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33 1/3: Not Just for Gramophones Anymore

For many writers, music plays a healthy role in our writing process (HUGE role, in this writer’s case). Whether spurring the first flicker of an idea, forming the soundtrack to the tale we set out to tell, or used as a helper to click into the weepy/depressed/energetic/lovesick mood we seek to capture in words, music is often the key; it is the format that is able to get us into a moment or feeling, invoking memories of our own in just about three minutes. Just a chorus and a few verses married to the perfect arrangement of instruments, that’s all a singer-songwriter needs. (It’s almost enough to invoke envy, isn’t it?)

When looking for inspiration, many of us have our old standbys, an album that hits just the right chord, the one we never tire of and never goads us to hit SKIP. For me it might be a James Morrison record, maybe some Rilo Kiley, or if I’m having one of those days, The White Album. Whichever record it is for you, it’s the one that leads to endless inspiration. We imagine the experiences the singer is emoting, remembering and reliving. With a little bit of luck, the album sweeps us away, enticing us to dream up a story linking the songs. Maybe you, like me, imagine it like a series of music videos, the same characters appearing, track to track. Or maybe you imagine it in words.

The book series 33 1/3 caters to these imaginings, and many more. In 33 1/3, each volume explores a single album and is written by a single author, many of them telling the story the album has inspired in themselves, while others take a glance at the album of choice from an insider’s look or from a cultural commentator’s standpoint. The series, published by Continuum International Publishing Group and edited by David Barker, is so named for the speed of an LP album: 33 1/3 revolutions per minute. To date, 33 1/3 has published 74 volumes covering albums by everyone from The Beatles to Nas and Nirvana, even Celine Dion. The publication’s blog not only makes available excerpts from upcoming volumes, but posts articles and promotes writing about music. And, occasionally, they hold contests. Their latest tied into the release of Highway to Hell by Joe Bonomo: In 500 words or less, tell why you love (or hate) AC/DC. What might’ve been waiting for you if your AC/DC love/hate story was chosen as the winner? Well, a personalized copy of Bonomo’s book, of course.

Though many favorites—such as Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits and Exile on Main St. by The Rolling Stones—have already been written on and published by 33 1/3 authors, and proposal submissions to be a part of the 33 1/3 project are currently closed, there’s nothing to stop all of us from letting those and other albums inspire our next writing venture.

If you’re new to the 33 1/3 series, check out veteran Black Clock author Andrew Hultkrans’s take on Love’s Forever Changes. Looking for a music writing fix to get you started? Download a copy of Black Clock 2, our “lost music of the imagination” issue to get your creative juices flowing. Or, if you would like to see some music integrated into your everyday Black Clock reading, check out Mallory Farrugia’s post, “Listen to BC 11,” where she has compiled a playlist to go along with the issue.

by Rachel Kolb
an Editorial Assistant for Black Clock and an MFA Writing candidate at CalArts

Chris Ziegler’s business card is bigger than yours

Chris Ziegler is the former music editor at the Orange County Weekly and staff writer at now defunct legendary, Punk Planet. His freelance work has appeared in Paper Magazine, Arthur and Spin, among others. He is one of two co-founders of Los Angeles music paper the LA Record, a free alternative weekly that is distributed on street corners. Along with the brand’s website and other cross-promotional events, the Record tries to promote local Los Angeles music. We recently spoke with Ziegler (via phone) about the internet’s continued impact on the future of literary publishing, and some ideas to stay afloat.

BLACK CLOCK: Do you think what’s happened in the music industry this past decade because of the internet will happen to the literary, publishing industry?

CHRIS ZIEGLER: What’s happened to music is going to come to publishing. People are getting freaked out about e-books and a similar thing is happening with comic books but it’s not as mainstream yet. What’s happening is a total reconstruction of the entire industry and the information is incidental. To retool something so that it can reproduce to make a profit.

How has the LA Record dealt with these challenges?

We planned for it. The whole point is to reinforce and promote the LA music community and we don’t rely solely on the physical format to do that, we can do it through the site, we can do it with the publication and through events. We just need the physical product in the beginning to establish ourselves, basically what we wanted to be to people, so they would know what we are about. We do the physical publication but it’s marketing for the brand, the national newspapers produce the brand to sell the physical product. The LA Record produces the magazine to promote the brand. We also do parties, put out music, it doesn’t necessarily have to be in print, it’s a format that fit[s]. It’s a giant business card.

Do you see any way of salvaging these industries?

I don’t think there is any way to save them the way they are now. There is no way a literary journal is going to turn a profit, maybe if you add DVD’s like Oxford American did. The only way you could do that is to make a physical artifact. I know that sounds like a contradiction but make an artifact that is completely unique that can’t be replicated on the internet. Since everything you can put in a magazine can be replicated online, you have to be super creative and smart at marketing. Point being you can’t just put a bunch of pictures and words on the internet. It needs to be unique.

Do you think reading physical books and magazines will become an artifact of the past?

It’s kind of already an artifact. It’s not like a 150 years when there was a King James Bible in every house. I think Dos Passos said that, don’t quote me.

As soon as there is an effective e-book reader it will kill books. Last night I literally tried to read a Kobo Abe book on my laptop for free but the site format was total crap so I opted not to. Its just physically hard to do, music isn’t so difficult. So as soon as they find some easy replacement that works, they will.

by Nikki Darling
who writes fiction and non-fiction, and graduated from CalArts in May 2010 with an MFA in Critical Studies

Posts Tagged ‘Music’—

33 1/3: Not Just for Gramophones Anymore

Chris Ziegler’s business card is bigger than yours

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