So I saw how it operated.

Insider Extra: April 29

I’m Todd L. Burns, and I put together Music Journalism Insider, a newsletter about music journalism. The newsletter collects some of the best stuff I hear, read, and watch every week; highlights news about the industry; and features interviews with 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.

In this edition of Insider Extra: Reading recommendations, job listings, and more!

Luckily, There Isn’t A Single Math Major Among Them

Unabashed Geeking Out

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 Afrobeats expert Christian Adofo, Canadian music aficionado Michael Barclay, and social media savant Todd Hoover. Plus! Reading recommendations, a documentary about Tower Records, and more! But first…

IYKYK

“In 1999, Tower Records had sales of over one billion dollars. Five years later, they filed for bankruptcy.” The opening lines of Colin Hanks’s documentary sets the tone for a chronological tale of the legendary record retailer that begins in 1941 at the drugstore of founder Russ Solomon’s dad. When they realized used records sold like hot cakes, they also began to sell new ones—and suddenly, they were in the record business.

A first store opened in 1960 in Sacramento, and—from then on—the story is inextricably linked to the history of pop music. Quickly spreading to strategic locations (San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City), Tower Records conquered the country, got big in Japan, and even launched a magazine, Pulse!, which was published monthly between 1983 and 2002.

Christian Adofo is a journalist, author, and cultural curator. He’s had bylines in The Guardian, Mixmag, and more. His latest project is A Quick Ting On Afrobeats, a book that “chronicles the social and cultural development of the eponymous music genre—tracing its rich history from the African continent all the way to the musical center of the Western world.”

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

So post university as I was in the abyss of No Plan’s Land, I found a great youth publication based in Brixton called Live Magazine. It was a great foundation and felt like a family with a lot of young creatives from London and across the UK who were really eager and equally professional at such a tender age in terms of pursuing a career and their first steps within the creative industries. I wrote my first cover on Rudimental there and also got my first national byline via a takeover we did of the Guardian’s Film & Music section (also note it was the last ever print edition I believe) where I wrote a feature on songs which remind Black British stars of their African heritage.

Can you please briefly describe the book?

Michael Barclay is a writer focused firmly on the Canadian music scene. He was a 2021-22 journalism fellow at the University of Toronto’s Massey College, and has worked for the CBC, Maclean’s, Exclaim!, Eye Weekly, The West End Phoenix, and freelanced for many more. His third book on Canadian music is Hearts on Fire: Six Years That Changed Canadian Music 2000-05, which details artists like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Peaches, Kid Koala, The Be Good Tanyas, The New Pornographers, and Arcade Fire.

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

In 1990 I walked into my university newspaper in Guelph (Ontario’s equivalent of Chapel Hill/Athens/Olympia), and said I wanted to write about music, which I then did every week. Became arts editor the next year. Started doing campus radio the year after that. Friends started an alt-weekly in university towns west of Toronto, where I was music editor but basically everything else as well (except sales and distribution). We were all dirt poor, all hands on deck, and staking our place in the world: it was exhausting and thrilling. Meanwhile I was also playing in a rock band that put out two records and toured Canada coast-to-coast (only once, but still…).

When that mag went under following a botched corporate takeover in 1999, two colleagues and I decided to write a book about the Canadian music of our youth, called Have Not Been the Same: The CanRock Renaissance 1985-95. It was about the Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo, Sloan, Rheostatics, Cowboy Junkies, NoMeansNo, Sarah McLachlan, Daniel Lanois, the Pursuit of Happiness, k.d. lang, Shadowy Men, etc., and came out in 2001. We staged a big release show in Toronto featuring Neko Case, Julie Doiron and others.

I’m Todd L. Burns, and welcome to Music Journalism Insider, a newsletter about music journalism. Click here to subscribe!

Todd Hoover is the self-described “CEO, PR representative, and coffee-fetching underling of Todd’s Top Tens.” Those top tens began life on Facebook, but have more recently found a home on Instagram and TikTok. Todd’s reviews have a distinctive style, always starting out with the line, “Listening to X’s album is like…” It provides a neat pathway into what Todd calls album descriptions. (“I honestly consider myself more of a historian than a journalist, per se.”)

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

I started writing album reviews in high school, and even got a few published in my home state’s most popular newspaper. This is part of what inspired me to pursue a bachelor’s degree in journalism; while attaining said degree, I kept writing and publishing album lists and reviews. Shortly after I graduated, I somehow settled on a job reporting on local news that had little, if anything, to do with music. Fast forward through several disillusionments, a master’s degree in worship and music ministry (long story for another time), and several career changes: I am completing my 10th year as a full-time music teacher.

Insider Extra: April 22

I’m Todd L. Burns, and I put together Music Journalism Insider, a newsletter about music journalism. The newsletter collects some of the best stuff I hear, read, and watch every week; highlights news about the industry; and features interviews with 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.

In this edition of Insider Extra: Reading recommendations, job listings, and more!

That’s… One Way To Keep Touring

Rob Tannenbaum: Notes on Process [SPECIAL EDITION]

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: A new Notes On Process with Rob Tannenbaum.

Rob Tannenbaum: Notes on Process

Insider Extra: April 15

I’m Todd L. Burns, and I put together Music Journalism Insider, a newsletter about music journalism. The newsletter collects some of the best stuff I hear, read, and watch every week; highlights news about the industry; and features interviews with 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.

In this edition of Insider Extra: Reading recommendations, job listings, and more!

Was… This… Up For Debate? Pt. 1

Appetite For Curiosity

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 Uproxx editor Carolyn Droke and Sing for Science podcast host Matt Whyte. Plus! Reading recommendations, a documentary about minimal techno, and more! But first…

So, Uh, That’s A No On Guestlist?

Speaking in Code is a classic tale. Boy meets girl. They get married. Girl and boy decide to make a documentary about the techno scene of the early 2000s. Boy spends most of his time trying to make techno happen in Boston while girl jets back and forth to Germany and Barcelona to film artists on Kompakt and BPitch Control. Boy and girl grow apart. They max out their credit cards. Boy becomes a subject in the documentary more than a producer. Everyone suffers burnout. And they all live ambiguously ever after.

Your mileage with Speaking in Code will vary depending on your interest in the relationship between filmmaker Amy Grill and David Day. The film is a slice of life in the purest sense, with zero history and little cultural context for the music, which is to say the whiteness is strong with this one. The film’s strengths lie in its glimpses into the communal living of the Wighnomy Brothers, the gear infatuation of Ableton Live creator Monolake, and journalist Philip Sherburne’s family history. Speaking in Code is a Polaroid of minimal techno, a time capsule of the years before festival EDM, and a caution sign for following your DIY dreams.

Carolyn Droke has been working full-time at Uproxx for a few years now. As she was graduating from college, she met a site editor at a music festival and “a few months later got hired as a weekend music blogger and have been at Uproxx ever since. Working a 9-5 on the weekends and holding down two jobs fresh out of college fueled my desire to work towards a full-time position.” Three years later, she’s the Assistant Editor at Indie Mixtape, Uproxx’s indie music vertical. In this excerpt from our interview, Carolyn describes how her approach to her work has changed.

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

As someone who grew up on a small island in the Pacific Northwest, I would listen to and obsess about music as a form of escapism. My dream had always been to work as a music journalist in some capacity, but the only publication I really knew about/had access to was Rolling Stone at the time. I went to college in Chicago and joined my school’s radio station as a DJ before getting hired as the station’s Music Director. Because I went to college in a city with countless shows and music festivals, I was able to get my start in music journalism by covering local shows and festivals. My school also committed to paying us a wage for our work, which is not common with other university radio stations, so I was able to have the resources to dedicate my time to reviewing albums and shows. I met a former Uproxx editor at a music festival I was attending and a few months later got hired as a weekend music blogger and have been at Uproxx ever since. Working a 9-5 on the weekends and holding down two jobs fresh out of college fueled my desire to work towards a full-time position. Three years later, I’m now the Assistant Editor at Indie Mixtape, Uproxx’s indie music vertical.

Did you have any mentors along the way? What did they teach you?

Matt Whyte is the host of Sing For Science, a science and music podcast produced with Talkhouse where musicians talk to scientists about their most famous songs. Matt says that his work with musician/activist Toshi Reagon was the catalyst for the project: “Through my exposure to her application of the transformational power of song and that of her godfather, Pete Seeger, I looked to how I could use music to help effect change. From there I set my sights on combating science denialism and began by writing songs celebrating the work of scientists (Sing For Science: Volume 1). The Sing For Science podcast turned out to be a natural outgrowth of the project’s activist beginnings.”

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

Starting out, I made a small but meaningful dent with my former band, Earl Greyhound—we recorded 2 albums and toured a fair amount in the late aughts. When that had run its course, I turned to composing and producing—I’ve contributed music for the last 3 Chris Smith Netflix documentaries—Jim and Andy, Fyre, and Tiger King. I continued to perform throughout this second chapter and had the good fortune to participate in a few events with musician/activist Toshi Reagon. Through my exposure to her application of the transformational power of song and that of her godfather, Pete Seeger, I looked to how I could use music to help effect change. From there I set my sights on combating science denialism and began by writing songs celebrating the work of scientists (Sing For Science: Volume 1). The Sing For Science podcast turned out to be a natural outgrowth of the project’s activist beginnings.

For those who aren’t familiar, please describe the podcast and talk a little bit about why you decided to start it.

Insider Extra: April 8

I’m Todd L. Burns, and I put together Music Journalism Insider, a newsletter about music journalism. The newsletter collects some of the best stuff I hear, read, and watch every week; highlights news about the industry; and features interviews with 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.

In this edition of Insider Extra: Reading recommendations, job listings, and more!

Worst Twitter Day Ever

Make Your Little Riot Happen

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 Jamaican scholar Larisa Kingston Mann; freelance journalist Vuyokazi Mtukela; and musicologist Emily Ruth Allen. Plus! Reading recommendations, DIY Portuguese music, and more! But first…

Yes

“Make your little riot happen and do it yourself” was the main motto of Bee Keeper, a Lisbon-based DIY label run by Elsa Pires and Luis Futre in the mid-’90s. It might have started as a “joke,” but in a landscape dominated by majors that left virtually no room (or money) for the alternative scene, Bee Keeper managed to cause a decent-sized stir in the underground of the Portuguese capital.

Fifteen years later, Bruno Simões decided to preserve the story of Bee Keeper and some of its bands for posterity through a series of short documentaries that detail the labor of love and dedication of Pires and Futre. Bite-sized and informative, the short films are a marvelous little time capsule of the indie ’90s in Portugal with the bands themselves at the center of the narrative. The inaugural episode is about Portuguese riot grrrl band Everground, an all-female quartet fronted by Suspiria Franklyn (later of Les Baton Rouge, Kiute Loss, and Suspicious), whose self-titled EP and Acid Candy cassette were among Bee Keeper’s first releases.

Review by Ana Leorne. Check out the full archive of the Stuff You Gotta Watch column.

Larisa Kingston Mann is Assistant Professor of Media Studies & Production at Temple University and is also known as DJ Ripley, performing as part of the Subversion_PHL. Larisa’s new book is Rude Citizenship: Jamaican Popular Music, Copyright, and the Reverberations of Colonial Power. As Larisa puts it, “finding the right publisher took a minute—you might call it an interdisciplinary book, which faces the same kind of challenges as does a multi-genre or genre-less artist when trying to find a label!”.

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

I’m the daughter of a poet/composer/musician/professor and an activist/organizer/professor so I suppose that set me up pretty well for my current professional life as a scholar/DJ/activist/organizer, but it seemed pretty circuitous as I was going through it!

Musically, I was in hardcore bands in high school in suburban Massachusetts, early in college got into the rave scene (gravitating to jungle pretty quickly) while also doing a bit of radio. After college I started DJing and organizing events with various collectives in the Boston area, then decided I wanted to go on to grad school and did a master’s at the London School of Economics. (I’d be lying if I didn’t say that the prospect of living in London in 1999 wasn’t also appealing as a DJ and music lover!)

Vuyokazi Mtukela is a freelance journalist who does a lot of related work on the side, including social media, events organising, and project management. This month, she’ll be joining JournoResources part-time. “It’s a great organisation looking to make the journalism industry more accessible,” she says. Vuyokazi has worked as an editorial assistant at HUCK, as well as participating in initiatives like the BIPOC Critics Lab.

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

My music education grew out of me spending evenings after school perched on my living room floor (still in my school uniform, mind you) looking up at this clunky silver television set that in retrospect should have been on the appropriate stand. Those box TVs and antennas are pretty much obsolete now and they rarely ever received signals consistently, but I remember what having that in our household meant. The access to another world it provided. I’d spend hours just gazing up, elbows sore from friction of the rug beneath me.

Back then of course, music videos used to play on a loop and it would be mostly in an order that, if you spent enough time watching and paying close attention, you could eventually predict what would come next on that particular channel/tele-radio station’s cycle. Weeks would go by like that and if an artist had a particular album charting, or a few artists even were releasing that month, the replay time on those records allowed you to spend enough time memorising lyrics, dances and deconstructing the individual eras of artists you enjoyed. So, it was a lot of consumption: Janet Jackson, Amerie, Aaliyah, Destiny’s Child, Eve and Missy Elliot videos were my lifeblood.

Emily Ruth Allen holds a doctorate from Florida State University and completed her Master of Music degree in Historical Musicology at FSU in April 2016. Prior to that, Emily received a Bachelor of Music degree with a concentration in Music with Elected Studies in Specific Outside Fields (mathematics) from the University of South Alabama. Emily’s master’s thesis is about a Florida-based klezmer ensemble called the Holocaust Survivor Band, while her dissertation focused on 19th- and 20th-century Carnival brass bands in Mobile, Alabama. She is currently preparing a book manuscript about parade musics in Mobile’s Mardi Gras history, and also serves as a podcast host on the New Books Network.

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

I started my journey to become a musicologist when I did a senior thesis as an undergraduate student at the University of South Alabama (USA). While doing research for it, I thought, “Wow! This is something I’d love to keep doing.” I hadn’t heard much about musicology before that, as there wasn’t a musicologist on faculty at USA. So, pursuing that thesis opened my eyes to the field.

That motivated me to pursue a master’s degree in musicology at Florida State University, where I learned about ethnomusicology for the first time. That was another “lightbulb” moment for me, as my research trajectory completely changed after learning about ethnomusicological methods and theories. Since then I have felt much more “at home” with those approaches.

Insider Extra: April 1

I’m Todd L. Burns, and I put together Music Journalism Insider, a newsletter about music journalism. The newsletter collects some of the best stuff I hear, read, and watch every week; highlights news about the industry; and features interviews with 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.

In this edition of Insider Extra: Reading recommendations, job listings, and more!

Need A TA?

Psychedelic Weirdos

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 Rolling Stone editor Christian Hoard; Elephant 6 historian Adam Clair; and Richmond music expert Doug Nunnally. Plus! Reading Rainbow on TikTok, Klaus Nomi, and more! But first…

There’s Really No Following That Up

When David Bowie performed “The Man Who Sold The World” on Saturday Night Live in 1979, many were hypnotized by a bizarre mise-en-scène that consisted of Bowie, dressed in a plastic tuxedo, transported down the stage by two robotic cabaret-like backup singers. One of these singers was New York-via-Berlin countertenor Klaus Nomi, who had been introduced to Bowie at the Mudd Club—one of many places where Nomi performed his operatic, vaudeville-like covers of pop classics and originals.

The story of Klaus Nomi is a tragic one, not only due to the lack of visibility customary for those ahead of their time, but also for having his career cut short due to his death at the age of 39, of AIDS-related complications. His legacy, however, would extend beyond the East Village art world, inspiring musicians such as Soft Cell’s Marc Almond and Ernesto Tomasini.

Andrew Horn’s The Nomi Song, which the director describes as “part documentary, part music film, part sci-fi,” is greatly responsible for Nomi’s posthumous recognition. Gathering interviews, live footage, and other seemingly unrelated visual references, the 2004 film is a fitting portrait of an artist who left an indelible mark on the early ’80s New Wave/punk scene.

Christian Hoard is music editor at Rolling Stone. He’s been involved with the magazine in one way or another for nearly two decades now, and overseeing the music department for the last five. He got his start writing about music at his college newspaper, the Michigan Daily, and then went from an internship at The Village Voice to writing at Rolling Stone. As he puts it, “for the son of a truck driver from Michigan, all of this has been pretty exciting.”

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

I was an English major loosely planning to become an academic or a lawyer. But I also wanted to write. Late in college, 1999 I think, I started reviewing records and doing interviews for the school paper, the Michigan Daily. By that point I was a pretty obsessive music fan; I spent a lot of time and what disposable income I had at Ann Arbor’s many used record stores. Around then I started reading a lot of rock criticism, first to figure out what I should listen to and then because it was eye-opening to see people do it so well. Robert Christgau’s Consumer Guides were very influential, as were Greil Marcus’s books. Rob Sheffield in Rolling Stone, Greg Tate, Ann Powers, Ellen Willis: all big for me. I read everything in the Village Voice’s music section back then.

Not quite knowing what to do after college, I did in fact apply to law schools and grad programs, and eventually decided to go to grad school at Columbia for ethnomusicology, which was partly an excuse to move to New York and see if I could write. Before leaving Michigan I applied to an internship at the Voice, and a few weeks after 9/11, Chuck Eddy, who was then the music editor, called to offer me the gig. It was a lively, old-school place; they had a smoking lounge. Christgau, Michael Musto, Richard Goldstein, and J. Hoberman were around. Nat Hentoff was friendly and had a cluttered office. They let me write record reviews even though I didn’t quite know what I was doing.

Adam Clair is the author of the new book Endless Endless: A Lo-Fi History of the Elephant 6 Mystery, which shines a light on the beloved Athens, Georgia, label associated with bands like Neutral Milk Hotel, The Apples in Stereo, and Olivia Tremor Control. As Adam explains in the interview, it’s anything but a straightforward history.

Can you please briefly describe the book?

The book is about the Elephant 6 Recording Company, a music collective that formed in the early ‘90s and eventually amassed a cult following and massive cultural significance. The most notable work the collective produced came from one of its founders, Jeff Mangum, and his band, Neutral Milk Hotel, whose 1998 album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is one of the most beloved and influential indie rock records ever made. What’s especially captivating to people about Jeff is that after releasing that record and touring on it, when it was showing up toward the top of lots of year-end rankings and A&R people from major labels began sniffing around, Jeff dropped out. He stopped performing. He stopped releasing music. He stopped doing interviews. He didn’t even tell his bandmates why he was stopping, or even that he was stopping. Within a year or two, his bandmates all had new bands, and it was growing clear that something was up, though nobody could say what or why.

Since then, that mystery has burned, with Jeff offering no corrections to the growing rumors and myths, and his own friends and collaborators just as confused by his absence. My book answers the questions about his disappearance conclusively. But mystique is a big reason for the passionate following that Jeff and his Elephant 6 colleagues cultivated, so while I think I solved a few mysteries, I also tried to provoke at least as many questions as I answered.

Doug Nunnally is a journalist based in Richmond, Virginia. He’s the founder of The Auricular, a publication that seeks to cover anything and everything having to do with the city’s music scene. Earlier this year, he also brought local folks together to launch the Newlin Music Prize, an award given to Richmond’s best album of the year.

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

Originally, my life goal was to become a music teacher, hopefully in middle or high school. I did band all through school and tried to do a new instrument or two every semester for the various groups and classes. Band geek was a distinction of honor for me back then. Maybe it still is. I don’t know. I was never particularly talented, but I worked hard at it and felt connected to it. Sometime towards the end of high school though, I began to write some columns and reviews… not about music, but professional wrestling. Completely by happenstance. Just saw a job posting for columnists on a website I frequented and took a chance. It worked somehow. I could post up to 5 or 6 columns a month if I wanted so I got to work. Match ratings, opinions on how the quality of various shows and events were, random musings. It was rough work, very unrefined and aimless, but it hooked me. I was writing as much as I could, even branching out by doing interviews and starting a “podcast” or whatever they were called in 2004.

Pretty soon, writing became a passion of mine and I tried to double major in college in music education and journalism. Neither panned out and music education, in that sense, faded away. But writing stuck around. I started my own site, collaborated with a ton of other writers, got to work on a lot of cool projects, interviewed and made connections with some people who would make a big impact 5, 10, 15 years later, ended up on MSNBC randomly, and just kept looking for more to do. Pay was miniscule, but I was having a blast and felt myself getting better with each article and project. By mid-2007, I began to get burnt out. I had taken on too much, the pay wasn’t improving, and a lot of unfortunate things had occurred in the pro wrestling scene. My interest plummeted and I wrote very sparingly over the next two years without a “scene” to cover. But the itch to write was still there as strong as ever.

Insider Extra: March 25

I’m Todd L. Burns, and I put together Music Journalism Insider, a newsletter about music journalism. The newsletter collects some of the best stuff I hear, read, and watch every week; highlights news about the industry; and features interviews with 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.

In this edition of Insider Extra: Reading recommendations, job listings, and more!

Yep