I started both writing and listening to rock music when I was a 4-year-old. Although my tastes and abilities have thankfully changed since then, my love of both things has never wavered. I never was able to become a musician, but I found I enjoyed writing about music. When I went to UMass-Amherst, I became Arts Editor of the school newspaper. When I moved to Austin, Texas, the live music capital of the world, in 1992, I began writing music features and reviews for The Austin Chronicle, the highly acclaimed alternative weekly, as well as some other publications. During that time I also spoke in elementary classrooms and talked about review writing. I had a great time getting the kids to use metaphors for Tom Waits' voice. I left Austin in 1995 after I got married. Unfortunately, The Chronicle revamped their website around that time, so all but the last two stories I wrote are forever lost. I am happy that my interview with Britt Daniels of Spoon remains intact. In 1995, Spoon was a side project, and Daniels made his money writing music for video games. I am also thrilled that one of my pieces was selected for The Austin Chronicle Music Anthology, due to be published in September, 2010.
While I was in graduate school in Kalamazoo, Michigan, I wrote a few music articles for the Kalamazoo Gazette. When my family and I eventually settled in Atlanta, I began writing for Creative Loafing, where I had the opportunity to interview Joe Jackson, Rickie Lee Jones, and Rhett Miller of the Old 97's, among others. That relationship ended in 2005 when they decided to no longer use freelance writers. I have since written for the online publication Up Against the Wall, where I held the position of Senior Contributing Editor, and I currently write for Atlanta Music Guide.
Throughout all this, I have continued to write fiction and essays. Some of my essays have been published in Common Ties. I have had a short story published in Duck and Herring Pocket Field Guide, and have recently completed a chapter book for kids that I hope to get published.
My submissions have never been rejected by New Yorker Magazine.
I have never submitted anything to New Yorker Magazine.
Below is a sampling of my articles, interviews, reviews, essays, and stories. If you like something, let me know.
If you don't, let me know that, too. I'm not fragile.
Questions/comments? E-mail me
Feature on music for computer games, including an interview with a young Britt Daniels of Spoon (6.15.95). Click here
Feature on the Asylum Street Spankers (10.5.95). Click here
Music Feature on Sweet Honey in the Rock (2.12.03). Click here
Music Feature on Joe Jackson (8.14.03). Click here
Music Feature on Ani Difranco and independent music (10.2.03). Click here
Music Feature on Erin McKeown (12.18.03). Click here
Music Feature on Rickie Lee Jones (1.29.04). Click here
Music Feature on the Old 97's (10.28.04). Click here
Album review of Jill Sobule's "Underdog Victorious" (1.6.05). Click here
Album review of Lucinda Williams' "Live at the Fillmore" (8.3.05). Click here
Music Feature on Dan Zanes (12.7.05). Click here
Album review of Neil Young's "Living with War" plus a look at political music. Click here
Q&A with Todd Snider. Click here.
Book review of Christopher Buckley's Boomsday. Click here
Various album reviews, including Todd Snider, the Moaners, and Maria McKee. Click here
Feature on Kill Henry Sugar. Click here
Book reviews of Roddy Doyle's Wilderness and Nick Hornby's Slam. Click here
Book review of George Saunders' In Persuasion Nation. Click here
Feature on Jill Sobule. Click here
Album review of Mary Gauthier's "Between Daylight and Dark." Click here
Album review of Michelle Malone's "Sugarfoot." Click here
Album review of Lez Zeppelin. Click here
Review of songwriters showcase concert, including Guy Clark, Joe Ely, John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett. Click here
Album review of James McMurtry's "Just Us Kids." Click here
Album review of Bill Morrissey's "Come Running." Click here
Album review of Aimee Mann's "Smilers." Click here
Concert preview of Will Kimbrough and Tommy Womack. Click here
Album review of Lucinda Williams' "Little Honey" Click here
Album review of Takeover UK's "Running with the Wasters." Click here
Album review of Hot Rods. Click here
Album reviews of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone's "Vs Children" and "Advance Base Battery Life." Click here
Essay on Michael Jackson REJECTED BY PUBLISHER "Did Michael Jackson Die Too Late." Click here
Album review of Regina Spektor's "Far." Click here
Album review of Monsters of Folk. Click here
Album review of Jay Farrar and Benjamin Gibbard's "One Fast Move or I'm Gone." Click here
Q&A with Leonard Cohen collaborator, Sharon Robinson. Click here
"Why I Don't Celebrate Valentine's Day" Click here
"In Sickness and in Health" Click here
"Smokin'" Click here