Pitch Deadline: 5 October 2009
Final Deadline: 19 October 2009
Contact: Bill Gibron and Stuart Henderson
Email: bgibron AT verizon.net / gibron AT popmatters.com / henderson AT popmatters.com

On 5 October, 1962, The Beatles first UK single - “Love Me Do” b/w “P.S., I Love You” was released - and the music world was never the same. Now, 47 years later, the Fab Four’s entire catalog has been digitally remastered and the band’s legacy revived via a media blitz that has seen tributes, salutes, re-examination of their work, and The Beatles Rock Band,  the 20th Century supergroup’s entry into the world of 21st Century gaming entertainment.

In celebration of the Beatles longevity, their influence on rock and roll and popular culture, and their enduring part of the industry landscape, PopMatters is proud to announce the Special Section entitled Re-Meet The Beatles - Five Decades of the Fab Four. This massive undertaking will be divided into four main categories. Each section will focus on a particular aspect of the band’s legacy and provide a comprehensive look at what made them the most significant musical group ever.

Section 1: Album overviews
Each writer will select a single album from the group’s catalog and discuss its significance, musicianship, place in history (band and industry), as well as where it fits in the overall Beatles myth. Interested writers will pick the album they would like to address and pitch it to editors Bill Gibron and Stuart Henderson. Please include any and all Beatles albums, including compilations (Past Masters), Best-ofs (the famous Red and Blue collections) and the like.

Section 2: Favorite Songs
Part A - Top 25 Beatles Songs of All Time - each writer will offer a list of their 10 favorite Beatles songs. They will then be compiled with other lists from other members of the PM staff to create a master list. From this list, assignments will be made addressing the Top 25 Songs as chosen by the site.  
Part B - Should Have Been Hits - interested writers will offer a list of their 10 “forgotten Beatle songs”, selections that should have been more popular, released as singles, recognized as significant in the band’s catalog, etc. Again, they will be compiled together in a representative selection of choices. Writers will again be assigned individual songs.

Section 3: Enduring Influence - Musical/Cultural
Speaks for itself, really. Where the Beatles fall in history, how they managed to maintain their aura of classicism throughout the decades. How they survived the ‘90s neo-hipster backlash. Indeed, any approach you think ties the band to the major musical and cultural changes and challenges over the last 40 years will be welcome. Pitches should be sent to editors Bill Gibron and Stuart Henderson for approval.

Section 4: The Beatles in Other Media
Choices include The Beatles in Book. The Beatles in Film (taken by Bill Gibron). The Beatles in art and advertizing. The Beatles as part of the post-modern tabloid media. The Beatles in Videogames. The Beatles and Television. The Beatles and Album Art. The Beatles and…any other area you think significant. Pitches need to be made to editors Bill Gibron and Stuart Henderson for approval.

Time Frame:
Pitches/Album Choices/Song Selections - OCT. 5
Final Pieces and Other Material Due - OCT. 19

Participation: This is open to EVERYONE, PopMatters staff as well as members of the educational and media communities. If you believe there is someone who would be interested in participating, please pass this call along. Again, we don’t care if you passion runs toward music, television, videogame, books, or other cultural concerns. We want participation on the largest scale possible.

Any questions, comments, or concerns should be voiced to the editors for this special feature, Bill Gibron and Stuart Henderson. Email addresses: bgibron AT verizon.net, gibron AT popmatters.com, and henderson AT popmatters.com.

—PopMatters Staff

Pitch Deadline: 14 August 2009
Final Deadline: 9 September 2009
Contact: David Abravanel
Email: abravanel AT popmatters.com
Editors: Timh Gabriele and David Abravanel

It’s hard to believe it’s been a full two decades since Warp Records first released WAP 1, The Forgemasters’ “Track With No Name”, from the back of a car in Sheffield. Since then, Warp has consistently maintained its cutting-edge status in the music world, whether through its introduction of a more cerebral crop of techno artists from the mid-‘90s, its championing of hyperrhythms from Aphex Twin and Squarepusher, or its recent forays into the indie world with !!! and Grizzly Bear.

In honor of this landmark anniversary, PopMatters is issuing a call for pieces to run in a special section. Some ideas you might consider:

1. Your top five Warp albums, for a feature on staff Warp favorites. Give us your ranked top five ASAP, and specify which one you’d like to write about, as well as if you’d be willing to cover multiple albums. Note that this can also be an opportunity to explore a particular Warp album which signifies what the label is about to you, or one that you’ve had a challenging relationship with. Final pieces should be between 500-700 words in length.

2. The Designer’s Republic long played a key roll in the corporate futuristic aesthetic of Warp, from its first record sleeves to the minimalist track-by-track artwork on Autechre’s most recent releases. We’re looking for someone design-minded to delve into this relationship.

3. Best Of Warp playlist. Warp recently allowed fans to vote for their favorite Warp tracks to be included in a best-of disc, released with the upcoming Warp20 box set. Think they got it wrong? Tell us what you’re list might be, and why!

4. Warp’s artists have historically taken an interesting route when is comes to their videos—think of Aphex Twin’s controversial “Come To Daddy” clip, for example, or Plaid’s darkly satirical “Itsu.” What’s your take on Warp’s videos? Is there a defining one that you’d like to focus on? A wide spectrum of ideas is welcome here.

5. Recent years have also seen the advent of Warp Film, with releases including This Is England and Donkey Punch. This is a good chance for someone from the film section to get in on this.

We’re also open to any unique proposals that you might have in mind—make it personal, make it abstract—anything that chronicles your relationship with this most interesting of labels.

Editors for this section will be Timh Gabriele and David Abravanel. Pitches will be due by August 14th, with pieces in no later than September 9th.

Note: if you’d like to interview a Warp artist for a piece, please include that in your pitch so that we can forward these requests to Warp or the necessary PR contact ASAP. Be advised that many of Warp’s most famous acts, including Aphex Twin, Plaid, Boards of Canada, and Autechre, can be very difficult to get interviews with. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try, but rather that if this is a part of your pitch, then it’d be a good idea to have a backup plan in case the artist declines to talk.

—PopMatters Staff

Pitch Deadline: 24 July 2009
Final Deadline: 24 August 2009
Contact: Matt Mazur
Email: mazur AT popmatters.com

With this week-long special feature, we are excited to provide a platform for cinema scholars, film historians and/or social theorists of all varieties to help us and our readership reconsider the significance of Almodovar’s body of work.

This feature will run in late November, leading up to the release of the auteur’s newest film, Broken Embraces.

These are the following features we are seeking to develop for the week-long Almodovar series:
  Almodovar 101 – The Canon: Exploring Almodovar’s Filmography (I want at least 500 incisive words on EVERY film in Almodovar’s canon!)
  Femmes Fatale: Almodovar and Women
  Poppy: Use of Color in the Day-Glo World of Almodovar
  Referencing Cinema: Almodovar in Homage to Noir, Sirkian Melodrama and Cassavetes
  The Queer Auteur: Almodovar’ and Gay Cinema
  Lost in Translation: Almodovar as object of Hollywood fascination; his place in the pantheon of European filmmakers; his relation(s) with post-Franco Spain

For this particular series, we need only the most passionate writers, who know Almodovar very well. If you have a fabulous idea that isn’t covered by the above topics, I am definitely receptive to hearing pitches. Quality is of the utmost importance with this feature, I cannot stress this enough—this will be read by a savvy international audience of film lovers and attention to every detail is a must. Typically, features on our site are between 1,000-3,500 words.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Even though the feature will not run until late November, the due date for this project and any essays you want to contribute is AUGUST 24 and no later.

All correspondence should be addressed to: Matt Mazur, PopMatters Contributing Editor, mazur AT popmatters.com.

We look forward to assembling this feature series and hope that you find it both interesting and worthy of your participation!

Best,
Matt Mazur
Columnist & Contributing Editor
mazur AT popmatters.com

—PopMatters Staff

Pitch Deadline: 19 June 2009
Final Deadline: 17 July 2009
Contact: Bill Gibron
Email: bgibron AT verizon.net / gibron AT popmatters.com

Star Wars vs. Star Trek. That’s it. As simple as that.

Actually, there’s a little more to it than a basic clash of the cinematic titans. 2009 is the year when JJ Abrams brought the seminal Gene Roddenberry ‘enterprise’ back from the commercial dead. It is also the 10th anniversary of jaded George Lucas’ purposeless prequel, The Phantom Menace. In light of such interstellar happenstance, PopMatters would like to settle the debate once and for all—Star Wars. Vs. Star Trek.

The rules are simple—take a side and defend it. Take a position within the vast universes contained in both Star Wars and Star Trek and argue it out. Think Wars reinvented sci-fi for a non-geek mentality? Write it up! Do you believe Trek takes the notion of serious science fiction to heights of unheard-of social commentary? Give us your take. Think one is more entertaining than the next? Let’s hear it. Want to argue merits over merchandising? Go for it. We welcome all ideas, no matter how esoteric or earnest.

Indeed, the entire approach to this massive special feature will be a definitive look at both series, how they affected both popular culture and people, and your own personal perspective on how the Wars/Trek way of imaginative fiction changed your life. We want it all—the scholarly and the silly, the well-researched and the reactionary. If it can be linked to the weird, wonderful worlds of Kirk, Spock, Picard, Janeway, Skywalker, Solo, Kenobi, or Vader, we want it. From reviews to reminiscences, this is your ultimate chance at letting your Starfleet/Jedi allegiance be known.
Here are the deadlines:

Pitches (DUE 19 JUNE)—A single paragraph proposing your take on the subject matter. The only thing we ask is that you stay within the confines of a specific series. We will entertain cross-over pieces, but the pitch will have to point out the unique nature of the approach or idea. Indeed, what we are really looking for, specifically, are passionate defenses for one side or the other.

Once a pitch is received, it will be reviewed and an email confirmation will be sent out within 48 hours. If you do not receive a response, make sure to contact the editor directly. Emails can sometimes get lost.

Essay (DUE 17 JULY)—Word count: minimum of 750 words, with a generous allowance for pieces of much longer (and we mean, longer) lengths.

Participation: This is open to EVERYONE, PopMatters staff as well as members of the educational and media communities. If you believe there is someone who would be interested in participating, please pass this call along. Again, we don’t care if you passion runs toward music, television, videogame, books, or other cultural concerns. We want participation on the largest scale possible.

Any questions, comments, or concerns should be voiced to the editor for this special feature, Bill Gibron. His email addresses are bgibron AT verizon.net and gibron AT popmatters.com.

We look forward to hearing from you. Until then, may the Force allow you to live long and prosper.

—PopMatters Staff

PopMatters has openings for music critics and music bloggers. Deadline for applications is 26 June.

We’re looking for talented writers with deep genre knowledge of music and its present and past alongside a cultural generalist perspective with strong interests in many areas of culture.

—PopMatters Staff

Pitch Deadline: 10 June 2009
Final Deadline: 3 July 2009
Contact: Justin Dimos and Sarah Zupko
Email: dimos AT popmatters.com / editor AT popmatters.com

Remember where you were when you heard Kurt Cobain had been discovered in his home dead? How about the night when pictures of Phil Hartman flashed on the news, the almost unbelievable reports of his murder hushing his raving fans? Or perhaps you recall the moment when Christopher Reeve finally succumbed to a heart attack and left our world without yet another superman?

Johnny Cash, Elliot Smith, Marlon Brando, Bea Arthur, Princess Diana, John Belushi, Paul Newman, Frank Sinatra, John F. Kennedy—all these figures and more have shocked the world with their deaths. As if fans and followers expected them to occupy the spotlight forever, crooning and clowning and conversing with the masses ad infinitum.

For that matter, try to imagine a world without the charismatic and wise Michael J. Fox, a boyhood Republican turned werewolf turned time-traveler turned author, now suffering from an incurable disease and still ever hopeful. Just picture a world that no longer contains a gun-slinging Clint Eastwood or a loveable, versatile Lily Tomlin. Can you, really? And how will you react when NPR breaks the bad news as you drive to work in the morning? What comes next after you read the headline: “John Cusack, Dead”.

Even though we may never have met these people, the truth is that we invest boatloads of emotion and importance in certain celebrities and public figures. Who knows why exactly—perhaps a certain actor inspired our youthful imaginations, or maybe a particular musician captured our most visceral sadness and regrets—yet only one thing is for certain: this won’t be the last time another icon meets their maker.

Part eulogy, part confession, part history, PopMatters is now accepting personal essays that not only capture the spirit of great pop culture icons of the past, but also how you reacted to the news—emotionally, socially, privately, publically. Did you weep? Did you remain stoic only to host a movie marathon in the person’s honor that night? Did you grab a coffee with your best friend, still stunned, whispering how you still couldn’t believe it.

Submitting to special section “Rest in Pieces”, writers also have the freedom to choose a figure that is still alive and then attempt to predict how deeply the death will affect them. Got a hidden celebrity crush? Tell us about what losing them would mean. Dream about meeting Stephen Hawking, and what if suddenly, he was gone? Tell us why you love and revere the famous people you do, express the strange grief you have over such celebrities as best you can, and submit your pitch before the deadline (no pun intended).

STEP ONE
Choose a public figure from the past whose death has shaken you to the core. Or if you have a profound respect (or a borderline obsession) with a living celebrity, then choose him or her for your piece. Sounds a bit morbid—I know—but as the saying goes, don’t let death catch you with your pants down. So don’t hesitate, share your opinions about your figure, let your reverence and feelings loose, because in all likelihood, millions of others feel the same way as you.

STEP TWO
Then send your brief, one-paragraph pitch that clearly names your selection and your approach to Justin Dimos (dimos AT popmatters.com) by 10 June. Don’t be afraid to get a little creative either. Some may be strict personal essays; some may actually be eulogies; still others may take the form of love letters that were never received. Whatever method you put to your madness, make sure that you’re clear, respectful, and spruce your piece up with plenty of accurate history on your choice. Oh yeah, include some biographical information about yourself and links to some of your previous articles, too.

STEP THREE
If selected, I’ll send you the thumbs-up along with some advice about the article, at which point you can start writing the hell out of your piece. Should your pitch be accepted, we’ll need a minimum of 1,200 words (or a maximum of 3,000) that are polished and ready for publication within four weeks of the deadline. Picture suggestions are always welcome, too; just send us the link or email us the files. Most important of all is have fun writing—to whatever extend you can have fun writing about death and dying—but here’s your chance get your confession off your chest and honor your icon with some kind, truthful words.

QUICK TIPS
- Always be clear in your pitch and article, or else we just won’t understand.
- Don’t be afraid to express emotions in your piece—it’s confessional after all.
- Provide details and histories of your selections to establish credibility.
- Be courteous. Your selection may still be alive after all. Honor them.
- Get creative. Personal essays in a number of different formats are welcome.
- Stay professional and academic, too. Don’t let your writing spin out of control.
- Predict your future reactions by revealing some of your previous ones.

IMPORTANT: your email subject line must read: PopMatters / Rest in Pieces. To be honest, we receive a great deal of spam messages by the hour, and we wouldn’t want to inadvertently delete your piece as we perform our daily electronic pruning.

Thanks all. Hope to read your pitches soon!

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

—PopMatters Staff