Wednesday, December 31, 2003
Last quote of the year, unearthed from a 1986 Voice book review by Robert Christgau of Steven Hager's Hip Hop, Nelson George, Sally Banes, etc. Fresh, and David Toop's Rap Attack. (This one is not on his website.) Again, from 1986...!
"...to fuss about the exploitation of hip hop is quite often to take sides against the hip hoppers themselves--even though in the end that exploitation is certain to prove a juggernaut that the hip hoppers (and even the exploiters) can't control. To counsel purity isn't impermissible, but it's certainly complicated, with ramifications that stretch far beyond the scope of this review, or indeed of any piece of writing of any length on any similar subject that has ever come to my attention."
That, friends, 18 years down the line, remains what the lit-critters like to call a "rupture in the text", what b-boys and b-girls call "the break", what salseros call "montuno", and what we hip-hop journalists have to recognize as the central recurring theme/paradox of our day-jobs (uh, such as they are and allthat)...
Happy New Year yall.
posted by Zentronix @ 12:57 PM
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
STICK A BUSH
Hey it's almost 2004. Time for some action. So I've revamped the left bar, with all new hotlinks for activism.
Two that I really want to highlight--and will keep coming back to in the oh-quad--are the League of Independent Voters, a project launched by Billy Upski Wimsatt of Bomb The Suburbs and No More Prisons fame, and the National Hip Hop Political Convention, spearheaded by a number of leading hip-hop activists.
Both are grass-roots efforts to get the hip-hop generation up into it and involved in the 2004 elections and beyond. Check them out and see you all on the frontlines next year...
posted by Zentronix @ 7:13 AM
John Nichols on Joe Strummer. Has Strummer become the punk Dylan? Guess I'm not really mad at that.
posted by Zentronix @ 6:14 AM
Monday, December 29, 2003
SMELLS LIKE A READING LIST, L-Z
Below, the long-promised, unduly withheld, non-canonical, strictly zentronix-style list of stuff I've read and dug, L-Z.
Here's the reading list A-K, just scroll past the old Da Capo rant (argh).
McDonnell, Evelyn and Powers, Ann, ed. Rock She Wrote
Of all the so-called "Best of" anthologies, this one rings the truest. McDonnell and Powers began their project in the Bay Area while they were still working for the pre-New Times version of the SF Weekly as a labor of love. Nearly 70 women get their writing on from the early 70s to the early 90s. Endlessly enjoyable.
Morales, Ed. The Latin Beat
Brand new book by longtime Voice contributor that smartly examines the influence of Latin music on American and global pop. If you dig this, you should also hunt down the groundbreaking study by John Storm Roberts, The Latin Tinge.
Marcus, Greil. Lipstick Traces
When the other most influential critic alive painted his masterpiece, it read like this. His Mystery Train and Invisible Republic are also often great, but his obsessions with Dylan and Elvis often seem to demand parody. This one, though, is such a cult classic, it became an Off-Broadway play.
Palmer, Robert. Deep Blues
Never mind Martin Scorsese. This is the one you want. One of the all-time best.
Reynolds, Simon. Generation Ecstasy
A critic who tirelessly classifies and names the entropic genre proliferation of electronic music like a fizzy botanist somehow also manages to be one of the most provocative. This book has set off a million arguments, but the prose is pure blissed out fandom. Great discography. His blog is here.
Savage, Jonathan. England’s Dreaming
An epic history of the emergence of British punk that spans the personal and the political, covering all the perspectives—from fan in the crowd to fly on the wall to philosopher in dog collar. Nearly 600 pages, but so edifying, you’ll still want more.
Shapiro, Peter, ed. Modulations
Anthology largely including folks from The Wire—writers like Shapiro, Rob Young, Simon Reynolds, Mike Rubin, David Toop, Kurt Reighley, and Kodwo Eshun—that present an overview of electronic music from Stockhausen to Autechre. Nice to look at too.
Tate, Greg. Flyboy In The Buttermilk
A collection of groundbreaking, iconoclastic essays mostly from the Village Voice during its late 80s-early 90s peak. Includes definitive essays on Public Enemy, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Miles Davis, as well as eye-openers on William Gibson, Don DeLillo, and Rammellzee. I’ll get in trouble for saying this but to me he’s way better than Bangs. Certainly has been to hip-hop journalism what Bangs was to rock journalism.
Toop, David. The Rap Attack
The other book in the Old Testament of hip-hop journalism. Unlike Exotica and Ocean of Sound, it’s concrete, musicological, and incisive. The first editions’ essay format is vastly superior to the later versions’ chronological catch-up, but that’s just me quibbling. The discographies have set off many a digger’s journey.
Tosches, Nick. Unsung Heroes of Rock’n’Roll
Only covers 1945 to 1955, and only chooses to focus on the bizarre, weird, and fabulous. One of The Wire editor Peter Shapiro’s favorite books, "for largely inventing wise-ass music journalism".
Wang, Oliver, ed. Classic Material
Another brand new book. Attempts to create a canon of hip-hop records with some of the hottest young hip-hop journalists (and warmed-over post-young me). Kinda like Stranded for the hip-hop era, but much better, IMHO! All shameless plugs aside, raises the interesting question of what hip-hop journalism needs to conquer next, now that it's begun to canonize its music (and next year with Raquel Cepeda's book, canonize itself). How does hip-hop journalism recover its progressive spirit when it's entering its downward arc?
Vibe Hip Hop Divas
Much much better than the title suggests. Edited by Rob Kenner, it’s largely a collection of definitive stories that originally appeared in the magazine. But also includes a timeline, boxes on emerging artists, and Cristina Veran’s indispensable essay on the female old-school pioneers.
The Vibe History of Hip Hop
As history it tastes great, but is ultimately less filling. As a collection of the best hip-hop journalists writing at the top of their game, though, it’s incomparable. Danyel Smith's intro and Ben Higa's early LA rap essay are my favorites, though Sacha Jenkins, Rob Marriott, and Chairman Mao and many others rep lovely as well. Unfortunately, most of these folks probably won’t be appearing in "Da Capo’s Best Music Writing [Year X]" anytime soon.
posted by Zentronix @ 10:59 AM
FYI...here's a story in the Chronicle about the transformation of the Vietnamese American community in San Jose over a police shooting of an immigrant woman.
posted by Zentronix @ 10:44 AM
Sunday, December 28, 2003
IT'S ON THE WAY, I PROMISE!
Steve Oney's pain is your pleasure: 17 Reasons Why It Took Me 17 Years To Write My Book. Best wishes for 2004, yall.
posted by Zentronix @ 3:29 PM
WOW, COMPLAINING WORKS
The virtues of Internet time. A month ago I was a ranter, now I'm officially in da club. I've won the quickest sell-out sweepstakes. What am I blathering about?
Here's the email address to send your nominations for Da Capo's best music writing of 2004: bestmusicwriting04@yahoo.com
You can send as links, Word or Acrobat Reader documents. Step up and rep dunnie. We'll see what we get 12 months from now.
BTW here's Jason Gross's Favourite Scribings for 2003. Again, leans a little rockist and mainstream (no Murder Dog or Wax Poe nominees), but you don't have to.
My final, done-on-ample-sleep, carefully considered, vetted, and lovingly edited but no less artery-busting rant will be out in the SF Bay Guardian soon come. Thank you SFJ for talking sense into a mad cow.
The NY Times critics best of 2003 lists hit today, and there's also an entertaining convo on the music that sucked. Altho LB wasn't listed--a big stunna, but I guess that's just me and my navel prolly--the lists were worldly (as they usually are) and K even repped the diggers with a shout tothe Hollertronix mix cd.
BTW always feel free to holla if you're an alienated (or even comfortably adjusted) working music journalist writing about non-rock, non-hip-hop, non-electronic genres, you know, bhangra, salsa, merengue, African, Latin, Arab, Cantopop, etc. Let's make the link...
Undying Underdog Love to Cal and Hawai'i ballers for making me money this past week. (Timmy) Chang Power in 2004!
posted by Zentronix @ 1:02 PM
Monday, December 15, 2003
CAN WE SEND STEVE SCHOTT TO BALTIMORE INSTEAD?
There is no joy in Miggy-ville tonight. We don't need Foulke and Lilly. We'll miss T Long and Ramon. Good riddance to Jason and Johnny. But you'll never be not be an A, Miggy. Awwwww fuck.
posted by Zentronix @ 8:14 PM
A LITTLE FRESH AIR, A LITTLE INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL
Like Saddam, I spent most of my year in a hole in the ground. But you still get music down there. Here's a first stab at fave tracks of the year. Not ranked, because I'm egalitarian.
Antibalas-"Che Che Cole"
Beenie Man-"Row Like A Boat"
Beyonce-"Crazy In Love"
Beyonce and Mary J. Blige vs. 50 Cent-"In Da Club" Mp3 remix
DJ Frane-"In The Garden"
Elephant Man-"Pon Di River Pon Di Bank"
Elephant Man-"The Genie Dance"
Jay Z-"Dirt Off Your Shoulder"
Kelis-"Milkshake"
Alicia Keys-"You Don't Know My Name"
Alicia Keys with Rakim and Nas-"Streets of New York"
Lil Jon-"Get Low (Merengue Mix)"
Lil Kim-"The Jump Off"
Lifesavas-"What If It's True"
Ludacris-"Stand Up"
Lyrics Born-"Calling Out"
Lyrics Born-"Do That There"
Missy-"Pass That Dutch"
Outkast-"Prototype"
Vybz Kartel-"Sweet To The Belly"
Worst song of the year I still have to listen to everyday: Lumidee-"Uh Oh". I object to this because the loop of Diwali cares nothing for dynamics, Lumidee is mad pitchy (can't afford a vocal synthesizer?), and she says Puerto Ricans invented the riddim. In Brooklyn, those are fighting words. Just like America it sucks but I love it.
posted by Zentronix @ 3:00 PM
Saturday, December 13, 2003
THE MODIFIER IS BOGLE! IT'S BOGLE, I SAY!
Shameless self-aggrandizement part 47. Here's the first meaty beaty big and bouncy review I've done in months. It's on Missy in the Village Voice. More lunacy-pure lunacy-a soon come. And I guess early 90s JA dances named after Caribbean revolutionaries aren't listed in the dictionary. People, that has to change.
posted by Zentronix @ 11:05 PM
Friday, December 12, 2003
Check Eric K. Arnold on Zino and Em.
posted by Zentronix @ 4:01 PM
ON STRIKE!
Thousands of Latinos are expected to strike in California today, refraining from showing up at their workplaces and schools and patronizing businesses, to protest Governator's attempt to repeal the law granting driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. As Schwarzenegger backs down from his campaign pledges--including one to preserve school funding--it's becoming clear that this was the one promise he meant to kept--an example of Pete Wilson-style race-baiting that is likely to continue. The strike comes on the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint.
posted by Zentronix @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, December 11, 2003
BARNSTORMING
Fine exhibit of post-graf art at Future Primitive Sound.
David(Skwerm) Ellis does massive b+w undulating loops that twist in and out of themselves, kinda like severely warped vinyl. They take on an internal motion and flow. Kenji Hirata also works on a large scale, creating space worms that float into and out of inner space, halfway between Miyazaki and Moebius, and solidity and dissolution.
Doze, wel, Doze is a gotdamn genius. There are lots of sketchbook miniatures here, a few stretched canvases, lots of his signature sentinel enigmas. One of the most interesting pieces was a big Franz Kline-styled canvas centered on a set of black brush strokes...and it makes perfect sense. I always understood Kline as graffiti--a loud, resounding NO. Doze, like all the rest of the best artists of our generation, works like a relational machine and plays mischief with history. Hiphopcentrism.
This exhibit also includes the Edo salon across the street, it's up until February, and it's an absolute must-see.
posted by Zentronix @ 11:59 PM
THE MORNING AFTER THE MORNING AFTER
I was on deadline yesterday, so by now everyone knows that the SF election was the most exciting in years, and that Dem favorite Gavin Newsom won. But both sides are declaring victory. The Dems get a 36 year-old glamour-boy (Clinton II, anyone) with a foxy wife in a key city for the fight against Bush next year, and the progressives get the moral victory of an expanded power base. Newsom most likely will have to deal closely with the left in the years to come. The left needs to remain mobilized because many of their supe seats come up soon, and that may play to their advantage in the next year. Props finally to Kamala Harris, the first African American to become DA. She's a progressive. Where she'll stand in the ongoing police scandals remains to be seen.
Exit polls show interesting results:
*70+% of under-35 voters went to Gonzalez.
*Black turnout was low.
*Asian/Pacific Islander voting split between the conservative westside and the progressive inner-city.
I didn't see any word regarding Latinos, but it's probably safe to say looking at the district data that Latinos went to Gonzalez.
posted by Zentronix @ 8:07 AM
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
NIK COHN'S BIO--EXTENDED VERSION
If anyone still cares, here is a sidebar article to a great New York Times story by Charlie LeDuff called "Saturday Night Fever: The Life", a story about regulars at the disco in Bay Ridge that used to be called the Space Odyssey 2001, that served as Nik Cohn's muse. The article is from June 9, 1996. Reading it back now, it's more sad than anything else. Except that dude is impossibly rich.
"Magazine Writer Says He Made It All Up
The movie "Saturday Night Fever" was based on an article published in New York magazine on June 7, 1976, almost exactly 20 years ago. That article, "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night," chronicled the life and times of Vincent, "the very best dancer in Bay Ridge -- the Ultimate Face." Hollywood appropriated the name, Tony Manero, from a real Brooklynite, but the character lives only on film. Vincent, however, was supposedly real-life flesh and blood.
So what happened to Vincent? He would be 38 this year, a full generation later. He would have grown into manhood; he may have married and had children. That is, if Vincent had ever existed. The places and the scenery were real but, the writer of the article now says Vincent was a figment of his imagination.
"He is completely made-up, a total fabrication," Nik Cohn said by telephone from his Long Island home.
In a follow-up article printed in The Guardian two years ago, Mr. Cohn said he based his piece on a young man he knew in England. "My story was a fraud," he wrote. "I'd only recently arrived in New York. Far from being steeped in Brooklyn street life, I hardly knew the place. As for Vincent, my story's hero, he was largely inspired by a Shepherd's Bush mod whom I'd known in the Sixties, a one-time king of Goldhawk Road."
Mr. Cohn wrote in The Guardian that he began to feel guilty about the falsity. "Spurred in part by retroactive conscience, I began to put in hard time in Brooklyn, steeping myself in Bay Ridge lore. Gradually, my invention became real to me; my hero came to life. In my imagination, I kept a detailed log of his progress, tracking him as he changed jobs, moved away from home, grew out of disco, left the neighborhood and then returned. I noted his marriage, the birth of his two daughters; watched him pick up a gambling problem; saw him slither toward middle age."
The pressure to produce the original piece was great, he says. Mr. Cohn was brought over from England, where he was a renown pop-writer, to find a splashy dance story for New York magazine, known for it's interpretive, in-the-subject's-head style of the so-called "New Journalism."
A 1971 New York magazine article by Gail Sheehy rattled the planks of New Journalism when it was discovered that a prostitute named "Redpants" was a composite character. Clay Felker, editor of the magazine at the time, said he removed an explanatory paragraph from the piece because "it got in the way of the flow," a decision he later said was a mistake.
In the "Saturday Night" piece, which appeared five years later, drawings were used rather than photos, and the story carried the disclaimer: "Everything described in this article is factual and was either witnessed by me or told to me directly by the people involved. Only the names of the main characters have been changed."
Mr. Felker last week declined to comment on Mr. Cohn's statements.
The artist James McMullan, who painted the drawings from photographs, said he was never allowed to meet Vincent. "Nik would shuttle people into another room to interview them," Mr. McMullan said. "People mistakenly believed that the picture of the handsome kid was Vinnie. It was not."
When the movie was released in 1977, a half-dozen people claimed that the Tony Manero character was based on their lives, Mr. Cohn said. Asked if the millions of dollars that someone might have been entitled to may have influenced his claim that his character was fictitious, Mr. Cohn said: "Absolutely not. Nobody got a dime."
Mr. Cohn continued to write for New York magazine. In 1983, he was indicted on drug trafficing and conspiracy counts for the importation of $4 million worth of Indian heroin. He later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for his testimony. He was fined $5,000 and given five years probation."
posted by Zentronix @ 1:41 PM
Today's the big day in San Francisco--we'll find out if the youth wave breaks left or right and pushes Matt Gonzalez or Gavin Newsom into office. For analysis, check John Nichols on why Clinton supports Newsom and why Gonzalez is important to the Dems' future.
Most importantly, get out and vote yall...
posted by Zentronix @ 7:47 AM
Monday, December 08, 2003
WRITING A BOOK, PART 1
OK, now I'm realizing I've been holding out on yall w/regards to the book-writing thing. So let me go there, and do this shit. It'll be kinda be like therapy for me and maybe it'll help a lot of yall to get your own asses in gear.
Diversion: I'll admit straight up that I have pretty strong opinions about this (e.g. this Da Capo-foot-in-my-mouth-but-still-happily-bird-flipping-cuz-what's-more-hip-hop-than-talking-shit episode). The idea of representing is still like religion to me. Most of what's getting out there on hip-hop in book form (and in canonized form) is still crap and written by non-hip-hop-gen heads. (That's changing, but this is another post for another time.)
My thing is that the faster we can all get our shit out there, the happier I am in general. Then we get to a different set of problems, but at this point, we won't be there until early 2005.
Back to the plotline.
First the basics on the book:
It's called Can't Stop Won't Stop (duh) A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. "A" being the most active word in the title.
It traces the emergence of the hip-hop generation from roughly 1968 (and before that, in the Bronx) to 2000-2001. The book wasn't meant to be a strictly music book. I wanted to write about graf and b-boying and DJing and activism and geography and the War on Youth and Public Enemy and Jesse Jackson and the Nation and etc. etc.
Main thing is I figured I couldn't really write about C. Delores Tucker without writing about gang peace treaties, and vice versa, couldn't talk about Herc without talking about Marley and couldn't talk about Marley without talking about cultural capitalism and globalization and couldn't talk about globalization without talking about localism.
That's kinda the way my head is wired. Undisciplined, as the academics might say. And maybe the whole thing is a little loose. Hopefully Monique, my editor, will let me know soon.
Anyway, so the book opens from hip-hop and moves through culture and politics and all kinds of stuff as a way of getting a handle on who we be. But instead of doing it academic-style (read: unreadable), I wanted to make it accessible. I settled on writing it in a twisted narrative nonfiction format.
I took a lot of inspiration from Brian Cross, whose whole idea for It's Not About A Salary was basically: Fuck all these folks who want to come in and speak for hip-hop headz, they can do it themselves. I think that's the same motivation behind Yes Yes Y'all.
But at the same time, with oral histories you often lose the context. You get wrapped up in the details of the stories and sometimes gloss over the Big Themes and glide past the Big Questions.
I love Bakari's book--and here's why--but I'm more a history nerd these days so I wanted to go left in a different way. Plus my homies wouldn't read it if it were a series of Jeff rants. And bottom line, hip-hop history is gotdamn interesting!
There are so many twists and turns and ironies and tragedies and victories and drama that I often wonder why there aren't more hip-hop history nerds. If you read the books that are out there on hip-hop, they all reference the same two books for hip-hop history--Toop and Hager. Those books have deservedly become the Old Testament of hip-hop history, but for anyone who's actually done a little bit of work--ask Fabel or Jay Smooth or Cheryl Aldave or Reggie Dennis, the list goes on--there's a helluva lot of ground that hasn't been covered by those two books. Again another rant for another time.
So in the end, I kinda took a Lorax approach. Collect the stories and put together a roughly chronological narrative that has an arc and a purpose. And down with the Once-lers!
OK so what was I trying to do in this post? Oh yeah, I was gonna talk about how this all began.
So it was the end of 1997, we had this big SoleSides pow-wow up in Lake Tahoe. Lateef's mom had a cabin that we could rent and we were s'posed to be talking about how to blow the shit up more in 98. Truth was, we were all dead broke and exhausted, for a lot of ironic and tragic reasons I don't need to get into, and maybe no one more than I.
It was kind of symbolic. Everyone was already there the day I drove up to Tahoe in my tiny little Honda Civic, right into the worst blizzard of the season. I fucked up in trying to put the chains on myself and tore up the outside of the car and got soaked in the snow. It's bumper to bumper at the summit and I've been driving 8 hours, I'm freezing and tired and I rear-end a pickup. By the time I got to the cabin, the front hood was about three feet high and rising (Honda bumpers are literally made of fucking styrofoam), the anti-freeze had completely leaked out, and I was froze to the bone.
That night, after a long hot shower and dinner, we sat down for a meeting. They said that they had come up earlier, talked it out, and decided to shut down the label. I was shocked. But it made perfect sense. In fact, ending SoleSides liberated me. I mean, I sucked as a label manager. My only experience to qualify me as a indie label manager was that I had led a bunch of protests at Berkeley during the 80s, knew community organizing theory, and been a college radio DJ for about 7 years. That was all good until the late 90s, when hip-hop got to be big biz. I had definitely reached the outer limits of my abilities. If I had any talent, it was in writing and shit. And I hadn't begun to explore the outer limits of my abilities there no way.
So a couple days later, I got a tow truck to take my car back to the Bay and sat in the cab and on the long ride back I thought about the whole SoleSides experience and everything. The only logical conclusion was go for what I knew, to ease myself back into writing, and to imagine something bigger than I'd ever done. The book came out of that.
The thing that I realized in writing the book--especially the last 5 months of putting together the first draft--is that every morning I was standing at the outer limits of my abilities. It was like I was outside the comfort zone as soon as I fired up the computer. That was exactly where I wanted to be, but it was also the scariest thing in the world.
Now I realize that lots of people will think the book sucks, probably including some whose opinion really matters to me, but I'm pretty content knowing that there wasn't much more I could do at this point in my life. So if I'm destined to be the Matt Doherty of hip-hop books, it's all good.
Right now Monique is going through 700 freaking pages. I don't envy her. But I await her machete cuts with no worries at all. It is what it is. My car is intact. I can pay for diapers and mortgage. Praise Herc and Bam and hip-hop.
OK, back to the deadlines. More down the line when I feel like it...
posted by Zentronix @ 8:29 AM
Saturday, December 06, 2003
Damn. That panel was FI-YAH! Thanks to everyone who came out, all the folks who took the class, and to all the panelists. Most of all thanks to Media Alliance and Kristina Rizga for putting this all together. The bad news is that I don't have any time to transcribe the hotness (if anyone wants to, I'm down to talk). The good news is that it came off so nice we're talking about doing a longer class in the late spring.
posted by Zentronix @ 9:15 PM
Friday, December 05, 2003
Sam Chennault and Oliver Wang are having a really interesting glass-half-full/half-empty discussion about the state of music journalism inspired this Miami Herald article by Evelyn McDonnell of Rock She Wrote fameand the Da Capo thing. Also check Jay Smooth's blog for more commentary on the topic. Come on out to the panel on Saturday. It's gonna be pretty timely.
posted by Zentronix @ 1:13 PM
IF YOU'RE NOT A TERRORIST WE'LL STILL SCREW YOU
Muslim chaplain and Army Captain James Yee is free and out of Guantanamo, but the he Feds are charging him with adultery and possession of pornography--just to mess with his family and prevent him from becoming a cause celebre.
From the article (buried far from the front page): "Captain Yee's supporters say the government has charged him with adultery and keeping pornography — a fairly unusual move by the military justice system — to save face and trump up what has always been a weak case.
"He was defamed and smeared and accused of being a spy," said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington advocacy group whose Seattle chapter was in close contact with Captain Yee's relatives during his detainment. "Then all of sudden, they're not even sorry. They're saying, `You can go now, and for good measure we'll throw in a few charges to further damage your reputation.' It's a very suspicious scenario that developed."
Military officials would not comment on the accusations by Captain Yee's supporters, saying the proceeding starting at Fort Benning on Monday, to determine whether Captain Yee should face a court martial or whether the charges should be dropped, would answer any questions. "
My money is that the charges get dropped. Quietly. With no comment.
posted by Zentronix @ 11:34 AM
Thursday, December 04, 2003
If you're in the Bay Area and you wanna talk music journalism, or--whoa--even pitch the top local music editors, I'm holding them captive in a room on Saturday for 3 hours. Bring yourself, your wallet, your pitch, and a couple-three opinions.
Panel: So You Wanna be a Music Journalist?
Moderated by Jeff Chang
Saturday December 6th, 10am - 12:30pm
ATA, 992 Valencia at 21st Street., SF
$5 Members, $10 Non-Members
Sign up here.
Get inside the heads of actual flesh-and-blood Bay Area
music and arts editors. Hear insider advice from working
music journalists.
You won't want to miss this opportunity to meet folks
who actually do this day in and day out. Come to this
panel armed with your story ideas and pitches.
Panelists:
J.H. Tompkins, Arts Editor, San Francisco Bay Guardian
Tomas Palermo, Editor, XLR8R Magazine
Joel Schalit, Associate Editor, Punk Planet Magazine
Oliver Wang, Contributing Editor, URB Magazine
Eric Arnold, Music Columnist, East Bay Express
Todd Inoue, Music Editor, San Jose Metro
Kimberly Chun, Music Editor, San Francisco Bay Guardian
Hot to death right? Be there, homie.
posted by Zentronix @ 5:08 PM
Bad news travels fast but since I've been book-making I'm the last to know. So now...
Bronfman owns Warner.
Vanguarde is dead. (Just when Selwyn was about to turn around Savoy. Now Liz needs a job too.)
Arnold's about to obliterate health and human services.
I have a new Medicare bill to pay, and then to bequeath to my kids.
Productivity is up, as well as the murder rates. Jobs, meanwhile, are still down. Way down. (See first two, that is, three for that matter.)
Bush's polls are up.
Cal's losing to scrub teams.
There's more but I'm not supposed to say.
At least we know Cal will turn around. Maybe I can hope some of the other things will too. Aiya. Happy birthday JZ.
posted by Zentronix @ 5:01 PM
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
Quote of the week comes from Rob Sheffield on this RollingStone.com review of Missy Elliott's This Is Not A Test!. "Her fifth album, This Is Not a Test!, hits new levels of bananas-osity. She jumps so far off the heezy, she lands right on another heezy." Somebody say ouch!
posted by Zentronix @ 2:08 PM
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
HIGH ON HIS OWN SUPPLY
In case yall missed this over the holiday weekend, here's
the best article on Jay-Z ever. It's by the brilliant Elizabeth Mendez Berry, a Latina born in Colombia, raised in Toronto, now living in NYC, late of Vibe now at Honey. In that brief bio are at least three strikes against being included in Da Capo's Best Music Writing of 2004, but I'm supposed to be off that topic. Sorry. Peep it and pass it on.
posted by Zentronix @ 11:46 AM
Monday, December 01, 2003
Geezus. So I haven't blogged in a minute. Trying to avoid bad news this past weekend. Very satisfied after the holiday meals, the Q.T. with the kids, and the Outkast appearance on VH1's Big Thing last night.
Also spent some time reading about John Lennon and Yoko Ono. And I'm looking back at these posts and realizing I've been tough on old white males recently. Look, the ones who married into my family can take it. Hell they get it from their kids on a daily basis! But I know some of you can't. So here's an article on Bix Beiderbecke. See? I can be nice.
More on the weird business of developing a marketing plan for yourself as an author later this week.
posted by Zentronix @ 3:57 PM
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