Adam Lauver is an actor and comic whose temperaments range from sad-sack to slacker to neurotic to fool, depending on how validated he feels and, relatedly, how many whole pizzas he ate by himself in his room the night before. He is as aspiring as he is lazy and readily acknowledges how intensely inauspicious that is. He has been known to laugh, write, get into stupid arguments about things (as well as regular arguments about stupid things), and describe his ideas for pornographic films to strangers at parties. He thinks you’re probably a pretty cool person. He also has a website, but to be honest he’s kind of ambivalent about it.

 

 

Andrew “Drew” Ratliff enjoys writing about music, compulsive listmaking, and being hilarious. He resides in New Jersey, but considers himself a Bostonian. When he’s not furiously writing, he spends his days listening to music for fun, his nights performing as a popular local DJ and karaoke host, and his dreams fantasizing about the day that he gets to indulge his secret fantasy of being a rapper. Drew lives with his wife, Leah, his dog, Siah (who he treats way better than a human child), and a series of kittens and goldfish. Drew reads profusely and is a horror movie fanatic. He compulsively makes lists, feels that “The Shield” is the greatest dramatic television show created by mere mortals, once nicknamed himself “Andrew 3000″ after the more fanciful half of Outkast (and still gets called that to this day), has a pathological need to be the center of attention, is embarrassingly unapologetic about his farts, enjoys singing, has a library in his home, and often spends inordinate periods of time staring at himself in the mirror when he looks really, really good, which is often. Humility is not his strong suit, and his musical heroes include Bruce Springsteen and Kanye West. | Posts by Drew

 

 

Big Money Mike AKA The Blerd emerged from the bowels of Brooklyn and currently makes his home near Boston, MA. Former editor in chief of sonicclash.com, he also contributes to popdose.com and has written reviews for many other sites around the internets, including Popmatters.com and Rhythmflow.net. When not planning world domination by way of pop culture websites and being black, nerdy and awesome, our hero relaxes in the lab with his trusty feline sidekick  and replays Michael Jackson’s “Motown 25″ performance over and over, to the dismay of visitors to his lair. | Posts by Big Money

 

Blake is a geek-chic-kind-of-guy who runs a bookstore in Boston. He fills his time with all things geek: movies, video games, comics, technology, etc; however, he’s still an outdoorsman who enjoys running, hiking and cycling (he once took 2 months to ride a bicycle across the country solo.) When he’s not working, in Grad school, writing, or taking his dog Clementine to the park, he’s probably appreciating a quiet night at home on the couch with a remote, controller, or guitar in hand. He also tweets a lot.

 

 

 

 

Brittany is a 24 year old aspiring journalist, living in the Biggest Little City in the World (aka Reno, Nevada). She loves all things pop culture and most kinds of music, though some of her favorites are Sufjan Stevens, Radiohead, Jamie Cullum, John Mayer, and Coldplay. When she’s not listening to music, procrastinating on writing, or watching reruns of How I Met Your Mother, you can probably find her rambling on…er, spouting off profound nuggets of wisdom- on Twitter.

 

 

 

Cassandra is a 21 year old music lover who hails from a small town in between Boston and Providence (the best of both worlds for concert going). Over the summer of 2011, she interned with Providence radio station WBRU as part of their street team (BruCrew), and learned that that is the environment she finds herself most happy (aside from being front row at some indie/alternative show). Because of this, shenow works for Radio 92.9 in Boston (WBOS) as a street team member and gets to do all the things she loves and gets paid for them! If you’re a Bostonian, look for the 929ers at events around town, she’s the short brunette with purple tips and colorful eyeliner. While she aspires to get into radio broadcasting, print is her background, and she enjoys contributing to Popblerd! (she also used to write for their friend blog The Audio Perv, RIP). Her all-time favorite bands are Muse, Sick Puppies, The Kooks, Sleeper Agent, Shiny Toy Guns, The Bravery, Morning Parade, and Royal Teeth. Find her on twitter @musehysteria27!

 

 

 

 

 

Charlie (not to be confused with Chuck below) says: “My name is Charlie.  I like music, among other things.  Sometimes I like to write.” He is not this blurry in person.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chuck is Bostonian born and raised. Musically, his first love has always been Hip Hop, which proved to be the gateway drug that led to an addiction to funk, soul, blues and jazz. Passionate about music whether listening to it, writing about it or playing it. He’s an admitted pop culture geek, wanna-be techie and pretty much overall nerd, which is ‘in’ now, so he has that going for him.

 

 

 

 

 

Cristóbal Tracy is Indian, from the Caribbean, and has a high BMI. He prefers Aretha Franklin to Beyoncé, Neil Young to John Mayer, Al Green to Chris Brown, Max Martin to the Doors, Toni Braxton to Robert Flack, and the Spinners to U2.

 

 

 

 

 Other than getting crabbier as he ages, Dave Rullo is a writer and musician when he’s not selling the world on the promises of A.M. radio in Pittsburgh, PA. He’s currently shopping for an agent, convinced that his collection of poetry will both make him millions of dollars and ensure his fame for decades to come. If that doesn’t work he’s hoping his ironically hip musical project, Centrale Electrique will catch on in a way that will cause Time Magazine to stand up and take notice. He plays guitar and synth, both badly and is the father of Jack and the husband of Kim. He resides in a hip section in the Southern part of Pittsburgh and angrily shakes his fist when he drives past the younger artists in the Eastern section of the city who are convinced they live in the hippest sections of the city. He can be contacted at daverullo@verizon.net.

Garrett (GG)  has been blogging since 2002 and in 2008, started Fight Game Blog, which covers boxing, MMA, and pro wrestling. He also writes from time to time for Sonic Clash. Here at Popblerd!, Garrett, a diehard San Francisco Giants fan, writes the baseball column Sweet Chin Muzak. In addition, he writes the football column 10 Yard Fight, which is mostly an excuse to talk about his beloved 49ers, but also goes over every game in the NFL season. He’ll chime in from time to time on other topics like reality TV and whenever Big Money Mike forces him to give his opinion on music-related lists. He has two kids who keep him busy and try to force his hair to turn gray.

 

 

Mike Gresley, known to most simply as Grez, is a music geek to the core.  He does not give a single whit about the popularity (or lack thereof) of the artists he listens to, reviews, or recommends.  Oh, and he will most likely really kick your ass at rock trivia.

In addition to being a fan, Grez is an amature musician, playing both drums and keys, as well as singing.  From 2003-2007, he was the lead vocalist in the Houston-based band Escape Plan, as well as being the main lyricist and one of two primary songwriters.  He spent the couple of years prior to this role as the drummer/back-up vocalist/lyricist for the band Supercolliders.

Beyond that, Grez pursues many hobbies, both outdoorsy and nerdy (and probably an equal mix of both), including hiking, running, video games, voracious reading, poetry, writing, attending rock shows, SCUBA, beer knurdery, writing, PC modding, and midget tossing.  Ok, he just made that last one up.  Did we mention that he’s not politically correct, either?  Perhaps that last item on the list should be replaced with “verbally prodding uptight, hypersensitive people with gremlin-like glee.”

 

Greg has been writing music reviews on and off for about seven years. Some of his past work includes: “The Bad Brains Holiday Spectacular,” a brief treatment for “Wu-Tang Meets the Golden Girls” and a concept review of Never Mind the Bollocks set in a dystopian future / Hollywood Squares taping / mental institution—even he’s a little confused about that one in retrospect. He enjoys playing old school Mega Man games while listening to black metal (or the Mountain Goats) and watches more cartoons than any adult probably should.

 

 

 

James Watson AKA June is an aspiring jack of all trades. Raised in the birthplace of Hip Hop, June. gravitated towards the culture at an early age and has sustained loyalty ever since. Through internships at various record labels, June. picked up a few interests in different pockets of the music industry; including graphic design, marketing, and artist development. With his extensive knowledge, he has plans for building and becoming a multifaceted brand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jay loves basketball. How much does he love basketball, you ask? Enough that he’s one half of the team that does our NBA column “Roundball Soundoff.” He also runs the popular New York Knicks Podcast. Oh, did we mention he plays basketball as well? When not consuming himself with all things hoops, you can find Jay in a selection of bars and restaurants around NYC, for the other site he writes for, Brunchaholics. He’s a busy, busy man.

 

 

 

Born and raised in South Central…Massachusetts, Jesse has an insatiable craving for Pop Tarts and soda. He’s been collecting comics for over 30 years now and is a lover of all things music. He prefers CD’s over Ipods, Megadeth over Metallica and Judas Priest over Iron Maiden. He may or may not have some comic book-related and band logo tattoos which he’ll gladly show you…for a price! He’s written for the Boston Metro, the now defunct Boston NOW and he currently spends his free time writing the weekly Metal Monday column, the monthly (?) Support Good Music in 2011, the weekly/monthly/whenever he gets to it Comicblerd column as well as a slew of other music related reviews and pieces for Popblerd! | Posts by Jesse

 

 

KBOX has been eating, sleeping, breathing music since he begrudgingly exited his mother’s womb.  He lives to listen, and listens to learn. Whether in casual to sometimes heated conversation in person, through social media, or by phone he is never short on things to say about music and the industry that both birthed and now struggles to co-exist with the technology now used to promote the artists creating it.  He is owner of Horse To Water Marketing which is a label services start-up for independent artists/small businesses and resides in upstate New York with his wife and their two children. | Posts by KBOX

 

 

 

On the outside Kevin “KJ” Johnson is your local Nationwide Insurance agent. On the inside he’s an aspiring writer who spent six years with the Everett Herald’s sports department writing about every high school sport possible, along with covering minor league baseball. His blog, “Lisy’s Battle with Leukemia“, about his wife’s successful battle with cancer, was featured by MSN.com in 2005 and was used in their promotion of the now defunct MSN Spaces. After God, his wife and three kids, the Sultan, WA resident would list Star Wars, Boyz II Men, fantasy sports, actual sports, the TV show “Friends”, Peyton Manning and chocolate milk on his list of things he hearts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Koomdogg, AKA Jay Kumar,  refuses to admit he is getting old. He likes rock shows, beer and hockey. He was once on stage with the Amazing Kreskin. He runs a blog of his own, in addition to the Completely Conspicuous podcast.

 

 

 

 

Marc Kloszewski’s love of music stretches back to his preschool years, scattering his mother’s record collection around the living room, huddled close to his Fisher-Price record player. Much later on, he got to play DJ for real (as “Marc Morrison”) starting in 2005 at community radio station WIUP-FM, where you can still hear his show The Sunday Sampler from 8-10pm eastern on Sunday nights.

 

Previously (and perhaps in the future, who knows?) a librarian, currently Marc is a production manager at a network of four radio stations in Indiana, PA and one in Greensburg, PA.

 

 

Mike A. has been a music addict since he was bringing 45′s into kindergarten for show and tell. The addiction only grows worse the older he gets. Since he appears incapable of playing an instrument, but has always been told he’s good at writing, he writes about the thing he’s most passionate about in life, music. So he started his humble little music blog Now It’s On to share what he loves, the albums, the artists and the concerts, and is thrilled to now also be a part of the Popblerd team. Some of his all-time favorites include Prince, Grandaddy/Jason Lytle, Faithless, Moby, Pet Shop Boys and The Silent Years. A Michigander his whole life, Mike is also an avid sports fan and lifelong Detroit Pistons and Red Wings supporter. He’d love to tell you more about himself, but he has a stack of CD’s to listen to and/or a concert to attend tonight.

 

Mike Duquette writes and feels a lot older than you might think. He is the founder and editor of The Second Disc, a site devoted to catalogue music projects big and small, and also contributes to Popdose and Topless Robot. He lives in New Jersey with his loving, devoted CD collection.

 

 

 

 

Nick Tieder is a marketing and product management professional in the music industry who owns and runs his own consulting company No Jacket Required Marketing. He currently resides in Hoboken, NJ with his girlfriend and their two cats that they rescued from a local animal shelter. It should be noted that owning animals from a shelter in no way implies a fondness for Sarah McLachlan’s music.

 

 

Nixon Nyce is an upcoming rap star from the Boston area, with accomplishments stretching back to mixtapes with Oaklands DJ Vlad, G-Unit’s DJ Whoo Kid, and Konvict Muzik’s Benny-D. He’s opened for some of today’s hottest artists such as Swizz Beatz, Kid Cudi, Yung Berg, & Maino. Blogs around the world have handed Nyce accolades for witty bars and humorous lines. He runs his own blog which looks into the trials and tribulations of an unsigned artist.

 

 

 

 

Robert Cass lives in Chicago and is currently studying library and information science through the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He also performs improv comedy with the groups Koleno and Angerstein Street.

 

 

 

 

Stephen loves writing, darkly humorous television dramas, campy horror movies, rock music, video games, hockey, burritos, covering late 90’s pop songs on his guitar, and the sound of his own voice – not necessarily in that order. Hailing from sunny San Diego (“the whale’s vagina”), he’s part of the site’s “west coast flava” (trademark pending). When he’s not writing about movies, music, or hockey for Popblerd!, you can find him working a desk job, overcompensating at karaoke bars, or finding new and creative ways to neglect cleaning his apartment. | Posts by Stephen

 

Tom Acox authored the eBook, Got Junk, released in 2011.  The book chronicles his adventures working for the company of the same name. Acox graduated from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA, about which he authored a College Prowler guidebook to make sure all his favorite college haunts would live on (they didn’t, R.I.P Muddy Duck). He has written for Metro Newspaper in Philadelphia and New York City and was able to get a few free meals as Philadelphia Weekly’s Food and Drink man in the street.

Acox is a lover of BBQ, graphs, Mexican food, beer, statistics and cheese in alternating orders.

You can find him working on economics textbooks or making whiskey in his apartment in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

He writes daily at www.theunqualifiedeconomist.com; occasionally at www.popblerd.com; inappropriately at @ThatTomAcox; and on the book at http://www.facebook.com/TheUnqualifiedEconomist

Feel free to send him praise, money, and or candy at theunqualifiedeconomist@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zack Stiegler (aka Dr. Gonzo) is a Professor of Communication and Media Studies, effectively putting the “geek” in “music geek.” Much of his writing centers on media law and policy, as in his 2013 edited volume Regulating the Web: Network Neutrality and the Fate of the Open Internet (Lexington Books). His music writing has appeared in the Journal of Popular Music Studies, as well as Chistopher R. Smit’s collection, Michael Jackson: Grasping the Spectacle (2012, Ashgate). For better or for worse, the good Doctor is also a karaoke junkie, once winning a competition based on his rendition of Prince’s “Baby I’m a Star.”

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