Profile: Adam Miller, Ed-in-Chief of Being There Magazine (as submitted to Highestwire)

Submitted by Shel Desormeaux on Friday, October 29, 2004 at 06:43:28 AM EST.

Being There Magazine is something different. Like many grassroots publications, it's got an air of exuberance and honesty that other bigger and funded mags lack. But underneath the fun and factual fondness with which the folk at BT surround their journalism, there is
a gentle defiance and insistence that this magazine is special.

Launched on August 15 of this year, Being There Magazine (http://www.beingtheremag.com) has already scooped up fans from all over the world and racked up an impressive hit count. After the release of its third issue on October 15, it's clear the magazine is taking a solid shape, carving out a place for itself among an
astonishing array of blogs, mags, and zines, new ones of which crop up online every month.

Being There Magazine is a demanding yet welcome labor of love. Issue by issue, it becomes more enjoyable and each successful piece becomes a motivation for the staff. But it brewed and stewed in the heart of its editor in chief, Adam Miller, for a few years before he could finish school, meet all of us, and pull it out into the light of day.

Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, he cultivated an eclectic interest in music and become a Beatles nut at the age of eight. In high school he became both familiar and disenchanted with the popular music magazines of the time. When he was in university, he was pleased to discover the superior, more interesting publications like Uncut and Mojo.

Adam is only 23 years old, but he approaches everything he does with a sincerity and a focus that belies his age. We, the staff, all came together only a few months ago, people of different ages, backgrounds and zip/postal codes, and Adam has managed to pulled us all together. He is earnest, smart, knowledgeable, and easy to work for.

My friendship with Adam is based almost entirely on our online interaction. This isn't as weird as it seems: although I've only met Adam face-to-face a handful of times, I know that the next time I see him we will pick up where we left off. Which is somewhere on MSN. Which is where I spoke to him for HighestWire.com.

Shel: I was thinking today, you know ... that I kinda fell into Being There. Adam said, 'Hey, you took journalism. Wanna?' So that's how it came about for me. I'm a writer, but BT was an accident. Adam: I asked Adam (Anklewicz, another contributor) if he knew any good writers who were into this sort of thing and he suggested you right away, and I'm glad he did.
S: Me too! This is something you've wanted to do for a long time. How long have you been priming for this?

A: Well, I've been reading music and film magazines since high school... but as I got more into writing and grew more disillusioned by the inconsistency of magazines, it kind of went in that direction by default. I guess I had seriously been thinking about starting a music and film magazine in my last year of university, so not that long. I''ve wanted to write about music for a long time though.
S: When you started university was a career in writing or (music) journalism what you saw for yourself?

A: Not at all. I had always been obsessive about music ... I soaked up books, documentaries, liner notes ... but I didn't really know how I wanted to apply my musical knowledge. I started out as a film major, so that's kind of where I really started to get into film, but I began to identify myself more with screenwriters than directors. But screenplays were always too long for me to feel comfortable approaching. That's when I got the idea that maybe it would be worth writing articles about the sort of things I already had some knowledge about but wanted to delve more into. My dream career in high school was record production, but I hate technical jobs.

S: The third issue of BT is about to go up. How has it evolved in this short time, do you think? Can you see it heading in a certain direction, maybe one you hadn't seen coming?

A: Well, I think we're getting more and more capable of ensuring a lot of content. We're seeing certain areas working and others that may fall through in a few months. But I think any good publication will go through major changes in its first 6 months. We'll probably add some new columns, and build credibility as more and more people agree to talk to us. We were lucky to have the support of some musicians and PR people before even going online, so I think that helped us a lot. I originally envisioned the magazine as a music, film, and literature magazine, so the challenge is keeping a balance between those three things in each issue. Most of the staff is geared mostly towards music, so that's really been the majority of our content so far, but I think as we grow it'll balance out more.

S: Do you hope to keep it to music/film/literature, or do you see something else coming to the fore, whatever that may be?

A: Well, one of the things I don't like about some music and film magazines is that they seem to spend a lot of time talking about politics and special interest stories. Now, I'm very interested in those things, but I think there are plenty of magazines that are full of great content in those departments. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert in a field about which other writers know more than I do.

S: Readers have responded pretty positively to our current format. No politics, no special interest, no grannies running marathons ... just music, and film, and books.

A: Exactly. And from talking to people over the past few years about the magazines that are out there, I know that people are hungry for this kind of format. We promote the underdog without ignoring the legend that everybody already knows about. It's not like we have to pick one or the other.

S: Well, why not? Good music is good music.

A: We want to show people what's out there. I think the popular and unpopular is more similar than people are willing to admit

S: As we go along ... and each issue gets put up ... do you find people in the industry warming to us?

A: Well, most of the major labels probably have no idea who we are at this point, but it's nice to know that labels I have respected over the past few years, like Nonesuch and Anti, not only know who we are, but help us promote their music and really, those are the labels that are promoting more of the quality music that comes out today.

S: Among the indie crowd, the welcomes have been quite warm, am I right?

A: Absolutely. We recently received a letter from Sonny Ochs (sister of 1960s folk singer Phil Ochs), thanking us for publishing an article about her late brother. That made me feel really good. It's interesting, because someone like Phil Ochs is so relevant today, yet very little is written about him anymore. I think the fact that we aren't influenced by any monetary figures is what inspires us to write about the things that we care about, and not about what we think might sell copies at the newsstands. And I hope that even when money enters the picture, we can continue to operate on those principles.

S: When you think about BT in five years ... what do you hope for? Has being BT's Ed-in-Chief become your desired career?

A: Naturally, I think that when you start a business, whether it's something you do for a living or something you do for a hobby, your priority is success. After all, it's something you created. And while I am focused on it being a long-term hobby, I think having it as a career would make me extremely happy. It would be a very fulfilling day job. And I think the quality of the magazine would benefit if we could put more time into it.

S: Our personalities are definitely coming out in our work. I think that's really neat too, how everyone becomes comfortable with the magazine.

A: Exactly, and I think our readers will automatically identify with some contributors. It's no different than Rolling Stone. Part of what bothers me about Rolling Stone is that they place these brilliant writers (David Fricke, Anthony DeCurtis, etc.) alongside young and inexperienced writers who feel the need to write a 3000-word piece on Hilary Duff. My favorite David Fricke quote (which I actually heard on a great radio show in NYC called Idiot's Delight) sums up the vision of our magazine pretty well: "Respect The Elders. Embrace The New. Encourage The Impractical and Improbable, Without Bias." Too many older people shun everything that was recorded since 1975. You have to find a common ground that is more based around quality than time period. I mean do people try to say Shakespeare is too old? Probably, and that kind of scares me.

S: BT in the New Year. Have you given it a LOT of thought?

A: When I originally came up with the idea, a writer friend of mine told me he half-expected it to be a glorified blog site. Well, I'd like to think we came up with something a little more polished than that (thanks to strong writing, commitment, and great design from Jennifer Halpern). I'm excited to see what 2005 will bring. We started late in the year, so 2005 will really be the true test of where this monster is going to take us. But I'm enjoying it, and I know the others are too.

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