Jon was a superstar kid music writer in the early-'70s, kind of like Cameron Crowe but with more musical talent and less feature film aspiration. He covered the music, but then he became part of it, first when he got Big Star back together, and then when he turned to songwriting and production.
Jon has an affinity for talented folks who are out of favor, which helps explain his time with Alex Chilton. He also wrote with the vastly underrated songwriter Don Covay, and produced Wilson Pickett at the end of his career. We also have Jon to thank for the re-emergence of PF Sloan, the man who wrote "
Eve of Destruction" on what turned out to be his eve of destruction.
I kept this focused on the transition from journalist to participant, and also got into the infamous rock writers convention of 1973 that he worked on. He revealed that music writer could be an entry point into the business, and cited Patti Smith and Chrissie Hynde as examples.
Interview with Jon Tiven
Carl