Ben Apatoff
@bapatoff.bsky.social
Author of Body Count (33⅓) and Metallica: The $24.95 Book. Working on a biography of Local H for J-Card Press, scheduled for 2027.
Pinned
Ben Apatoff
@bapatoff.bsky.social
· Jan 29
Body Count's Body Count
On Ice-T's 1991 classic O.G. Original Gangster, he introduced his all-Black hardcore band Body Count with lead guitarist Ernie C, bringing them on the first-eve…
www.bloomsbury.com
The first-ever book about Body Count, the most incendiary band in the world, featuring exclusive interviews with some of the greatest punk, metal and hip-hop artists who ever lived, for @3313books.bsky.social: www.bloomsbury.com/us/body-coun...
Reposted by Ben Apatoff
The mighty Alice Wong has left us. A writer, editor, teacher, organizer, mentor, activist, creator, curator, podcaster, and oracle, her commitment to justice for disabled people and to centering disability in justice for all people is a call and challenge those who remain here. Praise and gratitude.
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.”
November 15, 2025 at 1:41 PM
The mighty Alice Wong has left us. A writer, editor, teacher, organizer, mentor, activist, creator, curator, podcaster, and oracle, her commitment to justice for disabled people and to centering disability in justice for all people is a call and challenge those who remain here. Praise and gratitude.
Reposted by Ben Apatoff
welcome to another crisp fall Friday of "Not Reading That"
November 14, 2025 at 5:42 PM
welcome to another crisp fall Friday of "Not Reading That"
Reposted by Ben Apatoff
Don't put money into anything you can't explain to another person
Name something your dad taught you
November 14, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Don't put money into anything you can't explain to another person
Body Count was right. youtu.be/rloidlFbi4w
November 13, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Body Count was right. youtu.be/rloidlFbi4w
He's made up his mind
WHITESNAKE's DAVID COVERDALE Announces Retirement: 'It's Time For Me To Call It A Day'
WHITESNAKE's DAVID COVERDALE Announces Retirement: 'It's Time For Me To Call It A Day'
WHITESNAKE leader David Coverdale has officially retired. The 74-year-old British-born rocker, who was also the lead singer of DEEP PURPLE from 1973 to 1976, announced the end of his five-and-a-half-d...
blabbermouth.net
November 13, 2025 at 5:19 PM
He's made up his mind
Reposted by Ben Apatoff
If you have evidence of any NYT conspiracy to protect Jeffrey Epstein (while also apparently publishing negative stories about him?) my email is espiers AT gmail, and I am happy to report that out for a non NYT outlet.
It’s a real head scratcher (/s) but one that any number of reporters could probably uncover
I've already said I think Landon should have been fired. But the idea that the NYT knew he was too chummy with Epstein and asked him for money and were fine with it is just wrong and dumb. And i cannot fathom what possible incentives people arguing this think the NYT would have to protect Epstein
November 13, 2025 at 5:11 PM
If you have evidence of any NYT conspiracy to protect Jeffrey Epstein (while also apparently publishing negative stories about him?) my email is espiers AT gmail, and I am happy to report that out for a non NYT outlet.
Shake your foundations
AC/DC's Australian 'Power Up' Tour Kick-Off Made Waves That Were Detected By Earthquake Monitoring Equipment
AC/DC's Australian 'Power Up' Tour Kick-Off Made Waves That Were Detected By Earthquake Monitoring Equipment
AC/DC's first Australian concert in a decade, which took place Wednesday night (November 12) in Melbourne, reportedly registered on a local seismograph, which detects earthquake activity. Adam Pascale...
blabbermouth.net
November 13, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Shake your foundations
Reposted by Ben Apatoff
Rough day to be any sort of survivor of sexual violence. Solidarity to all of you, please be kind to yourselves
November 13, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Rough day to be any sort of survivor of sexual violence. Solidarity to all of you, please be kind to yourselves
Cheers @930club.bsky.social!
9:30 Club owner voluntarily recognized its workers’ union: www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Staff at 9:30 Club and other venues win voluntary union recognition
The production company I.M.P. will recognize a union for hospitality staffers at 9:30 Club, the Atlantis and Lincoln Theatre, after workers petitioned last month.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:12 AM
Cheers @930club.bsky.social!
Reposted by Ben Apatoff
Bill Watterson says Hobbes isn’t a doll who comes to life; Calvin sees him one way, everyone else another. He wrote about reality being subjective. This seems a main lesson of his hero Charles M Schulz. Only the kids know how complicated they are. Snoopy IS a writer.
November 12, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Bill Watterson says Hobbes isn’t a doll who comes to life; Calvin sees him one way, everyone else another. He wrote about reality being subjective. This seems a main lesson of his hero Charles M Schulz. Only the kids know how complicated they are. Snoopy IS a writer.
Happy 80th to Neil Young, an eternal real one.
November 12, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Happy 80th to Neil Young, an eternal real one.
Reposted by Ben Apatoff
It's RRRREEAAADDDYYYY! The Deaf Baby Instruction Manual is now available for pre-order.
It's a modern parenting guide for hearing families with deaf or hard of hearing children. Makes a great gift for parents, family members and educators, and a useful weapon for throwing at an LEA or admin,
It's a modern parenting guide for hearing families with deaf or hard of hearing children. Makes a great gift for parents, family members and educators, and a useful weapon for throwing at an LEA or admin,
The Deaf Baby Instruction Manual
A direct and approachable guide for parents of deaf or hard of hearing children.About 90% of all deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) children are born to parents with…
www.bloomsbury.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:56 PM
It's RRRREEAAADDDYYYY! The Deaf Baby Instruction Manual is now available for pre-order.
It's a modern parenting guide for hearing families with deaf or hard of hearing children. Makes a great gift for parents, family members and educators, and a useful weapon for throwing at an LEA or admin,
It's a modern parenting guide for hearing families with deaf or hard of hearing children. Makes a great gift for parents, family members and educators, and a useful weapon for throwing at an LEA or admin,
The passage in Rob Sheffield's Talking to Girls About Duran Duran that inspired my Metallica book: bookshop.org/p/books/talk...
November 11, 2025 at 11:26 PM
The passage in Rob Sheffield's Talking to Girls About Duran Duran that inspired my Metallica book: bookshop.org/p/books/talk...
I would never have finished writing my first book if I didn't reread Moby-Dick for Melville's 200th.
performative reading, lack of reading skills, nobody's reading anymore -- NO!
tell me about a book that changed you
for me? the *extremely* ahistorical novel, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY which I read at 13 and was like, "Oh, art can be *everything* to a maker, for good and bad"
tell me about a book that changed you
for me? the *extremely* ahistorical novel, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY which I read at 13 and was like, "Oh, art can be *everything* to a maker, for good and bad"
November 11, 2025 at 11:20 PM
I would never have finished writing my first book if I didn't reread Moby-Dick for Melville's 200th.
Reposted by Ben Apatoff
Remembering #TatsuyaNakadai — a towering force of Japanese cinema whose performances in #Harakiri, #Ran, and beyond reshaped film history. A legend, gone but never forgotten.
November 11, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Remembering #TatsuyaNakadai — a towering force of Japanese cinema whose performances in #Harakiri, #Ran, and beyond reshaped film history. A legend, gone but never forgotten.
Reposted by Ben Apatoff
BACKBEATS is out today!
Come see me & @andreapitzer.bsky.social at Kramers in DC tonight at 7: kramers.com/events/36367...
DM me a receipt if you’d like a signed book plate in the mail.
And read an excerpt in @rollingstone.com: www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
Come see me & @andreapitzer.bsky.social at Kramers in DC tonight at 7: kramers.com/events/36367...
DM me a receipt if you’d like a signed book plate in the mail.
And read an excerpt in @rollingstone.com: www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
![PRAISE FOR
BACKBEATS
"[Exhibits] passion and deep knowledge... The only moments I put this book down were to pause and listen to the perfect examples that Lingan, a drummer himself, cites as crucial.... Here we see and hear the music of our lives."
-BILL JANOVITZ, author of Leon Russell: The Master of Space
and Time's Journey Through Rock & Roll History
"A thrilling ride... In exquisite detail and deft prose, John Lingan relates the creative insights and technical mastery of fifteen of rock's most influential groove merchants-many still unsung. In doing so, he reclaims the rock narrative from all those frontmen and guitarists, showing how the wizards at the back of the stage were moving the music all along."
-IAN S. PORT, author of The Birth of Loud: Leo Fender, Les Paul, and the Guitar-Pioneering Rivalry That Shaped Rock 'n' Roll
"An intelligent, heartfelt, and long-overdue tribute to the unsung heroes of modern music. Because, let's face it—if it ain't got that swing, it don't mean a thing."
-BRAD TOLINSKI, coauthor of Play It Loud: An Epic History of the Style, Sound, and Revolution of the Electric Guitar
"Backbeats glows with enthusiasm and delivers an insightful glimpse into the sultans of swing who create fire by rubbing two sticks together."
—BOB SPITZ, author of The Beatles:
The Biography and Led Zeppelin: The Biography
"Sitting ten feet from stardom, drummers have had a central but slightly removed view of rock 'n' roll. A drummer himself, John Lingan captures that unique perspective.... Backbeats delivers to the reader something fresh and different. It's a hit."
-PRESTON LAUTERBACH, author of The Chitlin' Circuit and the Road to Rock](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vqnmqsaa3izkhob7bopcxus2/bafkreifwmo4y4cy7rnpvycg35dhm654zd4bze7fuuul2ndyrt2zmpqzurm@jpeg)
November 11, 2025 at 1:56 PM
BACKBEATS is out today!
Come see me & @andreapitzer.bsky.social at Kramers in DC tonight at 7: kramers.com/events/36367...
DM me a receipt if you’d like a signed book plate in the mail.
And read an excerpt in @rollingstone.com: www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
Come see me & @andreapitzer.bsky.social at Kramers in DC tonight at 7: kramers.com/events/36367...
DM me a receipt if you’d like a signed book plate in the mail.
And read an excerpt in @rollingstone.com: www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
Reposted by Ben Apatoff
This point absolutely correct and I will add that Mamdani demonstrates that an insurgency, even one with real moral clarity and anger at the status quo, can still be cheerful and inviting.
November 11, 2025 at 1:22 PM
This point absolutely correct and I will add that Mamdani demonstrates that an insurgency, even one with real moral clarity and anger at the status quo, can still be cheerful and inviting.
Reposted by Ben Apatoff
On top of being a great site run by great people who give work to lots of great writers, Stereogum also pay within a few days of filing your copy, which is virtually unheard of in this industry. Subscribe now to their snazzy new site!
For years, advertising has been how Stereogum made money to pay its writers. While we made progress moving away from that model, Google AI search has decimated the business almost overnight. Today we relaunch with a greater focus on subscription. We’d love your support: stereogum.com/2478838/ster...
November 11, 2025 at 12:02 AM
On top of being a great site run by great people who give work to lots of great writers, Stereogum also pay within a few days of filing your copy, which is virtually unheard of in this industry. Subscribe now to their snazzy new site!
Reposted by Ben Apatoff
Hi writers! I’m looking to assign a couple of features for Slate before the end of the year. If you have anything in mind that you think would be a fit please send me a pitch! Jenée.Desmond- harris@slate.com or dm me.
RTs are appreciated so this can reach more people. Thanks!
RTs are appreciated so this can reach more people. Thanks!
November 10, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Hi writers! I’m looking to assign a couple of features for Slate before the end of the year. If you have anything in mind that you think would be a fit please send me a pitch! Jenée.Desmond- harris@slate.com or dm me.
RTs are appreciated so this can reach more people. Thanks!
RTs are appreciated so this can reach more people. Thanks!
TIL Failure's Ken Andrews was a director for Ice-T's O.G. Original Gangster video album! (h/t @localh.bsky.social Lifers podcast): www.discogs.com/master/28374...
November 9, 2025 at 7:57 PM
TIL Failure's Ken Andrews was a director for Ice-T's O.G. Original Gangster video album! (h/t @localh.bsky.social Lifers podcast): www.discogs.com/master/28374...
Reposted by Ben Apatoff
it’s not the fact that this Uber driver is blasting Sade’s “By Your Side’ like it’s the early 2000s. it’s that he’s clearly in his early 20s. and he hit repeat
November 9, 2025 at 6:18 AM
it’s not the fact that this Uber driver is blasting Sade’s “By Your Side’ like it’s the early 2000s. it’s that he’s clearly in his early 20s. and he hit repeat
Reposted by Ben Apatoff
Axl went full woke.
November 8, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Axl went full woke.
Reposted by Ben Apatoff
Join us for #Noirvember, a month-long celebration of film noir, by watching Kanopy’s curated collection of Hollywood classics and modern-day noir films. All you need is your library card!
Watch at: https://bit.ly/4oPRh2S.
Watch at: https://bit.ly/4oPRh2S.
November 8, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by Ben Apatoff
Watching Our of the Past. So much beauty, in the actors' faces & bodies as well as in the photography & staging (as in a fistfight that plays out partly in the shadows combatants cast on a wall). Very adult in its understanding of attraction and how one choice can trap you for life.
November 8, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Watching Our of the Past. So much beauty, in the actors' faces & bodies as well as in the photography & staging (as in a fistfight that plays out partly in the shadows combatants cast on a wall). Very adult in its understanding of attraction and how one choice can trap you for life.