The only part of music journalism that I cannot stand is transcribing interviews. I listen to music very nearly 24 hours a day. Things like... work tend to get in the way but in the car: music. While I'm writing: music. In the shower: music. Cooking: music. Sleeping: music.
You get the idea.
It's tough to spend hours sitting slack-jawed in front of my computer monitor hitting play-stop-rewind-play for hours on end and listening to my stupid voice ask questions while a musician doesn't sing but... answers my questions.
It redefines tedium.
I'm caffeinating for motivation.
For the sake of the website, I've been trying to love more female vocalists. I'm not anti-feminism or anything. In fact, if you saw the music I do own by women, you'd think I was a hardcore, militant man-hater. I like Tori Amos. I love Beth Hart. Tracy Chapman. Brandi Carlile. Diane Birch. Janis and Joni, duh. Heart. Nina Simone.
I just don't like women to sound like little girls.
That's actually what we had drilled into our heads in choir. The director would yell, "Sing like women, not little girls!" If the vocalist doesn't sound like she has a spine, I want no part of her music.
I want tough. The music industry is totally a man's game, and only the strongest female vocalists have lasted long enough to become iconic. Even in pop, people like masculinity. Madonna, Janet, and Britney are all kind of masculine when you see them on the stage-- even if their shows are built around female sexuality.
Anyway. Two things before I actually plunge into the transcription process:
One. The website (per usual):
As of today, we have TWO NEW WRITERS FOR THE SITE. I'm so excited. They're really good.
(Let me get cheesy for a moment because the website is my kid.)
It's been really hard to find people to write for the site. Of the people who express interest, they're... not really what I'm looking for. And of the people I've wanted in the past, well, they're paid professionals who write for actual publications that will pay them with more than things like hi-fives and eternal gratitude.
So Nick and I kept up with the site by ourselves because I'd rather not compromise the tone of the website just to have a little extra help-- though I thought about it at times because this shit owns my life some days.
Our first new writer is Sara, who is super talented. She thinks about music and can also translate emotion into text really well, which can be tough to do without sounding too self-serious or pretentious. As I told Nick, I feel like she's an asset to the site and not just a filler or one more person to contribute content.
Our second writer is someone I've been reading for over a year. He does the new music updates for The Hub on MySpace. He's very aware of new music and what's worth hearing. He also seems to bear an impressive amount of knowledge regarding band history as well as music structure, two areas I'm admittedly weak in.
I'm really excited to have him with us, too, because when I first decided to (finally) set all of this music journalism stuff in motion, I kind of looked up to The Hub as a reference point for how I wanted to interact with artists. I even went to one of The Hub's house shows in Huntington Beach. (They'd put together live concerts with some of the more well-known independent singer-songwriters and invite strangers to their backyard/living room for the low, low price of $15 to watch like, 5 artists perform. Now they do a cruise thing. The living room is now a yacht and $15 is closer to $50. Still rad, and I'm still looking up to them because I want to do that, too. Eventually.)
I'm going on an intern hunt next week. I really have no idea what I'm doing so anything would be a step up, even if it just means getting some paperwork on what I need to get a damn intern. (I'm not kidding. Kids need college credit and I need an intern. Everybody wins.)
I'll be stalking college campuses circa mid-week...
Two. Butch Walker (go figure):
These people are really reserved. Though it's just a cover, I would've lost my shit if I saw Butch Walker cover this song:
The West Coast is waiting patiently, Butch...
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