Musings
New Stuff for Bloomsbury's 33 1/3 Blog, Pearl Jam's Vs., and the Holiday Spirit
Pearl Jam’s eco-friendly CD packaging for Vs.
With the holidays approaching and mid-life mental fog encroaching, I haven’t been writing or editing as much as I’d like of late, professionally or personally. That said, I did pen a couple of pieces for the publisher of my tiny tome on Pearl Jam’s Vs., which you can read on their 33 1/3 imprint’s blog. (I guess there is still such a thing.)
The first piece is something I’m really happy about, since it went from whim to reality in a matter of days, and sandwiched between was some unexpected interaction with PJ bassist Jeff Ament. He helped inform my fresh look at the cover art and photography for the band’s second record, which is no small thing given he snapped the images on the front and back. I hadn’t really thought about the outside of Vs. in depth for years, so it was a fulfilling exercise and his contribution validated a few of my hunches.
Bloomsbury, which recently (finally) launched an Instagram presence for its 33 1/3 series, leaned into a holiday music theme late in 2023 and asked me to pitch in. Long a fan of an idiosyncratic set of Christmas tunes, I jumped at the chance to write about about some of them—under a “bleak” guise of sorts. Because wrapped deepen within all the charm and warmth of the winter holidays there just might be a knotted ember of fear and regret, maybe? It’s okay to admit it. It can’t be perfectly ripe sugarplums 24/7.
Have a look at my not-exactly-joyless playlist and then give the songs a listen. Good chance you’ll feel seen.
Writing About Legends (Sort of) Writing About Me
A couple of months ago, I decided I wanted to write a piece on Matt Vaughan, owner of Seattle's Easy Street Records. I felt I had to share how he's a legend in the local music community and one of a handful of people responsible for Record Store Day—and, because of that, responsible for the resurgence of vinyl records. Thankfully, Matt was up for it and Northwest Music Scene agreed to publish the story. So I had the honor of hanging out with the man in his shop, the site of so much history that's precious to this music nerd. It was the best kind of surreal.
The story—"Thank Easy Street Records' Matt Vaughan When You Spin the Black Circle"—quickly got a lot of social love (even from Matt himself), which was nice. And then Pearl Jam tweeted a link to it, which was just plain effing awesome. (I've been a fan since high school. The piece's title is a nod to the band, if you didn't know.) Color me grateful. And a little smarter. I learned that sometimes, when you chase down a writing idea, things can work out quite nicely. It's the little things; they can actually be huge.