Selected clips by Mike Appelstein

Here are some things I've written.  Mostly music, some not.

Feel free to contact me with any freelance inquiries or to say hi:  email : twitter : facebook : linkedin

Personal favorites

• Ghost: An Oral History of Neutral Milk Hotel in St. Louis (Riverfront Times, 1/19/12)
• Remembering The Court Tavern, New Brunswick's Storied Rock Dive (Village Voice/Sound of the City blog, 1/23/12)
• The Complicated Legacy of GG Allin (Riverfront Times, 11/24/11)
• Sunshine Day: 30 Years Later, Children of Sunshine's Dandelions is An Internet Sensation (Riverfront Times, 4/14/11)
  (+ cover story) (+bonus interview)
• Moe Tucker of Velvet Underground Sets the Record Straight (Riverfront Times, 10/18/10)
• Yo La Tengo at the Blue Note, Columbia, MO, 6/20/11 (Riverfront Times)
  
• Todd Rundgren "Sons of 1984" Tour at Roberts Orpheum Theater, St. Louis, 9/10/10 (Riverfront Times)
• Twilight Nuclear Void: xex Lost and Found (appelstein.com, summer 2005)
• We Are Your Friends: Hans Fenger of Langley Schools Music Project (Scram, November 2001)
• A Visit From Duluth, MN's Low (appelstein.com, April 2001)
• Paloma Now and Then (expanded version of Caught In Flux #4 piece, June 1995)

WWW

• Hot Out Here (blog)
• Cardiffians: The Young Marble Giants Archive (semiofficial website)

Fanzines

• Caught In Flux (1993-1999)
• Writer's Block (1985-1992)

Village Voice Sound of the City blog, New York, NY

• Going Back to Wellsville: Six Great Musical Moments from The Adventures of Pete & Pete (2/23/12)

Riverfront Times, St. Louis, MO
Interviews/Features:

• Grass Widow on Labels and Touring (6/4/12)
• Doom Town Brings Stories Home from Europe (5/10/12)
• Mission of Burma's Roger Miller (4/2/12)
• Why Kids are an Exhausting and Rewarding Audience: A Conversation with Elizabeth Mitchell (2/28/12)
• Vaclav Havel's Four Biggest Musical Influences (12/20/11)
• Matisyahu, Facial Hair and Judaism (12/14/11)
• RIP Parasol Records: The Changing Face of Music Retail (11/30/11)
• Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin: Defending the Republic in St. Charles (10/8/11)
• The Rainey Sisters' Dubb Nubb and Special Passenger Records (8/11/11) (+bonus interview)
• Vivian Girls' Cassie Ramone on Outliving The Hype (4/21/11)
• Dan Zanes Moves to Children's Music with Ease and Grace (3/10/11) (+ outtakes)
• Dum Dum Girls' Retro-Pop Perfection (2/17/11)
• Sara Marcus' Riot Grrrl Book Is A Fascinating Account of The Movement (11/4/10)
• Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino Evokes Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer (9/8/10)
• Queens of Noise: An Oral History of St. Louis' The Welders (5/9/10) (+outtakes) (+mrr)
• Nervous Nights: Feelies Reissues (9/9/09)
• The 75s Make An Extra Fancy Splash (2/20/08) (+outtakes)
• Labels Unlimited: Rough Trade (2/28/07)
• Dream Into Action: Jennifer O'Connor (2/7/07)
• Beep Beep Yeah!: A Cars Can Be Blue Tour Diary (8/23/06)
• Stars and Bars: Aliccia B.B. (6/28/06)
• Krautrock Reborn: Stereolab's Tim Gane on Margerine Eclipse (4/7/04)
• Essential Logic's Fanfare in The Garden (7/9/03)

Riverfront Times concert reviews (St. Louis, MO unless otherwise indicated):

• Grass Widow (The Vault, Farmington MO, 6/5/12)
• R.E.M. tribute (Off Broadway, 4/27/12)
• Mission of Burma (The Firebird, 4/4/12)
• Del Fuegos (Old Rock House, 3/1/12)
• Jason & The Scorchers (Off Broadway, 1/14/12)
• JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound (Off Broadway, 12/10/11)
• Mount Eerie (Foam, 10/1/11)
• Psychedelic Furs/Tom Tom Club (The Pageant, 9/23/11)
• The Raincoats/Grass Widow (Double Door, Chicago, 9/19/11)
• Vivian Girls/Widowspeak (Billiken Club, 9/14/11)
• Vivian Girls (Vintage Vinyl/Firebird, 4/21/11)
• The Godfathers (Off Broadway, 2/22/11)
• Heart (Family Arena, 9/4/10)
• The Magnetic Fields (The Pageant, 3/6/10)

Riverfront Times critic's picks:

• Todd Rundgren (The Pageant, 3/20/12)
• The Bangles (The Pageant, 10/8/11)
• The Blow (Old Rock House, 7/24/11)
• Reading Rainbow (The Firebird, 4/14/11)
• Retribution Gospel Choir (Luminary Center, 9/22/10)
• The Cannanes (CBGB, 6/6/08)
• One Ring Zero (St. Louis Art Museum,  3/26/08)
• Zeda's Beat Box (Off Broadway, 12/29/07)
• Asha Bhosle (Roberts Orpheum Theater, 6/3/07)
• Zolar-X (Way Out Club, 3/25/06)
• The Human League (The Pageant, 8/6/03)

Amazon.com (2000-2001)

• Beat Happening: Crashing Through
• Birdie: Some Dusty
• Boycrazy: Foreign Words
• Bratmobile: "Panik"
• Brokeback: "Returns to The Orange Grove"
• Chicks on Speed: The Re-Releases of the Un-Releases
• The Clientele: Suburban Light
• Eleventh Dream Day: "April"
• The Embarrassment: Blister Pop
• Edith Frost: Wonder Wonder
• Fugazi: The Argument
• Giant Sand: “Shiver"
• Calvin Johnson: What Was Me
• Langley Schools Music Project: Innocence and Despair
• Mary Lou Lord: “Martian Saints”
• The Magnetic Fields: “If I Were A Rich Man”
• Jeff Mangum: Live at Jittery Joe's
• Of Montreal: Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse
• The Sea & Cake: “Darkest Night”
• Elliott Smith: "Between the Bars"
• Yo La Tengo: "The Summer" Yo La Tengo: "Danelectro 3" (Kit Cole remix)

Odds and ends

• Lois Maffeo (Net, December 1994)
• Jale (Net, August 1994)
• The Raincoats (Net, April 1994)