What brought on the idea of writing a book about
DMB?
In college a young woman, who I shared a deep connection with, at the time,
introduced me to the band's music and I was hooked. After graduation, I knew
I wanted to write, but didn't have the experience to do so full time right
away, so I bided my time by working for Atlantic Records and occasionally
freelancing. A friend of mine, and fellow author, Michael
Krugman, gave me pointers as to setting myself up with an agent, writing a
proposal, etc. etc. and it was then my time to decide what I wanted to
write about. I decided on DMB, because I felt they needed a good
authoritative look at their history and future, as well as a printed
compendium of all the band's factoids (tour dates, discography, etc. etc.).
The publishers loved the idea and I stand here today with a DMB book in my
hands.
What did you do for Atlantic
Records?
I worked in the New Media department writing copy for their website and
acting as the head honcho's executive assistant. Very cool people, a good
experience, just not what I wanted to do with my life.
How "close" did you get to the band? Did you
actually get to talk to any of
them, or their management, crew, etc.?
I talked to a lot of industry people associated with them, most of who
remained anonymous for political reasons, as well as, Greg Howard, Big Head
Todd & The Monsters, Kronos Quartet, and a few others.
Was there anything you wanted included in "Music For
The People"
that didn't go in, or were you pretty much given creative license to write
what you
wanted?
I was given no restrictions, though they did eventually take out some of my
more blatant pot references. Also, due to the fact that I had to pay for my
own photos, there was not as many as I had originally intended. Other than
that, I had a clean slate to work with.
Did you find that the book itself was easier to
write, being a big fan and
all, or was it at times a very difficult project?
It was easy to write in the respect that I already knew the music and the
scene from which it arose. Since I always intended for it to be
constructively positive, that made it easier as well, though I think I
criticized the few things that do not sit well with me (i.e. "Proudest
Monkey" *grin*).
I read how you'd written for High Times and Ray
Gun - what did you do for
them?
I've done features, news and reviews for RayGun (another piece due today
that I haven't even started) and did some reviews for High Times. I also
write for www.wildweb.com, www.cdnow.com, Mean Street magazine in Cali and
Access magazine in Toronto.
Did High Times pay you
monetarily?
Unfortunately, yes.
I write (well, for nancies.org), and other than
personal anecdotes, that's
all the writing I do. Do you dig writing columns and reviews more so than
penning an entire book, or do you find that books are your new favorite? Or
am I talking out my ass, and both are equally
fulfilling?
It's sometimes easier to make a small piece be the best writing you've done
because it's so concentrated, but, on the other hand, books allow me to run
rampant, so I like both for different reasons. How's that for a
political-minded, middle-of-the-road answer?
Anything planned as far as future projects
go?
I'm finalizing those plans today, hopefully, though the genre I will be
writing about is a far cry from DMB. More on that as it happens.
Still no official announcements on this front, though it should be set in a
month or so.
Want the book? Click Here!
Read an excerpt from the book
Read my review of the book
