Wendy Fonarow

Wendy Fonarow has been an anthropology professor at Glendale Community College, writer and music industry professional. She is best known for the book Empire of Dirt, and for her column Ask the Indie Professor in The Guardian.

Life and career

Wendy Fonarow was born in Los Angeles.

While studying at University of California in San Diego, she worked at the campus radio station. There she was exposed to bands like The Fall, Pink Industry, Wire, Magazine, and the magazine NME. Milo Aukerman of the Descendants also attended UCSD and decided to do a cover of the Beach Boys "Wendy" for her which was later included on The Descendant's album Enjoy! After graduating, back in LA, she started to go to concerts of similar bands.

In 1989, Fonarow was added to the guest list of Something Happens (an Irish band who gave her backstage access. While attending other concerts, she noticed that the spectators (usually) obeyed some unwritten rules, which made her interested in music performance as a ritual. She chose this area as the topic for her PhD thesis .

In 1996, she workied at MCA Records in Los Angeles as an A&R manager.

In 1999, she finished her PhD thesis and in 2006 released a book. She has given lectures and keynotes at Cambridge University, Princeton, Columbia University, UCLA, University of Milan, University of Oslo and the University of Edinburgh as well as conferences, including By:Larm, CMJ, SXSW, Music Finland, and EMP in Seattle, NYC, and Los Angeles.

Bibliography

Non-fiction

• (1995) "The Spatial Organization of the Indie Music Gig" reprinted in The Subcultures Reader, Ken Gelder (Editor), Sarah Thornton (Editor).
• (1996) "Spatial Distribution and Participation in British Contemporary Musical Performances" Issues in Applied Linguistics, 7(1)
• (1999) “The Culture of Participation and the Morality of Aesthetics in British Independent Music Performances” PhD. Diss., University of California at Los Angeles (Ann Arbor: UMI).
• (2006) Empire of Dirt: The Aesthetics and Rituals of British Indie Music . Paperback: ISBN 978-0-8195-6811-3, Hardcover: ISBN 978-0-8195-6810-6.
• (2008) "Portrait du chercheur en fan", Cairn.info

Influence

• Google Scholar finds 75 citations of her book and 31 citations of her 1995 article (as of 4 April 2013).
• She suggested the name of the band Mojave 3 inspired by the Mojave desert near L.A.
• Sebadoh's "Secret EP" and Album "Defend Yourself" were recorded in Wendy Fonarow's Indietopia Music Studio in Adams Hill, CA.

External links

• "Ask the indie professor" column in The Guardian
• Official page
• Twitter Feed

• Dr. Wendy Fonarow, Professor of Anthroplogy, on sabbatical
• Glendale Community College : Faculty & Staff : FONAROW, WENDY
• Dr. Wendy Fonarow, Associate Professor of Anthropology
• "England Made Me", The Word (magazine), Issue 86, April 2010, pages 108-111
• Empire of Dirt: The Aesthetics and Rituals of British Indie Music Paperback: ISBN 978-0-8195-6811-3, Hardcover: ISBN 978-0-8195-6810-6