Ryan Schreiber: Weird Era w/ Amanda Petrusich
Featured Book
Weird Era: How Pitchfork Changed Music Forever: A Memoir
"A memoir from the founder of Pitchfork, detailing the site's journey from bedroom blog to the world's biggest music publication, while telling the story of the bands, and the generation, that Pitchfork launched along the way"-- Provided by publisher.
This book will be available for purchase at the event.
About This Event
An Almost Famous–like memoir for the twenty-first century: Pitchfork’s founder opens up about running the most influential, and infamous, music publication of the internet age.
In 1996, as legacy media slowly went digital, a nineteen-year-old Minneapolitan named Ryan Schreiber fired up his family’s desktop computer and brought his dream to life: a daily online music zine published for, and by, nerds like him. He wasn’t yet a writer, but he was passionate about discovering and sharing new music; he figured if he didn’t do it, someone else would. He named his site Pitchfork, an homage to the assassin tattoo Tony Montana sports in Scarface. Schreiber also decided to eschew a five-star rating system for a new one based on a decimal scale from 0 to 10. Little did he know that he had launched what would become one of the most consequential cultural forces of our time.
Thirty years after Pitchfork’s founding, Schreiber recounts the extraordinary story behind the site and the generation of listeners and musicians it fostered. He was in the room for it all: the consequences and thrills of Pitchfork’s make-or-break criticism; the boom and bust of digital media; and the albums, concerts, and meltdowns he witnessed from some of this century’s most beloved musicians. Along the way, he writes candidly about the site’s and his own growing pains as he sought to stay true to Pitchfork’s roots despite its morphing from a bedroom blog to a global behemoth, a journey that culminated in the site’s shocking sale to Condé Nast in 2015.
From one of the most influential names in the industry, Weird Era is a compulsively readable and revealing memoir of fandom, music, media, and the power of trusting your gut.
Event guidelines:
Additional copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event.
A signing line will follow the talk.
As a reminder: If you are not feeling well, please do not come to the event, even if you have a ticket; email us and we'll work it out.
If you have any questions regarding these guidelines or to request accessibility accommodations, please contact eventhelp@booksaremagic.net.
Featured Author
Schreiber, Ryan
Ryan Schreiber founded Pitchfork in 1996 and served alternately as its editor in chief and CEO until 2019. In 2005, he created the annual Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, which later expanded to Paris, London, Berlin, and Mexico City. He has twice been honored as part of the TIME100 list of the world’s 100 most influential people. Since leaving Pitchfork, he started the boutique artist management and consulting agency xtra/credit and curates the popular streaming playlist “What’s Good.” He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
In Conversation With
Amanda Petrusich
Amanda Petrusich is a staff writer and the pop music critic at The New Yorker, and the author of three books about music. She is the writer-in-residence at NYU's Gallatin School, and lives in the Hudson Valley.
About the Venue
Books are Magic · Brooklyn Heights
Welcome to the independent bookstore serving Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Brooklyn Heights! Books Are Magic is a family-owned independent bookstore with locations in Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens and Brooklyn Heights in Brooklyn, committed to being a welcoming, friendly, and inclusive space for all people. We believe that books are indeed magic, and that literature is one of the best ways to create empathy, transportation, and transformation. We are enthusiastic about offering thoughtfully selected voices and stories on our shelves, and about hosting affordable events featuring emerging writers as well as long-adored authors. Books Are Magic is a place for children to feel comfortable, for young readers to grow into lifelong readers, and for our neighbors to be introduced to vibrant new books. Books Are Magic is owned by Emma Straub and Michael Fusco-Straub. You can read more about Emma Straub's books here.
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