A History of Promotional Writing for Entertainment Companies
My writing career began with writing reviews of concerts for my college newspaper at Emerson College in Boston. My first major interview was with rock icon Johnny Winter for the Berkley Beacon. I later interviewed Johnny again while working for a rock radio station in Westerly, Rhode Island. By then, I was writing music reviews regularly for local media.
A few years later, I had worked my way up to writing concert reviews for a 50K watt radio station in Worcester, MA where Bruce Springsteen was the opening act, showcasing his “Born in the USA” album. I continued reviewing musical acts, regionally, while working for different radio stations during my ten years in radio as a news reporter and broadcaster.
I moved to Los Angeles in 1988 with the dream of writing for record companies and music magazines. Over the next 15 years, I wrote for Entertainment Today, Entertainment Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, Boxoffice Magazine, Music Connection, HITs, Variety, Southland Blues and several local newspapers. I served as a staff writer for Boxoffice and a contributing writer for Variety while also writing business-oriented entertainment stories. I also wrote biographies for music management companies and recording artists.
Here are some of my articles, written through the ages:
- B.B. King
- Brad Wilson Story.pdf
- Big Papa and the TCB
- Dee Snider/Widowmaker
- Etta James
- Glenn Frey
- Glenn Patrik
- Jerry Garcia
- Joanna Conner
- Joe Walsh (and The Flew)
- John Hammond, Jr.
- Keith Richards/The Xpensive Winos
- Keyboard Jam
- Lou Gramm (Foreigner)
- Mama Laura Celebrates 40 Years in the Blues Business
- Morphine
- Oingo Boigo
- Pete Anderson: A Man of Many Talents
- Rick Wakeman (Yes)
- Ron Wood / The Immaculate Pigs
- Simi Valley Cajun & Blues Festival, Southland Blues
- Sue Palmer: San Diego’s Queen of the Boogie Woogie
- Tara Maclean
- The Fabulous Thunderbirds
- Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven