Hello! If it feels like it’s been a long time since you’ve seen new content on my blog, that’s partly me. Until recently, my work on two big projects (my Martha & The Muffins book and the Oxford Handbook of Urban Sociology that I’m co-editing with Ryan Centner) have absorbed much of my attention. Now that those projects have moved on to advanced stages, I’m returning to new writing, research, and book reviews on subjects of relevance to musical urbanism.
However, this WordPress blog has been a big additional hindrance. For some reason (I’m told it’s version upgrades and administrative security on the Vassar College side) it no longer embeds YouTube clips. That’s all it took to bring my blogging to a halt — seriously, a strategically embedded music video or concert footage has always helped me put my thoughts together. Also, the editing on the back-end of this WordPress site is no longer a simple WYSIWYG affair. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like these issues will resolve themselves quickly.
So, I have two announcements.
First, since last December I’ve been developing a Musical Urbanism presence on Substack. Find it at musicalurbanism.substack.com. As a platform for original long-form writing and big-ideas conversation, Substack feels like the right setting for my original writing on the intersections of urban studies and popular music. In weekly posts that go out on Fridays, I’ve been re-publishing some of my favorite posts from this blog, as well as presenting new work like a series on the music of Akron, Ohio; a review of Adele Bertei’s memoir about no wave in New York; and an overview of the Gun Club’s live bootleg discography. Andrew Stevens, an occasional collaborator to this blog, has an enhanced presence as the “London correspondent” for the Musical Urbanism Substack.
Second, upgrading this WordPress page will be an on-going project for my 2026-27 academic year. I’m unwilling to give it up, but I recognize that it’s not a medium that facilitates an audience as well as Substack does. Eventually all the new writing that I’ve done in 2026 will show up here.
Until then, I enthusiastically invite you to visit my Substack page and subscribe to my weekly newsletter of long-form posts; you don’t need to have a Substack account to receive them in your email. And if you do have a Substack account, then follow me as well to get my notes in your Substack feed.
