Life as a Freelance Music Journalist

Frank Zappa once said that “Most rock journalism is people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t talk, for people who can’t read.” Not sure if that was the drugs or bitterness talking, but I had a great time during my official debut as a freelance music journalist at the Creation festival in the middle of somewhere Pennsylvania.

I prepared as well as I could after learning that I had press access for the week to dozens of musicians playing for over 100K attendees. As with any new venture I hoped to climb over the learning curve as quickly as possible.

Within a few minutes of arriving and checking in at the press trailer I realized that my week hadn’t been set up as I hoped and that I basically had no access to anyone.

Oops. So I gave up and went to sulk in my tent.

Not a bad spot eh?

Ha! You know how I roll. Like I say, most good things in life happen between plans B-Z, so after a couple hours I found the press managers who got me plugged in for the first full day. I also met up with a great guy and radio pro named Jim who had his own press trailer right in the main compound area. We were meant to meet and had a great time chatting with just about every performer of the week.

After one interview I discovered that Mark Johnson (of one of my fave bands The Letter Black) and I are fellow alum of the same college. Pretty cool. Those short conversations were fun all week, especially given the diverse talent roaming around. I talked to everyone from pop and rap artists to worship singers and metal bands.

The photo pit was another fun discovery. Getting to take pics a few feet from the performers rocked! After all the live music I’ve seen in my lifetime that perspective made the experience even better. I’m totally interested in a nice camera now too and have until Black Friday to do my homework.