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__NOTOC__ Brett Milano (born 1957) is a Boston-based
music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mu ...
and columnist. His fourth book, a biography of
Game Theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions among rational agents. Myerson, Roger B. (1991). ''Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict,'' Harvard University Press, p.&nbs1 Chapter-preview links, ppvii–xi It has applic ...
's Scott Miller, was published in October 2015.


Music journalism and writing career

According to the ''
Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston G ...
'', Milano is a veteran music critic whose 2007 book, ''The Sound of Our Town: A History of Boston Rock and Roll'', "should be required reading for anyone interested in understanding Boston's unique contribution to rock 'n' roll." Milano entered the Boston music scene in the 1980s as a music journalist. He was a long-time columnist for the ''
Boston Phoenix ''The Phoenix'' (stylized as ''The Phœnix'') was the name of several alternative weekly periodicals published in the United States of America by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts, including the ''Portland Phoenix'' an ...
'', as well as the ''
Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston G ...
'' and '' Sound & Vision'' magazine. Milano has also written for publications such as ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'', ''Pulse'', and the '' College Media Journal''. In 2013, he became the editor of '' OffBeat'', where he has written about music since 2005. Turning his hand to fiction, he is the author of two short stories anthologized in the 2011 and 2012 volumes of ''Tales from the House Band'', a series of books edited by Deborah Grabien. He has been interviewed in documentary films as an authority on rock music, and has written liner notes for albums by
Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...
,
the Cars The Cars were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the New wave music, new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek (rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), ...
, and
the Smithereens The Smithereens are an American rock band from Carteret, New Jersey, United States. The group formed in 1980 with members Pat DiNizio (vocals & guitar), Jim Babjak (guitar & vocals), Mike Mesaros (bass guitar & vocals), and Dennis Diken (dru ...
. He compiled and annotated the 1993
Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species ...
CD release '' D.I.Y.: Mass. Ave: The Boston Scene (1975–83)'', a compilation of Boston punk history.


Books


''The Sound of Our Town''

The ''
Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston G ...
'' wrote that Milano's book '' The Sound of Our Town'' (2007) depicts Boston's "diversity of scenes and attitudes, much of it driven by the constant influx of college students and transplants", creating a "healthy dissonance" that defined the Boston rock sound. The book was written over the course of two years, though Milano had been collecting material for several years beforehand. Milano's approach to the problem of structuring the book to reflect the typical chaos of a local music scene was "to at least give a mention to every great band I could ... without making it just a laundry-list of bands," in an effort to "catch the spirit of the time and places, and tell some of the more important band histories, and have it flow as a story."


Scott Miller biography

Milano's biography of Scott Miller, ''Don't All Thank Me at Once: The Lost Genius of Scott Miller'', was published in October 2015. Milano described the book as one that not only tells the story of Miller and his bands
Game Theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions among rational agents. Myerson, Roger B. (1991). ''Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict,'' Harvard University Press, p.&nbs1 Chapter-preview links, ppvii–xi It has applic ...
and
The Loud Family The Loud Family was a San Francisco-based power pop band formed in 1991 by songwriter and guitarist Scott Miller (pop musician), Scott Miller, who previously led the 1980s band Game Theory (band), Game Theory. The Loud Family released six studi ...
, but also explores "the college and indie-rock explosion of the 1980s and 1990s," and how some influential artists "managed to fall through the cracks." In the aftermath of Miller's death in April 2013, Milano submitted an initial proposal for a book about the album '' Lolita Nation'' to
Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...
, the publishers of the
33⅓ (Thirty-Three and a Third) is a series of books, each about a single music album. The series title refers to the rotation speed of a vinyl LP, RPM. History Originally published by Continuum, the series was founded by editor David Barker ...
book series. The series' editor rejected the topic as too non-commercial for that series, but provided "enough encouragement" that Milano decided to go further with the project, to write "a real proper biography, and try to get a handle on who Scott was and how that played into the music he made." Explaining his motivations for writing the book, Milano stated, "Like a lot of people I was pretty shaken up by his sudden and self-inflicted death in 2013, and thought he should be honored in some way... there’s some earthshaking music here that I have to tell people about." Citing comparisons to
Big Star Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton (vocals, guiar), Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). The group broke up in early 1975, and reorganized with a n ...
and
Nick Drake Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter known for his acoustic guitar-based songs. He did not find a wide audience during his lifetime, but his work gradually achieved wider notice and recognit ...
in a 2016 interview, Milano expressed his hopes and expectation that Miller's music will be rediscovered, bringing Miller "after-the-fact acclaim."


Early career and personal life

Milano attended
Hampshire College Hampshire College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges ...
in Amherst, Massachusetts before relocating to Boston in 1980 and earning a graduate degree in journalism at
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original ...
. For three years in the early 1990s, he worked in Los Angeles doing A&R and publicity for Alias Records and
Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species ...
. He also worked for
Harmonix Harmonix Music Systems, Inc., doing business as Harmonix, is an American video game developer company based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was established in May 1995 by Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy. Harmonix is perhaps best known as b ...
as a writer, editor, and researcher for its ''
Rock Band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...
'' video game. Milano continues to live in the Boston area, and was married in 2013. Since September 2016, Milano and ''Rocker Magazine'' editor-in-chief Erin Amar have co-hosted a monthly rock and roll trivia night at various venues in the Boston area.


Bibliography

Books: * ''Boston Rock Trivia'' (1985) — with Clea Simon * ''Vinyl Junkies: Adventures in Record Collecting'' (2003) * ''The Sound of Our Town: A History of Boston Rock and Roll'' (2007) * ''Don't All Thank Me at Once: The Lost Genius of Scott Miller'' (2015)


References


External links

*
Brett Milano archive
at the ''Boston Phoenix'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Milano, Brett Living people 1957 births American music journalists American music critics Writers from Boston