Kyle Thiermann podcast, June 2020
Two Santa Cruz natives talk about navigating editorial tides, dealing with malfunctioning tape recorders and wearing a kimono to the Playboy Mansion.
About
I grew up in Santa Cruz and attended UC Berkeley and the New School while playing in bands that toured the US, Japan and much of Western Europe. After years of freelance writing (and more touring, and contributions to roughly a dozen albums), I signed on as managing editor of PAPER magazine—just in time to work on the notorious Break the Internet issue. I moved to L.A. in 2015 and soon found myself at Playboy, where I served as an executive editor for four years. These days I'm freelancing and editing class guides at MasterClass. Below, a few podcast eps and articles about me, plus a video in which I play bass while sliding across the stage on my back.
James Rickman Leads Playboy In the #MeToo Era
“I’m fascinated by the Rorschach test that is Playboy,” Rickman says. “All I can do is embrace a certain amount of complexity and allow that all those reactions are genuine."
Keep Your Eyes Open: The Naked Truth About Playboy
Mere months before one of the most globally recognized magazines, Playboy, completely changed its format and discontinued nude pictorials, James Rickman accepted the position of senior editor.
People Get Ready: "Middle Name" live
An excerpt from Specific Ocean, a “melding of independent music and contemporary dance” (NYT) that premiered at New York Live arts in Oct 2012.
This Was the Scene podcast
Jersey boy Mike Doyle interviewed me about the band my friends and I started in high school. According to the episode notes, topics include "The German Skinhead Story."
New Book Looks at the Rise and Fall of Ska Bands
In this excerpt from the new book In Defense of Ska, author Aaron Carnes explains why ska needs defending, and how Santa Cruz’s most popular ’90s ska band, Slow Gherkin, lost its way.
