Crazy Rhythms

In about 1984 or 85, my then-boyfriend Brian Parks played an obscure record for me, Crazy Rhythms, by the Feelies. The Feelies were in one of their fallow phases, hadn’t played in a while, so it felt like a nugget from the past, and we were insta-fans. Then the band started playing again, and we became even bigger fans. I interviewed them in my nascent music-journalism days in Providence. Brian and I broke up, I moved to New York, began working for The Village Voice, Brian moved also and joined me at the paper. That was two decades ago.

So it felt immensely circular and satisfying when Brian, one of the few people from those halcyon early-’90s Voice days who’s still there, asked me to write the music picks for the Voice‘s spring music guide. It’s the first Voice story I’ve written in more than a decade, and serendipitously, I wound up writing about the Feelies, who are also back. Plus, I got to write about my current obsession: Adele.

Lay of the Land

On Tuesday I moderated with my esteemed colleague Ruben Martinez the annual Lay of the Land panel at Loyola Marymount. Ruben, who presents this event, invited me to join him this year as the topic was new media; we dubbed the event The Wired City: Writing the Future of Los Angeles. Our panelists were a diverse group of Angeleno bloggers and new-media gurus: KCET’S Departures producer Juan Devis, Loteria Chicana blogger Cindy Mosqueda, LA Observed‘s Kevin Roderick, and LMU student Kyle DePinna of Shifty Rhythms. While they range from grad-student personal bloggers to public media journalists, they all discussed the opportunities the online world has afforded them. It was interesting and encouraging. Thanks to all for participating. Here’s Kevin’s post on the event.