Arts & Entertainment Writing

Arts, culture, fashion and entertainment form a large part of my writing and have for several years.

We tend to treat these subjects and topics as if they were somehow frivolous, unlike business management and accounting, for example. As if they somehow don’t apply to real life. That’s something we’ve done in Western culture – try to marginalize and exclude the arts from the every day.

Yet… as we zip along our morning commute to a cubicle and a computer screen, how many of us make the trip bearable by listening to music? We take pleasure in the colour and texture of clothes and how they make us look – in decoration. And how many of us enjoy the fictions – the storytelling – of books, TV series and films? These impulses are vital – arts and culture are who we are, and calling it “entertainment” doesn’t negate that fact.

When you write about arts, you find yourself writing about everything, Artist’s creations revolve around the elements that are crucial to their lives and steeped in their environment. It’s a way to understand cultures other than our own – a way of instantly connecting.

Links:

• Art & Culture Maven – My own blog, with both curated and original content (since 2009)
• Ludwig Van (2017-present, regular contributor of online articles on classical music and music in general)
• Culture Days Blog (A national initiative of the federal government – Ottawa, ON, 2021)
• CBR (2020-2022 – anime, comic book culture)
• Okayafrica.com (New York, 2012-present, occasional contributor)
• AllAboutJazz.com (2018-present, irregular contributor)
• Nuvo Magazine (Vancouver, BC 2019)
• Huffington Post (2011-2019, occasional blog posts on arts and culture topics & occasional freelance pieces)

For my blog, and occasionally other purposes, I’ve also taken more than 80 concert video clips, largely of world music (African genres, Latin, other) and jazz:

• TheTalko (Montreal, 2018-2019, reg contributor of pop culture, lifestyle & entertainment pieces)
• Myentertainmentworld.ca (Toronto, occasional contributor on music 2014-2019)
• TheRichest (Montreal, 2016-2018, regular contributor of pop culture listicles)
• Blasting News (Switzerland, 2016-2017, on pop culture among other topics – Sample #1, Sample #2) 
• Sway Magazine (Toronto, ON – regular contributor 2011 & 2012 – ceased publication) Sample #1, Sample #2
• broken pencil magazine (Toronto, ON, 2007)
• Film Print Magazine (Toronto, ON, 2006)
• Painted Journals/Unsettled (Burlington Arts Centre, Burlington, ON 2001 – artist interviews & text for art show catalogue)
• Lola No. 5 & 6 (Toronto, ON 1999 & 2000)
• Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada (1998)

Other (no link available)

• Locke-Taylor Magazine (occasional pieces, 2015)
• African World Newspaper (Toronto, ON, 2010)
• Lucid Media Magazine (Toronto, ON, occasional contributor to print version 2010)
• Prelude Magazine (Toronto, ON, 2007)
• Ukula.com (Toronto, ON May to December 2007)
• thegate.ca (2005 to 2007)
• Capital Magazine (2007)
• Ifilmalliance.com– (Vancouver, BC 2006)
• Cahoots Magazine (Saskatoon, SK, 2006)
• H Magazine (Hamilton, ON, 2005)

• the Hamilton Spectator (occasional, 1995-1998, 2003)
• ARTSbeat Magazine (Hamilton, ON 1998, regular contributor 1999-2001)
• Burlington Life Downtown (Burlington, ON 2000)
• National Post (Toronto, ON 2000)
• Troika Magazine (Westport, CT 1998)
• Night Life Magazine (Hamilton, ON 1998)
• Performing Arts & Entertainment (Toronto, ON 1998)
• id Magazine (Guelph, ON regular freelance contributor, 1997 & 1998) – sample
• View Magazine (Hamilton, ON 1996 & 1997)