How Did You Find The Riff?
Please tell us your story!!!
During our exceptional Riff Album Discussion last night on The Ace of Base’s seminal record, The Sign, so ably led by the versatile Nicole Brown, someone wondered how and why we all got attracted to The Riff.
For me, as I’ve likely reported a few times, head honcho Noah Levy saw a story I’d written about finding a copy of Deep Purple’s The Book of Taliesyn at a store called Beach Music while my family was on a summer vacation in Palm Beach, Florida, back in the summer of 1972 when I was about to turn sixteen. I remember taking suede boots with me on the trip, because you never know when a girl will see you and your boots at some family-style seafood place in the middle of July and just have to have you.
Maybe Noah had a pair of suede boots, too, when he was sixteen. Mine were a deep reddish-orange with brown and gold stripes down the front. Here’s the story, because why retell it when I’d surely mix up the more salient details? Or maybe Noah loves Deep Purple, and this album particularly, where they do a killer version of “River Deep, Mountain High.”
In any case, here were Noah’s exact words:
Terry, this was a fun piece to read! At The Riff (a new music publication on Medium), we’d love to run any piece of yours in the future. I just added you as a writer. All you need to do is click “Add to Publication”, choose us, then press “Submit”. Thanks for the great story and we hope you had a wonderful weekend!
That was May 6, 2020.
I don’t know how many stories I’ve now written for The Riff, but I do know, as David Acaster and I were remarking last night after the discussion ended, if we hadn’t had this place to write our music stories during this past and very horrifying crisis year, what would we have done? Yes, I know there are other music and pop culture pubs on Medium, and I love writing for them, too. But The Riff got me started going deeper, and it’s also where I’ve met most of you, especially Kevin Alexander, Rob Janicke (sorry man), and Jessica Lee McMillan.
Life goes by so quickly, and if we started counting the number of close friends — not to mention family members — that we’ve lost, a deeper despair would likely set in. So, when a platform and publication like Medium’s The Riff comes along and you get to write about the music of your life and then engage with people who have written and are willingly to continue writing about their own love affair with music, and their vulnerability, as Keith R. Higgons and Alexander Briseño do, one thing people like me learn is that friendship comes in as many varieties as does the Rock and Soul, New Wave and Punk, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Folk, R&B, Swing, and Country (and Alt-Country) music we adore.
So, where would I be without you guys? Listening to music, definitely, but with one ear tied behind my back.
If all we need is love, then that love is so very often contained in the music. Just ask my wife who agrees with me that “Us and Them” is the most beautiful song ever recorded.
Or whatever song works best for you.
So come on, write about your own Riff.
I’m listening.
The next Riff Album discussion is Sunday, September 12, but with a new start time: 4:00 PM EDT, so that those of you across the pond don’t have to join so late. I hope this reaches Paul Byrne 🌿 and Alex Markham, and others I’m missing. I’ll let the next host make his/her own announcement, but as for now, here’s the zoom link:
ID: 87323145034 Passcode: 977%nrqP
