If I owned a record store, it would look like this blog.
For longer than I care to remember, I've been involved in music to one degree or another. At 15 I worked in my first record store (Tapeville USA) in a suburb just north of New York City. From there, my experience includes Bleecker Bobs in the 80's, DJ'ing (WFDU, various NYC venues including Irving Plaza, & Niagara), being a roadie for Birdland (where are they now?), tour managing Hem, running US offices for Creation Records, and Setanta Records, learning artist management while working with St. Etienne, and the Jesus & Mary Chain, and finally getting into digital music while at eMusic.com & Virtual Label.
I've written for, and continue to run much of the social media for Big Takeover magazine. And I've contributed several interviews to Perfect Sound Forever. In my spare time I sometimes volunteer at WFMU and the Archive of Contemporary Music. I also sometimes work with music photographers Godlis and Eugene Merinov, I follow baseball and the Oakland Raiders, and I walk my dog faithfully.
I also invented a nice little smartphone app called The Vinyl District Record Store Locator in the hopes that it will help YOU find a real, honest-to-god, record store.
Some of my all time favorite musical artists include, but are in no way limited to, Tom Waits, Charles Mingus, Johnny Hartman, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Paolo Conte, The Sound, and many others.
Favorite quotes:
"We've got new thoughts, new ideas, it's all so groovy. It's just a shame that we've all seen the same old movies." - The Saints, Private Affair
"Dream, baby, dream." - Alan Vega, Dream Baby Dream
"We are ugly but we have the music." - Leonard Cohen, Chelsea Hotel No. 2
"Don't worry about the horse being blind - just load the wagon." - John Madden to the Oakland Raiders prior to Super Bowl XI
"Most vagabonds I knowed don't ever want to find the culprit that remains the object of their long relentless quest. The obsession's in the chasing and not the apprehending, the pursuit you see and never the arrest." - Tom Waits, Foreign Affairs
"What do you know about music? You're not a lawyer." - John Lurie, Down By Law OST
"I used to believe everything I read, but that's all changed and now I'm stepping out." - Mark E. Smith, Stepping Out
"We live as we dream, alone" - the Gang of Four, We Live As We Dream Alone
"Throw the fancy chords away, and just get this slow beat..." - John Lee Hooker, Teachin' The Blues
"How about a nice big cup of shut the fuck up?" - Unknown
"Sha la la, man..." - Lou Reed, Street Hassle
"This is how I play bass...fuck you." - Charles Mingus
"This is how I play bass...fuck you." - Charles Mingus
In memorium:
Tapeville USA
Chappaquiddick +5
Borscht
Tower Records
The Lowboys
Bleecker Bobs
The Ritz
Big Takeover Magazine
The Gibson Girls
Birdland
Creation Records / Management By Jaffe (JAMC, St Etienne)
Setanta Records (Edwyn Collins, Divine Comedy, Harvest Ministers)
Irving Plaza
Niagara
CEC Management (Ben Folds, Suede, Boo Radleys)
Hem
Etherea Records
eMusic.com
Worlds Fair Label Group
Virtual Label LLC
Warner Music Group/Independent Label Group/ADA
