Just before I became a full-time record dealer in the early-to-mid 1990s, I tried to make a go of journalism as a career for a year or so and had a few articles published in popular black music magazines such as (Black) Echoes and Blues & Soul. My pen name was Mark Rez. I also did sleeve notes for a couple of label releases and had a hand in putting together a few compilations on the A&R side - it wasn’t lucrative enough to come even close to making a living from, but I certainly enjoyed it.
As it was the eighth anniversary of Gil Scott-Heron’s tragically early death recently, I thought I’d use this opportunity to tell you about the times I spent in this amazing man’s company. I was lucky enough to have interviewed Gil twice: once when the was drug-free and once when the was drug-addled.