Ian S. Port
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Author, THE BIRTH OF LOUD: Leo Fender, Les Paul, and the Guitar-Pioneering Rivalry That Shaped Rock 'n' Roll | iansmithport@gmail.com
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Articles by Ian S. Port
Three Proud Men | Proud Watford | Three Proud Gay Men Tell Their Stories |
February 2024 saw the sold-out world premiere of this brand new play, in which Three Proud Men invite you to join them on a journey of truth that spans over 90 years. Written by Ian Port and directed by Olivier award nominee, Dan Clarkson. Starring Watford residents, Ian Port, Bryan Timberlake and Lee Keogh, Three Proud Men is based on real-life experiences and features live music by Alex Williams. Hear their stories, share their thoughts. Joy and despair. Laughter and loss.
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Drive business results with your content Get a complete picture of content performance Understand how your audience perceives your content Get to better results faster with the help of AI Trusted by Data-Driven Marketing Teams “Which content works best, and where? The Knotch platform helps us answer these questions, and the clear result for Zillow has been higher quality, higher performing content all around.” Ian Port, Director of Content
StreetEasy Valuation: Frequently Asked Questions
Our home value estimate tool, StreetEasy Valuation, shows homeowners an estimate of their property’s current market value, powered by StreetEasy’s expansive base of NYC real estate market data. It’s a starting point in determining the worth of a home, and does not constitute an appraisal. We encourage owners to reach out to a real estate professional for more information on their home’s potential value. To see the StreetEasy Valuation of a home you own, simply visit StreetEasy’s Sell My Home page.
What Is a Land-Lease Building in NYC| StreetEasy
Between high prices, broker’s fees, monthly maintenance costs, property taxes, co-op boards, and building restrictions, buying your dream home in NYC can be incredibly complex. So let’s add one more tricky piece to the puzzle: land leases, particularly land-lease buildings. What Are Land-Lease Buildings? Land-lease buildings make up a small fraction of the residential buildings in New York. There are roughly 100 land-lease buildings in the city.
An Affordable Neighborhood in Manhattan| StreetEasy
New Yorkers are moving on up — way up. A neighborhood in the upper reaches of Manhattan provides both the buzzy lures of the city with a quieter, more residential feel — like a plethora of parks and river views that are nothing less than poetic. No wonder Inwood is (ahem) “in”! Here, let us count the ways we heart it. Inwood 87 Post Avenue $1,850 No Fee beds@1.5x Created with Sketch. 1 | bath@1.5x Created with Sketch. 1 Inwood 514 West 211st Street $1,800 No Fee beds@1.5x Created with Sketch.
New York Rent Laws 2021: What's Changed for NYC Renters
Looking for COVID-19 info? Here are current protections for renters and owners during the pandemic. And here’s our guide to renting an apartment during COVID-19. Find more helpful guides on our COVID-19 + NYC Real Estate hub. Note: Below is a running list of changes dating back to 2019. On June 23, 2021, the Rent Guidelines Board voted to freeze stabilized rents for the first six months of one-year leases starting on or after Oct. 1, 2021. After six months, rents will be raised by 1.5%.
Experts Team Management: Team-Leading Tips
StreetEasy Experts is expanding to better support agents who operate as part of a team. Experts Teams gives participating Experts a simpler way to redistribute connections — and more time to focus on superior client service. Tasks and Tips for Managing Your Team Reassign connections from your dashboard. Simply find the connection in your Experts dashboard and assign it to the teammate who’s the best fit. View the status of assigned connections. Reassigned connections remain visible in your dashboard.
Experts Team Members: Tips for Agent Teams
Experts Teams supports agents who operate as a team. Built to save time by keeping everyone in sync, it allows team leads to assign their connections to the most qualified teammate. Read on for a brief breakdown of Experts Teams works as well as tips for managing the new pipeline of team connections you’ll be receiving in your Experts dashboard. Experts Teams 101: What You Need to Know Your team lead sends you a connection.
Introducing StreetEasy Experts Teams
We’re rolling out new functionality to better support Experts agents who operate as part of a team. First up? Experts Teams: a new feature that gives participating Experts a fast, simple means of reassigning their connections. Experts Teams is currently in Beta, and only available to select Experts. It will be available to all Experts in late Spring 2021. To learn more about how Experts Teams works, check out our guides: Tips for Team Leads Tips for Team Members
Verified Pros to Help You Buy and Sell in NYC
Whether you’re looking to buy or sell a home in NYC, StreetEasy Experts agents have verified experience doing deals on homes like yours. (Getty Images) Buying and selling a home in New York City can be complicated. Whichever side of the deal you’re on, there’s tons to know — about the neighborhood, building history, even the quirks of the co-op board. StreetEasy created the Experts program to make things easier.
Listing Agent: How to Choose a Real Estate Agent for Selling
When it comes time to sell a home in NYC, the first step to consider is how to choose a real estate agent for selling. That’s because selling a home in NYC — not to mention getting the highest price possible — is a lot of work. The burning question is, where to find a listing agent, particularly a real estate professional who understands you and your property? Enter StreetEasy’s new Expert Match tool, designed to make choosing a listing agent a snap.
StreetEasy's Expert Match Will Pair You With the Perfect Listing Agent
Expert Match is a new tool from StreetEasy that offers New Yorkers a customized selection of top listing agents who are ideally suited to selling your particular home. Built from years of expertise and research, Expert Match aims to simplify one of the major challenges of the home-selling process: Finding a listing agent who deeply understands the market for your home and also matches your personality, working style, and expectations about price and timing.
How StreetEasy’s Expert Match Works: Answers to Your Questions
Expert Match is a new program that matches top, qualified Experts agents with eager NYC home sellers. StreetEasy’s Expert Match is an exciting new program for Experts agents: It uses a sophisticated algorithm to match Experts with home sellers whose properties closely match those in the agent’s experience.
These Areas Doubled in a Decade
Wise owners see their home as a home first, and an investment second, if at all. At the same time, everyone — especially New Yorkers — hopes for significant home price appreciation when they go to sell. So how much price increase can a seller expect on their NYC real estate? A new analysis of StreetEasy data reveals the median NYC home price appreciation: How much NYC property values increased over 5, 10, or more years of ownership.
What Does It Mean and How Much Do You Really Pay?
Imagine you’re cruising along, looking at rental listings for around $2,300, which is close to the top of your budget. You click on an apartment you love, but it’s asking $2,377, just slightly over what you want to pay. But look — the listing description says something about “net-effective rent on a 13-month lease.” What does “net-effective rent” mean, and what’s the deal with a 13-month lease? What Is Net-Effective Rent?
Cornelia Street 1BR Asks $2495, Overlooks Taylor Swift's Former Home
This Cornelia Street 1BR overlooks the townhouse that inspired Taylor Swift’s song “Cornelia Street.” Quiet, quaint Cornelia Street runs for only one block through NYC’s West Village, but last year, Taylor Swift made it famous. Her song “Cornelia Street” commemorated the time the singer spent living in an opulent, 5,500-square-foot townhouse on that very block, complete with indoor pool, three fireplaces, and a parking garage.
COVID-19 Protections for Renters and Homeowners in NYC and NJ
As COVID-19 transforms New York City, public health orders at the city, state, and federal levels have been put in place to protect renters and homeowners and help everyone stay in their homes during these uncertain times. Both market-rate and rent-stabilized renters are affected by recent stopgap changes to NYC housing laws, particularly those who have lost or are at risk of losing their jobs due to the pandemic.
Upgrade: StreetEasy Experts Now Integrated with Agent Tools App
The StreetEasy Experts program is changing the way buyers connect with prospective agents by offering a way for them to match with agents based on their particular area of expertise. Today, we’re introducing a new integrated experience with the Agent Tools mobile app, making it easier for Experts to manage new contacts, respond to new prospective buyers, and update their deal status on the go.
The Man Who Made Animal Friends
On a scorching afternoon in July, just inland from the discount swimsuit shops and high-rise hotels of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, an elephant named Bubbles tromps past groomed lawns and gleaming pickup trucks on a quiet residential street.
Tiger King: Who Is Doc Antle, the Man Who Made Animal Friends
On a scorching afternoon in July, just inland from the discount swimsuit shops and high-rise hotels of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, an elephant named Bubbles tromps past groomed lawns and gleaming pickup trucks on a quiet residential street.
Book Review: Books, Box Sets & Reviews
Ian S. Port Reviewed by Tim Stegall, Fri., Dec. 6, 2019 How exciting, telling rock's story via the development of the solid-body electric guitar, the music's defining instrument. Former San Francisco Weekly Music Editor Ian Port accomplishes this in a fast-paced, cinematic style that brings all the necessary scholarship herein to life.
The Closing Prices of Favorite NYC Homes: July 2019 Edition
StreetEasy users have certain favorite listings, which rack up saves and often get featured here on One Block Over. But how do those favorites perform on the market? Here, we look at the closing prices of some recent popular homes. It’s an unscientific roundup, but it shows that attractive pricing on a nice property can still lead to a closing above ask, even in a struggling market. Check ’em out below, and search more NYC homes for sale and rent on StreetEasy. 474 Waverly Ave.
Audiobook Review| The Guitar-Pioneering Rivalry that Shaped Rock ’n’ Roll
Legendary guitarist and guitar-maker, Les Paul (here in a concert in New York in 1947), along with rival guitar-maker Leo Fender, helped shape American music through their craft. By Ryan Paul Winn 6/26/2019 • American History Magazine The Birth of Loud: Leo Fender, Les Paul, and the Guitar-Pioneering Rivalry that Shaped Rock ’n’ Roll Written by Ian S. Port Read by Pete Simonelli, with the recording produced by Simon & Schuster Audio and Blackstone Audio.
The Soul of Rock 'n' Roll
By Ian S. Port August 2019 • American History Leo Fender’s rhythmic innovation powered the music of a generation LEO FENDER HAD LONG BEEN recognized as a wizard of musical technology whose name became a brand, and whose gear powered countless bands. Fender most truly innovated in creating the Precision Bass, which in rock ’n’ roll settings quickly supplanted the upright bass. Among innumerable players with whom the “P bass” found favor were legendary studio musicians Carol Kaye and James Jamerson.
Letter of Recommendation: Jury Duty
Letter of Recommendation April 30, 2019 One of the first things the lawyers told us was that serving on a jury would be nothing like the way it is on television. I guess they were trying to make us even less excited about having to be there. But I had already postponed the obligation three times, each time thinking that maybe someday I’d be less furious about having to surrender days of my life to the State of New York for nothing in return. That day never came, though my deferred jury summons did.
'Loud' covers the men who forged rock's greatest weapons
The cover to “The Birth of Loud,” by Ian S. Port. Photo: Scribner One was a workbench wonk who never learned to play the instruments he built. The other was a showboat who gladly fed the misleading claim that he alone “invented” the defining instrument of rock ‘n’ roll. In truth, the guitar innovators Leo Fender and Les Paul each had plenty of help, and both men borrowed throughout their careers as freely as a second-rate cover band.
The story about the guys who made rock louder
Breaking News 3.5 earthquake rattles Bay Area By Michael Lindgren | Washington Post Consider the Fender Stratocaster. Asked to picture an electric guitar, most people will immediately bring to mind inventor Leo Fender’s most famous creation. Upon its introduction in 1954, the Stratocaster not only redefined the sound of American music but immediately became, with its sweeping curves and jewel-like colors, a stunning piece of midcentury design on par with a Bel Geddes radio or an Eames chair.
The story about the guys who made rock louder
Breaking News 3.5 earthquake rattles Bay Area By Michael Lindgren | Washington Post Consider the Fender Stratocaster. Asked to picture an electric guitar, most people will immediately bring to mind inventor Leo Fender’s most famous creation. Upon its introduction in 1954, the Stratocaster not only redefined the sound of American music but immediately became, with its sweeping curves and jewel-like colors, a stunning piece of midcentury design on par with a Bel Geddes radio or an Eames chair.
Author event with Ian S. Port, author of The Birth of Loud
Parnassus Books is thrilled to welcome Ian S. Port, author of The Birth of Loud: Leo Fender, Les Paul, and the Guitar-Pioneering Rivalry That Shaped Rock ‘n’ Roll. Presented with WXNA-FM, with guitar demonstration featuring Fanny's House of Music. Before the rock revolution, the guitar was a little noticed instrument, barely loud enough for dancing crowds to actually hear, and even early amplifiers that were invented to fix the problem dulled the senses with scratchy feedback.
The Birth of Loud
The extraordinary story of the making of the electric guitar, its dueling innovators, and the musical revolution the instrument ignited. A riveting saga in the history of rock 'n' roll:the decades-long rivalry between the two men who innovated the electric guitar’s amplified sound—Leo Fender and Les Paul—and their intense competition to convince rock stars like The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton to play the instruments they built.
Book World: A look at the two men who turned up the volume on rock music
Michael Lindgren, The Washington Post Published 12:38 pm CST, Friday, January 11, 2019 The Birth of Loud: Leo Fender, Les Paul, and the Guitar-Pioneering Rivalry That Shaped Rock 'n' Roll The Birth of Loud: Leo Fender, Les Paul, and the Guitar-Pioneering Rivalry That Shaped Rock 'n' Roll Photo: Scribner, Handout Photo: Scribner, Handout Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Image 1 of 1 The Birth of Loud: Leo Fender, Les Paul, and the Guitar-Pioneering Rivalry That Shaped Rock 'n' Roll The Birth of...
Debut Book by Alumnus Ian Port '16 Coming in January
Nonfiction writing alumnus Ian Port '16 has his first book, titled The Birth of Loud: Leo Fender, Les Paul, and the Guitar-Pioneering Rivalry That Shaped Rock 'n' Roll, coming out via Scribner this January. Port began writing this book during his time at Columbia and presented an early version as his graduate thesis.
Mentalist Oz Pearlman on the NYC Apartment That Killed a Relationship
Oz Pearlman made this Oz Pearlman subway ad appear. “It’s easier for me to show you New York neighborhoods I haven’t lived in than neighborhoods I have lived in,” says renowned mentalist and magician Oz Pearlman. Born in Israel and raised in the Midwest, Pearlman made his way to NYC while in college and has lived here ever since, in a series of sometimes-glorious, often-marginal apartments all over Manhattan.
Christopher Owens Debuts Solo Album Lysandre at the Lodge, 11/9/12
In his first public performance since leaving the celebrated local rock band Girls, Christopher Owens debuted his new solo album, Lysandre, at an intimate, sold-out, and very brief show in San Francisco last night.
Rolling Stone Names Great American Music Hall the Sixth Best Club in America
Hey, look! Another exercise in presumptive list-making! This edition comes from your rock godfathers at Rolling Stone, who have just declared San Francisco's Great American Music Hall the No. 6 club in America. Great American Music Hall, you will recall, is the stunning former bordello at 859 O'Farrell St. with the ornate balconies, the long, narrowish wood floor, and the excellent sound.
Now Arcade Fire Has Joined the Bridge School Benefit Lineup
After announcing a solid-but-not-eyeball-popping lineup for this year's Bridge School Benefit concert, Neil and Pegi Young have continued adding to it -- most notably bringing in Tom Waits for the Sunday, Oct. 27, edition, marking the man's first full live show in five years. Now, it turns out Arcade Fire is hopping on Saturday's lineup, too, in one of a handful of shows promoting the band's new album, Reflektor, which comes out Oct. 29.
Mark Kozelek Misses Nothing: On Sun Kil Moon's Benji
Mark Kozelek has a bad back, owns a $350 pair of lampshades, gets frustrated trying to park near Berkeley's Greek Theatre, loves Led Zeppelin's acoustic "Bron-Yr-Aur," and let out a laugh when he heard his grandmother had died. It's important that we know this.
The Birth of Loud
The Birth of Loud PROLOGUE SANTA MONICA, 1964 The screams came in waves, hysterical and elated, punctuated by applause. Then the camera found them: five men in matching striped shirts, teetering with nerves, grinning like children. The Beach Boys. A clap on the snare drum sent the song rumbling to life, and the players at the stageâs front tapped their feet to stay in time. Punches from the drum kit underpinned a sheen of male voices in harmony.
Getting to Know Your NYC Neighborhood: A How-to Guide
Learning your way around a New York City neighborhood is trickier than it seems. Almost as soon as we arrive in a new place, we tend to create routines, which may be comforting but work against the goal of discovery. The key to getting oriented in a neighborhood — both before and after you move — is to constantly mix things up.
6 Ways To Be Successful Using Premier Agent, According to an Agent
You know this, we know this: the NYC real estate market is a very particular, challenging and heavily competitive arena for agents. There’s an array of avenues agents can pursue to generate more business, but for StreetEasy, it’s through programs like Premier Agent where we hope to help you connect with more clients and ultimately grow your bottom line. So, how do you make the most of Premier Agent?
Photos from Grammy Career Day at SFSU with John Vanderslice, Lia Rose, and Student Musicians
When the ancient Polynesians invented surfing, they often used a paddle to help them navigate. Fast-forward a few millennia, and Stand-Up Paddleboarding, or SUP, finds itself trendy again. Part of its increasing popularity is that standing upright allows surfers to spot waves more easily and thus catch more of them, multiplying the fun factor. Paddling back to the wave becomes less of a strain as well. The ability to cruise along on flat inland water, surveying the sights, is another advantage.
Outside Lands 2012 Lineup: Reactions From the Twitterverse | All Shook Down
When the ancient Polynesians invented surfing, they often used a paddle to help them navigate. Fast-forward a few millennia, and Stand-Up Paddleboarding, or SUP, finds itself trendy again. Part of its increasing popularity is that standing upright allows surfers to spot waves more easily and thus catch more of them, multiplying the fun factor. Paddling back to the wave becomes less of a strain as well. The ability to cruise along on flat inland water, surveying the sights, is another advantage.
Today, Sept. 7, is National Beer Lovers’ Day, a holiday that conveniently tells you how it wants to be celebrated. But just to make enjoying this event as easy as possible, we’ve compiled this list of great places to have a beer in every single New York City neighborhood. Yes, there’s a beer hall, dive bar, gastropub, or suds seller in nearly every NYC neighborhood here — 113 across all five boroughs — so you won’t have to go far to lift a glass or a bottle. Which spot do we recommend near you?
My Soul Looks Back
Along with these huge personalities come novelistic details about what everyone ate, drank and listened to. Harris is best known as a cookbook author and curator of recipes from the African diaspora, and each chapter ends with a recipe: Galician white bean soup like that served at one-time West Village staple El Faro, or kale as Maya Angelou prepared it for her legendary New Year’s Day parties.
That Winsome Moan
“I didn’t do any research,” Luther Dickinson said with a grin as he opened the door to his room at the Washington Square Park Hotel. Dickinson was in New York for a show that evening at Rockwood Music Hall, and he had agreed to talk with me about a question I’d become obsessed with: Did blues slide guitar evolve from the Hawaiian steel guitar or from the African instrument usually claimed as its ancestor?
When Michael Jackson Needed A Guitar Solo, He Called The First Lady Of Shred
She is the hellraiser whirling around the King of Pop in the climax of Moonwalker — the cat-suited punk sporting a pointy guitar and an explosion of peroxide blonde. She prowls the stage with Michael Jackson in concert footage from 1987, wearing a three-foot mohawk and a light-up fiber-optic suit, topped only by the guitar solo she unfurls in “Beat It.” She is Jennifer Batten, a guitarist who spent a decade touring the planet with Jackson in support of albums like Bad and Dangerous.
Who Invented the Electric Guitar?
You know the Gibson Les Paul: It's that chunky electric guitar hanging off the shoulders of Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, the classic axe thrust skyward by Guns N' Roses' lead guitarist Slash. You know Gibson's great rival Fender, too, even if you don't know guitars. It makes the iconic Stratocaster Jimi Hendrix played and the workhorse Telecasters so often seen in the arms of Bruce Springsteen. The names of Les Paul and Leo Fender grace many of the most famous electric guitars.
The Man Who Made Animal Friends
On a scorching afternoon in July, just inland from the discount swimsuit shops and high-rise hotels of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, an elephant named Bubbles tromps past groomed lawns and gleaming pickup trucks on a quiet residential street.
Phoning Out: The Future of Buying Concert Tickets May Be in Your Pocket
It's 1 p.m. when your phone buzzes. You check it, and find a cheeky message telling you that an indie pop band you've never heard of is playing tonight at the Regency Ballroom. You've got no plans, so you click through for more info: a breezy paragraph about who's in the band and what they sound like, a slick photo, and a button where you can buy a ticket to the show — plus a free drink — for $25. No fees, no taxes, just the flat price. Maybe you buy it then.
The Colbert Report's Greatness Arrived With Its Very First Episode
The funniest and most incisive show on television is ending this week — so let's look back at how it began. On Oct. 17, 2005, a power-suited Stephen Colbert furrowed his eyebrows and showed off highlights of his new set. Red letters above him shouted "The Colbert Report." The title of his show was silhouetted in back of those letters, so it appeared twice.
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