What Ever Happened...

Scott Woods at rockcritics.com has reprinted Steven Ward's classic March 2000 classic interview that answered the question, "What Ever Happened to Rock Critic Paul Nelson?"

And while you're there, there's much  more Paul Nelson-related content to be found.

Mountain Views

Last April when I returned to Utah, all-around good guy Terry Burden invited me on his nightly Park City TV show Mountain Views to talk about Paul Nelson.

 

Number 77

On this day, which would have been Paul Nelson's 77th birthday, celebrate by reading his January 6, 1972, review of his old friend Bob Dylan's "Greatest Hits, Vol. 2." It's Paul interviewing himself, much as he did in his memoirs of working at Mercury Records, invoking "some form of sympathetic critical schizophrenia" to get to the heart of the matter.

King's English Reading

Last April 13th the folks at one of my favorite bookstores, the King's English in Salt Lake City, were kind enough to host a reading and signing event on my behalf. Thanks to my sister-in-law Pam Avery for videotaping it and to my dear friend (and wonderful writer) Dawn Houghton for providing the best introduction a returning-home writer could hope for.

 

克林特・伊斯特伍德

I received word today that Conversations with Clint: Paul Nelson's Lost Interviews with Clint Eastwood, 1979 to 1983 is going to be translated into Chinese.

*Chair not included. 

Ugly Things

Alan Bisbort reviews Everything is an Afterthought in the current issue of Ugly Things:

"From the evidence presented with sensitivity and intelligence by Kevin Avery in Everything Is an Afterthought, [Paul Nelson] may have made his biggest mark as a human being, nurturing the careers of musicians he admired, like the New York Dolls, Rod Stewart, Elliott Murphy, Graham Parker, David Bowie, Mike Seeger, and Warren Zevon, and mentoring entire generations of young writers who worked under him at... various publications."

Click here to read the entire review (published right alongside a review of a Harlan Ellison book, let me hasten to note).

ARSC Award for Excellence

Last September, the Association for Recorded Sound Collections announced the winners of the 2012 ARSC Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research. 

My publisher, Fantagraphics, wrote at the time:

Kevin Avery was awarded a Certificate of Merit due to the exceptionally high quality work he accomplished researching and writing the book Everything is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson. Everything is an Afterthought follows the father of contemporary rock criticism, Paul Nelson, on his journey from Rolling Stone and beyond.

'Since 1991, the awards are presented to authors and publishers of books, articles, liner notes, and monographs, to recognize outstanding published research in the field of recorded sound. In giving these awards, ARSC recognizes outstanding contributions, encourages high standards, and promotes awareness of superior works. Two awards may presented annually in each category—one for best history and one for best discography. Certificates of Merit are presented to runners-up of exceptionally high quality. The 2012 Awards for Excellence honor works published in 2011.'

Cheers to Kevin and his thorough work which you can find here.

All About Jazz

Even though the book has very little to do with jazz, C. Michael Bailey writes about Everything Is an Afterthought over at All About Jazz: "Avery's account of Nelson's tenure at Rolling Stone and his correspondence with long-time publisher Jann Wenner, particularly toward the end, is revealing. Nelson's chronic deadline-missing and endless editing resulted in a bibliography much smaller than it could have been. Having said that, what Nelson wrote was excellent, considered among the best by his peers."