dan - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Acknowledged as one of the American media's foremost authorities on popular music and songwriters, Dan Kimpel contributes to a dizzying variety of print and electronic mediums: books, interactive CD's, magazines, web sites, feature films, videos and new media. His recent interview subjects include Melissa Etheridge, Kelly Clarkson, Mary J. Blige, Green Day, Usher, Alicia Keys, OutKast, Jason Mraz and Black Eyed Peas.Over six years, passengers on United Airlines heard Kimpel's incisive interviews with hit songwriters and recording artists worldwide on The United Entertainment Network. In addition, he has written, produced and/or voiced segments for TED, Regal Cinemas, and the presidential and vice presidential planes, Air Force One and Two.In print, Dan contributes cover features to the west coast trade publication Music Connection magazine, plus a bi-weekly column, â€œSong Biz,â€ that includes a profile of a writer or composer in each issue. To date, Dan has conducted over 200 interviews for the magazine covering such diverse talents as Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morissette, Randy Newman, Glen Ballard, John Mayer, Jill Scott and Rufus Wainwright. Other publications that feature his writing include BMI World, ASCAP Playback, Grammy, SESAC Magazine and American Songwriter.Danâ€™s book, Networking Strategies For The New Music Business (ArtistPro/Thomson) is the follow up to his best-selling title, Networking in the Music Business. Over five years, he conducted a weeklong master class on networking at Sir Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) in the UK. Stateside, he lectures at colleges, universities and conferences across the U.S. and Canada, and he is currently on the faculty of Musician's Institute in Hollywood. His newest book, How They Made It: True Stories of How Musicâ€™s Biggest Stars Went From Start to Stardom, signing stories of todayâ€™s most successful recording artists, was released in 2006 by Hal Leonard.Watch for Dan's latest opus, Electrify My Soul: Songwriters and the Spiritual Source coming this winter from Thomson/PTR.;........

My Interests

Chihuahua Dogs; wine, travel, literature, working out, gardening.

I'd like to meet:

I'm always open to interesting music folks and people in the visual arts.

Music:

oriented toward song craft in all forms regardless of genre. Don't bore us, Doris, get to the chorus.

Movies:

edgy, indie, evocative scores: Greg Araki, Kurasawa, Scorcese, Larry Clark.

Television:

Logo Network; vintage cartoons, "Ugly Betty" "Desperate Housewives," "Cops" -MTV, CMT, GAC and "American Idol." I usually agree with Simon....

Books:

I always aspired to write books, and am proud to be an author. Although my subect matter is much different, I've been inspired by Yukio Mishima, John Rechy, Jack Kerouac, Nick Tosches, Larry McMurtry, Kinky Friedman; poets: Fredrick Eckman, James Wright, Allen Ginsberg, Ron Johnson. My next door neighbors are Davis & Davis, visual artists who have a book called "Childish Things." Check 'em out at www.davisanddavis.org (they did my photos, too.)

Heroes:

I've been priviliged to interview many of them: Dr. Maya Angelou, Leonard Cohen, Holland, Dozier, Holland; Randy Newman, Elmer Bernstein, Laurence Rosenthal, Melissa Etheridge, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Jefffrey Steele, Mary J. Blige. etc/

My Blog

Ohio Land

Hi Folks: I'm back from visiting the family in Lima, (actually, Cridersville) Ohio. It was a complex visit, and I'm very happy to be home in Los Angeles. When I was growing up there was a local ...
Posted by dan on Mon, 07 Jul 2008 08:35:00 PST

Sprung

Hey All: You can check out the pix from my book signing on my picture page. It was a wonderful evening and I thank those of you who came out to celebrate with me. I’ll have a number of announcem...
Posted by dan on Fri, 14 Mar 2008 03:25:00 PST

Pop People Power

One of my soon to be graduating students in the MBP Program at Musicians Institute in Hollywood came to me to lament that he'd checked out online resources for music industry jobs and had come up empt...
Posted by dan on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:00:00 PST

Rain in LaLa

It's a cliche, I know, but oh my, Los Angeles drivers in the rain are a scary lot. I braved the the 210 East today for a drive in the deluge to lovely Monrovia, and was sprayed by the speeding behemot...
Posted by dan on Mon, 28 Jan 2008 05:13:00 PST

Shame on Me

One of my wise young charges who won't remain anonymous (Hunter Scott!) noted that I hadn't posted a new blog in a couple of years, to which I responded, "Do as I say, not as I do..." The big news for...
Posted by dan on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:21:00 PST

career consulting at MI

Hi Blog readers: If you a student at MI you can set up a consulting session with me! Quality time with Uncle Dan 1 one on one. It'll be Thursdays from 11-1 so check in with Kenny Kerner to see how to ...
Posted by dan on Thu, 29 Jun 2006 09:51:00 PST

In the summertime

Hi Y'all: Today is the first Monday since April that I didn't teach at Musicians Institute - congrats to everyone who passed my class - and next time I'll make the final harder. If you're a student at...
Posted by dan on Tue, 20 Jun 2006 08:12:00 PST

Awards Week - L.A.

So you think all I do is go to high-end parties and black tie dinner, eh? Well, that's what I'm up to this week. Last night (5/16/) attended the BMI Pop Awards in Beverly Hills, and tonight, return fo...
Posted by dan on Thu, 18 May 2006 05:05:00 PST

uncle dan in LaLa Land...

I went down to Nashville to do a lecture and book sigining at the Tin Pan South Song Symposium: an amazing time. I didn't realize I'd be speaking to 300 attendees in the main ballroom! What a buzz. I ...
Posted by dan on Wed, 12 Apr 2006 01:40:00 PST

winter in L.A.

Musicians' Institute Music Business Program Director Kenny Kerner has asked me to return to Musician's Institute to teach my "Networking" class beginning in April 2006. If you're a student at MI I wou...
Posted by dan on Tue, 31 Jan 2006 10:46:00 PST