My career started as a freelance writer for in-print magazines, and at one point I was writing around nine articles a month for 12 different magazines, from St. Louis Magazine to a quarterly on quilting. I wrote a column about St. Louis for an airline magazine and am a frequent contributor to St. Louis’s annual magazine Explore St. Louis. While that industry continues to evolve, my work has contributed to my ability to write about anything for anybody. Recently I’ve gotten to write for the travel magazine Where.
Timeless Communications
I am currently Senior Writer for Timeless Communications, which covers the technical aspects of the live event industry. I write for the Projection, Lights & Staging News and Front of House magazines, which is especially thrilling since it puts me two degrees from the stars of the music business. So for example, I don’t know Bruce Springsteen, but I’ve interviewed his lighting guy of 30 years; can’t say I have Billy Joel’s cell number with any honesty, but I can get in touch with his longtime sound man. I write a lot of company profiles and interviews with the legends of the business, which has allowed me to understand the best way to communicate a company’s effectiveness. I’ve done some pretty cool things, too, like been on stage right before the Dave Matthews Band was the first rock act to play the new Busch Stadium.
Symphony Publishing
I love everything about making music, which is probably why I was responsible for pretty much 10 of 12 cover stories a year in Musical Merchandise Review from 1999 to 2015. I researched and wrote the tough stories, but also enjoyed doing the more fun, short pieces like “At a Glance” and my column on websites called “Webwise.” For much of that time, I was associate editor.
Symphony also published two other magazines I loved writing for, including SBO where I get to write about band directors. As a jazz musician, you can imagine how cool it was writing for JazzED. (Read one of my favorite stories, on the great Kate McGarry, here.)
I’ve written for a wide variety of other magazines through the years. I’m proud of the work I’ve done for St. Louis Magazine, especially an essay about me being a stay at home dad and an article on immigration.
I had a fun column in AirTran airline’s magazine Go! (before it was bought by another airline), where I bragged about St. Louis and what to do while you’re here. I’ve written for others including Gateway Heritage, Stage Directions, Missouri Meeting & Events …and honestly? Probably a few others I’ve forgotten about!
The magazine form is still alive and well – it’s just living on a different platform. I still love it not only as a writer, but as a reader as well.