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dbar at Jun 09, 2018 04:15 PM

21

I had a long time to think about it, too, she left in February of 1999 and I was
involved in a big trial at the DOJ. The trial ended in April and I came back — I think I went to visit her once and I decided I wanted to freelance, I can do that
now. I have no idea if anybody thought it was a good idea. Everyone was polite.
My folks were very civilized about it. It was impressive. I'm sure they thought it
was idiotic. To this day they're like, "Grad school! Good idea!" I get that about
every six weeks

I guess about six months in I had gotten pretty friendly with a guy called Bret
McCabe at The Met, and I was an editor there for about six months, and I would
have been an editor there longer, except six months after I started, the paper was
purchased and folded by New Times. So we were all oout the door. And, you
know, on a business level, you can't really blame them, they had the ad market
to themselves when we were gone. So we were all out on our asses and I went
back to freelancing. At that point I had established a relationship with Jeff
Salamon [arts editor at the Austin-American Statesman] through a guy named
Tom Carson who is the film critic for Esquire.

So The Met folds, I got married, went on my honeymoon, came back, and a
week later my wife got laid off. We moved to Austin in the late summer of 2001
and we were both looking for work, and to his everlasting credit, Jeff really stuck his neck out for me at the Statesman.

I just talked to someone who knows you in Memphis, Andy Earles.
S: What were you doing talking to Andy?
I think he's a really underrated writer.
He's a great writer! That fanzine (the Cimarron Weekend) is amazing.
The zine is amazing. And I just called him and told him that I dropped his name
to someone at the Voice. He should be a lot more famous than he is.
S: He and Dave Dunlap are two of the most hilarious people you'd ever hope to
meet.

Andy is one of the two rock critics that nobody outside of fanzine people know
about. The Cimarron Weekend I think is hysterical.
S: And I'd like to know when the next issue is coming out because I bought an ad
two Christmases ago for
Zamboni Rodeo.
I know the answer to that last question — there isn't going to be one. Dave move to
Washington to work for the CityPaper and Andy is still in Memphis and he's
going to start his own zine, but it isn't going to be the Cimarron Weekend, it's
going to be something else. That's the one bit of news I get to break in this
interview.

So I have a question about rock criticism. How do you sustain a passion for
and find meaning in work that seems so trivial?

It's kind of funny that you would ask me that the week leading up to South by
Southwest. You never get more tired than right this second. How do I sustain my
passion? I think among my colleagues and friends that are rock critics, the

Spring 2003 21

21

I had a long time to think about it, too, she left in February of 1999 and I was
involved in a big trial at the DOJ. The trial ended in April and I came back — I think I went to visit her once and I decided I wanted to freelance, I can do that
now. I have no idea if anybody thought it was a good idea. Everyone was polite.
My folks were very civilized about it. It was impressive. I'm sure they thought it
was idiotic. To this day they're like, "Grad school! Good idea!" I get that about
every six weeks

I guess about six months in I had gotten pretty friendly with a guy called Bret
McCabe at The Met, and I was an editor there for about six months, and I would
have been an editor there longer, except six months after I started, the paper was
purchased and folded by New Times. So we were all oout the door. And, you
know, on a business level, you can't really blame them, they had the ad market
to themselves when we were gone. So we were all out on our asses and I went
back to freelancing. At that point I had established a relationship with Jeff
Salamon [arts editor at the Austin-American Statesman] through a guy named
Tom Carson who is the film critic for Esquire.

So The Met folds, I got married, went on my honeymoon, came back, and a
week later my wife got laid off. We moved to Austin in the late summer of 2001
and we were both looking for work, and to his everlasting credit, Jeff really stuck his neck out for me at the Statesman.

I just talked to someone who knows you in Memphis, Andy Earles.
S: What were you doing talking to Andy?
I think he's a really underrated writer.
He's a great writer! That fanzine (the Cimarron Weekend) is amazing.
The zine is amazing. And I just called him and told him that I dropped his name
to someone at the Voice. He should be a lot more famous than he is.
S: He and Dave Dunlap are two of the most hilarious people you'd ever hope to
meet.

Andy is one of the two rock critics that nobody outside of fanzine people know
about. The Cimarron Weekend I think is hysterical.
S: And I'd like to know when the next issue is coming out because I bought an ad
two Christmases ago for
Zamboni Rodeo.
I know the answer to that last question — there isn't going to be one. Dave move to
Washington to work for the CityPaper and Andy is still in Memphis and he's
going to start his own zine, but it isn't going to be the Cimarron Weekend, it's
going to be something else. That's the one bit of news I get to break in this
interview.

So I have a question about rock criticism. How do you sustain a passion for
and find meaning in work that seems so trivial?

It's kind of funny that you would ask me that the week leading up to South by
Southwest. You never get more tired than right this second. How do I sustain my
passion? I think among my colleagues and friends that are rock critics, the

footerSpring 2003 21