Year of the Rat Music Project

The Project:

Basically, I decided for my New Year’s Resolution that this year I was going to immerse myself in music. Which I’ve been doing, I’ve been consuming music like a college student with Limewire.

But for my Chinese New Years Resolution, I’ve decided to refine my project a bit. It seems to me that while rampant consumption is all well and good, there’s only so much you can really get out of studying without some kind of output.

This blog is for me the analytical component of the project. This isn’t a Live Journal, this isn’t about my life. That said, here’s my background. Feel free to skip it.

My Background:

I am neither a (professional) Elvis impersonator nor a car bomber, so if you’re looking for those Brian Childs you’re in the wrong place.

Currently I’m a jack-of-all-trades at Asylum.com. I’ve had articles published with mensvogue.com, The Brooklyn Rail, Metro newspaper in New York and I have a book of short stories, “The Evening Rolled On Like a Tank Being Driven By A Zombie.” Previously, I’ve blogged about Coney Island, and I used to keep a blog to workshop my short fiction.

Some stories that I’ve written about music, or heavily influenced by music, include:

Rocking to the Beat of Many Drummers (Metro)

Automatic Music Machines (published no where)

Fire Fight (published as Ryan Winters on Thievesjargon.com)

Some other stories I’m particularly proud of are–

Habitat of the Human Freak (The Brooklyn Rail)

Corduroy Cult (mensvogue.com)

Disappearing in South America (Lulu Press)

In terms of my music background, Michael Jackson, Little Richard, Sly and the Family Stone and the Beach Boys were big records for me growing up. I think of Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers’ “Once Upon a Christmas” as the definitive version of Christmas music. I know all of the words to “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin.”

In high school I went to local punk concerts most weekends and also started listening to big band music and learned how to swing dance. I went to college in Athens, Georgia were we traded around new CD’s every week and saw an uncountable number of concerts. I studied history and Spanish, my honor’s history thesis was on African-American stand-up comedy. I have a master’s degree in journalism. I cannot play an instrument.

Post college, my musical tastes have been most influenced by Bonnaroo, both because of all the bands I’ve been introduced to there and because it serves as a music swapping session for the people I go with.

As far as reading about music, I love biographies as well as profiles and writings by musicians, but I don’t read many music reviews because they seem kind of pointless nowadays when you can just listen to most things yourself. I’m also fan of Chuck Klosterman (I imagine hundreds of people clicking off my screen after reading this).

Don’t worry, Chuck can have his thing. I’m not interested in ripping him off, nor Lester Banks or Greil Marcus or anyone else. If this project succeeds or fails it will be on its own terms.

The Project (part 2):

I was planning on writing a novel, but quite frankly that doesn’t seem like where the action is right now, so this is filling the slot for my need to have a creative writing project–think of it as part essay, part poem, short story, photo essay, podcast collage.

I’m going to write several short posts a week about what I’ve been learning and use my historian and journalist skills to put out several essays, not so much music itself as the culture surrounding music. I’m also hoping to produce a series of podcasts where I interview some of my friends about music. Some people I’m hoping will sit down with me include:

My friend Michael Tedder, A reporter for CMJ
My boss, Neil Gladstone a former CMJ reporter
My boss, Jared Willig, former head of AOL Music
My cousin, Brett Boutwell, a professor of music history at Cornell
My cousin, Allen Childs, a student of music and musician
My friend Tony Ragazzo, an accomplished musician.
As well as my buddies Michael Rundle and Kyle Bruno, who are generally brilliant and know an excessive amount about music.

We’re going to talk about how music is influenced by technology, sound as a metaphor for meaning, the history of music journalism, and music as therapy, as well as some lighter stuff.

Before these podcasts (and my essays) I’ll give a round up of readings, music and movies/documentaries that are relevant to the discussion so that you can follow along in my project if you like.

Which brings me to my final point. After reading David Byrnes article in Wired and watching Pete Seeger: the Power of Song while this project was still forming in my mind, I was struck by music’s traditional role in bringing people together. It seems that nowadays, with the iPod, music is often turned into a buffer zone against the outside world. I’m all about a richer internal life, but this project is inspired by music’s historical purpose of getting people together, about sharing something you love, and I’m hoping that’s what will happen here.

So if you know a book or a CD you’d like to recommend for this project, please drop me a line or comment. I’m going to try and set up a discussion board, so anyone can get more involved if they like.

Unless you’re into Linkin Park.

Cheers,

Brian