Thomas Scott McKenzieScott’s article on Jimmy Wyble is available in the March 2012 issue of Premier Guitar. Wyble is definitely a musician that more guitar fans should pay attention to and he clearly impacted so many people’s lives.
Scott’s chat with Australian country superstar Keith Urban appeared in the August issue of Premier Guitar. Urban was a super cool guy, very nice and approachable, and oh yeah, he owns one of the most iconic guitars is music history.
Be sure to check out the article, with lots of photos of Urban and his vintage gear here.
There was an interesting article in the New York Times by Reyhan Harmanci about literary journals surviving and even flourishing in spite of pressures from the Internet and consumers’ digital reading habits. But the article misses a key component of how the lit journal industry is supported, in part, by aspiring author dollars.
“With local independent bookstores like A Different Light in the Castro and Modern Times in the Mission struggling to make ends meet, not to mention Borders’ bankruptcy and the general panic of the book publishing industry in the face of the e-reader, it would seem that literary pursuits of all kinds are under attack in this digital age,” Harmanci writes. “But literary journals — a long-tail publishing phenomenon before the Internet made other niche offerings accessible — are thriving.”
The article explains why these journals are doing well. Most have smaller staffs, many are non-profit organizations, most of them are nimble endeavors able to react quickly, and so forth. Those points are totally valid and the journal staffs should be applauded for their yeomen’s labor. As a fan of lit journals, I’m happy to see reports (particularly when so much of publishing news is so dreary) that they’re doing well.
But there’s another reason literary journals continue to succeed: Their readers are the same people submitting stories to them. Those core, dedicated aspiring authors hoping to be published in The Toilet Paper Review or whatever aren’t going to be as fickle as the casual consumer who moves away from hard-copy texts purchased from brick-and-mortar stores.
In a 2008 comment, Waldo Jaquith writes, “We’re on track to receive 10,400 submissions this year” at the Virginia Quarterly Review. Meanwhile, the journal’s Advertising Information page counts their circulation at 7,000+. Jaquith’s comment laments that many submissions come from authors who do not read the journal. And while it’s true that many writers machine gun stories to publications they’ve never seen, the statistics of more than 10,000 submissions and 7,000 readers cannot be ignored.
In a similar vein, Glimmer Train (one of my favorite lit outlets) is reported to have a circulation of 16,000 while receiving “nearly 40,000 stories a year” according to their website. It should be noted, for the record, that Glimmer Train publishes four issues a year, so maybe you can divide the yearly submission count into each issue for 10,000 submissions and 16,000 readers. Same thing for the VQR. Maybe the 10,400 submissions can be divided into 2,600 stories per issue while retaining 7,000 per issue. But still, the bottom line of the point remains valid.
This isn’t to say literary journals can relax on the beach and watch subscriptions roll in as hoards of MFA grads and other aspiring authors support the magazine in hopes of getting published. But it would certainly seem to account in some way for the continued buoyancy of the publications. Every reference book and every editor interview preaches that aspiring authors should familiarize themselves with a journal before submitting. While many boneheads ignore this advice, a great many well-intentioned writers follow the prescription and plunk down their cash before submitting.
Scott’s look at the career of Nashville guitar player Hank Garland has been published in the newest issue of Premier Guitar. Garland had a highly intriguing career in the fifties. He played on a number of sessions for massively successful singles such at Patsy Cline’s “I Fall to Pieces” and also on “Jinglebell Rock” among many others. But although his sessions were primarily devoted to country and popular music, Garland’s solo work focused on highly sophisticated jazz tunes.
It was a helluva fun article to write and research, with input from guitarists as diverse as John 5 and Brent Mason. Check it out here.
TMZ is reporting that embattled actor Charlie Sheen is writing a memoir. And reportedly, he’s expecting $10 million for the publishing rights.
So, in order to serve my country and my art, I humbly submit my dedicated and steady hand to assist in crafting Charlie’s magnum opus. I would be will to travel to his tropic locale where he is rumored to be surrounded by porn stars.
Sometimes you gotta suffer for great art!
It’s been pretty queit around here for some time. That’s going to change as we move into the future of cool new endeavors, but first, let’s recap some of the past activities in the late parts of 2010.
First, The Man Behind the Nose: Assassins, Astronauts, Cannibals, and Other Stupendous Tales by Larry Harmon with Scott was published on August 17, 2010 by the Igniter Books imprint of HarperCollins. This one-of-a-kind look at the cultural impact of Bozo the World’s Most Famous Clown, also with some Laurel & Hardy tossed in for good measure. We did almost 100 interviews with media sources as far flung as Ireland, Great Britain, and Canada. And Scott was featured on live national television for the Fox & Friends Morning Show as well as the Today Show.
We are still actively promoting The Man Behind the Nose with some cool activities coming up in February and March. The PBS Television Program Pioneers of Television will feature Susan Harmon discussing the Bozo empire on Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 8pm Eastern Standard Time.
And then in March, Scott is appearing at a couple of book clubs. He sings, he dances, and he mixes a mean cocktail so if any book clubs what a visit from a real life author, just let us know and he’ll hit the road straightway.
The last couple of months have intensely busy as he completed the first draft of Power Chord: One Man’s Ear-Splitting Quest to Find His Guitar Heroes, a crazy wacky adventure that saw him travel from rural campsites in Oklahoma to yoga and holistic healing facilities in the Berkshire Mountains to the stage of the legendary Whisky-a-Go-Go as Scott struggled to find the musicians who inspired him for years. The editors at HarperCollins are perusing the undoubtedly pristine pages as we speak.
Which leaves a little time to work on Premier Guitar article about the original guitar shredder Hank Garland. The goal is to produce the essential listing, definitive draft about Garland, something that will attract younger musicians who may not even know the legend’s name. But they will once they read the article.
And finally, Scott’s been doing some writing for a bluesman’s backstory for liner notes and press articles. We don’t want to mention the musician’s name yet because we’re still really early in the process. As things become for formal, we’ll let you know. But you will, without a doubt, want to check out his work.
Welcome to the website for journalist and writer Thomas Scott McKenzie.
Currently on the agenda is a national tour to promote The Man Behind the Nose: Assassins, Astronauts, Cannibals, and other Stupendous Tales.
Check out Slushpile.net for Scott’s writings on books and publishing.
Go to The Man Behind the Nose’s specific website for more information on appearances, events, and fun.
Much more information will be added to this website shortly… Thanks for stopping by!