Seth Colter Walls contributes arts criticism and reporting to The Baffler, Slate, the Village Voice, XXL, and the websites of the New Yorker and New York magazines. Previously, when covering politics, he worked in Beirut, Lebanon and Washington, D.C.
Rhapsody metal editor Chuck Eddy is the author of the books Stairway to Hell, The Accidental Evolution of Rock 'n' Roll and Rock and Roll Always Forgets. He has served as an editor at the Village Voice and Billboard, and has written thousands of pieces over the years for Creem, Rolling Stone and countless other publications. A native of Detroit, he now lives in Austin, Tex.
Garrett Kamps has been writing about music, with varying degrees of professionalism, since 2000, first for now-defunct websites, then for a variety of paper publications, one of which (SF Weekly) actually put him on its staff. He's been with Rhapsody since 2006 and currently leads its rag-tag team of editorial misfits. His crowning achievement is passing his mom off as a journalist so she could interview Rod Stewart.
Justin Farrar has been writing about music for, like, a long time. His work has appeared in the Village Voice, Yeti, Seattle Weekly, Cleveland's Scene magazine, Vice, Burning Ambulance and numerous other publications. He and his wife live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, where they'd rather be hiking than sitting in front of a computer. Oh, and one more thing: Ben Chasny, aka Six Organs of Admittance, appears to hate his guts.
With an overarching enthusiasm for music (which bordered on obsession during her stint as a college-radio DJ), Linda Ryan started writing for Rhapsody in 2000. Since then, she's ridden a wave of adventure and seen her eagerness to explore new music blossom. Currently, her passion lies in all things country music, whether it's the traditional twang of George Strait, the fire and brimstone of Miranda Lambert or the sublime pleasure found in a George and Tammy duet.
Marley promises that that's his real birth name, yes. After getting his first drum at the tender age of two and attending reggae festivals as family vacations, music became an integral part of his life; after playing jazz professionally as a teenager and attending college in New Orleans, he returned to the Bay Area and re-embraced both reggae and Rhapsody. His non-musical interests include the Golden State Warriors, outdoor sports, astronomy, tattoos, giraffes, and tattoos of giraffes.
Posing as an expert in new country and Christian rock, Mike McGuirk began writing for Rhapsody in 1999, when it was a startup called Listen.com. Since then he has parlayed his geek-level interest in everything from blues masters Howlin' Wolf and James Booker to grindcore kings Pig Destroyer to Swedish torture-metal duo Abruptum (with a concentration in the rock music of the '70s) into various writing gigs, mainly with Rhapsody and the San Francisco Bay Guardian. He lives in San Francisco.
Mosi Reeves' musical tastes were shaped by the "keep it janky" ethos of downtown Sacramento. He absorbed headphone masterpieces by Company Flow, DJ Spooky, Project Blowed and former local DJ Shadow; chugged beer at !!!, Outhud and Unwound concerts; stayed up all night gabbing to the sounds of Sonic Youth, Stereolab and Modest Mouse; and went to raves to hear DJs spin Black Science Orchestra, Armand Van Helden and Roni Size. A job editing event listings for the San Francisco Bay Guardian gave him a ticket out, but he has carried a bit of Sactown with him ever since (and occasionally moved back). He currently lives in Oakland.
Nate Cavalieri was raised in Central Michigan and studied classical music and jazz at the Interlochen Arts Academy and Oberlin Conservatory of Music — an impressive pedagogy he dutifully squandered by touring with Detroit garage-rock bands in the blurry early '00s. He divides his time between writing about jazz, classical and rock music for Rhapsody; authoring guidebooks for Lonely Planet; and writing about professional cycling for anyone who cares.
After graduating from CAL Arts Film School in 2000, Olivia promptly gave up making videos and started a band called Radio Vago; based out of L.A., they played shows with The Mars Volta, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sleater-Kinney, The Breeders and The Gossip. When the band split in 2006, Olivia moved to San Francisco and decided to mix her passion for music and film by starting an online music magazine called Wiretap Music, which promoted local bands with video content. Now, at Rhapsody, she reigns as the Production Queen and Manager of Rhapsody TV. Every day she wakes up and thinks, "Damn, I'm lucky!"
Rachel Devitt's writings about pop, world and Latin music have appeared in the Village Voice, Time Out and the Seattle Times — and of course, right here on Rhapsody. In her other life, she is also an academic with a PhD in ethnomusicology who studies, teaches and writes about burlesque, drag, and uh, pop, world and Latin music. She lives in Chicago, but does not really like deep dish pizza or hot dogs.
Rob Harvilla grew up in Ohio, decided in his teenage years to be a rock critic while reading back issues of Rolling Stone in his orthodontist's office (Dr. Pfister, P-F-I-S-T-E-R), and went on to serve as music editor for the Village Voice and various other alt-weeklies, in addition to writing freelance for Spin, Pitchfork, Blender and what have you. He can currently be found pushing a stroller around Oakland's Lake Merritt; look for the A's hat, the grizzly beard, and the bewildered facial expression.
Raised in Portland, Ore., and based these days in Berlin, Philip Sherburne has been writing about music and culture for over a decade. Published in Pitchfork, The Wire, Spin, the New York Times, Resident Advisor and many others, he is considered a leading voice in electronic-music criticism. When he's not writing, you can find him DJing and releasing the occasional 12-inch single.
An avid concertgoer, closet backup dancer, shower singer, Rock Band drummer and three-chord guitar player, Stephanie Benson employs such talents as a Rhapsody editor, specializing in alternative and indie rock, along with the occasional weepy singer-songwriter. Aside from music, she has a mild TV obsession, especially involving anything written by Larry David. She also enjoys boxing, exploring San Francisco via scooter and doing the rare backflip.
Whether it's CCM, Christian rock, worship or singer-songwriter stuff, Wendy Lee's been writing about it for nearly 20 years and listening to it for even longer. After soaking up a wide array of sounds while living in Southern California, Amsterdam and New York City, she settled in Nashville, a town with a great musical legacy and status as the unofficial home of Christian music. As a result, she's had a front-row seat for the genre's heyday, the crossover years and the rise of the indie artist, giving her a unique perspective on where Christian music's been and where it's headed.
