At CMJ ’06, SPIN.com is on the ground with twelve college students — four writers, four photographers, and four radio personalities — to cover the festival for SPIN.com, live. We’ll be sending them out on mini-missions throughout the festival, and they’ll be reporting live from our booth at Lincoln Center and on the festival grounds, which includes almost every music venue in New York City. Here’s one writer’s perspective on being picked to cover CMJ.
I’d been plotting a way to score a CMJ press pass for weeks. Nowhere else could I check out sets from the Clipse and the Plastic Constellations within mere steps of each other. The thought of missing one of the most action-packed music events in my favorite city was crushing, so I ran down a mental checklist: What publicists do I know? Is there an editor of mine who secretly wants to groom me toward becoming the next Lester Bangs? Have I chopped it up with any rappers who would grant me temporary entourage membership? I’d been a freelance music writer for three years; there had to be a hook up somewhere out there.
The goods came in the form of an afternoon phone call from none other than SPIN.com. After a victory squeal and lap around my apartment (the jog was short), I dialed the number of my main man. “Damn girl, I’ve been thinking about you all day,” he answered jokingly. “Oh yeah?” I quipped. “Well so has SPIN.com.” EMILY YOUSSEF
