Bill Adler

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Bill Adler
Born (1951-12-18) December 18, 1951 (age 72)
Brooklyn, New York
OccupationJournalist
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Michigan
GenreHip-Hop
SubjectMusic

Bill Adler is an American music journalist and critic who specializes in hip-hop. Since the early Eighties he has promoted hip-hop in a variety of capacities, including as publicist, biographer, record label executive, museum consultant, art gallerist and curator and documentary filmmaker. He may be best known for his tenure as director of publicity at Def Jam Recordings (1984–1990), the period of his career to which the critic Robert Christgau was referring when he described Adler as a “legendary publicist.”[1]

Early Life and Education

Adler was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 18, 1951. His family moved to MIchigan before he was five, and lived in Michigan until 1976. He graduated from Southfield High School and later matriculated briefly at the University of Michigan.

Career

Detroit and Ann Arbor

Adler's first exposure to the music business came in the fall of 1969, when he was hired in the record department of a university bookstore. In 1972 he started to host a weekly free-form radio show on WCBN-FM, the University of Michigan’s student station. In the summer of 1973 he began working at radio station WDET-FM, Detroit, as the board operator (and occasional substitute host) for Kenny Cox, a local jazz musician who hosted a weekly show called “Kaleidophone.” Later that year, Adler began a three-year stint as contributing music editor for the Ann Arbor Sun,[2] a weekly underground newspaper edited by the poet and activist John Sinclair and published by David Fenton. A year later, Adler began reviewing records for Down Beat magazine.[3] In the spring of 1975, Adler was briefly a deejay at WABX, Detroit, a pioneering free-form radio station.

Boston

Adler moved to Boston in February of 1976. He deejayed at radio station WBCN-FM throughout the spring of 1977 and freelanced articles about music to the Real Paper,[4] and High Times.[5] He was the staff pop music critic of the Boston Herald from April of 1978 until April of 1980.[6]

New York

Adler moved to New York in July of 1980. For the next several years he worked as a freelance writer on musical subjects for publications including the Village Voice,[7] Rolling Stone, People, and the Daily News. In 1984 Russell Simmons hired Adler as Director of Publicity for Rush Artist Management and Def Jam Recordings. During the next six years Adler worked closely with Kurtis Blow, Whodini, Run-DMC, Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Slick Rick, Public Enemy, Eric B & Rakim, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, Big Daddy Kane, EPMD, Stetsasonic, De La Soul, the Jungle Brothers, 3rd Bass, and others.

In January and February 1987 Adler took a leave of absence from Def Jam to write "Tougher Than Leather: The Authorized Biography of Run-DMC" (New American Library), described by the critic Harry Allen in the Village Voice as “hip-hop’s first authorized biography and a definitive, insightful text.”[8] When the book was reissued as “Tougher Than Leather: The Rise of Run-DMC” by Consafos Press in 2002, the critic Jon Caramanica, reviewing for Rolling Stone, suggested it “might well be the most comprehensive biography ever written about a pop act while it was still in its prime.”[9]

In the spring of 2006 Adler taught a course about Def Jam at New York University’s Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music.[10]

In 2011 Adler and Dan Charnas co-authored “Def Jam Recordings: the First 25 Years of the Last Great Record Label” (Rizzoli).[11]

Hip-Hop Photography and the Eyejammie Fine Arts Gallery

An early champion of hip-hop photography, Adler wrote the text for "Rap: Portraits and Lyrics of a Generation of Black Rockers" (St. Martin's Press) -- which showcased the work of Janette Beckman -- in 1991.[12]

He founded the Eyejammie Fine Arts Gallery, which was largely devoted to hip-hop photography, in 2003.[13] During the gallery’s five years of existence, Adler curated or co-curated one-man shows showcasing the work of the photographers Michael Benabib,[14] Al Pereira,[15] Ricky Powell,[16] Ernie Paniccioli,[17] and Harry Allen,[18] as well as group shows celebrating Run-DMC,[19] women in hiphop,[20] VP Records and dancehall reggae,[21]Southern hip-hop,[22] and Ego trip (magazine).[23] The Run-DMC show was re-mounted twice, first at the Headquarters Gallery in Hollywood on June 28, 2004, then at the Punch Gallery in San Francisco on August 5, 2004.[24] Mr. Allen’s show was re-mounted at the University of Iowa’s Black Box Theater from March 27 through June 27, 2010.[25]

In 2004 Adler formed Eyejammie Press to publish “Frozade Moments,” a book of postcards featuring the street photography of Ricky Powell.[26]

Adler’s essay, “Who Shot Ya: A History of Hip-Hop Photography” was commissioned by the journalist Jeff Chang and published in Chang’s “Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop” (Basic Civitas 2006). It was later republished in Wax Poetics magazine.[27]

Mouth Almighty Records

In 1994 Adler and the poet Bob Holman co-founded NuYo Records, a record label devoted to the spoken word. Initially distributed by BMG, this venture was revived in 1996 as Mouth Almighty Records under the auspices of Mercury Records. Over the course of the next three years the label released 18 titles, including recordings by the Last Poets,[28] Allen Ginsberg,[29] and Sekou Sundiata,[30] two CDs of short fiction from The New Yorker magazine,[31] a two-CD set of readings of Edgar Allan Poe[32] produced by Hal Willner, and the soundtrack to ''The United States of Poetry'',[33] a well-regarded five-part PBS television special. In a review for The New York Times, the critic Stephen Holden wrote, “The [soundtrack] illustrates how thoroughly the lines between literature and popular culture have dissolved over the last 40 years.”[34] Mouth Almighty’s four-CD box set of readings by William Burroughs,[35] produced by the poet John Giorno, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1999.[36]

In the summer of 1995, Adler and Holman and their associates on New York’s spoken word scene were the subject of an article in The New Yorker by Henry Louis Gates Jr. [37]

Museum Consultancies

Between 1998 and 2000 Adler consulted Seattle's Experience Music Project (known today as the EMP Museum) during the conception and building of its hip-hop exhibit, which opened to the public in the summer of 2000.

In February 2006 Adler consulted the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History on the establishment of its hip-hop collection.[38]

In the fall of 2008, Adler and the artist Cey Adams co-edited “DEFinition: the Art and Design of Hip-Hop” (Collins Design), a book described by Adler himself as “a catalog for a [museum] exhibition that is waiting to happen.”[39] “DEFinition” was praised by the critic Cinque Hicks as “a voracious and wide-ranging visual survey that makes the case that hip-hop's musical heritage is only part of the story.”[40]

Film

In partnership with Perry Films, Adler was the producer/writer of "And You Don't Stop: 30 Years of Hip-Hop," a five-part documentary film series that debuted on VH1 during the fall of 2004.[41] Reviewing the series for the New York Times, television critic Virginia Heffernan wrote, “It may be the first monograph on this subject to position hip-hop confidently and specifically in the history of American music without having to make elementary arguments about its value or its significance.” [42]

Adler Archives

Adler’s work as a hip-hop archivist commenced during his years at Rush/Def Jam. The Adler Archives—comprising sound recordings and album cover art, books, films, videos, photographs, newspaper and magazine articles, publicity materials, artist biographies, flyers, stickers, posters, and advertising—was quickly recognized as a dependable resource of hiphop imagery and data.[43]

Artifacts from the archives have been loaned to exhibits produced by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture[44] and the Museum of Modern Art.[45]

References

  1. ^ “Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop,” Rolling Stone, February 22, 2007.
  2. ^ See, for example, "Still Swingin' Mingus". Ann Arbor Sun. July 12, 1974,. p. 17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  3. ^ See, for example, "Pharoah Sanders's Love in Us All and Gato Barbieri's Chapter Three: Viva Emiliano Zapata, Down Beat". February 27, 1975. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  4. ^ See, for example, “St. Celia of Salsa,” a review of Celia Cruz in concert, Real Paper, May 31, 1980.
  5. ^ See, for example, review of the Firesign Theatre’s Forward Into the Past, High Times, March 1977.
  6. ^ See, for example, "Bootsy Collins lashes out at the conspiracy against funk". Boston Herald. August 24, 1979.
  7. ^ See, for example, “Backdating Etta James,” Village Voice, August 27, 1980.
  8. ^ “Run Which Way?” Harry Allen, Village Voice, May 31, 1988.
  9. ^ Review of “Tougher than Leather: The Rise of Run-DMC,” by Jon Caramanica, Rolling Stone, April 17, 2003.
  10. ^ Profile of Bill Adler in Faculty Directory, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, http://about.tisch.nyu.edu/object/adlerb.html.
  11. ^ Description of “Def Jam Recordings” in the online catalog of Rizzoli New York, http://www.rizzoliusa.com/search.php?subSrch.x=0&subSrch.y=0&title_subtitle_auth_isbn=def+jam
  12. ^ “Rap: Portraits and Lyrics of a Generation of Black Rockers” as depicted and described on amazon.com, http://www.amazon.com/Rap-Portraits-Lyrics-Generation-Rockers/dp/0312055013/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328049473&sr=1-1
  13. ^ Listing for Eyejammie Fine Arts Gallery on NY Art Beat website, http://www.nyartbeat.com/venue/2B985743
  14. ^ “Photos by Michael Benabib, 1987 – Present.” The show ran from March 21 through April 19, 2003. See also Tonya Pendleton’s “Hip Hop Gets Its Own Art Gallery,” bet.com, March 14, 2003.
  15. ^ “Hip-Hop in Black & White: Photos by Al Pereira.” The exhibit ran from June 6 through July 4, 2003.
  16. ^ Entitled “Frozade Moments, 1985-2003,” the show ran from July 23 through September 17, 2003. See also “Fete Work: Gadfly-shutterbug Ricky Powell has a career retrospective,” by Margeaux Watson, Time Out New York, August 7, 2003.
  17. ^ Nolan Strong, Ernie Paniccioli to Exhibit Rare Graffiti Pieces in New York", allhiphop.com, May 8, 2004
  18. ^ Entitled “Part of the Permanent Record: Photos from the Previous Century,” the show ran from June 28 through August 16, 2007. See also, “Rapper’s Delight: Looking back, through the lens, at how hip-hop culture got into a New York groove,” by David Hinckley, Daily News, July 1, 2007.
  19. ^ Entitled “It’s Like That: 20 Years of RUN-DMC-JMJ,” the show ran from October 17, 2003 through January 2, 2004. See also, “Run-DMC: 20 Years Later, It’s Still ‘Like That’ at New Photo Exhibit,” Shaheem Reid, mtv.com, November 11, 2003, http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1480342/rundmc-20-years-photos.jhtml.
  20. ^ Entitled “Work It! Images of Women in Hip-Hop,” the show ran from February 20 through March 27, 2004. See also, “Women in Hip-Hop Honored at Eyejammie Art Gallery,” The Source/Daily Dose, February 20, 2004.
  21. ^ “Riddim Driven: A 25th Birthday Salute to VP Records and Dancehall Reggae.” The exhibit ran from September 10 through November 1, 2004. See also a review of the show by Nicolette Ramirez, TheNewYorkArtWorld.com, October 2004.
  22. ^ Entitled “Adventures in the Dirty South,” the show ran from September 15 through October 29, 2005. See also a review of the show by Tamara Palmer in Ozone magazine, November 2005.
  23. ^ Entitled “Made You Look…Back: Ten Years of Ego Trip Photography,” the show ran from July 16 through August 21, 2005.
  24. ^ "San Francisco Gallery Openings, First Thursday; 08.05.04," http://www.artbusiness.com/1open/firstth0804.html.
  25. ^ See press release, “Two Turntables and a Microphone: Hip-Hop Contexts featuring Harry Allen's ‘Part of the Permanent Record: Photos from the Previous Century’," http://uima.uiowa.edu/two-turntables-and-a-microphone/. See also, ‘Hip-Hop History” by Jason Brummond, Iowa City Press-Citizen, April 1, 2010.
  26. ^ “Frozade Moments: Classic Street Photography of Ricky Powell” as depicted and described on amazon.com, http://www.amazon.com/Frozade-Moments-Classic-Street-Photography/dp/0975366904/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328050027&sr=1-1
  27. ^ See table of contents, Wax Poetics, Issue no. 25, http://www.waxpoetics.com/wax-poetics-magazine/wax-poetics-issue-25
  28. ^ The Last Poets, Time Has Come, 1997, http://www.amazon.com/Time-Has-Come-Last-Poets/dp/B000001ERB/ref=sr_1_10?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1328477690&sr=1-10
  29. ^ Allen Ginsberg, 'The Ballad of the Skeletons', 1996, http://www.amazon.com/Ballad-Skeletons-CD-Single-Allen-Ginsberg/dp/B0000015YH/ref=sr_1_6?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1328477821&sr=1-6
  30. ^ Sekou Sundiata, The Blue Oneness of Dreams, 1997, http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Oneness-Dreams-Sekou-Sundiata/dp/B000001ER3/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1328477962&sr=1-1
  31. ^ The New Yorker Out Loud, Vols. 1 and 2, fhttp://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=the+new+yorker+out+loud&x=0&y=0,
  32. ^ Various Artists, "Closed on Account of Rabies", 1997, http://www.amazon.com/Closed-Account-Rabies-Poems-Tales/dp/B000003ZVR/ref=sr_1_8?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1328558610&sr=1-8
  33. ^ "The United States of Poetry". amazon.com. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  34. ^ “Pop View; Wordsworth With Attitude, and Music,” Stephen Holden, New York Times, May 19, 1996, http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/19/books/pop-view-wordsworth-with-attitude-and-music.html?pagewanted=1
  35. ^ “The Best of William Burroughs: From Giorno Poetry Systems” as depicted and described on amazon.com, http://www.amazon.com/Best-William-Burroughs-Giorno-Systems/dp/B000006CMX/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1328558816&sr=1-1
  36. ^ Associated Press. "1999 GRAMMY NOMINATIONS". Farlex, Inc. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  37. ^ ”Sudden Def,” Henry Louis Gates, Jr., The New Yorker, June 19, 1995.
  38. ^ See NMAH press release and accompanying photo, “Hip-Hop Comes to the Smithsonian,” February 28, 2006, http://americanhistory.si.edu/news/pressrelease.cfm?key=29&newskey=318
  39. ^ See blogpost by Bill Adler entitled “Looking at Hip-Hop 1.0,” on MOMA’s website: http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2011/03/17/looking-at-hip-hop-1-0.
  40. ^ Cinque Hicks, Creative Loafing, March 16, 2010, http://clatl.com/gyrobase/atlanta-artists-go-off-the-wall-with-hip-hop design/Content?oid=1430699&showFullText=true
  41. ^ Full cast and crew credits for “And You Don’t Stop: 30 Years of Hip-Hop” on the International Movie Database, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426645/fullcredits#cast
  42. ^ Virginia Heffernan, “Hip-Hop: Block Parties to Blockbusters,” New York Times, Oct. 4, 2004.
  43. ^ “The famed Adler Archives” in the Acknowledgements section of “The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop,” by Dan Charnas, New American Library 2010.
  44. ^ A flyer advertising a performance at the Apollo by Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys in 1986 was loaned to “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment,” http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/exhibition.cfm?key=38&exkey=1488
  45. ^ Six album covers and one poster were loaned to “Looking at Music 3.0”, which ran at MOMA from February 16 through May 30, 2011.

External links

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