Best Music Writing 2011

I’m very self-conscious of my writing.  I work hard at it, probably too hard.  The harder I work, the more over-the-top, absurd and overwrought my writing becomes.  Sometimes, though, a review will just fall out of my head, fully formed, stream of consciousness.  Those are probably my best pieces.  If only it were always so easy.

I was shocked, to say the least, when Da Capo Press contacted me regarding my blog.  They wanted to publish one of my concert reviews in Best Music Writing 2011.  At first I thought I was being scammed (they would be paying me after all), but this was no joke.  I had no idea what an honor it was to be so chosen, and I steadfastly refused to believe the whole thing would happen until the book was in my hands.

The book is in my hands, and on book shelves now.  I’m incredibly grateful to my wife for editing everything I write with a discerning eye, and also to Jeanne Fury for helping make the whole thing happen.  I’d also like to thank Wormrot, Defeatist, Mutant Supremacy, Psychic Limb and Curandera for helping me besmirch this book with metal.  I’m damned proud.