As introduced last week, this is a feature where you the reader (ahem, that's you) share with other readers pitches you have made to publications that have gotten you the gig. Today, Whitney Pastorek (now editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly) is kind enough to share with us an email correspondence with Chuck Eddy, music editor at the Village Voice. Not only do we get to see her pitch, we see how her correspondence with the editor turned a so-so pitch into an assignment.

-----Original Message-----

Hi, Chuck:

Any desire in running a concert review for next week's My Morning Jacket show at the BBallroom? I was supposed to profile them for the Westchester Journal News but the interview didn't work out until the last minute and the piece got pulled-- I'd still love to do something on them, though. Got any room at the Voice?

whitney pastorek

----on 8/28/03 6:13 PM, Eddy, Chuck wrote:

somebody may already be writing about the album, there's not room in that week's sotc section, and i have no idea why you think they're worth writing about, whitney. so i'll pass-c

-----Original Message----- From: whitney pastorek

Thanks for getting back to me. I'll try to be more compelling next time. Or, you know, compelling at all.

If there's not someone writing about the album, though, I think there should be. I saw MMJ open for the Foo Fighters a couple months ago and watched the crowd go from polite applause to screaming, "Shut up, fags!" at the stage to just standing there, stunned, completely unable to respond to the sight of 4 really hairy white guys playing music that sounds like Neil Young and Crazy Horse have been locked in a tin box and buried about 40 feet underground. The band was completely unmoved and unresponsive until somewhere in the middle of a long jam-- not Phish long, but long-- the drummer stopped, looked up, and raised both drumsticks in the air in a classic "we are the champions" pose that lasted just long enough for everyone to stop talking to their friends and get really confused, and then he went back to playing as though nothing stadium-rockish had happened. It was one of the strangest things I've ever seen: alt-prog rock? alt-Zeppelin? Whatever they are, they're begging for an alt-. Alt-Skynyrd?

anyway, yeah. Also they put out these weird EPs with, like, answering machine messages on them. And I once read a ridiculously devoted article about MMJ in the Oxford American's music issue, the kind of article that makes you wonder what you're missing and if maybe you're just stupid.

was that better?

whit


----on 9/8/03 2:47 PM, Eddy, Chuck wrote:

whitney -- what do you think of their album?

-----Original Message-----
From: whitney pastorek

I don't have the new one yet (I think it just came out Tuesday) but I have the one right before, "At Dawn". And it's the kind of thing that takes some patience and a quart or so of Southern Comfort to listen to properly. Sort of like someone's locked Neil Young and the "Clouds Taste Metallic"-era Flaming Lips in a steel box and then buried them deeeep underground. It makes the Southern part of me wish for a dog and a porch and a sunset, and the New Yorker in me appreciates the layered production and drum effects and wishes Beck would make another album just like "Sea Change" but with more twang.

----on 9/8/03 3:09 PM, Eddy, Chuck wrote:

well, if you wanna write about the new one (which i'm considering), get the dadburn thang and let me know what you think of it. soon. very soon. and then we'll talk. - c

-----Original Message-----
From: whitney pastorek

I have obtained a copy of the new MMJ (which came out today, btw) and, well, I like it. Quite a bit, actually. It's a far more diverse album than the last one-- everything from Allman-y guitars to Spiritualized-type choruses, even a horn section. Jim James's voice is still completely distinct and whiny and far away, but it seems like they've got the box he's in buried just 6 feet underground now instead of 20 like before. The songs are structured with minimal vocals and long repetitive jams but they seem to be more crafted this time, rather than just meandering soundscapes-- still in no way commercial and probably would never get radio play but someone is making a push for accessibility here. And the rhythm section continues to be splashy and thumpy and really good-- and maybe what's keeping this from turning into black light lava lamp rec room music.

And again I can't emphasize enough how weird they are in concert. They all play with their hair in their face, Cousin It-style, and when Jim finally started singing on the first song, we couldn't actually figure out where the voice was coming from, because he stood with his hair over the microphone so we couldn't see it... hard to explain. But I think they have the kind of dark hairy mystery that ZZ Top would have if they hadn't done car commercials.

Anyway. Hope something can work here.

whit

---on 9/9/03 3:33 PM, Eddy, Chuck wrote:

wanna give me 250 words on it/them/the entire experience by tomorrow
afternoon, whitney?

i'll also need your phone #, SSN, and mailing address, so I can send you a contract and insure that you get paid.

thanks - chuck

Upon reflection, Whitney says, "As you can see, he will not accept lazy pitches. Nor should he. My analysis of why he eventually gave me the assignment: somewhere along the line in my ramblings, I proved 1. a decent knowledge of the subject matter and 2. that I could write with a personality, with a voice that's my own. And a lot of what came out of these pitch letters ended up in the piece, actually.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend relying on your stream of consciousness/innate hyperactivity to get you jobs... but no one likes a soulless robot, either. Find your happy medium, I suppose."

And here's how Whitney's piece turned out.