The Big Takeover Bloggers

Jack Rabid is the Founder, Publisher and Editor of The Big Takeover, which started as a one-page photo-copied newsletter in 1980 and has since grown into a 300-page glossy color magazine. He is also the Indies Editor for ICE Magazine and is a regular contributor to All Music Guide, Amp, Stereotype, and Zia. In the past, his work has appeared in Spin, Interview, Trouser Press Record Guide, Creem, Musichound, Hit List, Paper, Rockpool, and Alternative Press. He has been heard on the syndicated radio program, “Music View,” and was a weekly correspondent for Vancouver’s MyCityRadio.com from 1999–2001. He’s also a former NY punk rock club DJ and was a radio DJ for Easton, PA station WJRH and New York University’s WNYU from 1980–1985. He has been a drummer for three bands, most notably for NYC dreampop band Springhouse (two LPs on Caroline Records, 1991–1993) and NYC punk group Even Worse (an LP on Grand Theft Audio) from 1980–1984, and in 1986, he did a stint as a touring member of Los Angeles SST band Leaving Trains. More recently, he’s been playing drums for Last Burning Embers, who recently released an LP on Pink Frost/Big Takeover Records, of which he is also co-owner.
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Mick Lewis is the Executive Editor of BigTakeover.com. He has been writing for The Big Takeover since moving to New York City in 1997, but he has been an avid reader of the magazine for many years, after unexpectedly discovering it at a suburban Philadelphia Barnes & Noble in 1991. He is also a singer/songwriter/guitarist who has performed at NYC venues such as Wetlands, CBGB, Knitting Factory, Sin-e, and Makor. MP3s of his music are available at MickLewis.com.
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Ari Abramowitz is the author and publisher of Pockit Rockit Music Finder, a pop music discovery guide that has been endorsed by executives at SonyBMG and Yahoo! Music. In the rare moments when he’s not been busy revising Pockit Rockit, you may have heard him being interviewed by DJs at radio stations throughout the country. His previous work experience includes stints as a stocking clerk at Tower Records, a booking agent for private and corporate concerts, and a Wall Street analyst covering media stocks. His musical background includes playing drums in a pre-No Neck Blues Band trio called Gangastrotagati and in a pre-Last Day band called Whole of the Law. In his spare time, he’s likely to be found with his head buried in rock & roll encyclopedias. His blog will cover a wide range of genres, but will focus primarily on the often-overlooked intersection between heavy/prog rock and indie rock.
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Suzanne Baran began her career as a technology and business journalist. Currently, she is Web Links Editor for The Hollywood Reporter. She also writes personal essays, poems, and book reviews. Her work has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter, iVillage.com, thesquaretable.com, Ticker, and Internet World.
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Greg Bartalos, a New Yorker for virtually his entire life, has been reading The Big Takeover since the early ‘90s. He has worked as a financial writer and editor for more than a decade at Barron’s Online and Bloomberg News, among other places. He has also written about radio, politics and current events, and previously hosted a general interest radio talk show on WVOX-AM. For the better part of 20 years, he has also sung and played guitar and keyboards for the Keyboard Kids. His one and only live performance was at CBGB leading the group Allergic Salute.
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Matthew Berlyant has been writing for The Big Takeover since 2003. He goes to shows regularly and maintains a personal blog that focuses primarily on his music-related exploits. Look for his profile of Frank Reader of The Trashcan Sinatras in the current issue (57) of The Big Takeover.
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Elizabeth Brady is on the cusp of finishing her undergraduate obligations at NYU. She has been interning at and writing for The Big Takeover since January 2005 and she has also contributed to thecinemasource.com. She loves music, writing, fine champagne, and The Big Takeover.
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Though Tim Bugbee’s real life job (manufacturing director in a biopharma company) has nothing to do with music, music has been a central core element all along. He first started writing about music (record reviews and some interviews) with The Big Takeover in the early 90s, and then also contributed to local Boston zine Popwatch. After Popwatch folded, he took a break from the ‘zine game (and not so coincidentally, also during this time he started a family, and lived briefly in Ireland), but recently photography has rekindled this passion, and he is glad to back on board with Jack and the BT staff.
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John Davidson has been writing about music and film for various publications, including Trouser Press, Amplifier Magazine, Creative Loafing, Minneapolis City Pages, and Insite Magazine, since 1989. He has been writing and transcribing for The Big Takeover for nearly a decade, and is also currently working on his first book. He has an undergraduate degree in journalism, and has since sold his soul to capitalism by getting his MBA.
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Arye Dworken, who lives on New York’s ‘happening’ Upper West Side, is Managing Editor of ‘Sup Magazine and Music Editor of Heeb Magazine . He is also a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Big Takeover, Spin, Blender, New York Magazine, Paste, Relix, and most importantly, Real Simple. He is currently enrolled at NYU, where he is pursuing a Master’s degree in Social Work (because of its incredibly lucrative potential). He is also working on his first novel, about a reluctant hipster superhero. His listening playlist always unapologetically features a healthy share of E.L.O. and The Bee Gees. For more of his work, please visit his personal website Bring Back Sincerity.
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Michelle Ennis is currently a doctoral student in experimental psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. Originally from South Florida, she began writing seriously at a young age as a communication arts student at the Palm Beach County School of the Arts, and has recently published in and served as a reviewer for several scholarly philosophical and psychological journals. In relation to her fascination with artistic critique, her academic interests include aesthetic perception (particularly ecological psychoacoustics) and the nature of the learning histories that produce artistic preferences.
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Obsessed with music since the age of 3, Chuck Foster finally put pen to paper in 2002 and has since regularly contributed to the New York Waste, Under the Volcano, Horror Garage and The Big Takeover. He also wrote the liner notes for the Repercussions’ Modern Sounds, a bio for the Turbo AC’s and introductory narration for the film Elwood Carlisle Superstar. Along the way, he has had the pleasure of interviewing such diverse voices as Jello Biafra, King Buzzo of the Melvins and Sky Saxon of the Seeds. He cites Richard Meltzer, Lester Bangs and Mitch Meyers as his main influences in the Rock Lit/Crit genre and he hopes to have his name rank among his heroes one day.

Chuck has been in numerous bands with names like Twitch Party, Leopold, Pope Goat VII, Maggot, Optimus Prime and most recently, ULTRABASTARD!. He also does Noise/Experimental music as Ghoatefische and Simstim Technologies, and has been associated with deng, Eckankore, + DOG + and the Quiet Sickness.

Dave Heaton has been writing about music for independent print and web publications since 1994. He is an Associate Music Editor for PopMatters.com and the Editor/Founder of online magazine ErasingClouds.com. He currently lives in Philadelphia, though at heart and by birth, he is a Midwesterner.
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Mark Hemingway is a writer and journalist in Washington, D.C., where he covers the world of politics and finance, and has freelanced for a wide array of publications including The Weekly Standard, The Johns Hopkins Journal of American Politics, and MTV.com. He has also written about music for The DC Examiner and The New York Sun. At the moment, he is not mixed up in any musical endeavors, but in the past year or so, he has found himself sharing a stage with Stellastarr*, Giant Drag, The Trashcan Sinatras, and the late great Sea Ray, among others. He is originally from Bend, Oregon and is getting married in the fall.
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Adam Hill lives on the central coast of California and teaches literature and writing at California Polytechnic State University, where he also hosts a little radio show at Cal Poly’s terribly cool KCPR. His writing on a variety of subjects has appeared in such places as The Los Angeles Times, The Believer, Signal to Noise, One Final Note, and The American Poetry Review.
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Steve Holtje has been an editor since 1987 (_Creem_, CDNOW.com) and a music critic since 1990. He is also currently a buyer at Sound Fix, a Williamsburg record store, and the content editor of CultureCatch.com. Among his publishing credits is MusicHound Jazz: The Essential Album Guide (Schirmer Trade Books, 1998). He has additionally worked for jazz record labels and as a music printer. He is also a composer, and a number of New York performers have sung excerpts from some of his song cycles. His poetry has been published in four countries, and his far too intimate dissections of various relationships have amused or depressed poetry audiences at the Knitting Factory and other downtown venues. Rooting for the Mets and playing amateur softball (main talent: he’s hard to knock over) help keep him humble.
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Yosef Lewis has been a Big Takeover scribe for nearly a decade and musician for a bit longer. He used to think that music was the only thing that mattered and although he now knows better, he still finds himself keeping up on what the kids are doing and muttering about it under his breath to his lady. He is now happy to speak up and share his “objective” opinion. He welcomes your comments.
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Rachel Pesin found out about The Big Takeover in April 2002 when Beulah’s drummer, Danny Sullivan, told her that real music fans need The BT in their lives. She joined The Big Takeover team in February 2005, a few days shy of her 19th birthday. While she may be young, she knows what she likes: indie music! She has been going to gigs since she was 13, and has already been to over 330 concerts. Many, many bands visit the Big Apple; she’ll let you know which ones you should see and which ones you should skip.
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Kristen Sollee has been writing for The Big Takeover ever since she had the pleasure of interning for the magazine during 2003–2004. She is currently pursuing an M.A. in East Asian Studies at Columbia University and is also a rabid fan of the glam rock sexpots, Twilight of the Idols. She likes the dark.
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Chris Stroffolino lives in Oakland, CA. He is an actively performing musician, and has been a member of a number of groups, including Silver Jews, Rising Shotgun, Volumen, and Hudson Bell. In 2001, he won a NYFA grant for his poetry which he used to stage a re-creation of the late poet Anne Sexton’s rock band for an event sponsored by the Poetry Society of America. Since 2002, he has been singer/songwriter/pianist for Continuous Peasant, whose second album, Intentional Grounding, was recently released on Good Forks. He also has a Ph.D. in English Lit from SUNY-Albany and has published three volumes of poetry, some of which has since been translated and published in Bengali and Dutch, and a book of essays on contemporary poets.
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Adam Symons is the Art Director for The Big Takeover, for which he also occasionally contributes reviews of recently reformed oldies acts and of CD reissues of forgotten LPs. Adam spent the better part of 10 years in New York toiling away in various bands as singer, guitarist, bass player, or drummer. He has currently found a steady gig playing guitar in San Francisco’s The Family Arsenal.
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Eric Wiesen is a student at Columbia Business School, a part-time venture investor, a sometime-entrepreneur, and a former saxophone player. He has written everything from short stories to 100-page merger agreements to technical documentation, along with a few limbs of a novel. Here, he will write about the subjects that interest (and in many cases madden) him, ranging from technology, current events, sports, and (of course) pop music.
Read Eric’s introductory post