Hank Bordowitz
There are few things Hank Bordowitz hasn't done in the entertainment biz, and lived to tell the tale. His career has taken him to television, radio, records, the web, infinity and beyond.
As a musician, he played in bars and pit bands through High School, touring with a theater company by night while attending classes by day. His edgy work on college radio nearly got him thrown out of school his first semester. He graduated to a hot moment as a recording artist for a company that went out of business weeks after he turned in his master. He has subsequently worked on the biz side of things for A&M, Antilles New Directions, Columbia, IRS, Island, PolyGram, RCA/BMG, Atlantic, Intuition, Tuff City and others.
As an editor, Hank top-kicked Rock Scene, Rock Fever Metal Mania, Creem Special Issues and Concert Shots magazines, managed the editorial at Wizard, The Guide To Comics, served as Director of Editorial Content at MCY.com and edited the original Interactive Quarterly, the first magazine about Cyberotica - and takes credit for coining the word.
Hank's work appears in half a dozen books including the forward of the Peanuts Illustrated Songbook. His own books include
• The U2 Reader: A Quarter Century of Commentary, Criticism and Reviews
• The Bruce Springsteen Scrapbook
• Every Little Thing Gonna Be Alright: The Bob Marley Reader,
• Turning Points of Rock and Roll, Noise of the World, Non-Western Musicians in their Own Words
• Billy Joel: Life & Times of an Angry Young Man, and
• Dirty Little Secrets of the Record Business: Why So Much Music You Hear Sucks.
His work has appeared in hundreds of magazines including Playboy, Gallery and, Spin. Hank's television work includes stints with VH-1, the CBS Morning Show, and TV-1 News, Finland. He worked extensively on the PBS show Spike and Company Do It A Cappella.
In addition to all of this, he also teaches as an adjunct professor at the music department of Ramapo College of the State of New Jersey, Colorado State University(online) and Baruch College.
21 articles
List of articles in the library
Interview by Hank Bordowitz, unpublished, 1985
HB: You are doing something most American bands wouldn't think off, touring the country with a 20 odd person entourage. ...
Robert Palmer, The Power Station: Robert Palmer: Rob's Revenge
Interview by Hank Bordowitz, International Musician & Recording World, October 1986
Every once in a while, Robert Palmer pulls another hit out of the bag, and silences those critics who accuse him of being a pop ...
Paul Simon: Graceland (Warner Bros. 25447-4)
Review by Hank Bordowitz, High Fidelity, December 1986
SIMON SAYS, "JIVE!" ...
Johnny Hates Jazz: Turn Back the Clock (Virgin America)
Review by Hank Bordowitz, Spin, June 1988
JOHNNY HATES Jazz? Well, Hank likes jazz, and from the git, there are plenty of reasons to hate Johnny Hates Jazz. They commit many cardinal ...
Kid Creole & The Coconuts: Private Waters in the Great Divide (Columbia)
Review by Hank Bordowitz, Spin, July 1990
EVEN WHEN August (Kid Creole) Darnell is writing for records, he's writing soundtracks. Historically, Kid Creole and the Coconuts' tunes worked well in concert, but ...
Ahmet Ertegun And The History Of Atlantic Records
Profile and Interview by Hank Bordowitz, Schwann Spectrum, Winter 1991
"WHEN I FIRST started Atlantic Records," reflects the label founder, Ahmet Ertegun, "I intended to make good blues and jazz music, as well as some ...
Interview by Hank Bordowitz, Special Reports, Summer 1992
EVERY NOW AND then you get a call from an old dear friend, someone who has been lurking around at the edges of your consciousness ...
Donald Fagen: Get Your Motor Running
Interview by Hank Bordowitz, Creem, 1993
With Kamakiriad, Donald Fagen proves that behind every great album is a great car ...
Donald Fagen: Fagen and Becker on Kamakiriad
Report and Interview by Hank Bordowitz, Schwann Spectrum, January 1993
IN A WAY, the ID Donald Fagen did for New York's WNEW-FM, arguably the best album rock station in a city with little choice in ...
Bo Diddley's Bar Mitzvah Beat Box
Report and Interview by Hank Bordowitz, Guitar Player, October 1993
BO DIDDLEY GETS into rap and even whips up tropical flavors on his first major-label release in 20 years, A Man Among Men. But he's ...
Funkadelic, Parliament: The Jazzy Funkateers: Life after James Brown and P-Funk
Report and Interview by Hank Bordowitz, American Visions, Winter 1993
AS THE SEVEN musicians on the stage at Tramps in New York launch into a instrumental version of 'Cold Sweat', six hundred voices in the ...
Paco de Lucia's Flamenco Odyssey: Expression, Serenity & Feeling
Interview by Hank Bordowitz, Guitar Player, April 1994
"PACO DE LUCIA, in opinion, is the greatest flamenco player alive," says John McLaughlin of his friend. "Working with him really was a great experience." ...
Dr. John: Hoodoo Man: Mac Rebennack
Interview by Hank Bordowitz, Jazziz, July 1994
MAC REBENNACK'S music continues a 40 year long mardi gras of the mind, a sound that never gets old, never gets tired. ...
Bo Diddley: Man Among Men, Guitarist Among Guitarists
Interview by Hank Bordowitz, Guitar Player, October 1996
YOU KNOW BO Diddley invented that beat, one of the driving forces of rock and roll. You know he had a bunch of seminal ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival: “I Was the Leader Already": Creedence's Beginnings
Book Excerpt by Hank Bordowitz, Schirmer Books, 1998
IN 1958 ROCK music had passed its infancy -- it was more like a toddler -- but it still was not reputable. Not many high ...
Willie Nelson: Expecting the Unexpected
Profile and Interview by Hank Bordowitz, Gallery, March 2001
WILLIE NELSON studies martial arts. He has honed his skills as a karateka in various styles for around 40 years now. When you ...
Thomas Dolby: Techno Beatnik: Thomas Dolby
Profile and Interview by Hank Bordowitz, unpublished, 2002
MY WIFE AND two-year-old huddle over my wife’s iMac. Billy, the two year old, giggles uncontrollably as the computer makes boinging and slide-whistle sounds, ...
Sleeve notes by Hank Bordowitz, Fresh Sound Records, 2004
"Eric Dolphy was a saint, in every way, not just his playing." (Charles Mingus) ...
Billy Joel's N.Y. State of Mind
Guide by Hank Bordowitz, New York Daily News, 13 July 2008
IT SEEMS FITTING that Billy Joel should play the last concert at Shea Stadium before it meets the wrecking ball. Shea has hosted the most ...
John Fogerty: Beacon Theatre, NYC
Live Review by Hank Bordowitz, Rock's Backpages, 1 December 2009
I'M NOT SURE what John Fogerty went through internally after (and even during) the fall of CCR. I have my educated guesses, but they're just ...
Interview by Hank Bordowitz, Rock's Backpages, November 2011
Ensconsed in his Brooklyn rehearsal space, the master guitarist demonstrates his 19th Century-meets-21st Century one-man-band Orchestrion, along the way discussing issues such as performing for children, soundproofing his apartment, and the difficulties in negotiating Canadian border posts.
File format: mp3; file size: 55.2mb, interview length: 57' 30" sound quality: ***
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