JOURNALISM

I got started writing for the so-called alternate press in Los Angeles, first with The Staff, a weekly that was formed by former staff of the LA Free Press after that paper underwent new ownership leading to editorial disagreements. I free-lanced for The Staff and then became its managing editor. The job paid a pittance which more often than not was not paid at all, but I got to interview world-renown jazz musicians, national and regional political heavyweights, counter-culture superstars, and numerous respected writers coming through LA on book tours, and work with and get to know some super writers, artists, and just plain characters such as Harlan Ellison, Susanella Rogers, Kim Gottlieb, Thomas Warkenton, Brian Kirby and others. I free lanced for the old Los Angeles Herald Examiner getting frequent work for their front page q-and-a feature and articles for California Living, their Sunday magazine. I did book reviews for the LA Times which also published several of my op-ed pieces and free lance articles. I was a contributor and columnist for Max Palevsky's publishing venture LA which was short lived but gave me another opportunity to work with top editors like Bob Sherrill, Karl Flemming, Bill Cardoso and Judy Lewellyn.

My friend George Drury Smith of Beyond Baroque helped me land a spot writing a column called In Venice for The Argonaut. I also served as editor of the relatively short-lived Ocean Front Weekly which covered the Main Street section of Santa Monica and north Venice. I did a couple free lance pieces for the Santa Monica Evening Outlook and was hired to edit a special section they published for Venice's 75th anniversary. My free lance work appeared widely in such publications as Canoe, Central Coast Magazine, LA Reader, LA Weekly, Los Angeles Free Press, La Pasefika, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Venice Sideshow, Swank, Chic, Soul Communicator, Sunday Messenger, Quinto Lingo, and Art Voices.

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