By now we’re accustomed to staff changes over at the Boston Globe, but today’s news is a direct hit on music coverage and criticism here in New England: Staff music critic James Reed announced he is leaving the newspaper next month.
Reed, whose last day at the Globe is December 18, revealed the news this morning via a Facebook post. He gave some glimpses into what’s on the horizon, including teaching a music-criticism class, diving into a book idea, and increasing his freelance work. “But mostly I’m feeling open to new possibilities,” he writes.
Reed tells Vanyaland that he’s excited for what’s next — and he assures us that leaving the Globe has nothing to do with the girl who vomited next to him at the Weeknd’s recent show at the DCU Center in Worcester (read his review here).
“I decided to leave because I’ve been writing nonstop about music for eight of my 13 years at the Globe. That’s a lot,” Reed writes in an email. “I’ve loved the beat and everything and everyone it has brought into my life. It’s been a wild ride, a privilege, and a true honor to write about music in Boston and beyond. And no, my decision to leave is not at all related to the fact that a teenage girl barfed next to me at the Weeknd’s show in Worcester last week. (Well, maybe it’s a little related.)”
We also asked Reed about some of his favorite memories while at the Globe — and the list includes interactions with Wanda Jackson, Adele, and Loretta Lynn.
“There was that time Wanda Jackson told an audience that when I called her for our interview, ‘We talked like two old hens,’ then she dedicated a song to me,” Reed writes. “Adele cackled as she told me, off the record, about slang terms for ‘bum sex.’ Al Green asked me what was my favorite song of his — and then serenaded me with a snippet of ‘For the Good Times’ over the phone. Loretta Lynn declined my request for her recipe for chicken ‘n’ dumplins, insisting that she’d just have me over to the house and make them for me. The list goes on, and I’m so grateful.”
Reed says the plan is “to stick around Boston for a little bit,” but he’s “open to and eager to explore new adventures wherever they might take me.”