In 2024, I have launched a YouTube channel, in an attempt to rebel against my limitations, learn new skills, and expand into new media. One project for the channel is the Staten Island Restaurant Tour, started in 2023 on Medium, in which I eat comfort food, explore new neighborhoods, and photojournalize in pictures and text. I have also published three relatively trivial new books: collections of backgrounds for Zoom videoconferencing. I am out and about and I feel fine. How are you?
- author, YouTube blogger, Medium blogger
- founder and owner of Quiet River Press
- co-founder and original editor-in-chief of etown.com
- former audio editor, blogger, news columnist, & reviewer for Sound & Vision (previously known as Home Theater)
- former audio critic for Rolling Stone
- former columnist for DigitalTrends.com
- former senior editor of Video Magazine
In 2023, I published Medium Rare, a collection of post-S&V work from 2018-2021, and built upon the social, cultural, and work gains of 2022. I felt I had finally learned how to live my best life -- in the year I turned 65.
In 2022, fully vaccinated, I emerged from the pandemic to relaunch my social, concertgoing, travel, work, and love lives. It was one of the best years of my life. I call it the year of my revival.
In 2021, I began describing myself as semi-retired or self-underemployed, and anxiously awaited my turn to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.
In 2020, my main focus moved to "3 Questions," a series of brief interviews with authors and musicians for Medium, actually begun the previous year. It was consolation for the new way of life forced on me by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2019, I hung out a new shingle as copy editor, editing press releases and web copy for PR firms. I also used the Medium platform to publish blogs on a variety of subjects.
In 2018, my dozen years of full-time employment at Sound & Vision (formerly Home Theater) came to an end. I wrote a new book, The Friendly Audio Guide.
In 2017, I spent my last year on the staff of Sound & Vision (formerly Home Theater).
In 2016, I celebrated my 15th anniversaries as a contributor to Sound & Vision (originally Home Theater) and author of Practical Home Theater. I have a thing for numbers divisible by five.
In 2015, I became an orphan.
In 2014, my book Practical Home Theater became available as a Kindle edition while the print edition continued.
In 2013, Home Theater changed its name to Sound & Vision and I've come along for the ride.
In 2012, I continued finding more new things to say about loudspeakers and surround receivers than any man alive.
In 2011, I celebrated my tenth anniversary as a contributor to Home Theater, four years as a freelancer and six more as a full-timer. My book Practical Home Theater also celebrated its own tenth anniversary.
In 2010, I celebrated my fifth anniversary as audio editor of Home Theater.
In 2009, I kept my nose to the grindstone as the magazine survived amid a foundering economy.
In 2008, I managed not to fumble my nest egg in the financial crisis.
In 2007, my online news writing for Home Theater moved from the blog to the news page.
In 2006, my Home Theater blog went daily, and my restaurant book became an ad-supported site.
In 2005, a key freelance relationship deepened into a full-time job as I became audio editor of Home Theater. I also landed stories in Cargo and Sync.
In 2004, I was named news editor for Home Theater, my second book made its debut, the first seven titles from Quiet River Press flowed into the mighty Amazon, and I began writing a column for DesignTechnica.com (now DigitalTrends.com).
In 2003, I founded Quiet River Press, a publishing company specializing in print-on-demand books.
In 2002, my first book made its debut.
In 2001, my Internet company died. I breathed a sigh of relief, reclaimed my identity as a magazine writer, began contributing to Home Theater Magazine, and wrote a book on home theater.
In 2000, I gave up editing entirely and retired to my home/office.
In 1999, I stepped aside as editor-in-chief to become etown.com's head writer, helped train several young writers and editors, and watched the company grow and grow.
In 1998, my company was funded.
In 1997, I made a lot of new friends.
In 1996, E/Town: The Home Electronics Guide made its debut on the Internet with me as unpaid editor-in-chief.
In 1995, my company formed in a blaze of passionate emails among five partners. And I started the personal website you're reading now.
In 1994, I started talking about forming a writer-friendly online publishing company. Was this the pivotal moment of my life?
In 1993, I wrote a story for The Washington Post headlined "The Trouble with Multimedia."
In 1992, I started writing for Details, and went to Japan.
In 1991, I became the audio critic of Rolling Stone.
In 1990, I started writing for Rolling Stone.
In 1989, I wrote lots of video movie reviews for Newsday.
In 1988, I started writing a column on home theater for Audio Video Interiors, which lasted 15 years and was the first and longest-running column on the subject.
In 1987, I started writing for The Village Voice.
In 1986, I left Video Magazine to become a self-employed writer specializing in technology and the arts. Was this the pivotal moment of my life?
In 1985, I went to Europe, and became aware of possibilities in the world outside the magazine.
In 1984, I edited Video's program review section, along with most other sections.
In 1983, I continued working two jobs -- Video by day, Trouser Press by night.
In 1982, I met Richard Thompson while editing the Trouser Press Collectors' Magazine.
In 1981, I edited every word that went into Video Magazine.
In 1980, I became assistant editor of Video Magazine.
In 1979, I graduated from college, got a production job with Conde Nast, and walked into the offices of Trouser Press, a rock magazine, without an appointment.
In 1978, I worked for a newspaper.
In 1977, I edited a school magazine.
In 1976, I started writing about music for the college newspaper.
In 1975, as I graduated from high school, I decided to become a writer. No, this was the pivotal moment of my life.
In 1957, I was born into a union family.