This story more or less starts in 2003, when a group of young and seemingly overly-intelligent, yet also borderline idiots – myself included – decided to start a full color print lifestyle magazine called The Ville in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. Mind you, we launched in the midst and infancy of the online boom of web publishing and right before my alma mater adopted the same slogan for their athletics marketing. Aside from that seemingly well-timed brilliant idea, me and this group of overly cultured editorial degenerates (which I notate lovingly), whose publishing inspirations were basically Hunter S. Thompson and Hugh Hefner, had furthermore decided that the city’s music and entertainment scene ought to be a vital part of this ragged publication’s focus.
Desperate to find someone who would be credible enough to report on such an up-and-coming music and entertainment scene, they tapped me, yours truly, for that endeavor. This would be a pivotal moment in my overall professional life’s trajectory, looking back on this now…
Thus, a few months after being approached, 50,000 printed issues of The Ville Magazine started flooding the doorsteps and vestibules of what we considered to be every culturally important brick and mortar building, restaurant, record shop and nightclub throughout the city. We began to impose upon the city our printed list of events, stories, thoughts and opinions which we deemed cool and hip enough coming out of Louisville. We were both right and wrong, in most cases.
Now, at that time in the early 2000’s, Louisville actually did have a large and semi-unified music scene that was starting to generate some national buzz due to the breakout success of recording artists from the area like My Morning Jacket, FLAW, Days of the New, Tantric and Nappy Roots. And I mysteriously had some sort of back-life connection to them all, at that time.
My nomination to this editorial post at The Ville came on the heels shortly after I had just co-produced the first ever rock and roll concert aboard the historic Belle of Louisville river steamboat, selling it out with three local independent rock artists: Flatlyne, Factor IX and The Constant. It turned out to be the complete shit show you’d expect, floating down the Ohio river for a three hour tour in front of that river city. We managed to blow the on board power three times that night, sold out of all beer and booze before the boat could even turn around to head back to port, and generally annoyed the poor Belle of Louisville crew who were used to a more peaceful and pleasant crowd. They had fun though and were satisfied with the fact that we didn’t sink the boat or do any damage. The cops who sailed with us didn’t even decide arrest anyone. So, with as much dignity as the Belle crew could muster, they survived the rock and roll onslaught we brought onto that floating piece of history that night.
So, back to The Ville’s ownership….naturally, or perhaps by default, I was the only logical choice for this group of boneheads to nominate as their Music Editor of the magazine. Even though I had never had one thing published in my life except a poem in my high school yearbook which I wrote about a classmate I had a major crush on, who was killed in a car wreck.
Nevertheless, I dove head first into this editorial endeavor and started reading as many Hunter S. Thompson essays as I could to draw inspiration and to help find my own inner voice in my writings and reporting style for The Ville on Louisville’s burgeoning music scene.
Moving on from The Ville in 2005 I would then eventually find my way into the freelance writing world for a few other local publications throughout the city. Apparently word got out that my published raging and jabbering about Louisville and Kentucky’s rock and alternative music scene actually made sense to some readers. Then LEO Weekly, Louisville Magazine/Louisville.com, Louisville Music News, GonzoToday.com, Performer Magazine and my blog Louisville Scuttlebutt become some of my other editorial outlets where my own style of GONZO reporting and writing would be authored through 2016, when I once again decided it was time for a change in direction…
At the end of 2017 I decided to make a change after hanging up my freelance writing gigs in 2016, given that Louisville’s music scene – in my opinion – started to take a bit of a creative down-turn. Less and less original recording artists were emerging from the city and original music venues and annual events began to shutter. Plus, with Rick Pitino & Tom Jurich getting fired over some bullshit they had nothing to do with, thus crashing the once prestigious University of Louisville Men’s Basketball dynasty, the rising violent crime throughout the city, and a number of other personal instigators, I decided it was time to part ways and move on from my hometown.
After firing off my resume and letters of interest to quite a few industry folks I had met over the yeas, I was finally offered an opportunity to move to Nashville in January of 2018 to help an established publicist get his newly formed PR firm, 2911 Media, up and running successfully. And just like that I was now helping orchestrate the day-to-day operations and publicity campaigns for some of country music’s most iconic names including The Oak Ridge Boys, Charley Pride, Crystal Gayle, Lee Greenwood and many others.
And once again, I dove head first into this new world of music and writing, this time in a REAL music city – Nashville – with my first assignment and task being to help orchestrate and plan the media days at the Grand Ole Opry House for The Oak Ridge Boys forthcoming new album, 17th Avenue Revival. No pressure at all…
Fast forward to 2024 and I am still here today. Doing what I do, by GOD’s grace. Settled, not far outside of Nashville in a heavily fortified, secured, and undisclosed location. Surrounded by a small forest, a Doberman Pinscher, 13 Chicken Shits, and a small armory that you’d expect any Jarhead to be in possession of. Still pursuing this crazy endeavor of working in the music industry as a Publicist and PR Representative for my own boutique agency representing several established recording artists, music producers and impresarios. Some of the greatest human beings on earth too, I might add.
However, in September, I will be once again taking up my first editorial writing assignment in nearly 10 years for SavingCountryMusic.com, returning to my hometown of Louisville to cover and photograph what is likely to be one of the most massive music festivals the city has ever hosted, with a plethora of elite musical talent from every generation of the past 40 years. Therefore, it’s onto Bourbon & Beyond it shall be, to write something other than a press release or pitch copy.
So I’ve now relaunched this blog (scuttlebutt.blog) from the ashes of my previous blog, Louisville Scuttlebutt, as an outlet for me to once again write and publish stories, reviews and my GONZO inspired theories on not only music, but just about anything else which I feel like turning my inner Hunter S. Thompson on to. The GONZO genes will once again be turned loose…
