George Grella
Verified
(He/Him)
- Music Editor, The Brooklyn Rail
- Freelance Journalist, Freelance
- Writer, Kill Yr Idols
- None, FREELANCE, THE BROOKLYN RAIL, KILL YR IDOLS
New York
As seen in:
Kill Yr Idols,
The Brooklyn Rail,
Financial Times,
Bandcamp Daily,
Substack,
Salon,
Playbill,
Bloomsbury Publishing UK,
Budget Travel,
WQXR-FM (New York, NY),
The Wire,
New Music USA
and
Covers:
I cover the arts and political/social culture.
Critic & Journalist; Financial Times, Bandcamp, The Wire, NYCR, &c; @thebrooklynrail music editor, @333books author—freelance and available for writing/editing
Interview
What was your first job as a journalist?
Writing a column for ClassicalTV
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes, for many years.
How is social media changing news?
Social media gives news a sense of false urgency, that there must be additional information coming in and going out each refresh.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Kolchak
What does it mean to be a journalist?
Being a journalist means writing about facts: gather them, verify them, find the conclusion they seek & be clear about your perspective.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
Anything with #FAKENEWS
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Send me an email, and give me details.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Audio recorders, notebooks, and text editors.
What's your favorite social network?
Twitter
Who do you wish followed you?
I'd like to be followed by editors interested in out-of-the-mainstream views on culture.
Why did you become a journalist?
Journalism find me. I began writing independent criticism, and gathered more and more readers.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
I didn't work for my high school paper. I wrote about sports for my college paper.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
Writing about Kind of Blue and being a tiny part of America's cultural heritage.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Think clearly so you can write clearly.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Mornings
What's the best pitch you ever got?
I got a pitch that said vaporwave was for guys sitting at their computers at 2am, drinking cough syrup. Sold.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
Something that had to do with a gown Rihanna was wearing,
What's your favorite drink?
The Manhattan is the finest cocktail.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Behind a book.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
The New York Review of Books
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That it's about liking things, it's about seeing clearly what they are.
Would you like to take the Muck Rack Interview?
Create a Muck Rack profile.