A couple months ago, I did an interview with Harp magazine about my book. I wasn’t entirely comfortable about it because I proofread Harp for a spell in 2004, and it didn’t go well. The reasons why aren’t important; still, there were some bad feelings lingering on both sides, and I had to admit I was surprised the magazine decided to do a feature on my book.

Fred Mills, the magazine’s book editor, emailed me some questions. Here’s one:

7. Speaking of which, I noticed that while you mentioned, mainly in passing, both Relevant and Paste magazines, you didn’t discuss their intersection with and impact upon the scene covered in your book. Relevant, clearly, is overt about matters, while Paste clearly tries to underplay its involvement (and gets rather defensive, I’m told, when people make inquiries into, say, its funding by the DC3 entertainment group, which of course is tied in with the Mars Hill Church - not the most liberal pew in the row, eh?). Did you attempt to talk to those publications, and what, in general, do you think the impact of the Xian music media (print or electronic) has been upon the spread, and perhaps even mainstream acceptance, of Xian rock
‘n’ roll?

And here’s what I wrote back:

I kind of doubt that a direct competitor of Paste is an appropriate venue to discuss its business practices, of which I am completely ignorant. I will add that there are many Mars Hill Churches in the country, some of them quite liberal.

And so, I thought, that was that. Yesterday I got a package from a buddy in Athens, Ga., including a couple of issues of Stomp and Stammer, an Atlanta music monthly. The October issue had a review of my book by Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Jeff Clark. The November issue included a curious letter to the editor from–wait for it–Fred Mills, who also contributes to Stomp and Stammer.

Jeff–
Re: your review of the Body Piercing Saved My Life book (Oct. 06 issue). I have to agree with you that author Andrew Beaujon (a senior writer [sic] for Spin) either overlooked or deliberately omitted some key points in his otherwise fascinating look at Christian rock music. In fact, I asked him about them.

Then Fred relays my quote about why I didn’t cover Christian Americana in my book. Whatever. I think it’s boring music. You disagree? A perfectly legitimate gripe, and a great subject for a book by someone who cares. The third graf, though, is where Fred leaves the planet:

Another thing I was curious about: While Beaujon talked with CCM magazine editor Jay Swartzendruber for his book, he didn’t really explore the role the Christian music media plays. It would have been interesting to read about, say, Relevant and Paste magazines, both of which cover Christian and general-market music but have markedly different approaches. The former prominently displays its “God, Life, Progressive Culture” motto, while Paste, owned by media organization DC3 Entertainment (which avoids being labeled “Christian” per se but has been linked with Christian organizations, including the prominent Seattle right-wing church Mars Hill), appears to take a more low-key, under-the-radar approach to its evangelical activities. Beaujon essentially declined comment and sidestepped the question by simply claiming to be “completely ignorant” of those magazines’ business practices. Perhaps he was hedging his future employment bets by not treading on any toes–after all, isn’t Spin about to go under?–but given that one of his book’s main theses is that Christian musicians are constantly facing p.r. hurdles that their mainstream counterparts don’t have to contend with, not examining media-related issues seems a huge journalistic lapse.
Fred Mills
(Asheville, NC)

I don’t write for Paste. I’ve never pitched it, and I haven’t read it much. That’s because, far from being a Christian rock magazine, Paste covers mostly Americana, alt-country and “ad-alt” contemporary–just like Harp. I’m just not interested in that kind of music. Every time I’ve looked at Paste I’ve been impressed by its overall quality of design and what seems to be thorough coverage of music I don’t follow. I don’t know anything about its funding, and I’m not aware of any “evangelical activities” on its part. Apart from the odd nod to Over the Rhine, it doesn’t cover Christian music in any way that placed it within the scope of my book. Can you imagine a Christian magazine putting a Scientologist on its cover, as Paste did with Beck on its current issue?

I’d actually planned on doing something on Relevant in my book, too, but its editor, Cameron Strang, and I didn’t get an interview scheduled in time for my deadline. I decided to focus on Christian publishing through Swartzendruber (in a later post, I’ll discuss how well that worked out!)

For Mills to ascribe me ulterior motives for that decision is ludicrous. I’m happily employed here at the Washington City Paper, and while I still write for Spin, I have no plans to go back to full-time freelancing. I appreciate Fred’s concern about my future employment, and his assumption that I know more about Paste than I’m letting on, but if he really wanted to do me a favor he could shut the hell up.

I wrote Fred last night and suggested as much. He wrote me back saying I was welcome for all the coverage he’s given my book. That’s the problem with me: I’m such an ingrate.

UPDATE: I emailed Josh Jackson, editor of Paste, to ask him about Mills’ allegations. He told me that Paste was purchased a year and a half ago by Keith Lindner, who is also a partner in DC3, which Jackson calls a coffee/music company. (Its website is pretty hard to figure out.) Lindner’s partner in DC3, Jackson says, does attend Mars Hill in Seattle. Jackson says he’s never had any editorial pressure from Lindner.

“The fact that I’m a Christian who started a rock magazine makes me something of a novelty,” he wrote, “both to Christians who’d like to wall themselves up in their own cozy, little worlds and to people who think every Christian must be part of some right-wing conspiracy trying to establish Jerry Falwell as president-for-life.”

I’m beginning to know how he feels.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 21st, 2006 at 9:38 am and is filed under book press, conversatin'. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.