Not so long ago, I wrote a number of freelance concert reviews for a local music blog. It was a pretty sweet gig: see a show for free, take a few blurry photos, and scribble notes during the set like a true music expert. After returning home from the bar/club/hipster lair, I would transcribe my scribblings into an overly-detailed account of the performance.
The review was due at 8 AM the morning after the concert. Sometimes I wouldn't finish writing until after 4 AM. Then I'd lay awake in bed, physically exhausted, my mind still lit up with journalistic prose. This was the closest I came in school to pulling an all-nighter. Weeks later, a small paycheck would arrive in the mail. I have no idea if anyone besides my editor ever read the reviews. I did get to see some great bands for free, though. And some terrible bands.
This is a new experience - being the first to comment on your post! Usually there are hundreds before I've even seen it, and then my voice seems horribly impersonal and redundant. This is great!
ReplyDeleteI like your little poem more than anything. I love hearing little ditties like that, that really aren't about anything much but just rhyme so sweetly. Very lovely. That sounds like a truly hilarious job, writing band reviews. Things like that are on my list of job that I wish I could do - things like book-reviewer, lolly-pop tester, the chic inside the Tweetie-pie costume as Movie World or the girl who walks around dressed as Cinderella in Disneyland. Yes? Yes? I really think so! Take care.
Book Florist: First commenters hold a special place in my heart. Thanks for the kind words. As far as your list of jobs - I'm still searching eBay for a giant tooth costume.
ReplyDeleteI've never written a review for music (since I'm clueless), but I did write some reviews for Otaku magazine in South Africa (before that ran into the recession and crashed). So I can relate to the worries about deadlines.
ReplyDeleteI love the way that the rhyming couplets makes the comic seem like a song in itself!