Culture Junkie aka Dariel profile picture

Culture Junkie aka Dariel

About Me

I was born in NY state, and went to college at SUNY Oswego (in the snow belt), majoring in English. Right after graduation I moved into the city and got a job at DDB (huge advertising agency). After a year, couldn't stand winter anymore, moved to California and pretty much stayed there (except for a four-year stint back in NYC, working on Madison Ave.) until I moved to the Carolinas.
Worked on lots of big mucky muck national accounts as well as other regional accounts. I've been everything from a typist to a copywriter and on up to a creative director, partner in a small agency. Got tired of agency life and so began freelancing. That's what I've been doing ever since — advertising, PR, editorial.
Here in NC, I handle publicity and artist workshops for Calabash art gallery Sunset River Marketplace; do some advertising; write a music and marketing blog ( DarielB ); and I write a music column for the local indie papers in Myrtle Beach. ( Alternatives )
Artistic Genes
I was fortunate enough to grow up in a family that valued all sorts of art. My mother is quite accomplished as an oil painter. My dad sang with a barber shop quartet as a young man. My grandfather was a cartoonist (political cartoons and comics).
I think art is essential to the wellbeing of a community and its citizens. Given a chance, art helps solve or, at least mitigate, a wide range of social problems.
Within the visual arts field, I’m nuts about the California plein air painters of the 1920s, the 20th Century and contemporary Russian artists of the Surikov Institute in Moscow, Van Gogh and his cronies and John Singer Sargent – but my favorite painting of all time is probably Picasso’s Guernica. As a teenager, while this masterpiece was at MOMA, I used to sit in front of it on a bench for hours at a time.
I'm an avid reader. I'll have to think about what my favorite books are. I have too many. But, off the top of my head is a nonfiction book for writers, "The War of Art," written by a guy named Steve Pressfield, who is better known for his long, historic novels about ancient Greece. "The War of Art" is exceptional in how it helps you fight the good fight against the evil Procrastination.

Besides all this, I'm a live music junkie. I could listen to the blues all day and all night. I'll be posting some stuff from my columns in in my blog. Check it out.
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My Interests

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My Blog

Green Dot Discs: New Label Claims Dance Band Niche

Green Dot Discs: New Label Claims Dance Band NicheAfter talking, planning and working together for months, Andy Smith, Rick Lee and Jeff Scheible  officially formed Green Dot Discs in March of this ye...
Posted by on Wed, 20 May 2009 20:32:00 GMT

CD Pick - Ready To Party

Various ArtistsReady To Party (2009)www.khpmusic.comLabel: KHP RecordsGenre: R&BReady To Party, the dance-driven offering from KHP Music features 14 tracks designed to get you on your feet and groovin...
Posted by on Wed, 20 May 2009 20:17:00 GMT

SXSE Gets a Jump From the Cables

South By Southeast Gets a Jump From the CablesOkay, you Carolina folks are going to have one up on me here. I wasnt in this neck of the beach in the eighties, so I didnt recognize this group by name...
Posted by on Tue, 05 May 2009 19:30:00 GMT

Cape Fear Blues Society Announces Festival Line-Up

Blues Society Announces Carolina-Grown Line-Up For July FestivalThe annual Cape Fear Blues Festival, number 14 this year, is set for July 24 - 26 in Wilmington, N.C. Events will include the Friday n...
Posted by on Tue, 05 May 2009 19:17:00 GMT

CD Pick: Buddy & Julie Miller/Written In Chalk

CD PickBuddy and Julie MillerWritten In Chalk (2009)Label: New West RecordsGenre: Roots, Americanamyspace.com/buddyandjuliemillerA friend of mine in California just sent me the latest offering from  h...
Posted by on Tue, 05 May 2009 19:03:00 GMT

Rick Strickland Band

Rick Strickland Melds Musicianship In New 7-Piece BandRick Strickland is a prolific, sometimes obsessed songwriter. He tells me he writes a song most every day. In fact, when he and wife, Gail, sat do...
Posted by on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:55:00 GMT

Tommy Black, Rickey Godfrey To Play Papa's Pizza

Papas Pizza In Little River, S.C. To Offer Live Entertainment April  23  25    Papas Pizza, Wings & Things, located in the Lowes Food Shopping Center in Little River, S.C., will offer live entertai...
Posted by on Sat, 18 Apr 2009 07:05:00 GMT

Bull City Syndicate: Horns of Plenty

Bull City Syndicate: Horns of PlentyI had a friends request on MySpace a couple weeks ago, a group named Bull City Syndicate. Id never heard of them, so I went to their profile. What a great sound! ...
Posted by on Sat, 11 Apr 2009 22:54:00 GMT

CD Pick: The Snake Charmers/Been Gone Too Long

The Snake CharmersBeen Gone Too Long (2008)www.thesnakecharmers.netLabel: Skunk Eye RecordsGenre: BluesThe Snake Charmers have been mesmerizing the larger-than-life city of Houston since 2002, when hu...
Posted by on Sat, 11 Apr 2009 22:22:00 GMT

CD Pick: Rev. Bubba D Liverance/Let My Peoples Dance

Rev. Bubba D LiveranceLet My Peoples Dance (2008)Label: Aint Bad RecordsGenre: BeachYou know youre in for some fun when the guys name is Rev. Bubba D Liverance, his band is called the Cornhole Prop...
Posted by on Sat, 11 Apr 2009 22:01:00 GMT